You WILL be challenged in 8th grade social studies. But your classmates and I will be there every step of the way to master the content standards, to build upon your knowledge and 21st Century Skills, to gain new and insightful perspectives, and to make connections from the past to the present. We will be taking events that happened hundreds of years ago and connecting it to you...that's right, to YOU. In order to make the content meaningful we are going to work together using your interests and insight to drive instruction and assessment.
The course begins with European Colonization of the "New World" after Columbus accidentally crashes his ship into the Bahamas. Mercantilism is the main focus at the beginning of year, followed by political, economic, and social reasons for colonization. The idea of limited, self, and representative government, sparked by the Enlightenment will then be the prevailing theme of the course as "We" break up with England and "Never ever get back together (Taylor Swift)." The successes and failures of our new government will be analyzed and compared with present day, as well the addition of the Bill of Rights to the Constitution. If you haven't noticed, we will be diving deep into our nation's primary documents (Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Constitution, Gettysburg Address, Emancipation Proclamation). Attention will be paid to the Magna Carta as well (the next best thing from England besides One Direction).
Our year will end by connecting early sectional events in the development of our Nation (Slavery, State's Rights, Federalism) to the Civil War, and finally analyzing how our Nation's Reconstruction efforts shaped the 20th Century. By no means are these the only things we will be visiting. We will often be knocking out many content statements concurrently. This year should prove exciting, interesting, and challenging, and if we agree to dedicate ourselves to becoming inspired, empowered, and motivated learners, there's no end to what we can collaboratively accomplish.
The course begins with European Colonization of the "New World" after Columbus accidentally crashes his ship into the Bahamas. Mercantilism is the main focus at the beginning of year, followed by political, economic, and social reasons for colonization. The idea of limited, self, and representative government, sparked by the Enlightenment will then be the prevailing theme of the course as "We" break up with England and "Never ever get back together (Taylor Swift)." The successes and failures of our new government will be analyzed and compared with present day, as well the addition of the Bill of Rights to the Constitution. If you haven't noticed, we will be diving deep into our nation's primary documents (Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, Constitution, Gettysburg Address, Emancipation Proclamation). Attention will be paid to the Magna Carta as well (the next best thing from England besides One Direction).
Our year will end by connecting early sectional events in the development of our Nation (Slavery, State's Rights, Federalism) to the Civil War, and finally analyzing how our Nation's Reconstruction efforts shaped the 20th Century. By no means are these the only things we will be visiting. We will often be knocking out many content statements concurrently. This year should prove exciting, interesting, and challenging, and if we agree to dedicate ourselves to becoming inspired, empowered, and motivated learners, there's no end to what we can collaboratively accomplish.