Background information
Before going into detail about specific objectives and strategies I think it would be wise to note some special considerations pertaining to my students, my school, my district and how the unit will relate to the goals that I have as a teacher.
The Charlotte- Mecklenburg school district is the 6th largest in the country and is heavily bureaucratic. The State of North Carolina has a teacher and school accountability program called the ABC goals that uses end of year tests developed by the state to judge students in all the academic disciplines. My course is tested at year's end. The district is very serious about making high marks on these tests and nearly all policy follows this general goal.
Curriculum for all courses is developed at the state level. In our district teachers are given pacing guides, classroom activities, lesson plans, and the like that are aligned to State standards. Added to this is a local quarterly exam that each teacher is required to give as a means for measuring the pace at which individual teachers are moving through the material.
My school is an arts magnet program that is made up of 1300 students, grades 6-12. I teach 11th and 12th graders with approximate class sizes between 15 and 30. The children at this school choose to be there out of a sincere interest in an arts related field. They are chosen by lottery but must complete an audition process before they are allowed to enter the school. Our school normally performs well on English, Science and Social Studies standards but often falls short in Mathematics. I teach and run the Social Studies Department and this unit pertains to the Advanced Placement United States History class that I teach. In this class my students are not only tested by the state in the accountability program but also by the College Board. Pay bonuses for our school are determined, in part, by how well my students perform. There is quite a bit of pressure to do well.
This unit on war and civil liberties will be used to assist in meeting the curriculum requirements. First, the exercises will help meet the needs of content material, and second, they will provide part of the writing component for the AP exam. Students entering the 11th grade should have some understanding of the Constitution. In North Carolina students in the 10th grade take the class "Civics and Economics" that deals almost exclusively with constitutional issues. Therefore, this unit will not cover any critical analysis of the Constitution before considering the issues of civil liberties but will depend on prior knowledge.
The unit was designed in cooperation with the English AP 11 teacher. He is also concerned with persuasive writing and our hope is that the unit will be of cross-curricular use.
My class is very regimented. I require that students keep a notebook to my specifications. For each unit of study I develop a list of criteria referenced objectives that make students aware of each assignment in that grading period. They, along with any additional handouts, are color coded and placed in the notes section of their notebooks in the proper order. My class always begins the same way. There is either a primary document on an overhead to be analyzed or practice/ review questions that are also to be copied into the practice question section of their notebooks. It is commonplace in my class for the structure of assignments to be the same but used for the study of different time periods. For instance, my students complete what is called a Presidential Review System. The PRS asks students to investigate some of the more important administrations and, in part, give brief details about political changes, economic conditions, and cultural happenings that are of special importance. This unit will be along the same vein.
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