This book offers the tools teachers need to get started with an
innovative approach to teaching history, one that develops literacy and
higher-order thinking skills, connects the past to students' lives
today, and meets most state standards (grades 7-12).
The author provides over 60 primary sources organized into seven
thematic units, each structured around an essential question from U.S.
history. As students analyze carefully excerpted documents--speeches by
presidents and protesters, Supreme Court cases, political cartoons--they
build an understanding of how diverse historical figures have approached
key issues. At the same time, students learn to participate in civic
debates and develop their own views on what it means to be a
21st-century American. Each unit connects to current events and dynamic
classroom activities make history come alive. In addition to the
documents themselves, this teaching manual provides strategies to assess
student learning; mini-lectures designed to introduce documents;
activities to help students process, display, and integrate their
learning; guidance to help teachers create their own units; and more.
Book Features:
- A timely aid for secondary school teachers confronted with Common Core
and other state-level quality requirements.
- An approach that promotes student engagement and critical thinking to
replace or augment a traditional textbook.
- Challenges to the "master narrative" of U.S. history from figures like
Sojourner Truth, Malcolm X, and Cesar Chavez, as well as traditionally
recognized historical figures such as George Washington and Thomas
Jefferson.
- Essential questions to help students explore seven of the most
important recurring themes in U.S. history.
- Role-plays and debates to promote interaction among students.
- Printable copies of the documents included in the book can be
downloaded at tcpress.com.
