The United States was founded on the principles of natural rights, equality, and classical republicanism, but how well did it actually live up to these ideals? In this lecture, Professor Rob McDonald of the US Military Academy at West Point describes the conflict between the ideals of the American Revolution and the unfortunate realities of the time.

In this activity, students will be learning about Arabic countries in addition to European and South American countries. Also, practice asking and answering questions about various nationalities. Using feminine and masculine forms.Can-Do Statements:I can identify the names of Arabic countries.I can ask someone where they are from and say where am I from?I can use either feminine or masculine to describe my nationality.

This is the story of the Aztec’s historic 200+ year pilgrimage, as told from the 16th Century Primary source: The Codex Boturini.

The Aztecs came from a place in the north called: Aztlan, which means, “place of the White Heron.”

The Aztecs left their homeland Aztlan in about 1111 C.E. After more than 200 years of trials and tribulations, they stopped when they saw their sign from their god Huitzilopochtli: the eagle perched on the cactus. There, they would build one of the greatest cities in world history.

This is the story of their historic migration from Aztlan to Tenochtitlan in their own words.

Kishore Mahbubani, author of Beyond the Age of Innocence: Rebuilding Trust between America and the World and Can Asians Think? joins Conversations host Harry Kreisler for a discussion about America and the world. (55 min)

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Anatole Lieven of the New America Foundation and John Hulsman of the German Council on Foreign Relations for a discussion of their new book, Ethical Realism. They analyze the foreign policy debate in Washington, compare American leadership of Truman and Eisenhower with the leadership of Bush and Cheney, and drawing on the American tradition defined by George Kennan, Hans Morgenthau, and Reinhold Niebuhr, argue for a new foreign policy that combines ethics with realism.(58 min)

Distinguished social scientist and public intellectual Chalmers Johnson, President of the Japan Policy Institute, joins host Harry Kreisler for a conversation on the nature of the American Empire and its costs and consequences for the future of American democracy and power in the world. (58 min)

The 11th grade learning experience consists of 7 mostly month-long units aligned to the Common Core State Standards, with available course material for teachers and students easily accessible online. Over the course of the year there is a steady progression in text complexity levels, sophistication of writing tasks, speaking and listening activities, and increased opportunities for independent and collaborative work. Rubrics and student models accompany many writing assignments.Throughout the 11th grade year, in addition to the Common Read texts that the whole class reads together, students each select an Independent Reading book and engage with peers in group Book Talks. Students move from learning the class rituals and routines and genre features of argument writing in Unit 11.1 to learning about narrative and informational genres in Unit 11.2: The American Short Story. Teacher resources provide additional materials to support each unit.

In this unit, students will take a look at the historical vision of the American Dream as put together by our Founding Fathers. They will be asked: How, if at all, has this dream changed? Is this dream your dream? First students will participate in an American Dream Convention, acting as a particular historical figure arguing for his or her vision of the American Dream, and then they will write an argument laying out and defending their personal view of what the American Dream should be.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Students read and annotate closely one of the documents that they feel expresses the American Dream.
Students participate in an American Dream Convention, acting as a particular historical figure arguing his or her vision of the American Dream.
Students write a paper, taking into consideration the different points of view in the documents read, answering the question “What is the American Dream now?”
Students write their own argument describing and defending their vision of what the American Dream should be.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

These questions are a guide to stimulate thinking, discussion, and writing on the themes and ideas in the unit. For complete and thoughtful answers and for meaningful discussions, students must use evidence based on careful reading of the texts.

What has been the historical vision of the American Dream?
What should the American Dream be? (What should we as individuals and as a nation aspire to?)
How would women, former slaves, and other disenfranchised groups living during the time these documents were written respond to them?

BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT: Cold Read

During this unit, on a day of your choosing, we recommend you administer a Cold Read to assess students’ reading comprehension. For this assessment, students read a text they have never seen before and then respond to multiple-choice and constructed-response questions. The assessment is not included in this course materials.

In this lesson, students will share their work with their classmates and celebrate their accomplishments.

Lesson outcomesStudents will examine the differences between the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans parties.Students will evaluate the credibility of a source and corroborating varying versions of a historical event.AssessmentAfter carefully examining three sources for reliability, students will determine who they trust more - Hamilton or Jefferson, citing relevant text information in their response.State Standards, Indicator, ObjectiveIdentifying the impact President George Washington had on setting precedents for the office of the President.Evaluating the evolution and impact of the Federalist and Democratic-Republican parties on domestic and foreign policy.Evaluate the credibility of the sources by considering the authority, the origin, type, context, and corroborative value of each sourceIdentify credible, relevant information contained in the sourcesIdentify evidence that draws information from multiple sources to support claims, noting evidentiary limitations

The Declaration of Independence and the words “all men are created equal” provided thousands of enslaved Africans high expectations and many were ready to fight for the Country and their own personal freedom. Thousands of enslaved Africans impacted the war right from the start at Lexington and Concord, all the way to the end at Yorktown. This lesson will explore the life of James Armistead Lafayette, an enslaved African Virginian. Working as an undercover spy for George Washington, James risked his life to gather key intelligence about the British that helped secure an American victory at Yorktown. In this lesson, we will discuss whether his efforts in service of the American cause helped or hindered his ability to achieve emancipation.

provides an overview of an exhibit which explains the historical role of transportation in visitors exploration of National Parks -- from the stagecoach to the automobile.

In his groundbreaking March 2008 speech on race, Barack Obama described the white experience in America as "the immigrant experience." But what does that mean? In this lesson, students will take a close look at their own textbooks to see how the immigrant experience (white and non-white) is treated.

All of these children are part of U.S. child labor history, where many children were exploited by companies, working long 10-12, sometimes 16 hours shifts for as little as pennies a day. These kids were exploited until unions and federal and state labor laws protected kids. From 1870 – 1890, child labor increased three fold. 1870 was the 1st U.S. census that reported child labor statistics, and 750,000 children worked. Child labor peaked in 1900 when 18.2% of all U.S. kids under the age of 16 WORKED, often at very dangerous jobs.

This lesson is the third in a series called Expanding Voting Rights. The overall goal of the series is for students to explore the complicated history of voting rights in this country. Two characteristics of that history stand out: First, in fits and starts, more and more Americans have gained the right to vote; and second, the federal government has played an increasing role over time in securing these rights.

Writing the Nation: A Concise Guide to American Literature 1865 to Present is a text that surveys key literary movements and the American authors associated with the movement. Topics include late romanticism, realism, naturalism, modernism, and modern literature.