Classroom Expectations
Students are expected to follow the PBIS expectations as outlined in the student handbook including:
Respect for yourself which includes arriving to class on time, prepared with the necessary materials, being on task and giving your best effort.
Respect for others which includes listening while classmates are speaking, raising your hand to speak, and treating others as they deserve to be treated.
Respect for your environment which includes cleaning up after yourself, pushing in your chair when leaving the room, entering and exiting the room quietly and using the classroom technology appropriately.
Classroom Policies
If you are absent, you are responsible for finding out what you missed and making up any missed work.
If you are out on the day of an in class assessment, you will be expected to make it up on the day you return.
Assignments can be submitted late for partial credit
Grading Policy
Major Assessments (50%)
Tests: Tests are always announced with a study guide provided in advance. There will be a summative test at the end of each unit of study.
Projects: Throughout the year students will be completing a variety of projects. These assignments will be accompanied by a rubric.
Minor Assessments (35%)
Writing: Throughout the year students will be writing in a variety of ways including quick writes and constructed responses.
Quizzes: Quizzes will be announced in advance. Some will be given on paper and some using technology.
Daily Work/ Homework (15%)
Classwork: Classwork may be individual or completed in a group. There are times when classwork will be finished at home.
Homework: Homework will be assigned daily/weekly and will be scored on effort and completion versus “correctness”.
Reading Checks: Throughout each unit there will be several reading checks completed at home. Generally, two are assigned per week.
PowerSchool Codes
Incomplete: The assignment was started but not completed and can be turned in for partial credit.
Late: Assignment was completed and turned in late.
Missing: The assignment was never submitted and can be turned in for partial credit up until the unit assessment.
Class Materials
The materials needed for this class are as follows:
Charged Chromebook
Pencil/Pen
Class Textbook
In some instances, students will be working out of the textbook titled “America: History of Our Nation”. All readings will be available as a paper copy in class or a digital copy on Classroom.
Course Overview
THEME
Early America often struggled as it expanded geographically and developed politically, economically, and socially.
1. Colonial America
Unit 1 examines the development of the 13 American Colonies focusing on Plymouth, Philadelphia, and Jamestown as well as the influence of religion on the founding of the colonies.
2. American Independence
Unit 2 examines American colonists’ resistance to the perceived injustices of Great Britain, the birth of a revolutionary movement based on natural rights, and the establishment of the United States.
3. Creating a Government
After the Revolution, Americans struggled to form a new government based on liberty and natural rights. Unit 3 dives deeply into the debates and compromises that gave way to the U.S. Constitution.
4. The Early Republic
Unit 4 looks at the first five presidents and the conflicts that arose both inside and outside of our borders.
5. Democracy for All?
Despite its principles of liberty, the new nation did not secure rights for all Americans. Unit 5 examines the Americans who fought to expand democracy, with varying degrees of success.
6. The Civil War
Unit 6 picks up with a nation on the brink of crisis, deeply divided over slavery. With the election of Abraham Lincoln, the South seceded, launching the nation’s deadliest conflict, the Civil War.
7. Reconstruction
Following the Civil War, the nation was devastated. Unit 7 explores reconstruction, or the attempt to rebuild the nation, reunite North and South, and bring justice to the newly freed African Americans.
Westward Expansion (this unit will be incorporated into previous units)
Our last unit examines westward expansion and the American settlers who encroached on Native American land, leading to violent conflict and ultimately, to the devastation of tribal culture and communities.