A quick note about homework.
Each week we will be giving out reading assignments and other things (like videos) or short activities that pertain to the next week’s class. Your notebooks are where you will write summaries of what you are learning from your homework assignments. These assignments will help you prepare and help us have a great time learning history together in class.
In addition to our weekly assignments, are the semester-long reading assignments, movies, papers, and presentations that you already have instructions about in your student binders. These are self paced. We will have deadlines and reminders of how much you should have read/ done along the way to meet those deadlines- but at the end of the day- you are responsible for when these get done. If you want to read your books all in the first month you can! If you want to read them more gradually- you can as well. The same thing applies to the reading list (where you pick 2 extra books or movies per semester), the papers you are writing, or the presentation you are doing.
And FINALLY homework for this week:
- Please read and review all the documents in your student binder and show it to your parents. If you haven’t put your papers in a binder yet- please do that. We need to see your neat and organized binders in class next week.
- Please research what topic you want to do for your presentation and come ready to sign up with a topic in class on Thursday. The presentation project guidelines are in your binder. You may also want to have a backup topic ready to go as we will only be allowing one presentation per subject and it will be first come first serve. If someone signs up for your topic ahead of time it would be good to have a second option ready to go.
- Below is a google document that has all the information about the books you will be reading from both our weekly History of US books, and the books you will be writing papers on.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c7TRVDEWnSWhI44BmnxykAQuuat9Zj0NvcKBkCkR1Oc/edit
Our first book deadline is October 5th. We will be having a class discussion on that day and the following week October 12th your response paper will be due (we will have a handout on response papers in the next two weeks).
If you haven’t picked the book you are going to read for our first book, please do so.
For our westward expansion unit:
“I Am a Man”: Chief Standing Bear’s Journey for Justice By: Joe Starita
Or
In order to meet that deadline in a sustainable way, we recommend that you read at least
– 60 pages a week in I Am a Man
OR
-50 pgs a week in Sacagawea
Here is our supplemental reading list. Pick 2 books/documentaries that interest you to complete over the semester. (IF you have an idea of a book or movie you would like that is not on the list let us know and we can approve it for you.)
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Jk-sYCh1HJUu2nzFtiW2OzdEBAH_6B3ZNV3WIUZFK44/edit?usp=sharing
Weekly Assignment
- Weekly Reading in History of US:
- The New Nation chapter:
- Yankee Ingenuity: Cotton and Muskets
- Liberty For All chapter:
- Clipper Ships and Pony Express
- The New Nation chapter:
- Watch the following video clips:
- Cotton Gin:
- Industrial Revolution:
- Market Revolution:
- Morse Code
- Summarize what you have learned from watching the videos and from your readings in a way that you would be prepared to reteach it to our class during a class discussion. Refer to the paper “how to write your weekly summaries” in your binder for reference.
- Ponder and come prepared to discuss the following questions:
- Who was Sam Salter and what was his contribution to the industrial revolution?
- How did early favorites power their machines?
- Why was the cotton gin so revolutionary? What impact did it have on the politics of the nation and the growing rift between the North and the South?
- What was Eli Whitney’s contribution to gun technology?
- What were the advantages to the new industrial system? What were the disadvantages?
- How did the industrial revolution lead to a market revolution?
- What impact have the industrial revolution and the market revolution had on Americans even today?
- What was the significance of the Pony Express in settling the West?
- What impact did Samuel Morses’ invention have on our world?
- What role does technology play in the growth of a nation?
If you have any concerns or would like to let us know anything specific that might help you feel free to reach out at any time.