Student and Teacher Resources
The entire course is oriented towards answering the course level question (CLQ), “How has the pursuit of freedom impacted the differing definitions of the American Identity?” Each unit breaks the CLQ down into a unit focus question (UFQ) that that helps to guide our study across the entire year. And, to provide support and context for the UFQ, each lesson is broken down further into lesson focus questions, each of which in turn seek to answer part of the UFQ. At the end of each unit, students answer the UFQ in a two to three paragraph “historical interpretation” in which they take a position in response to the UFQ and defend it by citing evidence discovered in the analysis.
Through the iterative process of answering these UFQs, by the end of the year, students will be well on their way to producing a far ranging summative assessment essay covering all they have learned about freedom and the American identity as a result of being in my class this year. The following are focus questions that will help frame the students’ historical inquiry in this unit and as they encounter Native American civil rights issues later in the year.
Course Level Question: How has pursuing freedom impacted the differing definitions of the American Identity?
Colonial America Unit Focus Question: What were the freedoms that drove people to migrate to the New World, and, to what extent did these motives have a positive or negative impact on all parties involved?
Lesson Focus Questions: What factors led to the deterioration of relations between western Europeans and Native Americans over the course of our history?
To what extent did the settlers coming to North America positively and negatively impact the Native Americans?
How important was the playoff system with regard to relations between Native Americans and the European colonizing powers they encountered?
What factors caused the French and Indian War and what was the most important lasting impact of this conflict?
March to Civil Rights Unit Focus Question: How has the quest for equality in America helped shape a new American identity?
Lesson Focus Question: To what extent did the African American civil rights movement impact the American Indian Movement’s activities and objectives?
Manifest Destiny Unit Focus Question: In their quest for freedom, were Americans justified in pursuing Manifest Destiny?
Lesson Focus Questions: How did the Native American perspective on land ownership differ from those of white settlers?
To what extent did Jackson’s Indian Removal Policy impact the lives of Native American peoples today?
Given the history of dishonest dealings by the American government, what reasonable and meaningful remedies can we as a nation expect to implement to help build a lasting equitable peace with American Indians?
The inescapable question that should come from Agents of Change: How American Indians Helped Change the World in Only Seven Years is “where do we go from here?” Some have taken the position that that abandoning our homes and cities is much akin to trying to put the genie back in the bottle. But one must acknowledge, in light of the stated goals of the Declaration and the Constitution, that we can at least try to get the genie to play fair. With a hopeful eye towards a higher level of societal evolution, the unit could later be used to leverage the power of various civil rights movements to help students brainstorm how to bring meaningful and equitable solutions to this persistent shortcoming of our national story.
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