Description
This course covers topics in U.S. History required at Indian Creek High School for college preparation and is specially designed for academic instruction in English with a focus on vocabulary building and thematic exploration. Offered over two semesters, this course will examine the social, political, and economic history of the United States from the English colonization of North America to the beginning of the 21st century. The required textbook, with guided reading assignments, will investigate the social, political, and economic practices that led to the creation and development of the United States of America. Supplementary materials and live, online instruction will help students understand concepts, content, and vocabulary. Cause and effect relationships, influential decisions, and historical evidence will be explored using teaching strategies designed to enhance and support the development of language skills. The utilization of various tools and assignments will help students build critical thinking skills needed to both analyze historical knowledge and successfully communicate it in written and oral formats.
Objectives
Using reading materials, videos, primary sources, secondary sources, and discussions, the course will investigate such topics as:
- Colonial America
- The American Revolution
- The U.S. Constitution
- The growth and expansion of the young nation
- America’s first industrial revolution
- Sectionalism and the Civil War
- Reconstruction
- America’s second industrial revolution
- American imperialism
- The Great Depression,
- United States’ involvement in the two World Wars
- The Cold War
- The war against terror
- The course will stress the following learning goals:
An understanding that time period and geography shape the course of history
- Comprehending and evaluating historical evidence
- Understanding the cause-effect relationship of historic events
- A knowledge of social, political and economic practices that influenced decisions and events
- Developing a critical view of the historical knowledge that we acquire through various sources
- An ability to communicate historical knowledge in written and oral formats
The course will incorporate the following SDAIE goals:
- Provide academic content in an environment that supports the development of English language skills
- Supply supplemental materials to improve understanding of content material
- Provide students with guided instruction such that concepts, content material, and vocabulary are more accessible to EL students
- Ensure ample opportunity for student and peer interactions
- Employ a variety of SDAIE teaching strategies to make concepts, content material, and vocabulary more easily understood by EL students
