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Welcome to U.S. History and American Literature

Class, I'm glad to have each of you join me for this journey into American history, literature, art, and music. Our goal this year is to gain a broader sense of our American culture, its major events and movements, our greatest artists and musicians, and the influences and shifts that have shaped our nation into what it is today. There is a great deal of information to cover, but I want to emphasize to you that we will not be experts by the end. In fact, learning is a lifelong pursuit. What I hope we can accomplish this year is to lay a healthy foundation, introducing you to the major players and events. We will break history down into units. Those units will have many sub-topics. Your task is to pick a couple of those sub-topics each week and research them more in-depth and prepare yourself for both class discussions and debates. You have some freedom here with your choices. If you are more interested in battles, then you can focus there. If you are more interested in the politica
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Enjoy your summer, and THANK YOU!

You Guys...I could hardly sleep last night after seeing your final projects. You blew me away! I am beyond proud of each of you, and I bet your parents are too. You are so talented and creative! And you are also so kind and hardworking. Hannah E, I saw the way you encouraged Abby through her song. You are a wonderful friend. Hannah D., your confidence and kindness set the foundation for the whole event. Thank you for all you did for us. I loved hearing the Mash-up of our songs, Rowan! Honestly,  that was the best I've ever heard you sing. And Abby, WAY TO GO! You conquered a fear beautifully yesterday! Hannah D. and Hannah B. you both created a memory that will bring you joy all the years of your life, and that's a blessing to all of us! John, thanks for cracking us up with your video- I knew you'd have something in store for us, and I wasn't disappointed. :) Mark, WOW. I hope your parents enjoyed seeing this creative side of you. I know the rest of us did. I look forwa

Final Class!

You have no readings assigned this week, but I do want you to review our blog and your notes for our final Jeopardy trivia game. Your final papers are due. You can either email them to me or you can bring them into class, if you haven't already done so. Also, we will invite parents to join us at 2:00, after the short play in the sanctuary, to check out our final projects. At 3:00pm, we are opening the room to the public for an open house. If you are wanting to sign up for classes next year, or this summer, we will have registration forms available. I give my returning students first dibs, so if you know you are taking a class with me next year, let me know and I'll reserve your slot. Great work this year, everybody. I've really enjoyed working with you these past several months. :)

Open House

Parents and Students, I have posted our public open house information for April 24, 3-5 PM, but I wanted to keep our own event private. We will be having our projects on display and our performances ready by 2PM for all of our family, friends, and current students. We invite you to come in and visit on our last day of class and to see some of the special projects our students have taken on in addition to their regular studies. There will be musical performances, spoken word poetry, samples of creative writing, photography, videography, and more. I will also be available to meet and discuss with you about your child's progress this year. I hope you will join us. Afterwards, we will open the doors to the public, at 3PM, to come in and visit our school, see the kinds of classes we have available, and to sign up for summer and fall classes. I will sign up any returning students first, giving you priority to reserve the slots you are interested in. If you have any questions, feel fr

Links to outside sources used in class

Last week, we looked at another short story "Marigolds" and the statistics on the Native American culture. I'm attaching the links in case you wanted to review them, and you left your copy on the table in class. I am also adding a link to the NPR interview we listened to.

April 3rd Review

We are in our final month of classes! I hope you have learned quite a bit of American history and have a deeper understanding of its connection with American literature. We are finishing the second third of our final book now. Please read up to page 167 for this next week's class. You will have your final essay due on April 17th over this novel. You can use any of the accompanying texts I gave you in class yesterday to help you write a more thoughtful or better-supported essay. You can also conduct your own research that matches the topic you'd like to discuss. As long as you can tie your discussion to the novel and provide a detailed analysis of a scene in the book to prove your point, you are on the right track. As far as history, we discussed the Cold War yesterday and its causes and its effects on American culture. One response included building up the military forces and increasing its budget. This had only previously happened during combat engagement. As Dwight Eisenhow

March 27th Review and Homework

We finished up our studies on WWII, looking at the Holocaust, the Atomic bombs, D-Day, Generals MacArthur and Eisenhower, Navajo Code Talkers, the Women in the War, the Economy, and the Tuskegee Airmen. You were all assigned research for this week's lesson as we start moving into the Cold War Era and McCarthyism. We are also moving into a fairly modern text, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. This text, while not easy on the emotions, is an easier read than some of our previous books. Therefore, I've assigned the first 73 pages. You'll stop at the chapter titled "Tears of a Clown." Now before you become overwhelmed, this novel has illustrations and bigger font. :) And it's no more than 15 pages a day, which I think you can all manage just fine. You will be writing your final literary essay on this text, as it is the last one on our list. I am giving you the freedom to explore this novel however you feel inspired. Prepare fo