High School U.S. History Course A

LIMITED SEATS AVAILABLE

U.S. History Course A: Course Overview and Goals

This US History course promotes the examination, analysis, and evaluation of important events in the history of the United States of America. In Semester A, you will examine events that shaped the birth, growth, and expansion of the nation from the late 1700s through the mid1900s. These events are told through multiple diverse perspectives and include a focus on primary and secondary sources. Throughout the course, you will use inquiry skills to examine, ask questions, and analyze the impacts of historical events and actions, and will discuss the outcomes of them with your peers. You will also form opinions about historical events and support your opinions with information from your reading.

Not only will you learn about history, but you will also learn critical thinking and analytical skills through Clarifying Big Ideas lessons in order to gain a deeper understanding of history.

By the end of this course, you will be able to do the following:

Identify key people, documents, factors, and events in the founding of the United States and analyze the political, territorial, and cultural challenges people faced in the new nation.

Understand how history embodies the concept of continuity and change.

Explain the growing divide of the nation in the years preceding the Civil War.

Describe the events and impacts of the Civil War.

Analyze the successes and failures of Reconstruction.

Evaluate primary sources to understand and compare the experiences and perspectives of individuals and groups.

Describe how industrialization and innovation affected the United States politically, socially, and economically.

Identify major factors that led to westwards expansion and discuss the interactions and conflicts between groups that resulted from it.

Compare who benefited and who did not as the nation industrialized after the Civil War.

Explain and analyze the influences of the Progressives on American politics and society and evaluate the long-term impact of key-ideologies of the Progressive movement.