US II -

We have gone through much of the Gilded Age, and with the completion of reading The Jungle and/or The Alienist, students have gained a realistic perspective of life for the people, illustrating our ongoing theme of "History happened to people". Stop and think a bit about the developments of the period...industry and big business; Social Darwinism & the Gospel of Wealth; labor unions; the rise of cities; the demise of the agrarian society; immigration...and we have not looked yet at the politics of the time nor our emerging foreign policy. Lots to digest and critically important to understand, for this era determines what the U.S. will be throughout the 20th Century.

Ahead - a test on the era, probably Thursday or Friday of next week. Then a research paper! It does not get any better than that, eh?

US I -

We are now beginning our look at the U.S. Constitution. Each class will be broken up into 4 groups, each group to create a PowerPoint slideshow, a song, an oral presentation, a magazine cover, and a few other tasks on their constitutional topic. We will have groups on each branch of government and a group on the powers of government. Group and individual grades will be assigned.

Students will also be assigned a Supreme Court case to research and present to the class. In these cases, we will look at the role of the Supreme Court as well as looking at our rights, what we understand, and what we do not understand, about them.

US I will also be getting a research paper assignment soon. This will be an important grade and one students will need to put a great deal of thought into.