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American Studies Semester B
Course Outline

Welcome to American Studies semester B.

I am excited about working with you and getting to know you this semester.  For those of you who were in American Studies A last semester, this is a continuation of the timeline of history that we began together last fall.  For those of you who are new to the class, welcome.  In this class, we will be studying the history of America from the great depression to the present.  During the semester, we will explore a variety of interesting events that have shaped our nation, today. As you begin your virtual learning experience, remember that I am here to help you be successful.

Here are a few logistical reminders that will help us work together more smoothly:

  • Always put your first and last name in email notes.  I have a number of students, and it is difficult to remember everyone’s email address.
  • It is essential that you check your email daily, since e-mail is an important way for us to communicate.
  • In order to be successful in this online course, you will need to plan on spending no less than 6-8 hours per week studying the presentations and completing the assignments.  The presentations, film clips, web searches, etc. equate to time spent with a teacher in the classroom.  You will need to study these in order to complete your assignments. 
  • SVL policy requires that you turn in at least one assignment each week.  If you get behind and you do not turn in an assignment each week, you will be marked as “not making progress” and the SVL administration will contact you. 
  • It is expected that you will submit the required assignments for each week when they are due.  There will often be more than one assignment due in a week.  Be sure to turn in everything that is due each week so you do not fall behind in the class. 
  • You will find benchmarks listed in the announcements section of the course that will tell you when to submit your work.   If at anytime you find that you will be unable to meet that request, please contact me immediately.  You can always work ahead in this class, but I really want to be sure that all of you stay current with your progress in the course all semester.
  • If you fall behind the timeline for assignments and exams, you will lose points for late work and you may not receive detailed feedback about your grade on the late assignments.

 

 

Units Included in Semester A:

  1. US—Our Foundations (An overview of American Government)
  2. Reconstruction in 19th century America
  3. The Westward Movement and the Gilded Age
  4. Immigration
  5. Intervention and Imperialism
  6. The Progressive Era, WWI, and the First Red Scare
  7. America during the Jazz Age

 

Units Included in Semester B:

1.  The Great Depression and the 1930’s
2.  WWII
3.  The 1950’s and the Cold War
4.  The 1960’s and 1970’s
5.  Modern America

All coursework is aligned with the Washington State and District EALR’s.

ELEVENTH GRADE – UNIT OUTLINES

See Accompanying EALR’s Below:

Unit Outline 1:  US- Our Foundations (1776-1791)
Essential Question(s): 

  • How do a nation’s stated ideals and principles shape how its citizens think and act?

Guiding Question(s): 

  • How has the founding of the United States shaped its history?

 

 

Required GLE

Suggested Examples

HISTORY

4.1.2, Part 1

Understands how the following themes and developments help to define eras in U.S. history:

  • Our foundations (1776—1791)
  • Explains how the ratification of the Bill of Rights defines the founding of the United States.

CIVCS

1.1.1

Analyzes and evaluates the ways in which the U.S. Constitution and other fundamental documents promote key ideals and principles.
  • Examines how arguments made in the Federalist Papers justify the principles of limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism.
  • Critiques how well Article I of the Constitution limits Congressional powers.
  • Examines how the Preamble guides the application of the constitutional principles.
  • Examines how the Boldt decision promotes justice as one of the goals of our nation.
  • Examines how the Brown v. Board of Education decision promotes equality as one of the goals of our nation.
  • Examines how the Letter from a Birmingham Jail promotes equality as one of the goals of our nation.
  • Examines how the Civil Rights Act sought to extend democratic ideals.
  • Examines how the Twenty-sixth Amendment sought to extend democratic ideals.

Unit Outline 2:  US- Industrialization and the Emergence of the United States as a World Power (1890-Present)
Essential Question(s): 

  • How does a nation become a world power?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of being a world power?

Guiding Question(s): 

  • How and why did the United States emerge as a world power?
  • What impact did World War I have on the United States at home and abroad?

 

 

Required GLE

Suggested Examples

HISTORY

4.1.2, Part 2

Understands how the following themes and developments help to define eras in U.S. history:

  • Industrialization and the emergence of the United States as a world power (1890—1918).
  • Explains how the Roosevelt Corollary helps to define the early 20th century as a time when the United States was emerging as a world power. 

GEOGRAPHY

3.3.1

Analyzes and evaluates elements of geography to trace the emergence of the United States as a global economic and political force in the past or present.
  • Examines how proximity between the United States and Central America led to U.S. economic dominance of the region.

GEOGRAPHY

3.1.1

Analyzes information from geographic tools, including computer-based mapping systems, to draw conclusions on an issue or event.
  • Examines maps of the United States using a Geographic Information System (GIS) to draw conclusions on how the development of railroads led to Chicago’s industrialization.
  • Examines maps of the Puget Sound using a Geographic Information System (GIS) to draw conclusions on why Seattle became Washington State’s largest city and port.

GEOGRAPHY

3.2.3

Analyzes the causes and effects of voluntary and involuntary migration in the United States in the past or present.
  • Examines the factors leading to Italian immigration to the United States and its effects on U.S. society.
  • Examines the factors leading to Japanese immigration to the United States and its effects on U.S. society.

HISTORY

4.2.1

Evaluates how individuals and movements have shaped the United States (1890—present).

  • Weighs the costs and benefits of immigrant labor on the industrialization of the United States.
  • Weighs the costs and benefits of the Progressive Movement on the Labor Movement.

ECONOMICS

2.3.1

Evaluates the role of the U.S. government in regulating a market economy in the past or present.
  • Critiques the effectiveness of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in ensuring competition in the market.
  • Critiques the effectiveness of the Federal Reserve Board in helping to control inflation through the regulation of interest rates.

SOCIAL STUDIES SKILLS

5.4.1

Evaluates and interprets other points of view on an issue within a paper or presentation.
  • Evaluates and interprets other points of view on America’s role in developing the Panama Canal.
  • Evaluates and interprets other points of view on why the women’s suffrage movement succeeded.

 

Unit Outline 3:  US- Reform, Prosperity, and Depression (1918-1939)
Essential Question(s): 

  • How has the United States faced the dilemma of maintaining the balance between free enterprise and governmental regulation and oversight?
  • What are the relationships among the rise of industrialization, large-scale rural-to-urban migration, and increases in immigration?

Guiding Question(s): 

  • What are the different explanations for the Great Depression and how did the New Deal fundamentally change the role of the federal government?
  • How did the balance of federal power shift between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches in the 20th century?

 

 

Required GLE

Suggested Examples

HISTORY

4.1.2, Part 3

Understands how the following themes and developments help to define eras in U.S. history:

  • Reform, prosperity, and the Great Depression
    (1918—1939).
  • Explains how the 19th Amendment and the New Deal Policy define U.S. history following World War I as period of reform.

ECONOMICS

2.1.1

Analyzes the incentives for people’s economic choices in the United States in the past or present.

  • Examines what economic incentives caused people to join labor unions in large numbers during the Great Depression.
  • Examines how the overproduction of agricultural products led farmers to destroy their supply to boost prices at the beginning of the Great Depression.
  • Examines how automobile producers set prices in the 1920s to generate sustainable demand among middle-class Americans.
  • Examines what economic incentives caused the U.S. government to institute the Bracero program.

 

CBA: Checks and Balances

 

 

Required GLE

Suggested Examples

CIVICS

1.2.2

Evaluates the effectiveness of the system of checks and balances during a particular presidential administration, Supreme Court, or Congress.

  • Critiques the effectiveness of checks and balances during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s attempt to implement his New Deal policies and efforts to increase the number of Supreme Court justices.
  • Critiques the effectiveness of checks and balances during the Taft Court (1921—1930).

SOCIAL STDUEIS SKILLS

5.2.2

Evaluates the validity, reliability, and credibility of sources when researching an issue or event.
  • Critiques the validity, reliability, and credibility of documents from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration when researching the justification of New Deal programs.

Unit Outline 4:  US- WWII, the Cold War, and International Relations (1939-1991)
Essential Question(s): 

  • What has been the role of the United States in the spread of global interdependence?

Guiding Question(s): 

  • What caused World War II and how did World War II transform role of the United States in world affairs and foreign policy?
  • What were the causes and consequences of the Cold War?

 

 

Required GLE

Suggested Examples

HISTORY

4.1.2, Part 4

Understands how the following themes and developments help to define eras in U.S. history:

  • World War II, the Cold War, and international relations (1939—1991).
  • Explains how World War II transformed the United States’ role in world affairs.
  • Explains how atomic weapons help to define the decades after World War II as the Cold War era.

HISTORY

4.2.3

Analyzes and evaluates how technology and ideas have shaped U.S. history (1890—present).
  • Analyzes the costs, benefits, and long-term significance of the Green Revolution on U.S. foreign policy in Southeast Asia.

ECONOMICS

2.2.1

Understands that nations have competing philosophies about how best to produce, distribute, and consume goods, services, and resources.

  • Compares the economic systems of the United States to the U.S.S.R. during the Cold War.
  • Compares the differing economic philosophies in the United States and Japan in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

2.2.2

Analyzes how comparative advantage has affected United States imports and exports in the past or present.
    • Examines the effects of the United States’ perceived loss of comparative advantage in the manufacturing of textiles.
    • Examines the effects of the United States’ comparative advantage in pharmaceutical research on the export of prescription drugs.
    • Examines how transnational companies have shifted manufacturing in response to perceived changes in comparative advantage.
    • Examines how perceived loss of comparative advantage led Ford Motor Company to shift automobile manufacturing outside of the United States.

 

CBA: U.S. Foreign Policy

 

 

Required GLE

Suggested Examples

CIVICS

1.3.1

Analyzes and evaluates the causes and effects of U.S. foreign policy on people in the United States and the world in the past or present.

  • Examines why the United States policy of the Truman Doctrine was implemented and critiques the costs and benefits for Korea.
  • Examines why the United States was involved in Vietnam between 1950 and 1975 and critiques the costs and benefits of this policy for the United States and the world.

SOCIAL STUDIES SKILLS

5.1.1

Analyzes the underlying assumptions of positions on an issue or event.
  • Examines underlying assumptions of U.S. involvement in Vietnam between 1950 and 1975.
  • Examines underlying assumptions of U.S. involvement in the 1977 Egypt—Israel Peace Accords.
  • Examines the underlying assumptions of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s decision to incarcerate Japanese Americans during World War II.

5.1.2

Evaluates the depth of a position on an issue or event.

  • Critiques how well a position on U.S. involvement in Vietnam addresses the complexities of this conflict.
  • Critiques how well a position on U.S. involvement in the 1977 Egypt—Israel Peace Accords addresses the complexities of relations in the Middle East.

 

 

 

Required GLE

Suggested Examples

 

4.3.2

Analyzes multiple causes of events in U.S. history, distinguishing between proximate and long-term causal factors (1890—present).
  • Examines multiple interpretations of the causal factors of the Vietnam War. 
  • Examines multiple interpretations of the causal factors of the Bay of Pigs Invasion. 

 

Unit Outline 5:  US- Movements and Issues at Home (1945-1991)
Essential Question(s):

  • How has the United States dealt with issues of equality and the extension of civil liberties?
  • How has the United States dealt with the gap between prosperity and poverty?

 
Guiding Question(s): 

  • What were the domestic economic and social changes as a result of World War II?
  • What have been the causes and consequences of efforts to improve the environment?
  • What are the major social problems and domestic policy issues in contemporary American society?
  • How does America's changing cultural, ethnic, religious, economic, and social landscape impact public policy, perceptions, and attitudes both inside and outside our borders?

 

 

 

Required GLE

Suggested Examples

 

HISTORY

4.1.2, Part 5

Understands how the following themes and developments help to define eras in U.S. history:

  • Movements and domestic Issues (1945—1991).
  • Explains how the United Farm Workers, Civil Rights Movement, and Feminist Movement help to define U.S. history after World War II as a time of social movements.

 

HISTORY

4.2.2

Analyzes how cultures and cultural groups have shaped the United States (1890 – present).
  • Examines the way that African Americans used the court system to influence civil rights legislation.
  • Examines the way that migrant workers impacted agricultural labor.  
  • Examines how the use of boycotts and demonstrations led by various ethnic groups has resulted in social change in the United States.

GEOGRAPHY

3.1.2

Analyzes how differences in regions and spatial patterns have emerged in the United States from natural processes and human activities.

  • Examines why cultural and political factors distinguish the West Coast from East Coast.
  • Examines why Massachusetts is considered politically liberal whereas Texas is considered politically conservative.
  • Examines why most people in the United States live within fifty miles of a coast and how this settlement causes coastal regions to differ from the country’s interior.

3.2.1

Analyzes and evaluates human interaction with the environment in the United States in the past or present

  • Weighs the benefits and negative consequences of the damming of the Colorado and Columbia Rivers.
  • Examines the conditions leading to the passage of the Clean Air Act.
  • Examines the interaction between geographic factors and the social, economic, and cultural aspects of a historical question.

 

ECONOMICS

2.4.1

Analyzes and evaluates how people in the United States have addressed issues involved with the distribution of resources and sustainability in the past or present.

  • Critiques how entitlement programs in the United States have affected the distribution of resources to people living below the poverty level.
  • Critiques how well dam development in the Pacific Northwest has contributed to sustainable economic growth.
  • Critiques the role of entrepreneurship in the United States in sustaining economic growth and raising the standard of living for its residents.

 

GEOGRAPHY

3.2.2

Analyzes cultural interactions.

  • Examines the cultural interactions between Puerto Rican migrants and other ethnic groups of New York City.
  • Explores the concept of model minority in the United States and how it affects the public’s perceptions of race and class.
  • Examines cultural interactions between residents in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood and members of the Los Angeles Police Department before and after the 1965 riots.
  • Examines cultural interactions in Washington State resulting from the arrival of Southeast Asian refugees in the 1970s and 1980s.  

 

Unit Outline 6:  US-Entering a New Era (1991-Present)
Essential Question(s):

  • How do people respond to times of uncertainty?

Guiding Question(s): 

  • What themes and developments define the era in which we live?
  • How are the issues and problems facing us today similar to or different from those that existed in previous eras?

 

 

 

Required GLE

Suggested Examples

 

HISTORY

4.1.2, Part 6

Understands how the following themes and developments help to define eras in U.S. history:

  • Entering a new era (1991—present).
  • Explains how the Oklahoma City bombing and 9/11 attacks have defined a new era in U.S. domestic and foreign policy.

 

HISTORY

4.4.1

Analyzes how an understanding of United States history can help us prevent problems today.

  • Examines the United States’ ability to meet the challenge of global climate change based on responses to environmental challenges in the past.
  • Examines how understanding the history of immigration laws in the United States can help us decide how to regulate immigration today.

SOCIAL STUDIES SKILLS

5.3.1

Creates and articulates possible alternative resolutions to public issues and evaluates these resolutions using criteria that have been identified in the context of a discussion.

  • Engages in a small-group dialogue where each student presents two or more possible resolutions to the threat of climate change and evaluates others’ alternative resolutions.

 

CBA: Constitutional Issues

 

 

Required GLE

Suggested Examples

CIVICS

1.1.2

Evaluates how well court decisions and government policies have upheld key ideals and principles in the United States.

  • Critiques how courts and government policies have supported or failed to support civil rights.
  • Critiques how courts and government policies have supported or failed to support the constitutional right to freedom of speech.
  • Critiques how well the Supreme Court decision in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1 upheld the right to equal protection.

1.4.1

Analyzes and evaluates ways of influencing local, state, and national governments to preserve individual rights and promote the common good.

  • Evaluates the effectiveness of states’ initiative processes in preserving individual rights and promoting the common good.
  • Evaluates the effectiveness of voting in recent presidential elections in promoting the common good and preserving individual rights.
  • Evaluates the effectiveness of the campaigns of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in preserving individual rights and promoting the common good.
  • Evaluates the effectiveness of the campaigns against “hate crimes” by gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgendered organizations in preserving individual rights and promoting the common good.
  • Using examples of different groups of people in American society, analyzes instances in which unalienable rights were denied and evaluates the effectiveness of the struggles that ensued to guarantee those rights.