What is a “life” when it’s written down? How does memory inform the present? Why are memoirs so popular? This course will address these questions and others, considering the relationship between biography, autobiography, and memoir and between personal and social themes. We will closely examine some recent memoirs: Tobias Wolff’s This Boy’s Life, Barack Obama’s Dreams From My Father, Edwidge Danticat’s Brother, I’m Dying, Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Infidel, and Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home. Students will write two brief papers: a critical essay and an experiment in memoir.
As a “Sampling,” this class offers 6 units, with a strong emphasis on close reading, group discussion, focused writing, and research and presentation skills.

Making Evidence-Based Claims ELA/Literacy Units empower students with a critical reading and writing skill at the heart of the Common Core: making evidence-based claims about complex texts. These units are part of the Developing Core Proficiencies Program. This unit develops students' abilities to make evidence-based claims through activities based on a close reading of the Nobel Peace Prize Speeches of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Barack Obama.

This activity aims to facilitate classroom discussion of President Obama's remarks on July 19 about race and the Trayvon Martin case.

Does Democracy Matter in My Life?- Own It! Handbook is the guide book for a transformative after-school, trauma-informed enrichment program. It provides five  lessons & activities about essential elements of American democracy since the 1780s. Own It! also nurtures academic skills, personal growth and leadership. It uses history to connect our past to our future, as part of the Own Your History® (OYH) Collection. But Own It! is not “school” and it differs from traditional approaches to history.  Own It! helps students learn more about themselves, as well as their community and the country. Own It! enhances students’ engagement in being creative, making things happen, and  achieving goals. Its mission is to help them step up and enrich their lives, especially by understanding that they live in history. 

In this lesson students discuss Dr. King's views about alliance-building; consider these in light of Obama's inauguration; learn about the alliance-building work of Ai-jen Poo, founder of Domestic Workers United; and think about things in their own lives that they might want to build alliances to change.

This curriculum kit helps to teach about the role of media in 28 U.S. elections ranging from 1800-2008. Over 160 media documents are included for decoding, including slides of posters, handbills and political cartoons; audio clips of songs and radio programs; and video clips of speeches, debates, comedy TV and political commercials. Students will learn how to analyze historical documents, the history of presidential campaigns, the crafting and marketing of campaign messages, and the impact of new technologies and new media on presidential campaigns.

This kit explores the ways in which King and his legacy have been portrayed in various media forms. The first lesson follows a chronology of King's life through interactive decoding of rich media documents (comic books, billboards, songs, music videos, etc.). The following lessons use excerpts of Dr. King's speeches from 1963, 1967 and 1968 to examine his views on social change; explore the portrayal of King in magazine covers, advertisements, Web sites, film clips and monuments; and use letters to the editor about celebrating King to explore challenges to change.

In which John Green teaches you about recent history. By which we mean VERY recent history. John covers the end of George W. Bush's administration presidency of Barack Obama (so far). Some people would say, "It's too soon to try to interpret the historical importance of such recent events!" To those people, we answer, "You're right." Nonetheless, it's worthwhile to take a look at the America we live in right now as a way of looking back at how far we've come. Anyway, John will teach you about Obama's election, some of his policies like the Affordable Care Act, the 2009 stimulus, and the continuation of the war on terror. If you still can't reconcile a history course teaching such recent stuff, just think of this one as a current events episode.

Chapters:
Introduction
The 2008 Financial Crash
The Housing Bubble
The Stock Market Crash
Rising Unemployment
Big Bank Bailouts
The End of the Bush Years
Barack Obama
Mystery Document
Obama's Campaign Promises
Economic Recovery
The Affordable Care Act/"Obamacare"
Backlash Against Obama & The Tea Party
Obama's Second Term
Ideological Questions
Credits

Explore why the 2012 shooting of a black student became a pivotal tension point around race and justice during Barack Obama’s presidency, in these videos excerpted from FRONTLINE: Divided States of America. Trayvon Martin’s death at the hands of a neighborhood watch volunteer ignited passions across the nation. America’s first black president grappled with his response. Obama’s initial silence, followed by carefully guarded words, prompted a backlash—and not just from conservative pundits. Many in the black community were traumatized by the incident and by others like it. Following the shooter’s court acquittal the next year, Obama acknowledged his own experiences as a black American. For many, this was the first time in his administration that he openly spoke for black people.

This course offers an analysis of the keen interest shown by France and the French in North American cultures since the eighteenth century. Not only did France contribute to the construction of both Canadian and American nations but also it has constantly delineated its identity by way of praising or criticizing North American cultures. Taught in French.

Watch this video summarizing the activities at the White House during the week of July 12, 2013. Events included the second annual kid's state dinner with young chefs from each state and territory.

This is the blog for the White House of the United States during the presidency of Barack Obama.

This blog post remembers astronaut Neil Armstrong after his death in 2012. A photo gallery of Armstrong is included along with a video of Obama on the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11's moon landing.