Eighth Grade Content Standards
by Martin Velasco
1. 8.5 U.S Diplomacy During the Early Republic
1.1. Relationship with Britain and the War of 1812
1.2. The Monroe Doctrine and Interactions with Central and Latin America
2. 8.6 The American Northeast in the early to mid-1800's
2.1. Industrialization and city building
2.2. The development of roads, canals, and railroads.
2.3. Immigration from Northern Europe
2.4. Rights and freedoms of African Americans in the Northeast
2.5. The development of the American education system
2.6. Women's suffrage
2.7. Transcendentalism and Individualism in art
2.7.1. Students create a piece of art that demonstrates a major theme of Transcendentalism or Individualism. They can choose via making a short story, a poem, or a physical piece (i.e. a drawing).
3. 8.7 The American South in the early to mid-1800's
3.1. The cotton economy
3.2. Development of slavery in the United States and Southern opinion
3.3. White Southern society
3.4. Lives of free African Americans in the North vs. the South
4. 8.8 The American West in the early to mid-1800's
4.1. The Jackson Presidency
4.2. Manifest Destiny
4.3. Women in the West
4.4. Water rights in the West
4.5. Mexican settlement in the West
4.6. Independence movements in the West: Texas and the Mexican-American War.
5. 8.9 Abolition Movement Describe the leaders of the movement, abolition in early state constitutions, the annexation of Texas and California, the significance of abolition legislature, and the lives of free blacks.
6. 8.10 Causes, Events, and Consequences of the Civil War Compare State vs Federal authority, the differences between free and slave states, discuss Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, writing, and speeches, study the lives of the big and little players, critical developments and events, and explain how the war affected the nation.
6.1. Excercise: Create a movie poster about a Civil War battle, person, or event. Come up with a creative title about your topic. Draw a picture that represents your topic and use the important people for the actors. Create a clever tag line that explains what your movie is about and will make people interested in seeing your movie. Make your poster creative and visually appealing.
7. 8.11 Reconstruction Describe the effects on politics and society, the factors in the movement of former slaves, the effects of the Freedmen’s Bureau and Jim Crow laws, the Ku Klux Klan, and the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.
8. 8.12 Changing Social and Political Conditions from the Industrial Revolution Trace impacts on climate, natural resources, and trade, reasons for federal Indian policy, how to encourage business expansion through tariffs, banking, and subsidies, discuss important industrialists and their effects on urbanization and immigration, discuss the labor movement and its leaders, identify the impact of immigrants to society and the economy, Grangerism and Populism, and name significant inventors and their inventions.
9. 8.1 What happened before the formation of the United States and what led to the construction of the Constitution.
9.1. How the Great Awakening led to the idea of revolution against Great Britain.
9.2. How the Declaration of Independence gave the citizens of the United States rights and a way to protect those rights.
9.3. How the American Revolution affected other nations.
9.4. Describe the ideas that led to the development of the Declaration of Independence.
10. 8.2 What power the Constitution gave to the federal government.
10.1. How previous English documents granting citizens rights influenced the Constitution.
10.2. How the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution implemented the ideas of the Declaration of Independence.
10.3. Describe the major compromises that were made during the development of the Constitution.
10.4. Describe how the Federalist Papers influenced the development of the Constitution and the impact specific leaders had in getting the Constitution ratified.
10.5. Describe how the Jefferson influenced the development of the First Amendment and the problems he encountered on the idea of separation of church and state.
10.6. List the important liberties given to citizens in the Bill of Rights and the powers the federal government were given in the Constitution.
10.7. Describe how the Constitution protects individual rights and how the different branches of government were given checks and balances.
11. 8.3 Understanding how citizens practice their responsibilities in the federal government.
11.1. How state constitutions influenced the development American politics.
11.2. What the ordinances of 1785 and 1787 did.
11.3. List why open state trade was a good idea.
11.4. Understand the difference of ideas that Alexander Hamiliton and Thomas Jefferson had.
11.5. How domestic resistance affected the U.S. government.
11.5.1. For my class assignment, I will have students read about Shays' Rebellion. They will decide if they thought he was a patriot or a criminal. They will design either Wanted dead or alive posters or recruitment posters to join his movement. They will site the text to support their arguments.