Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Denis Kucinich Homework 9-22-09

After reading the Kucinich policy brief and press release, construct a primary source analysis table for each.

POV: (What is the main idea? What does the author want you to know, think, believe? Who is the intended audience? How can you tell?)

Evidence: (What did you read specifically that lead you to this conclusion? Quote key passages from the text directly. List and define key words.)

Connections: (Discuss some events that took place during the time period and discuss how they may have impacted the author's point of view.)

Reflection: (What is your personal opinion about this document and its author?)

Monday, September 21, 2009

Tom Tancredo Interview Homework (9-21-09)

After reading the Tom Tancredo interview create a three column chart. Label as follows:

Column A: Quote

Column B: Know/Think/Believe (What does Tancredo want you to know, think and believe?)

Column C: Left or Right? Why? (List the political ideology and corresponding bullets from the ideological spectrum chart)

***You must include six quotes from the document.
***Your answers must demonstrate critical thinking.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Due Tuesday, Sept 29: Personal Political Framework Essay

Personal Political Framework Reflection

We have spent the first few weeks talking about different political ideologies. I want you to start thinking about where you stand on the political-economic ideological spectrum. How would you vote if you could? Why? What would your political party look like if you started one on your own?

Respond to the following:

Do you lean left, right or center? Why? What do you believe about rights, economics and society?

Discuss a political ideology that you favor.


For this assignment you must write an essay that:

a) Contains a clear point of view and explicitly uses evidence to defend your ideological stance.
b) Demonstrates your knowledge of the political-economic ideological spectrum and basic understanding of the terms “left” and “right.”
c) Demonstrates your understanding of political and economic systems.
d) Includes at least 5 quotes from the documents you received in class, including at least 1 significant quote from a party platform.
e) Includes at least 2 quotes from an article you found that discusses your point of view
f) Is nuanced. Evidence should be mixed and not all come from the same document. You should have more than one argument.
g) Demonstrates critical thinking; raises and answers questions.
h) Conforms to grammar standards.
i) Is interesting to read and well written.
j) Is 3 pages, typed, double-spaced 12 pt font

Civil War and Reconstruction Course Outline 2009-2010

It is my hope that in this course you will gain a better understanding of the causes and effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction through the use of investigative research. Scholarly works, primary source documents, documentaries, docudramas and classic films will be used to examine both the historical time period and the folklore that sprung up about it subsequently. After a detailed investigation of the role slavery, cotton and industrialization played in the Northern and Southern economies, you will consider the moral arguments used for and against the “Peculiar Institution.”
The War itself will be seen through the eyes of soldiers, slaves and women. President Lincoln will be contrasted with other historical figures who took a more radical stance against slavery.
The struggle to establish and maintain racial equality in the post-war South will be contrasted with the challenges of upholding the principle of equality and liberty today and we will ask, have we yet created a post-racial society?



Essential Question: At What Point are Differences of Opinion Irreconcilable?



September - Introduction to Mr. Copeland’s History Class


• Political Systems
• Economic Systems
• Political and Economic Ideological Spectrum
• World and U. S. Geography

Skills: Note taking, analysis of primary sources
Texts: Party platforms of selected political parties, quotations from selected historical figures
Films: Excerpts from political roundtable discussions on various cable and PBS programs
Assessments: Quizzes, 3 page personal political/economic framework essay with quotes



October – Race, Gender and Class in the Antebellum South
Essential Question: How Can Economic Conflict Lead to War?


• The Atlantic Slave Trade
• Slavery in the Americas
• The Conditions and Toll of Involuntary Servitude in the United States
• “King Cotton”: Class Among White Southerners

Skills: analysis of graphs and numeric data, content vocabulary usage, analysis of primary and secondary sources, development of a written argument, determining appropriateness of evidence
Texts: A People’s History of the United States (Zinn), From Slavery To Freedom (Franklin), Civil War and Reconstruction (Randall), Who Built America? (American Social History Project) A People a Nation (Norton, et al)
Films: Queen (Mini-series based on book by Alex Haley)
Assessments: Quizzes, Unit Exam, Film Reflection/Response Essay with thesis and quotes




November – Economic Roots of the War
Essential Question: How Can Economic Conflict Lead to War?

• Industrial Capitalism
• Urbanization and Immigration in the North
• Economic Relationship between the North and South

Skills: U. S. geography/map, analysis of graphs and numeric data, content vocabulary usage, analysis of graphs and numeric data, content vocabulary usage, analysis of primary and secondary sources, development of a written argument, determining appropriateness of evidence
Texts: A People’s History of the United States (Zinn), From Slavery To Freedom (Franklin), Civil War and Reconstruction (Randall), Who Built America? (American Social History Project) A People a Nation (Norton, et al)
Films: Selected CUNY, PBS and other documentaries, Gone with the Wind
Assessments: quizzes, unit exam, 4 page response essay with clear thesis and evidence





December /January – Political Roots of the War
Essential Question: How Much Damage and Destruction are You Willing to Cause to do What You Believe is Right? The Trial of John Brown


• Sectionalism
• Abolitionism
• Mexican War
• Trial of John Brown

Skills: analysis of graphs and numeric data, content vocabulary usage, analysis of graphs and numeric data, content vocabulary usage, analysis of primary and secondary sources, development of a written argument, determining appropriateness of evidence, logic, reasoning and debating skills
Texts: A People’s History of the United States (Zinn), From Slavery To Freedom (Franklin), Civil War and Reconstruction (Randall), Who Built America? (American Social History Project) A People a Nation (Norton, et al) Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Films: Selected CUNY, PBS and other documentaries
Assessments: quizzes, unit exam, mock trial group project





February /March – The Civil War
Essential Question: Did Lincoln Fight the War to Free the Slaves?

• Abraham Lincoln
• Battlefield Medicine
• Military Technology
• Role of African American Soldiers
• Role of Women in the War
• Economic Impact of the War

Skills: map/ U. S. geography, analysis of graphs and numeric data, content vocabulary usage, analysis of graphs and numeric data, content vocabulary usage, analysis of primary and secondary sources, development of a written argument, determining appropriateness of evidence
Texts: A People’s History of the United States (Zinn), From Slavery To Freedom (Franklin), Civil War and Reconstruction (Randall), Who Built America? (American Social History Project) A People a Nation (Norton, et al) Our Lincoln (Foner), Women’s America (Kerber)
Films: Glory, The Red Badge of Courage
Assessments: unit exam, quizzes, 6 page response essay with clear thesis and arguments, group presentation




April/May/June – Reconstruction
Essential Question: What was it like to go from Slavery to Freedom to Jim Crow?

• Presidential Reconstruction
• Radical Reconstruction
• Southern Redemption and the Restoration of White Supremacy
• Industrialization

Skills: analysis of graphs and numeric data, content vocabulary usage, analysis of graphs and numeric data, content vocabulary usage, analysis of primary and secondary sources, development of a written argument, determining appropriateness of evidence
Texts: A People’s History of the United States (Zinn), From Slavery To Freedom (Franklin), Civil War and Reconstruction (Randall), Who Built America? (American Social History Project) A People a Nation (Norton, et al) Our Lincoln (Foner), Women’s America (Kerber)
Films: Birth of a Nation, Aftershock: Beyond the Civil War, American Experience: The Richest Man in the World - Andrew Carnegie (1997)
Assessments: unit exam, final exam, quizzes, 4 page response essay with clear thesis and arguments

Democratizing Twentieth Century America Course Syllabus 2009-2010

In this course you will examine the roots of various Twentieth Century political, social, economic and cultural reform movements. For each movement, you will answer a series of essential questions. Through these questions you will gain both a sense of historical context and an understanding of the tactics used by those who sought to bring about greater democracy and equality in the United States.

Essential Questions: Why Then? Why did the endeavor for this reform get underway when it did? What gains were won? What gains were sought but not won? If the reform was only partially achieved, what limited its attainment?



SEPTEMBER - Introduction to Mr. Copeland’s History Class

• Political Systems
• Economic Systems
• Political and Economic Ideological Spectrum
• World and U. S. Geography

Skills: Note taking, analysis of primary sources
Texts: Party Platforms of selected political parties, quotations from selected historic figures
Films: Excerpts from political roundtable discussions on various cable and PBS programs
Assessments: Quizzes, personal political/economic framework essay



OCTOBER - Democracy and Equality for Women

• The Right to Vote
• The Movement for Birth Control
• Industrialization
• World War I

Skills: content vocabulary usage, analysis of primary and secondary sources, argument development for a debate, logic and reasoning
Texts: The Twentieth Century (Zinn), Women’s America (Kerber, DeHart), Legislating Women’s Morals (Sanger), Comstock Law, Selected Handouts
Films: Iron Jawed Angels, Choices of the Heart
Assessments: Quizzes, Response Essay, Unit Exam, Reproductive Rights Debate



NOVEMBER – Labor Democratizes America

• The Progressive Era
• The Great Depression
• The New Deal
• The Red Scare

Skills: content vocabulary usage, SAT prep vocabulary usage in writing, analysis of primary and secondary sources, development of a written argument, determining appropriateness of evidence
Texts: The Twentieth Century (Zinn), Who Built America, Roosevelt and the New Deal, Selected Handouts
Films: Native Son, Grapes of Wrath, The Front, Roger and Me, Selected CUNY Documentaries
Assessments: Quizzes, Response Essay, Unit Exam



DECEMBER /JANUARY - Democracy and Equality for African Americans

• World War II
• The Cold War
• The Civil Rights Movement

Skills: vocabulary usage, SAT prep vocabulary usage in writing, analysis of primary and secondary sources, development of a written argument, determining appropriateness of evidence, organization in writing a formal, academic essay, presentation/power point, public speaking
Texts: The Twentieth Century (Zinn), Unfinished Journey (Chaffe), From Slavery to Freedom (Franklin), Movements of the New Left (Goss)
Films: Eyes on the Prize, Battle for America’s Schools, Selected CUNY Documentaries
Assessments: Quizzes, final exam, independent/group research project



FEBRUARY/MARCH – Democracy and Equality for Youth

• The Cold War
• Student Movement
• Anti-War Movement/Vietnam War
• Hippie Movement

Skills: vocabulary usage, SAT prep vocabulary usage in writing, analysis of primary and secondary sources, development of a written argument, determining appropriateness of evidence, discerning author bias
Texts: The Twentieth Century (Zinn), Unfinished Journey (Chaffe), The Children (Halberstam), Movements of the New Left (Goss)
Films: Two Days in October, Summer of Love, Selected CUNY Documentaries
Assessments: Quizzes, Unit Exam, Response Essay





MARCH/APRIL – Pluralistic America

• The Cold War
• Black Power Movement
• Latino Cultural Liberation
• Women’s Liberation
• American Indian Cultural Liberation
• Gay and Lesbian Liberation

Skills: vocabulary usage, SAT prep vocabulary usage in writing, analysis of primary and secondary sources, development of a written argument, determining appropriateness of evidence, discerning author bias
Texts: The Twentieth Century (Zinn), Unfinished Journey (Chaffe), The Children (Halberstam), Movements of the New Left (Goss), Stonewall (Duberman), Columbus to Castro (Williams)
Films: The Education of Sonny Carson, Malcolm X, Milk, Yo Soy Boriqua, Selected CUNY Documentaries
Assessments: quizzes, unit exam, group project and independent research paper



MAY/JUNE – Ronald Reagan and the Rise of the New Right

• Conservative Movement/1964/Barry Goldwater
• The Presidency of Ronal Reagan and Political Realignment of the South
• The Collapse of the Soviet Union

Skills: Analysis of primary and secondary sources, development of a written argument, determining appropriateness of evidence, discerning author bias
Texts: The Twentieth Century (Zinn), the Rise of Southern Republicans (Black), Unfinished Journey (Chaffe), The Conscience of a Liberal (Krugman)
Assessments: Quizzes, Final Exam, Group Presentation/Independent Research Project