“Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others, past and present, and by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future.” -David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas

Social Studies Mission Statement: The primary purpose of social studies is to help young people make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world.

History Standards

1. Historical Communication: Student’s writing and speaking is fluent, factually accurate and detailed, displays complexity of thought, is able to present information and/or defend a position on a topic, and meets standards for acceptable communication (i.e. format, rules of grammar, and conventions of speaking and writing).

2. Historical Research: Student is able to obtain and evaluate historical information from a variety of reputable sources and is able to support their own interpretations with historical evidence in order to construct closely reasoned arguments.

3. Historical Thinking: Student demonstrates strong historical thinking skills. Student is able to identify and explain how historical events relate to the present, cause and effect of historical events, give examples of change and continuity throughout history and identify and explain major turning points throughout history.

Ten(ish) Things I Think Everyone Should Read...

1. "The Republic" (or, at least, something) by Plato

2. "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque

3. Our Founding Documents: The Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United States of America, and The Gettysburg Address

4. "A Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr.

5. "Congratulations, by the way: Some Thoughts on Kindness" by George Saunders

6. "1984" and/or "Animal Farm" (and/or anything else) by George Orwell

7. "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee

8. "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl

9. "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era" by James McPherson

10. "On Writing" by Stephen King

Honorable Mention(s): The Iliad and/or The Odyssey by Homer, "Born a Crime" by Trevor Noah, "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, "I Am Malala" by Malala Yousafzai, "Inferno" by Sir Max Hastings, The Lord of the Rings (trilogy) by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, "What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?" by Frederick Douglass, "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck, "The Greek Way" by Edith Hamilton, "The Once and Future King" by T.H. White, "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare, The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, "Night" by Elie Wiesel

Miscellaneous Items of Interest