US History Middle School Semester Class 6 of 6: The Civil War & Reconstruction

This class focuses on the following 6 historical thinking skills
✅Analyze origin of a source
✅Understand and summarize difficult reading passages
✅Challenge and recognize bias
✅Determine if a source is trustworthy
✅Compare multiple sources to verify claims
✅Create logical arguments and support them with evidence 

Teaching your student how to effectively analyze sources and create logical arguments based on evidence is my #1 goal. Your student will leave this class...
✅ Equipped to handle the onslaught of information in our digital age
✅ Prepared for higher level courses
✅ Able to recognize credible information and sift through bias
✅ Confident in their ability to defend their beliefs  
✅ Able to advocate for themselves and convey their abilities

This year-long class will cover several sensitive topics including: the genocide of Indigenous Nations including the Aztec, Inca, Maya, and North American tribes from the Northeast Woodland, Southeast, Southwest, Plateau, California, and Northwest Coast regions by European colonizers, the immoral Atlantic Slave Trade and conditions that enslaved people experienced. 

I am a certified Social Studies teacher in both Utah and North Carolina. In my training and experience teaching in the classroom and virtually I have found that the best way to approach these sensitive topics is to address them explicitly and have an open conversation with my students. We discuss the mindset of historical societies, the moral implications of their actions, how it affects us to today, and why it can be difficult to talk about these subjects at times. 

I make it clear to my students that they are always welcome to meet with me individually if they are bothered by any of these discussions. I also ask them, and the parents to contact me if they are concerned with my class content or delivery. These topics can be difficult to navigate and I am always trying to improve!

This unit includes one project and six optional enrichment activities to enhance student learning. These assignments are not required, but I will provide feedback for students that complete them. Each class I provide a note template that students can fill out as we move through the lesson. Information from the notes will be included in a unit final that students have the option to take to assess their learning. There will be 1-2 reading assignments during the unit that I ask students to complete prior to class to facilitate a class discussion. 

We will have informal assessments in each class (such as class discussions, drawing a picture to display understanding, etc.) and one short quiz in each unit. At the end of each unit we will have a final multiple choice assessment that students will do on their own time. 

2 hours 45 minutes per week in class, and maybe some time outside of class.

https://americanhistory.si.edu/american-enterprise-exhibition/simulations 
https://amhistory.si.edu/american-enterprise/business-of-slavery/ 
‘Give Me Liberty! An American History’ Volume 1 by Eric Foner
‘Voices of Freedom: A Documentary History’ Volume 1 by Eric Foner
‘A Young People’s History of the United States’ by Howard Zinn
'An Outline of US History' - https://archive.org/details/OutlineOfUSHistory/page/n65/mode/2up
'An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States' by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz