Grade 11 - United States History and Geography: Continuity and Change in Modern US History: Prese...

1. Topic 1: Connecting with Past Studies: The Nations Beginnings

1.1. What are [the] key tenets of American Democracy? - Understanding the core pillars of American Democracy.

1.2. How did the country change because of the Civil War and Reconstruction in the 19th century? - Understanding the aftermath of both pre-Civil War and post-Civil War.

2. Topic 2: Industrialization, Urbanization, Immigration, and Progressive Reform

2.1. How did America's economy, industries, and population grow after the Civil War? - Understanding the American economy and American Social Life after the Civil War.

2.2. Who came to the US at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th Centuries? Why did they come? What was their experiences like when they arrived? - Understanding how people from outside the United States come and become part of the American culture.

2.3. How did the federal govt. impact the country's growth in the years following the Civil War? - Understanding the federal governments involvement in the social and economic lifestyle after the American Civil War.

2.4. Why did women want to the right to vote, and how did they convince men to grant it to them? - Understanding women's role in getting involved into American politics.

3. Topic 3: The Rise of the US as a World Power

3.1. How did America's role in the world change between the 1870s and 1910s? Did the United States become an imperial power? - Understanding how the United States role around the world changed between the 1870s and 1910s.

3.2. How did America change because of World War I? - Understanding how America's foreign and domestic policy changed after World War I.

4. Topic 4: The Great Depression and the New Deal

4.1. Why was there a Great Depression? How did ordinary people respond to the Great Depression? - Understanding the political, social, and economic status of the United States that ended the nation in the Great Depression. In addition, students will try to understand how the citizens of the United States reacted to the Depression.

4.2. How did the New Deal attempt to remedy problems from the Great Depression? - Understanding the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration political actions to tackle the Great Depression including the New Deal policy.

5. Topic 5: America's Participation in World War II

5.1. Why did Americans not want to join WWII before the bombing at Pearl Harbor? - Understanding America's isolationism behavior before its full-involvement in World War II.

5.2. How did the American government change because of WWII? - Understanding the federal government's change in behavior once involved in World War II.

5.3. How was the war mobilized and fought differently in the Atlantic versus the Pacific? - Understanding how the United States military fought differently in Europe (Atlantic) and the Japan (Pacific).

5.4. How did WWII serve to advance movements for equality at home and abroad? - Understanding the movements during World War II.

6. Topic 6: Cold War Struggles Abroad

6.1. What was Containment? How was it employed? - Understanding the United States policy towards communism during post-WWII.

6.2. How did American foreign policy shift, especially tackling communism around the world after World War II? - Understanding America's foreign policy after World War II until the start of the Clinton Administration.

6.3. Why was the period between 1946-1990 known as the Cold War? How did anti-communism drive foreign policy? - Understanding American social and political culture during the Cold War era.

7. Topic 7: Cold War Struggles at Home

7.1. How was the Cold War fought domestically? How did the government work to combat the perceived threat of communism domestically? - Understanding how the United States fought the Cold War domestically.

7.2. How were American politics shaped by the Cold War? How did the Cold War affect ordinary Americans? - Understanding how American politics affected political, social, and economics during the Cold War era.

8. Topic 8: Movements for Equality

8.1. Why was there a Civil Rights Movement? - Understanding the need for a Civil Rights Movement after World War II.

8.2. What were the goals and strategies of the Civil Rights Movement? Did the Civil Rights Movement succeed? - Understanding the goals and the success of the Civil Rights movement. In addition, how did the Civil Rights movement use past movements to build upon their respective movements.

8.3. How was the government involved in the Civil Rights Movement? - Understanding the political actions of State and the Federal governments in the United States.

8.4. How was the war in Vietnam similar to and different from other Cold War struggles? - Understanding how the Vietnam War and its policies affected the Civil Rights movement.

9. Topic 9: Contemporary American Society

9.1. How has the role of the federal government (and especially the presidency) changed from the 1970s through more recent times? - Understanding how the role of the Presidency and the federal government changed post-Watergate and post-Cold War.

9.2. What does globalization mean, and how has it affected the United States? - Understanding how the American work production has changed overtime and how it has affected the population.

9.3. Why is the US more diverse now than it was in the middle of the 20th century? -Understanding why issues such as education; civil rights for people of color, immigrants, and LGBT Americans, and disabled Americans; economic policy; recognition of economic, social and cultural rights; the environment; and the status of women remained changed and unchanged overtime in the United States.

10. 3 Activities for Student Engagement

10.1. Document-Based Questions: Students will use primary and secondary sources to write an argumentative essay to defend their respective positions.

10.2. Poetry: Students will engage with the material taught and write a poem about the subject. (i.e. Student learning about the Great Depression would write a poem about how life was hard during the era.)

10.3. Group Presentation: Students will get into groups of 3-5 and present a topic using primary, secondary, and image sources.