Session Summaries
Session 1: New World Encounters
Explore the Moundville archeological site as part of a study of pre-Columbian American culture, and examine ways to help students have meaningful experiences when visiting actual history museums and creating history museums in the classroom.
Session 2: The Coming Revolution
Take on the role of a loyalist or rebel in a town meeting simulation that focuses on colonists' dilemmas during the Revolutionary War period, and explore the simulation teaching strategy as a way to personalize history and make colonial American content more relevant to today's students.
Session 3: The New Nation
Analyze several of our nation's founding documents, and explore strategies for using primary source documents with students.
Session 4: Expansion and Reform
Use mapping activities to examine the historical context and impact of the Louisiana Purchase, and think about new ways of incorporating these mapping activities into your classroom.
Session 5: Civil War and Reconstruction
Examine the battlefield conditions experienced by men and women on both sides of the conflict, and focus on strategies that teach students how to analyze, interpret, and become informed consumers of visual media.
Session 6: The Settlement of the West
Examine the impact of the railroad on the nation's patterns of consumption and methods of financial investment, and look at strategies that use hands-on learning activities to introduce students to complex concepts, such as the growth and influence of the railroad in American society.
Session 7: World War I
Examine the different arguments in the debate over U.S. intervention in WWI, and look at strategies that encourage students to analyze non-text primary sources, including propaganda, to help them interpret the message and become cognizant of point of view.
Session 8: The Progressive Era
Refresh your understanding of the key themes of the Progressive Era, and focus on strategies that help students tap into their existing knowledge about this time period and then use that knowledge to "break the ice" for a more in-depth study of the era.
Session 9: The Great Depression and the New Deal
Reflect on America's struggles during the Great Depression and the government's efforts through New Deal programs, and consider ways to integrate literature such as The Grapes of Wrath into the history classroom.
Session 10: The Civil Rights Movement
Reflect on the impact of the Brown v. Board of Education decision, and consider ways of using oral histories to further an understanding of the civil rights struggle and other modern historical events.
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