Conclusion
Though combining these units seems like a daunting task I am very excited about the possibilities for stronger impact on student learning and deeper understanding of historical change on a macro and micro level. The connections among identity, foreign policy, and social inequality can help students analyze how to change the oppressive structures that influence people's relationships and interaction dynamics with each other. Students motivation and understanding will hopefully fuel success in this “higher” level courses, thus help change projected academic identity not only for themselves but also for our school community at San Jose High School. Through this unit, I hope that students acquire the initial academic tools for strong historical writing and read text with a critical eye, use writing as a method to gain personal and community freedom, and have the option to rewrite history as more representative and accurate by including their own narrative and identity.
Appendix
San Jose High School is an International Baccalaureate (IB) school which offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP). This unit implements the IB HL Option 2: History of the Americas standards which is part the IBDP two-year high school educational program.
These standards and program are internationally accepted qualification for entry into many universities worldwide. This unit meets the skills and content standards for the IB History Paper 3 examination. They are practicing the skill of historical writing through their study of the content of this unit based on the Paper 3 mark bands and standards. The content of this unit focuses on people and events named that will either be named in Paper 3 examination questions or used as historical evidence answering those questions. The IB HL option 2: History of the Americas Content Standards require that three sections of the eighteen that are listed in the IB History guide must be selected for study in this course. Two content sections of the IB History guide are included in this curriculum unit.
The first section of the two focuses on the Emergence of the Americas in global affairs (1880–1929). This section focuses on the impact of modernization in the Americas on foreign policy. How “modernization” shaped the new nations in the Americas, and its effects created the basis for a major changes in the foreign policies and interactions between nations of the Americas. Specific standards studied will be the United States expansionist foreign policies and imperialist power role in Latin America such as displayed in the Spanish–American War (1898); Big Stick policy; Dollar Diplomacy; moral diplomacy. Also studied are the political, economic, social and ideological reasons for the United States imperialist foreign policy and its impact on hemispheric status.
The second section of study is on Civil rights and social movements in the Americas post-1945. This section analyzes the causes, context, struggles, and achievements of civil rights and social movements. These movements represented the attempts to achieve equality for groups that were not recognized or accepted as full members of society, and they challenged established authority and attitudes. One content standard this unit meets is an evaluation of the origins, tactics and organizations of Indigenous peoples of the Americas civil rights movement. Other IB content standard met through this unit is understanding the origins, tactics and organizations of the African Americans civil rights movement in the United States; Feminist movements in the Americas; and Hispanic American movement in the United States. Specifically the African American movement will cover the impact of the US Supreme Court and legal challenges to segregation in education; ending of segregation in the south (1955–1980); the role of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in the civil rights movement; the rise of radical African American activism (1965–1968): Black Panthers; Black Power and Malcolm X; role of governments in civil rights movements in the Americas. Students will need to understand the reasons for emergence; impact and significance the Feminist movements in the Americas. Lastly students are expected to evaluate the Hispanic American movement in the United States specifically the role of Cesar Chavez and effects of immigration reform in the United States.
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