US History from 1877 is a fast-paced, state-tested class that will survey some of the most important events in the development of the United States beginning after the Civil War and Reconstruction.
There are two major goals for this class that we will be working on together throughout the semester.
The first goal is to prepare you for whatever may come next in your life. Whether it is collge, the military or the job force, you will need critical thinking and communication skills. This class will be especially effective at preparing you to meet those challenges. This is the answer to the "when am I ever going to use this?" question that many of you ask throughout the school year. Unless you intend to make your living as a game show contestant, you'll probably never need to know that Theodore Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States or that he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1906. You'll probably never be asked to tell the story about the time that he was shot in the chest at short range just before giving a speech, inspected the wound, decided it wasn't life-threatening, and went on to give the one hour speech before going to the hospital (but it's a cool story). What could be very useful to you, however, is to know how Roosevelt chose to deal with weaker countries that had something that the US wanted and why these choices were controversial. History classes you've taken in the past may have asked you to memorize names, dates and places. This one will ask you to understand why people made the choices they made, how these choices impacted the events that followed and how to compare these choices to choices that we are facing today.
The second goal of this class is to prepare you for the State Test. The state test will be given around the end of the semester and can cover anything that we study in this class. No one (except the people who make the test) knows exactly what the questions will be so we'll have to do our best to anticipate them. Luckily, we have our first goal - problem solving. If all we were going to do was memorize facts then we would just have to cross our fingers and hope that they asked for the same facts on the state test. The only way any of us could feel good about that is if we memorized the name, date, place, and numbers related to every important event of the last 150 years. That is too much to ask. Instead, we are going to try to understand trends and choices that you can use to help you figure out likely answers to any question you might be asked.
These are our goals and they will take hard work. I will work hard to make sure that you have the opportunity to achieve these goals but the ultimate choice is yours. The rewards of graduation will be yours so most of the work will fall on you.If at any point you need any kind of assistance, please ask. I will do anything I can to help you meet these goals.
World History is an overview of some of the most important developments between the Renaissance and the present day. We have a lot to cover so we will have to move quickly. As this will likely be your last class before taking your State Tested US History class, we will focus on the world events most crucial to the foundation and the growth of our country. We will also focus on mastering the use of social studies tools like timelines, maps, graphs, political cartoons, etc...
Because I firmly believe that to be a good student of the past you have to be aware of the present, we will take time to discuss major events that are developing around us. To understand history you don't need to memorize names or dates, you need to understand cause and effect. The human motivations that explain cause and effect are the same today as they were in the day of Da Vinci, Columbus, Washington or Ghandi. If you understand what people are doing today and why, then you'll have an easy time understanding the events from the past that we discuss.
Debate I builds important communication skills that will enhance all aspects of the individual’s life. This course provides instruction in how to acquire, analyze, and evaluate information in order to organize effective arguments, and it provides practice in making those arguments. Skill in debate helps the individual to think logically, clearly, and quickly; and it makes a student able to identify flawed reasoning and argue persuasively. It also contributes to the student’s understanding of himself and his confidence in his own ability to analyze issues. This oral communication course is designed to help a student see himself as a whole person with a proper understanding of himself as a communicator as both a source and a receiver. Students will develop proficient speaking skills, develop listening skills, gain self-confidence and self-esteem as a result of participating in debate, use human-relations skills when communicating with different audiences, understand the role of nonverbal communication, research, analyze, and compile data to prepare and deliver effective speeches.
