POL and History Classes

Part I:

Relevance and Connections with the Present

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Here are some US History examples.

Unit 1:

Race

Unit 2:

Presidential Decision Making

Unit 3: The Economy and American Life

Culmination

Final exam= letter to President; after length discussion (with historical parallels to Vietnam especially) Iraq and Afghanistan.

* * *

Resources and connections–key words, word webs, etc:

Time, NYT become great resources (click for example) (here is another)

Find connections to recent past first:

Here is a key piece from the Time article linked above, example #2.

This lead to a discussion of Malcolm X–I used Spike Lee’s movie (you could hear a pin droop in the classroom). Lee places Malcolm in a larger context (his rivalry early on with King, his parents as Garvey supporters, etc.). See handout “Cluster/Word Web” =jump off point for research groups and class presentations.

Part II:

Real-world tools, interactive

ALL OF THIS IS A WAY TO RESPOND TO POL–THE SECOND ISSUE IS ONE OF THE ACTIVE LEARNER, REAL-WORLD TOOLS, ETC. (CLICK HERE). THE BLOG YOU ABOUT TO LOOK AT WAS CREATED BY THE STUDENTS.

Go to pages on Social Sciences.

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