US History II

Links for Friday’s workshop on sourcing the documents in Chapter 29 –

What is Historical Thinking? (NHEC)
http://historicalthinkingmatters.org/scopestrial/0/inquiry/main/resources/41/

Mon 5/5 Discussion Day – come prepared to share what you learned in the History Now Project, which is due in class (no electronic submissions)

The last exam (Chapters 27-29) will take place on May 12th from 8:30 – 11:30 am in our regular classroom. It will be the equivalent of the other three exams. It is not designed to fill the full three hours, but you should expect it to take longer to complete than our other exams. As before, you may bring one 8.5×11” sheet of notes.

Download the 112 Ex4 StudyGuide.Spr14 (PDF)

In our third unit, US history collides with world history in a big way, and we seek to explain how the US became involved in the Second World War and the subsequent Cold War. We also explore the transition from the New Deal “welfare state” through the wartime homefront years to a multi-decade era of prosperity and political consensus. But were the postwar “good times” for everyone?

Mon 3/24 World War II. Reading: Chapter 24. We will also discuss the Primary Source paper project; see new tab above for the details and guidelines. Constitutional Module #3 will go live on Blackboard (due by April 25).

Wed 3/26 Peer Review Writing Workshop. No reading, but bring a *printed* draft of your Primary Source paper to class.

Fri 3/28 The Cold War Begins. Reading: Chapter 24.

Mon 3/31 Workshop Day – bring textbook. Reading: Documents from Chapters 23-24

Wed 4/2 Troubled Innocence. Reading: Chapter 25. Primary Source paper is due

Fri 4/4 Liberal Consensus. Reading: Chapter 26, up to p. 836.

Mon 4/7 Workshop Day – bring textbook. Reading: Documents from Chapter 25-26

Wed 4/9 Discussion Day on Postwar America. Reading: Rest of Ch 26 and Review Ch 23-26

Fri 4/11 Exam #3 (Chapters 23-26). As before, you may bring a prepared double-sided 8.5×11″ sheet of paper

In the second unit of the course, we explore the U.S. at home and abroad in the early decades of the 20th century, with themes of modernization, imperialism, World War I, the Depression and New Deal, economic crisis, social change, popular culture and media, and the role of government. This unit, based on Chapters 19-22, contains three document workshop days and three SkillBuilders. You should also be working on the second online Constitutional module, which is available on Blackboard until March 14th.

Mon 2/24 Empire and Wars 1898-1918. Reading: Chapter 20

Wed 2/26 Workshop Day – bring textbook. We will be working with the primary documents in Chapter 20.

Fri 2/28 Discussion Day – bring textbook. Review Chapters 19-20. SkillBuilder #4 due (you can use anything from Chapters 19-20 that you haven’t already written about)

Mon 3/3 An Anxious Affluence. Reading: Chapter 21

Wed 3/5 Workshop Day – bring textbook. We will be working with the primary documents in Chapter 21. Exam Study Guide #2 will be handed out.

Fri 3/7 Depression, Dissent, and New Deal. Reading: Chapter 22. SkillBuilder #5 due (you can use anything from Chapters 19-22 that you haven’t already written about)

Mon 3/10 Workshop Day – bring textbook. We will be working with the primary documents in Chapter 22.

Wed 3/12 Discussion Day – bring textbook. Review Chapters 19-22

Fri 3/14 Exam #2 in class (Covers Ch 19-22). As before, you may bring one 8.5×11″ sheet of paper with anything on the front and/or back. Also – Complete Online Constitutional Module #2 by this day.

Spring Break March 15 – 23 – Enjoy the break!

Update: I have posted our class slides (Chapter 14) under a new “Slides” tab, above. Also – if you need examples of footnotes for the SkillBuilder, check the “SkillBuilders” tab, where I’ve put a couple of sample ones.

Our first unit on post-Civil War America begins with a look at Reconstruction’s mixed legacy and the multiple meanings of freedom in the postwar South (Chapter 14). We will then turn to other regions of the country, including the West (Chapter 15), North (Chapter 16) and MidWest (Chapter 17).

Mon 1/27 Frontier Encounters. Reading: Ch 15

Wed 1/29 Workshop Day. Bring your textbook to class (if you have an e-book, bring your laptop or tablet), we will be working with the Documents in Chapters 14 and 15.
Link: Library of Congress Primary Source Analysis Tool

Fri 1/31 The Age of Organization: Industry. Reading: Ch 16. SkillBuilder #1 due in or before class.

Mon 2/3 The Age of Organization: Farmers, Workers. Reading: Ch 17

Wed 2/5 Workshop Day. Bring your textbook to class (if you have an e-book, bring your laptop or tablet), we will be working with the Documents in Chapters 16 and 17.

Update: if class is cancelled due to snow, we will do the workshop on Friday, so bring your textbooks then.

Fri 2/7 Discussion Day Document Workshop. Bring your textbook to class, review Chapters 14-17. SkillBuilder #2 due in or before class.

Mon 2/10 Cities, Immigrants & Nation. Reading: Ch 18

Wed 2/12 Discussion Day. Bring your textbook to class, review Chapters 14-18

Fri 2/14 Exam #1 in class (Chapters 14-18). Complete the online Constitutions module quiz by this date. Download the exam study guide here.

See the post below this one for the course basics if you are just adding in, or if you missed Day 1. For everyone else, here is what we’re up to this week:

• Read the syllabus
• Read your textbook, Ch 14 “Emancipations and Reconstructions”
• Use the document you got in class on Wednesday to write a “Pre-SkillBuilder.” This is not graded but will give me a chance to see what your baseline skills are in analyzing primary sources and using history’s writing conventions (including footnotes). Guidelines for SkillBuilders are found on page 4 of the syllabus, and guidelines for correct use of Chicago Style are in the left sidebar links on the course website. Your document may have very little bibliographic information, but just do your best with citing it given what you have.
• If you missed class but would like to submit the paper on Friday anyway, use one of the documents in Chapter 14 of the textbook.

In our last 4 classes, we’ll be talking about recent history and our contemporary era (Chapter 31 in the Henretta text), focusing on what it means to “think historically” and why that is an important skill in our complex world. The “History Now” project allows you to apply the skills you have developed throughout the entire term and showcase your learning in this course. As you focus on one single event in great depth, you will make use of fundamental historical concepts we’ve learned including primary source analysis, chronology, sourcing, and historical context.

Mon 12/2 – “History Now Workshop” It is VERY IMPORTANT that everyone be in class that day. You will receive a packet of sources and the instructions for your last project and will begin to work on the project in class. Bring a laptop, you will find it helpful.

Wed 12/4 – Globalization. Reading: ACH 31: 942-960. Quiz 4 opens up at 8:30 am, on Chapters 29 and 3 and will stay open (3 attempts, as usual), until 8:30 on Wed 12/11 when our last exam begins.

Fri 12/6 – Clinton, Bush and Obama. Reading: ACH 31: 958-972.

Mon 12/9 – The World We Live In. Your History Now Projects are due in class; there is no electronic submission. As we review for the exam, we will be talking about historically significant events and trends in our current moment, and how Americans record and tell the stories of our own time. How will historians of the future study 2013?

The last exam will be Wed 12/11 at 8:30 am in our classroom. It is not designed to be a 3-hour exam; it will be comparable to the other exams we have taken. If you are thrilled with your grade on all previous exams, you do not have to take the last one, since your lowest exam is dropped; however I always recommend that students take it. You’ll receive your History Now project evaluations back when you submit your exam.

Reminder – Monday, Oct 14: No class, Columbus Day holiday

*Please note* – this unit’s classroom Powerpoint slides are available under the “Slideshows” tab above; they make great study aids!

Online quiz #2 is now open on Blackboard under “Quizzes.” You can take it up to three times before it closes on Friday, Oct 18th at 8:30 am, so please make sure you do that this week!

Wednesday, Oct 16: Workshop Day – New Deal Legacy. Reading: ACH 23: 711-722. Bring the ACH book to class with you for the workshop. Laptops will be helpful too, although everyone doesn’t have to bring their own.

Link for today: Google doc for group work

Friday, Oct 18: Exam #2 in class. As with last time, you may bring ONE 8.5×11″ sheet of paper, decorated on either/both sides with anything you choose.

In our first unit, as you voted, we’ll explore aspects of American culture from 1880 to the end of World War I. We particularly focus on gender (i.e. social constructions of mens’ and womens’ roles), the idea and experience of “the modern,” and the rise and reform of industrial cities. Here are the readings and workshops for this unit:

Friday, Sept 13: Men and Women in the Victorian Age. Reading = ACH 18: 538-549. SkillBuilder #2 due in or before class.

Monday, Sept 16: Public Spheres, Sacred Spaces. Reading = ACH 18: 549-566. Remember there is an MDQ (Monday Daily Question) on Mondays as class begins. Great links for today: “America on the Move” (Smithsonian Institution) on the Pullman Cars (and lots more!), and this site on the 1913 Armory Show

Wednesday, Sept 18: Workshop Day – Who Were the Victorians? Reading: Review ACH Chapter 18. Please bring the Fernlund documents book to class.

Friday, Sept 20: The New Metropolis. Reading = ACH 19: 569-583. Online Quiz #1 opens this morning on Blackboard under “Quizzes”; it will draw from ACH Chapters 15-17 and will be open until Friday, Sept 27. You can take it up to 3 times.

Monday, Sept 23: City Government and City Reform (+ MDQ). Reading = ACH 19: 583-596

Wednesday, Sept 25: Workshop Day – Muckrakers and Ashcan Artists. Reading = Review ACH Chapter 19. You may want to bring your laptop to class today.

Friday, Sept 27: Exam #1, drawing from the readings in Chapters 18-19 and our workshop class sessions. Remember – your lowest exam gets dropped, so if you miss this one just let it go, as there are no make-ups on exams.

Thanks for everyone for voting! The results were:

Chapter 16 = 9 votes
Chapter 17 = 11 votes
*Chapter 18 = 19 votes
*Chapter 19 = 16 votes

Chapter 20 = 1 vote
Chapter 21 = 17 votes
*Chapter 22 = 20 votes
*Chapter 23 = 19 votes

*Chapter 24 = 15 votes
Chapter 25 = 13 votes
Chapter 26 = 11 votes
*Chapter 27 = 15 votes

*Chapter 28 = 16 votes
Chapter 29 = 13 votes
Chapter 30 = 15 votes
*Chapter 31 = 19 votes

The starred/bolded chapters will be our main focus in each of the 4 units and will be the subject for the workshops and unit written exams. The other chapters you will be mainly responsible for reading on your own, at your own pace, and you will take open-book online quizzes on them during each unit. You will get a complete syllabus page on Monday with all the details.

Your reading assignment for Monday is from Chapter 16 (Intro, Conclusion, and pp 484-500 only) and Chapter 17 (Intro, Conclusion, and pp 510-527 only) of Henretta, America: A Concise History or ACH as it’s called on the syllabus.

Have a great weekend, enjoy the sunshine!

Mon 4/1 – Cold War America. Reading: ACH Ch 25 (skim/take notes on entire chapter) 

Wed 4/3 – Workshop Day: McCarthyism. Review ACH Ch 24-25 – BRING LAPTOPS, please

Fri 4/5 – The Middle Class Triumphant. Reading ACH Ch 26 p. 787-806. Quiz opens up, on Chapter 27. SkillBuilder #6 due. Exam study guide will be handed out.

Mon 4/8 – Gender, Sex and the Family in the ’50s. Reading: ACH Ch 26 p. 807-815

Wed 4/10 – Workshop Day: the Suburbs. Review ACH Ch 26

Fri 4/12 – Exam #3 in class. Online Quiz closes at 9:00 am.

Photo: consider the “nuclear” family (in both senses of the word) at the lively blog Envisioning the American Dream – perfect for this unit!

1954 trailer for THEM!