The World Turned Upside Down: A FLEX History of the American Revolution

This class is taught in English.

Students will become familiar with the causes, events, and elites of the American Revolution and gain background knowledge and rare-word vocabulary from a specific domain that will enhance their reading comprehension of nonfiction text.

I have taught this course for several years as a full-time, certified Elementary and Secondary teacher at the District of Columbia Public Schools.  I was a fellow in the Teaching American History program at the American University specifically focussing on the American Revolution.  Additionally, I received an Excellence Award from the Educational Testing Service for Outstanding performance on the PRAXIS II Test for Social Studies Content Knowledge. My unique expertise is in developing and teaching content-rich humanities units that integrate geography, history, literature, science, art, and music.  Additionally, I have developed a repertoire of strategies for teaching reading in the content area to intermediate-age students.

Each week, students will read and respond to a written text.  Assignments are designed to be completed as students read.  The amount of time necessary to complete the assignments will depend on the learner. 

I will provide feedback on all submitted assignments.  Completed work can be compiled into a portfolio.  If requested I will provide a letter grade and certificate.

No live meetings, and maybe some time outside of class.

The following are a few of the sources I used to develop the content for this class:

• Voices of the American Past: Documents in U.S. History, 5th ed. (J Chris Arndt with Raymond M. Hyser), Cengage, 2 vols., 2012. Arndt is Associate Dean of College of Arts and Letters at James Madison University.

• Red, White, and Black: The Peoples of Early North America by Gary Nash.

Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer

Jefferson's Pillow: The Founding Fathers and the Dilemma of Black Patriotism by Roger Wilkins

• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. 

• Forgotten Patriots: African American and American Indian Patriots in the Revolutionary War by Eric G. Grundset

• The Trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's First Black Poet and Her Encounters with the Founding Fathers by Henry Louis Gates.

Additionally, we will utilize a wealth of original source documents that are available through the Library of Congress and National Archives online, discuss relevant literature, and analyze iconic paintings including Washington Crossing the Deleware by Emanuel Leutze.