Mississippi's Tenth Grade Standards

Article Body

(Note: By the completion of twelfth grade, Mississippi students are expected to master the following standards.)

Course: Mississippi Studies

Content Strand: Domestic Affairs

  1. Understand how geography, history, and politics have influenced the development of Mississippi.
      • a. Identify the major (Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Natchez) and minor (Biloxi, Tunica) Native American groups found living in Mississippi by the first European explorers in the region and discuss their governmental, economic and ecological systems. (DOK 1)
      • b. Describe the social, economic and political context of Mississippi when it was held by France, England and Spain and describe the process by which the Mississippi territory was admitted to the United States. (DOK 1)
      • c. Analyze the development of slavery in Mississippi including the various factors (economic, geographic, and social) that contributed to its development and explain the opposition to slavery in Mississippi. (DOK 2)
      • d. Trace the events that led to the secession of Mississippi from the Union in 1861 and explain why certain groups opposed the secession. (DOK 1)
      • e. Compare and contrast the four constitutions of Mississippi and explain the reasons for their development. (DOK 2)
      • f. Identify and locate major geographical features of Mississippi and how they contribute to the social and economic development of the state. (DOK 1)
  2. Understand the major responsibilities of state and local government and how they are executed.
      • a. Identify and describe the duties of the three branches of state government in Mississippi. (DOK 1)
      • b. Examine the various forms of local governments (i.e., city managers, municipal supervisors, mayor/city council, etc.) and evaluate how they help meet the needs of local communities. (DOK 2)

    3. Content Strand: Global Affairs

  3. Understand the role that Mississippi has played in international, political, and economic affairs.
      • a. Cite specific evidence of Mississippi‘s involvement (through imports and exports) in the global economy including communication, technology, transportation, education and manufacturing. (DOK 2)
      • b. Cite evidence of the growing international diversity of the Mississippi population by identifying the various immigrant groups in Mississippi during the 20th and 21st centuries and analyze their motivations (or push-pull factors) for migrating to the state. (DOK 2)

    4. Content Strand: Civil Rights/Human Rights

  4. Understand and describe the historical circumstances and conditions that necessitated the development of civil rights and human rights protections and/or activism for various minority groups in Mississippi.
      • a. Compare and contrast de facto segregation and de jure segregation in Mississippi from 1890 to the present, including the rise of Jim Crow era events and actors (i.e., Ross Barnett, James Eastland, the integration of University of Mississippi, Sovereignty Commission, etc.), and their impact on Mississippi‘s history and contemporary society. (DOK 2)
      • b. Identify and explain the significance of the major actors, groups and events of the Civil Rights Movement in the mid 20th century in Mississippi (i.e., Fannie Lou Hamer, Medgar Evers, Dr. T.R.M. Howard, James Meredith, Freedom Rides, Freedom Summer, Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, COFO, CORE, etc.). (DOK 2)
      • c. Compare and contrast the development and resulting impact of civil rights movements (e.g., women‘s suffrage, African American liberation, Native American citizenship and suffrage, immigration rights, etc.) in Mississippi. (DOK 2)
      • d. Investigate and describe the state government‘s responses to the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas Supreme Court decision in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. (DOK 2)

    5. Content Strand: Economics

  5. Understand the importance of how geography, history, and politics affect the economic life of Mississippi from the past to the present.
      • a. Identify and analyze the economic development over time of major industries in Mississippi (including but not limited to agricultural production, manufacturing, rise of machines, boll weevil, development of natural resources, international investments, the Great Migration, etc.). (DOK 3)
      • b. Analyze the economic impact of the Civil War on Mississippi. (DOK3)
      • c. Explain the reasons why Mississippi became more industrialized in the mid-20th century.
        (DOK 1)
      • d. Analyze the current trends and historic record of poverty and wealth distribution in Mississippi. (DOK 3)

    6. Content Strand: Culture

  6. Understand the trends, ideologies, and artistic expressions in Mississippi over time and place.
      • a. Examine the cultural impact of Mississippi artists, musicians and writers on the state, nation and world. (DOK 2)
      • b. Analyze the ways Mississippians have adapted to change and continue to address cultural issues unique to the state (e.g., the establishment of historical and commemorative markers for Civil Rights Movement and Confederate icons). (DOK 3)
      • c. Analyze the impact of religious traditions upon the daily lives of Mississippians from the era of European exploration to the present. (DOK 3)

Course: U.S. Government

Content Strand: Domestic Affairs

  1. Understand the fundamental principles and moral values of American democracy as expressed in the U.S. Constitution and other important documents of American democracy.
      • a. Explain how the U.S. Constitution calls for a system of shared powers, specifies the role of organized interests, details checks and balances, and explains the importance of an independent judiciary, enumerated powers, rule of law, federalism, and civilian control of the military. (DOK 2)
      • b. Explain how the Founding Fathers‘ realistic view of human nature led directly to the establishment of a constitutional system that limited the power of the governors and the governed. (DOK 2)
  2. Understand the roles and responsibilities of the three branches of government as established by the U.S. Constitution.
      • a. Analyze Article I of the Constitution as it relates to the legislative branch, including eligibility for office and lengths of terms of representatives and senators; election to office; the roles of the House and Senate in impeachment proceedings; the role of the vice president; the enumerated legislative powers; and the process by which a bill becomes a law. (DOK 2)
      • b. Analyze Article II of the Constitution as it relates to the executive branch, including eligibility for office and length of term, election to and removal from office, the oath of office, and the enumerated executive powers. (DOK 2)
      • c. Analyze Article III of the Constitution as it relates to judicial branch, including the length of terms of judges and the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. (DOK 2)
  3. Understand the meaning, scope, and limits of rights and obligations of democratic citizenship and that the relationships among democratic citizens and government are mutable.
      • a. Explain the individual‘s legal obligations to obey the law, serve as a juror, and pay taxes. (DOK 1)
      • b. Explain the obligations of civic-mindedness, including voting, being informed on civic issues, volunteering and performing public service, and serving in the military or alternative service. (DOK 1)
      • c. Explain how one becomes a citizen of the United States, including the process of naturalization (e.g., literacy, language, and other requirements). (DOK 1)
      • d. Explain how the Constitution can be amended.(DOK1)

    4. Content Strand: Global Affairs

  4. Understand the origins and characteristics of different political systems across time and place, with emphasis on the quest for political democracy, its advances, and its obstacles.
      • a. Explain how the different ideas and structures of feudalism, mercantilism, socialism, fascism, communism, monarchies, parliamentary systems, and constitutional liberal democracies influence economic policies, social welfare policies, and human rights practices. (DOK 3)
      • b. Identify the forms of illegitimate power that some twentieth-century African, Asian, and Latin American dictators used to gain and hold office and the conditions and interests that supported them. (DOK 1)
      • c. Analyze the ideologies that give rise to Communism, methods of maintaining control, and the movements to overthrow Communist governments in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, including the roles of movement leaders and individuals. (DOK 3)

    5. Content Strand: Civil Rights/Human Rights

  5. Understand the role that governments play in the protection, expansion, and hindrance of civil/human rights of citizens.
      • a. Explain Supreme Court rulings that have resulted in controversies over changing interpretations of civil rights, including those in Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, Miranda v. Arizona, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena, and United States v. Virginia (VMI). (DOK 2)
      • b. Explain the importance of maintaining a balance between the following concepts: majority rule and individual rights; liberty and equality; state and national authority in a federal system; civil disobedience and the rule of law; freedom of the press and the right to a fair trial; and the relationship of religion and government. (DOK 2)
      • c. Analyze the meaning and importance of each of the rights guaranteed under the Bill of Rights and landmark Amendments (e.g., 13th, 14th, 15th, 19th, 26th) and how each is secured (e.g., freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, petition, privacy). (DOK 3)

    6. Content Strand: Economics

  6. Understand how some American Governmental actions protect and expand the economic interest of American individual citizens, corporations and society in general.
      • a. Critique whether certain governmental acts, such as the Sherman Anti-trust Act and the North American Free Trade Agreement, promote the "common welfare" of the United States as stated in the preamble to the Constitution. (DOK 3)
      • b. Cite evidence and explain how the American Governmental policies of containment and democratic expansion serve as means of expanding and protecting the economic interests of the United States. (DOK 2)
      • c. Explain how economic rights are secured and their importance to the individual and to society (e.g., the right to acquire, use, transfer, and dispose of property; right to choose one‘s work; right to join or not join labor unions; copyrights and patents). (DOK 2)

    Content Strand: Culture

  7. Understand the fundamental values and principles of a civil society and how they are influenced by and reflective of the culture of the people in the society and understand the meaning and importance of those values and principles for a free society.
      • a. Analyze how a civil society makes it possible for people, individually or collectively, to influence government in ways other than voting and elections (e.g., Lobbying, Political Action Committees, "Political Art"/political cartoons, protest songs, plays, movies, novels, etc.). (DOK 3)
      • b. Explain how religion and religious diversity has characterized the development of American democracy. (DOK 2)
      • c. Analyze the influence of the media on American political life. (DOK 3)

Course: Introduction to World Geography

Content Strand: Domestic Affairs

  1. Understand the role of the United States in the world geo-political system.
      • a. Recognize the effects of U.S. public opinion and U.S. policies on other peoples and countries around the world. (DOK 1)
      • b. Analyze the ways that public policy makers in the United States manage post Cold War tensions between the U.S. as a world superpower and other countries and organizations as emerging powers. (DOK 3)DOK 1)

    2. Content Strand: Global Affairs

  2. Understand the physical environments in the United States and the world along with the processes that shape them and the problems they present to human occupation and use.
      • a. Identify and explain the concepts and processes that effect physical environments around the world and explain the subsequent patterns and distributions of natural resources and physical environmental changes that result from those processes. (DOK 3)
      • b. Recognize problems associated with the complex interactions between human activity and the physical environments around the world (e.g., natural hazards, drought and redistribution of water, agricultural production and food security, movement of air and water pollution). (DOK 2)
  3. Understand how population, migration, culture, economics, urbanization, and political factors produce complex networks and systems of human activity around the world.
      • a. Recognize and explain the concepts and processes (e.g., location, space, economy, development of a "nation-state," etc.) that shape the patterns and distributions of human activity around the world. (DOK 2)
      • b. Identify the characteristics of human settlements around the world, sort them into categories (e.g., urban, suburban, rural, gentrified, slums, etc.), and analyze how each type of settlement develops and is sustained through time. (DOK 3)
      • c. Recognize and explain how the human forces of contact, cooperation, and conflict influence the division and control of earth‘s land and resources. (DOK 2)

    4. Content Strand: Civil Rights/Human Rights

  4. Understand civil rights and human rights in the contemporary world.
      • a. Identify and describe the social and economic circumstances of the world‘s indigenous peoples and assess the causes and effects of those circumstances. (DOK 2)
      • b. Describe how processes of structural racism (e.g., social justice, environmental racism, power relations, the gap between rich and poor, migration streams) operate in diverse places and with various groups of people around the world. (DOK 2)

    5. Content Strand: Economics

  5. Understand economic development, economic globalization and global resource use.
      • a. Use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to explain the geographic reasons of economic interactions among people, places, and environments of the world. (DOK 2)
      • b. Identify world patterns of resource distribution and utilization and evaluate the impacts of global economic interdependence (e.g., regional trade agreements, outsourcing, global division of labor). (DOK 3)
      • c. Categorize human livelihoods (agriculture, manufacturing, services, etc.) and distinguish between wage-earning and subsistence economies. (DOK 2)
      • d. Identify and analyze the ways in which innovations in transportation and communication networks impact the world. (DOK 3)

    6. Content Strand: Culture

  6. Understand the characteristics, distribution, and complexity of Earth’s cultural mosaics.
      • a. Identify processes of divergence and convergence of cultures. (DOK1)
      • b. Assess the ways in which places and regions contribute to the creation of individual and social identity. (DOK 2)
      • c. Identify major culture regions of the world and explain how the characteristics of each give it a distinctiveness that sets it apart from the others. (DOK 2)

Course: Introduction to World History from the Age of Enlightenment to the Present

Content Strand: Domestic Affairs

  1. Understand different political systems in the Modern Western World and their impact on the respective societies that adopted them.
      • a. Compare and contrast governmental forms (Democracy, aristocracy/oligarchy, absolutism, constitutionalism, totalitarianism, monarchy and republic) as practiced by the societies that adopted them over time. (DOK 2)
      • b. Compare and contrast the ideologies and practices of communism, socialism, liberalism, fascism, nationalism, and imperialism. (DOK 2)
      • c. Analyze the different governmental systems of countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas (e.g., Fascism in Italy and Germany, Communism in Russia and China, Democracy in the United States, Monarchy in England, etc.) since the Age of Enlightenment in terms of the main factors that contributed to their rise and fall. (DOK 4)
  2. Understand the impact of political, technological, economic, cultural, religious, and demographic changes within the global community.
      • a. Analyze and explain the origins, spread, and impact of the First and Second Industrial Revolutions. (DOK 3)
      • b. Explain, by drawing on different political and cultural contexts, the evidence of the tensions between religions, within religions, and between secularism and religion. (DOK 2)
      • c. Describe the nature of the transitions from one governmental form to another (e.g., violent, non-violent, ideological, economic). (DOK 2)
      • d. Analyze international demographic trends (population growth, decline, movement) and their relationship with the development of various societies around the world. (DOK 2)

    3. Content Strand: Global Affairs

  3. Understand causes and consequences of contact, cooperation, and conflict (e.g., diplomatic, economic, political, cultural/ethnic, military, biological) between various societies, nations, and groups of people.
      • a. Analyze the role of imperialism and industrialism as factors in the rise of global conflict since the Age of Enlightenment. (DOK 3)
      • b. Critique the successes and failures of initiatives to create international security (e.g., Bourbon Family Compact, Concert of Europe, Holy Alliance, League of Nations, United Nations, SEATO, Non-Aligned States, etc.). (DOK 3)
      • c. Analyze the causes, effects, and unique features of World War I and World War II in terms of the changes in diplomatic relationships among the various countries involved. (DOK 3)
      • d. Describe the causes of the Cold War and its effects on contemporary world affairs. (DOK 2)
  4. Understand that increased interactions among people have resulted from: technological and communication innovation, political and economic change, and demographic and climate change.
      • a. Compare and contrast the Glorious Revolution of England, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution and their enduring effects worldwide on the political expectations for self-government and individual liberty. (DOK 3)
      • b. Identify the various locations of colonial rule of nations such as England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Portugal, and the United States and analyze the colonial relationships of each. (DOK 3)
      • c. Analyze the integration of countries into the global community and the roles of demographic change, climate change, medical advances, and cultural exchange in that integration. (DOK 3)
      • d. Analyze the international developments in the post–World War II world in terms of global economic, military, and political power shifts (e.g., developments of nationalism in Africa and the "Middle East," the effects of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan in Southeast Asia, the collapse of the Soviet Union, etc.). (DOK 4)

    5. Content Strand: Civil Rights/Human Rights

  5. Understand rights in society and changing conception of rights (civil or human).
      • a. Differentiate between civil rights and human rights in their historical contexts (e.g., the Enlightenment, American and French Revolutions, Colonial Independence Movement-- such as the Free India Movement, and movements in Latin America). (DOK 2)
      • b. Describe the role and impact of international civil rights movements and leaders (e.g., Gandhi, Tiananmen Square protests, Tibetan Freedom Fighters, Ras Tafari Movement, etc.) on the colonized countries in places such as Africa, Caribbean/South America, and Southeast Asia, etc., in appeals for independence. (DOK 2)
      • c. Identify and distinguish between the methods of proponents of civil or human rights and the methods of their opponents since the Age of Enlightenment (e.g., Rousseau, Wollstonecraft, Blanqui, anarchists, Gandhi, Ho Chi Minh, Cesar Chavez). (DOK 2)

    6. Content Strand: Economics

  6. Understand the economic causes and patterns of global change in the era of New Imperialism in Africa, Southeast Asia, China, India, Latin America, and the Philippines.
      • a. Assess the role that scarce resources, the quest for "markets," and technological innovation have played in conflicts between states and/or empires since the Age of Enlightenment. (DOK 3)
      • b. Analyze the role of imperialism, geography, and market economies in the development of the economies of "third world" nations in Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Philippines. (DOK 3)
  7. Understand the development of various economic systems through time and place and how those systems have shaped global relations.
      • a. Analyze the integration of countries into the world economy and roles of the informational, technological and communication revolutions (e.g., steamship, the telegraph, television, satellite, and computer) in that integration. (DOK 3)
      • b. Cite evidence of how the world has evolved from a multitude of economic systems to a global interdependent economy. (DOK 2)
      • c. Draw conclusions using examples of how governments, international institutions (e.g., Napoleon‘s Continental System, GATT), and private corporations (e.g., East India Company) have sought to regulate economics since the Age of Enlightenment. (DOK 3)

    8. Content Strand: Culture

  8. Understand the cultural trends, religious ideologies and artistic expressions of various world cultures through time and place.
      • a. Assess the impact of the Scientific Revolutions on society and culture. (DOK 3)
      • b. Cite evidence to illustrate cultural fusion and exchange on an international scale (e.g.,
        influence of non-Western cultures on the West, the influence of the West on non- Western cultures, and other cross-fertilization between cultures) from the 18th century to the present. (DOK 2)
      • c. Examine cultural artifacts to illustrate the relationship between major artistic trends (e.g., Romanticism, Modernism, and Expressionism) in their historical contexts (e.g., political, intellectual, social, economic). (DOK 2)
      • d. Analyze the moral and ethical principles in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, in Judaism, and in Christianity in the development of Western political thought. (DOK 3)

Course: U.S. History from Post-Reconstruction to the Present

Content Strand: Domestic Affairs

  1. Understand the evolution of the American political system, its ideals, and institutions post-reconstruction.
      • a. Cite and analyze evidence that the United States Constitution is a "living" document as reflected in Supreme Court cases, Amendments, and presidential actions. (DOK 3)
      • b. Analyze and evaluate the impact of presidential policies and congressional actions on domestic reform. (DOK 3)
      • c. Explain and analyze the expansion of federal powers. (DOK 3)
      • d. Analyze and evaluate the ongoing tension between individual liberty and national security. (DOK 3)
  2. Understand major social problems and domestic policy issues in post- reconstruction American society.
      • a. Explain how American society has been impacted by the entry of more women, minorities, and immigrant workers into the labor force. (DOK 2)
      • b. Trace the response of American institutions such as government and non-profit organizations to environmental challenges such as natural disasters, conservation and pollution, and property rights (including but not limited to the expansion of the national park system, the development of environmental protection laws, and imminent domain). (DOK 2)
      • c. Compare and contrast various social policies such as welfare reform and public health insurance and explain how such social policies are influenced by the persistence of poverty. (DOK 2)

    3. Content Strand: Global Affairs

  3. Understand how the global position of the United States has evolved as a result of imperialism, economics, technological changes, and involvement in international wars and conflicts.
      • a. Analyze the effects of imperialism on the foreign policy of the United States from Reconstruction to World War I. (DOK 3)
      • b. Compare and contrast the arguments between the imperialists and anti-imperialists in the late 19th century and justify why the imperialists prevailed. (DOK 3)
      • c. Draw conclusions about the causes and effects of American involvement in the world wars. (DOK 3)
      • d. Analyze the origins and development of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, including ideology, technology, economics, and geography. (DOK 3)
      • e. Explain and analyze America‘s role in international organizations, humanitarian relief, and post-war reconstruction efforts throughout the 20th century. (DOK 3)
      • f. Analyze and evaluate the causes and effects of the United States‘ growing involvement in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. (DOK 3)

    4. Content Strand: Civil Rights/Human Rights

  4. Understand how the Civil Rights Movement achieved social and political change in the United States and the impact of the Civil Rights struggle of African Americans on other groups (including but not limited to feminists, Native Americans, Hispanics, immigrant groups, and individuals with disabilities).
      • a. Analyze the issues that gave rise to the Civil Rights Movement from post-reconstruction to the modern movement. (DOK 3)
      • b. Trace the major events of the modern movement and compare and contrast the strategies and tactics for social change used by leading individuals/groups. (DOK 2)
      • c. Analyze the response of federal and state governments to the goals (including but not limited to ending de jure and de facto segregation and economic inequality) of the Civil Rights Movement. (DOK 3)
      • d. Evaluate the impact of the Civil Rights Movement in expanding democracy in the United States. (DOK 3)
      • e. Compare and contrast the goals and objectives of other minority and immigrant groups to those of the Civil Rights Movement led predominantly by African-Americans. (DOK 2)
      • f. Cite and analyze evidence of the political, economic, and social changes in the United States that expanded democracy for other minority and immigrant groups. (DOK 3)

    5. Content Strand: Economics

  5. Understand the continuing economic transformation of the United States involving the maturing of the industrial economy, the expansion of big business, the changing demographics of the labor force, and the rise of national labor unions and industrial conflict.
      • a. Evaluate the factors leading to and the effects of industrialization on the political, physical, and economic landscape of the United States during the late 19th and early 20th century. (DOK 3)
      • b. Explain the conditions of industrialization that led to the rise of organized labor and evaluate labor‘s effectiveness in achieving its goals. (DOK 3)
      • c. Identify and explain migration and immigration patterns that developed from the push- pull effects of economic circumstances. (DOK 2)
  6. Understand the scope of government involvement in the economy including the following: the regulation of industry and labor, the attempts to manipulate the money supply, and the use of tariffs or trade agreements to protect or expand U.S. business interests.
      • a. Cite and explain evidence that led to the transition of the U.S. economy from laissez- faire capitalism to an increasingly regulated economy. (DOK 2)
      • b. Analyze and evaluate historical arguments regarding monetary policy. (DOK 3)
      • c. Critique the government‘s use of tariffs and trade agreements. (DOK 3)
      • d. Evaluate deficit spending as a means of financing government programs. (DOK 3)

    7. Content Strand: Culture

  7. Understand cultural trends, religious ideologies, and artistic expressions that contributed to the historical development of the United States.
      • a. Examine cultural artifacts (including but not limited to visual art, literature, music, theatre, sports) to contextualize historical developments. (DOK 2)
      • b. Analyze and evaluate the impact of religion on various social movements, domestic/foreign policies, and political debates. (DOK 3)
      • c. Evaluate the role mass media has played in shaping perceptions toward certain policies, social groups, other nations, and political ideas. (DOK 3)
      • d. Contrast modernism and traditionalism relating to social change. (DOK 2)
      • e. Cite and explain evidence of the diversity of the United States.(DOK2)

Course: Economics

Content Strand: Domestic Affairs

  1. Understand that the nation’s overall economy is characterized by the interaction of spending and production decisions.
      • a. Analyze the causes and effects of choices made by various sectors in the economy (e.g., households, businesses, and governments, etc.) in the production and distribution of resources. (DOK 3)
      • b. Predict how changes in a nation‘s overall level of income, employment, and prices determine changes in the economy‘s level of output or real Gross Domestic Product or GDP. (DOK 3)
      • c. Demonstrate how money makes it easier to trade, borrow, save, invest, and compare the value of goods and services. (DOK 3)
      • d. Interpret how the Federal government spending policy and the Federal Reserve System‘s monetary policy influence the overall level of employment, output, and prices in the U.S. economy. (DOK 3)

    2. Content Strand: Global Affairs

  2. Understand that there is an increasing economic interdependence among nations in the global economy.
      • a. Cite evidence and explain how both production and consumption increase when regions and nations specialize in what they can produce at the lowest cost, and then trade with others. (DOK 3)
      • b. Explain how foreign exchange rates represent the market price of one nation‘s currency in terms of another nation‘s currency. (DOK 2)
      • c. Use measures of economic development to draw conclusions about the lives and futures of people and societies in the various world regions and countries. (DOK 3)

    3. Content Strand: Civil Rights/Human Rights

  3. Understand how different economic systems affect civil and human rights.
      • a. Analyze the current trends and historical record of poverty in the American economy, noting the disproportionate effects of poverty in minority communities and with women. (DOK 3)
      • b. Compare and contrast poverty as it exists in other industrialized nations and in the developing economies around the world. (DOK 2)
      • c. Analyze the role of a market economy in establishing and preserving political and personal liberty (e.g., through the works of Adam Smith). (DOK 3)

    4. Content Strand: Economics

  4. Understand that resources are limited and therefore choices must be made.
      • a. Explain why individuals and societies can not have all the goods and services that they want and as a result, they make choices that involve costs and benefits. (DOK 2)
      • b. Describe how effective decision-making requires comparing the additional costs of alternatives with the additional benefits of alternatives. (DOK 2)
      • c. Describe how people respond to positive and negative incentives in predictable ways. (DOK 2)
      • d. Explain how voluntary exchange occurs only when all participating parties expect to gain. (DOK 2)
  5. Understand that markets exist when buyers and sellers interact and engage in exchange.
      • a. Analyze, using supply and demand curves, the relationship of the concept of incentives to the law of supply, and the relationship of the concept of incentives and substitutes to the law of demand. (DOK 3)
      • b. Investigate and explain how markets determine prices and thereby allocate goods and services and describe how market prices send signals and provide incentives to buyers and sellers. (DOK 2)
      • c. Analyze the role of government (defining property rights, providing public goods and services, regulating in cases of market failure and promoting market competition) in helping to provide for a just distribution of economic resources and opportunities among citizens in a market economy. (DOK 3)

    6. Content Strand: Culture

  6. Understand the personal economic consequences of spending and investment decisions made by individuals, businesses, and governments.
      • a. Demonstrate how American culture promotes entrepreneurship. (DOK3)
      • b. Demonstrate why it is important to take responsibility for personal financial decisions. (DOK 3)
      • c. Analyze the effects of advertising, marketing, and American popular culture on people‘s economic choices (consumerism, charitable giving, entertainment spending, etc.). (DOK 3)

Teaching the Declaration without Overwhelming Students

Image
photomechanical print, Writing the Declaration of Independence--1776, 28 July 19
Question

How might I teach the Declaration of Independence to high school students who are visual and verbal learners? What films or reading assignments will engage them, and yet not overwhelm them with the sometimes difficult wording of the Declaration itself?

Answer

Ah, the Declaration of Independence, a document so essential to understanding our American past and present that every student should read and learn about it. Luckily, its ideas and historical significance are truly engaging and can help make its difficult eighteenth century prose more accessible for our students.

Below are some ideas:

How about starting with an idea or line from the document? One of our favorites is the line regarding the right and duty for those threatened with absolute tyranny to “throw off such government.” This is one of several powerful ideas in the Declaration that can engage students before they confront the entire document. (It could also be just considering the document’s title! Declaring independence is something most adolescents can get their heads around and this can lead into exploring when and why this might happen and how one might frame such a declaration to win supporters. Consider what “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,” signaled to readers on both sides of the Atlantic and how they had gotten to this radical place.)

Considering the historical and contemporary significance of the document can also engage. Do students have a grasp of the road to Revolution, do they understand the chain of events and rising discontent in the Colonies? The risk to the signers? The historical moment? This background knowledge can help students in understanding the import of the document and its prose. Or look at instances where the document serves as a model (the Seneca Falls Declaration)
or reference point (MLK’s reference to it as “promissory note” in his I Have a Dream Speech)

As far as reading the document, we suggest two intertwined approaches (both to be used with a transcribed version).

1. Help students see the structure of the document so they know what to expect. Show them how it moves from initial paragraphs that get what the states are doing and why, to a list of specific grievances, to assurances that these are not capricious complaints or actions and then the ultimate declaration.

2. Plan activities where they read excerpts from the document closely and carefully. Phrases and sentences work here—select them carefully and scaffold student work with strategies like pair work, paraphrasing, and vocabulary help.

Some other ideas include:
Looking at the original document.

Sign the document. Have students find the anomaly (your signature) on a handout or decide whether to sign on themselves after considering the stories behind the signers and the historical moment.

Look at the rough draft of the Declaration or use this lesson plan which involves a careful comparison between the drafts.

For a primer on the document, see this historian’s helpful discussion that includes a consideration of the historical events surrounding the Declaration, analyses of particular excerpts and its consequences and legacy.

See the Library of Congress’ Web Guide

Connect with images. For example, this one or this one.

Admittedly, we focus on the reading of the document. There are several resources like the recent film National Treasure, the older film 1776, or the Independence episode of the recent TV miniseries John Adams that some teachers use to talk about the Declaration of Independence.

A new way to bring visual learners to the text of the Declaration is through YouTube. Your students may be interested in this video clip of well-known actors reading the Declaration in its entirety .

While these resources could be used to accompany the kinds of reading activities we mention here, it would be too bad if they trumped the actual Declaration, a document that talked about equality before our Constitution did and deserves every student’s eye.

Elizabeth Schaefer on the Interactive Declaration of Independence

Date Published
Image
Lithograph, The Declaration Committee, 1876, Currier and Ives, LoC
Lithograph, The Declaration Committee, 1876, Currier and Ives, LoC
Lithograph, The Declaration Committee, 1876, Currier and Ives, LoC
Article Body
The Library of Congress's Interactive Declaration of Independence

The Library of Congress has created a brilliant interactive tool for studying the Declaration of Independence in your classroom. It allows in-depth primary source research while lending itself naturally to reading skills and reinforcing good writing behavior. I explain some of the activities that I used, but there is a wide range of possibilities with this tool.

What is It?

The template for the computer interactive is a real rough draft of the Declaration of Independence, complete with edits made by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. On the "Overview" page, students can scroll their mouse over Thomas Jefferson's original script, transforming sections from the original handwriting to student-friendly printed font with word-processor-style edits.

The remaining tabs highlight specific concepts included in the Declaration (All Men Are Created Equal, Pursuit of Happiness, Consent of the Governed, Train of Abuses, and Slavery). For each section, four antecedent sources can be chosen which relate to the same concept and in some cases, use the same words.

Why Do I Love It?

Watching the Declaration warp time zones is equally thrilling for my students and me. It has a magical quality to it. Suddenly the students are excited about reading the Declaration of Independence! The interactive creates the best of both worlds—allowing students to see the original primary source but also helping them to understand it. Not only is the text teaching them history, but the visuals also prompt many critical questions:

They actually had to go back and rewrite this whole thing? What if Jefferson messed up writing at the very end—did he have to start all over? Did they have white-out? Did they use rulers? Where did they learn to write like that? Could everyone write like that?

Students see the handwriting of Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin and suddenly these old guys become real people.

Plus students see the handwriting of Jefferson, Adams, and Franklin and suddenly these old guys become real people. The students develop historic connections outside of the overt goals of the lesson, which I believe is the key to growing lifelong learners.

The interactive allows a range of lesson aims, a variety of historic analyses and skill levels, and a relevant and effective background for reading and writing support. The literacy skills and the focus are up to you but Jefferson is setting the example!

The interactive supports a range of lesson aims and a variety of historic analyses and skill levels, and makes a relevant and effective background for reading and writing extension activities. The literacy skills and the focus are up to you, but Jefferson is setting the example!

How Can I Use It in the Classroom?


My actual lesson included a three-page packet with very specific steps for the students. Below is a sampling of some activities that I used.

Primary Source Observations
The "Overview" page explains what the source is. Once students read this, you can ask a variety of questions about the document. You can use your typical observation format, but due to the large amount of information, I recommend that you select a more narrow focus.

For our initial observations, I asked the students to specifically pay attention to the edits made on page one. The students described what they thought the document was and then were asked about the type of edits.

Ex.: Which of the following did Thomas Jefferson do? (Check all that apply)

◯ Changed words
◯ Added words
◯ Deleted words
◯ Borrowed from other documents
◯ Got peer edits. If so, from whom?

Identifying the Philosophy of Government
The next step was to discover the big ideas Thomas Jefferson communicates in the Declaration. This focused on the tabs labeled "Pursuit of Happiness," "Consent of the Governed," and "All Men are Created Equal," which highlight specific sentences from the document. The students filled in the sections with missing words or translated challenge vocabulary (CH). Note that the gray words are not included.

Ex.: "Consent of the Governed" section

Instituted = Made
Deriving = Getting
Consent = Permission

"that to secure these rights, ___________ [governments] are (CH) ___________ [instituted] among men, (CH) ___________ [deriving] their just powers from the (CH) ___________ [consent] of the governed."

Reading Support
These "Philosophy of Government" sections are ideal for supporting the reading area that your students are working on without confusing them by breaking the flow of your lesson. In my class, the students had to identify either the main idea of each section or Jefferson's purpose in including the sentence. They were therefore practicing testing skills in a way that was relevant and useful to our class. These sections can be applied to just about any reading skill "flavor-of-the-week."

Ex.: "Consent of the Governed" section

Who do you think "the governed" are?

What is Thomas Jefferson's purpose in using this sentence?

a. To inform the readers of how the king rules
b. To describe the Roman government
c. To explain how government should be
d. To support a monarchy government

Reviewing Content
In the next section, I instructed the students to view King George's offenses against the colonies by skimming pages two and three in the "Overview" section. The students' goal was to recognize the significant acts and events that we had discussed. They then recorded the section's specific passages mentioning taxation without representation, the Quartering Act, and the Boston Massacre Trials.

Advanced Source Comparisons
The Library of Congress selected specific reading and research material on Thomas Jefferson and paired it with the sections in the interactive Declaration of Independence. The reading was dense for the majority of my students, but I did ask, in the "All Men Are Created Equal" section, which of the documents they thought fit most closely with Jefferson's words.

The Other Side

On the top of page three, they were shocked to discover "merciless" and "savage."

Once the students are all settled on and happy that Jefferson believes "All Men Are Created Equal," we went backwards and looked a little closer. First, they were instructed to find the words Jefferson used about the American Indians in the text. On the top of page three, they were shocked to discover "merciless" and "savage."

Then we looked closer at the "Slavery" tab which describes the original words about slavery included in the draft of the Declaration of Independence, as well as the fact that they were all deleted. The students answered questions about which states were especially against including slavery and then they made connections. I closed with the questions, "Do you agree with the philosophy of government written in the Declaration of Independence?" and "Do you think the Continental Congress truly agreed with this philosophy of government?"

More Ideas?

If you develop new ways to use this interactive or have success with the Constitution version, please share your experience! I would love to hear some new ideas for this resource.

[Note: If you would like to respond to Liz Schaefer, comment to this entry, or email info@teachinghistory.org. We'll make sure she receives your feedback!]

For more information

HBO's miniseries John Adams includes a scene where Benjamin Franklin and John Adams edit Thomas Jefferson's rough draft of the Declaration, making some of the changes evident in the original draft. Remember to remind students that this scene was created based on the draft. We have no way of knowing exactly when or how the Founding Fathers discussed these changes.

Explore the Declaration on other websites with the National Archives and Records Administration's Our Documents or Charters of Freedom exhibits.

Scholars in Action: Analyzing an 1804 Inventory

Article Body

Note: Unpublished because content moved to Examples of Historical Thinking.

Scholars in Action presents case studies that demonstrate how scholars interpret different kinds of historical evidence. This 1804 inventory lists the possessions of Thomas Springer of New Castle County, DE. Legal documents, such as tax records or probate inventories, often provide our only information about the lifestyles of ordinary people during the colonial and early national periods.

Such listings of household possessions, from a time when household goods were not widely mass produced, can illuminate a fair amount about a family's routines, rituals, and social relations, as well as about a region's economy and its connections to larger markets. This inventory also contains items that suggest attitudes and policies toward slavery in the Mid-Atlantic states.

Website
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/sia/inventory.htm

Scholars in Action: Analyzing a Colonial Newspaper

Article Body

Note: Unpublished because content moved to Examples of Historical Thinking section.

Scholars in Action presents case studies that demonstrate how scholars interpret different kinds of historical evidence. This newspaper article was published in the Patriot press in 1775 and describes a political demonstration in Providence, RI, where protesters burned tea and loyalist newspapers.

As opposition to British rule grew in the years leading up to the American Revolution, many people in the colonies were forced to take sides. Popular movements such as the "Sons of Liberty" attracted artisans and laborers who sought broad social and political change. Street actions against the British and their economic interests brought ordinary citizens, including women and youth, into the political arena and often spurred greater militancy and radicalism. By 1775, a number of major political protests and clashes with the British had occurred, including the Stamp Act riots, the Boston Massacre, and the Boston Tea Party.

Website
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/sia/newspaper.htm

An Ear for the Past: The National Jukebox

Date Published
Image
Poster, New Victor records of popular patriotic selections, 1917, LoC
Article Body

You don't have to look far to see how important music is to modern American life. Young people (as well as adults) talk about music, listen to music, download music, remix music, share music, and define themselves by music. In classrooms across the country, MP3 players and pop-tune ringtones give students' musical tastes away (and get them in trouble). But has music always been this personal, portable, and repeatable?

Ask your students to think back. Do they remember a time when music wasn't something you could own? When they, someone in their family, or someone they knew didn't have an MP3 player—or a CD, tape, or record player?

Before the birth of the recording industry, you could buy sheet music and learn how to perform musical pieces for yourself—but that was it. An individual performance was ephemeral, literally once in a lifetime.

When the recording industry took off, music became an object. Now you could buy and trade moments in musical time, preserved forever. You could listen to artists who lived far away from you, whom you might never see live. You could listen to your favorite performances again and again. You could even sell music, without having to worry about arranging performances. One song sung once by one artist could earn money for months or years to come. Sound become solid, something that could be passed from hand to hand—and preserved.

Exploring the Jukebox
Sound become solid, something that could be passed from hand to hand—and preserved.

On May 10, 2011, the Library of Congress launched its National Jukebox, an online archive of more than 10,000 recordings from 1901–1925. According to the website, Library of Congress staff worked throughout 2010 to digitize this massive collection of Victor Talking Machine Company recordings (Victor, now RCA, is one of the oldest record companies in existence, according to the Library of Congress's blog entry announcing the launch of the Jukebox).

You can browse the recordings by vocal artist, composer, lyricist, language, place or date of recording, target audience, label, category, or genre. And if you find some music you'd like to remember? Add it to your playlist in the site's pop-up player. Now you can listen to it while you browse other sites, email it to yourself to listen to later, or share it with others on social media sites or by embedding it in a blog or website.

Students and the Jukebox

While exploring the Jukebox is entertaining in its own right—I just spent two minutes listening to humorous singer Burt Shepard trying to lure a lost cat home—it also makes invaluable primary sources easily accessible.

Teaching about the rise of ragtime and jazz? Make a playlist of famous (and less famous) songs and artists and share it with your students.

How about the invention of the airplane? The Haydn Quartet's "Up in My Aeroplane" can give students an idea of the romance and novelty of flight six years after the Wright Brothers' first successful test run.

World War I? "Hooray, the war is over!" sings Harry Lauder in 1918; months earlier, baritone Reinald Werrenrath remembered the U.S.'s debt to Lafayette and to embattled France.

Pick a time period, a genre, an artist, a word—and go looking! There's something in this storehouse to accompany almost any topic from 1901–1925, if you look hard enough. Use the recordings to grab your students' attention—or ask them to analyze or compare music and lyrics. What do the words (if you choose a vocal piece) say? What emotions does the piece seem to seek to evoke? When was it recorded? Where? Who audience did the composer, artist, or publisher have in mind?

Finding music by topic can be difficult, as none of the pieces have transcriptions, but a little creative searching should leave you with at least a handful of catchy new sources to play with. Watch for more to come—the Library of Congress adds new content monthly, and it hopes to provide content from other Sony labels, such as Columbia and Okeh, in the future.

For more information

Looking for guidelines for music analysis? Professors Ronald J. Walters and John Spitzer introduce you to using popular song as a source in Using Primary Sources, and scholar Lawrence Levine demonstrates historical analysis of two blues songs.

Professor of social studies/history education Anthony Pellegrino's blog entries have ideas for exploring music in the classroom, too.

Deciphering Primary Source Documents

Image
Digital image, 2010, War Department Correspondence, CHNM
Question

I'm trying to teach my secondary students how to read documents from the 18th century (such as letters) and notice how bogged down they get because of the complexity and length of the sentences. What tools or advice could I give that would help them develop this skill?

Answer

Ah yes…your question captures a problem many history teachers face. First, let us congratulate you on engaging your students in the raw materials of the discipline and persisting even when the going proves difficult. Syntax can be a major stumbling block for students when reading older texts: we recommend scaffolding and careful preparation of the documents to help your students meet the challenge.

Careful Preparation of Documents
See our guide on adapting and modifying documents for ways to make difficult documents more accessible for students. Keeping those documents short, defining difficult vocabulary, and even simplifying syntax (while letting students know that you’ve done so) can help. See the Reading Like a Historian curriculum from the Stanford History Education Group for examples of carefully prepared 18th century documents. The Hamilton vs. Jefferson plan includes two 18th century letters that have been modified. Find our entry about this curriculum here.

One thing to remember is that students need to experience some success with reading difficult documents to want to persevere with them. Carefully prepared documents, especially at the beginning of the school year, can be critical to this.

Scaffolding
There are many ways to support students’ reading of difficult documents. Here are a few strategies.

Background knowledge about what students are reading can help them make sense of the text. Consider what they need to know about the times and the event before they read and then use a short lecture, a headnote, a textbook excerpt, or another method to help them gain that background knowledge. Going a step further, for a very difficult document you may want to give them a short summary (1-3 sentences) of what the author is talking about.

Modeling how you read the document can be helpful too. This allows students to see how you also struggle with the language and the strategies you use to make sense of it, like rereading, monitoring your understanding, and asking questions. See this entry for an introduction to Reading Apprenticeship, an approach that focuses on reading and thinking aloud together to help students become better readers. Also see historicalthinkingmatters.org for examples of “think-alouds” where students and historians are shown making sense of historical documents using specific historical reading strategies. (find one example here.)

Use difficult syntax from our own times (a song or poem) to help students recognize their task and specific strategies for pushing through to understanding.

Teaching some explicit strategies can also help. This guide has ideas for teaching students to annotate documents, something that can help them learn to monitor their own understanding and seek out help when needed. Also see work done at the Oakland Unified School District in California for examples of guiding students to figure out what an excerpt says before any analysis. See an example here: scroll down to the question, “Was the creation of the U.S. Constitution good for the people of the United States?” Then look at the assessment and support materials for that question and you will find, on page 4, one example of how they do this.

A short introductory activity where you focus on the difficulties of making sense of unfamiliar syntax can be helpful. Use difficult syntax from our own times (a song or poem) to help students recognize their task and specific strategies for pushing through to understanding.

More Resources
In our lesson plan reviews, find plans that can inspire ways to work with text that is difficult for students. See this one on the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution or this one on the Declaration of Independence. Both of these are for younger students, but both show the necessities of slowing down to read the documents and focusing on short pieces of text.

You may want to also check out this response that reiterates some of what I've said here.

And remember, it’s the beginning of the year. You will, hopefully, have these students for many lessons and helping them learn to slow down, monitor their reading, and strategize when they are stuck will happen with multiple and varied chances to practice these skills.

Reframing English Language Development

Image
Grant at the capture of the city of Mexico

We history teachers who teach English language learners face a dilemma: how can we teach our students a rigorous history curriculum rich with opportunities to develop historical thinking, while making sure the language, and hence, concepts, are understandable?

Also, since most of us have a mix of different levels of language learners in our classrooms, along with students who speak and write non-academic English, how can we scaffold the language learning so that all students benefit, without dumbing-down the instruction?

Constitution Day 2010

Date Published
Image
Photo, recommended reading, March 18, 2008, neon.mamacita, Flickr
Article Body

Every September 17, Constitution Day calls on teachers to memorialize—and critically engage with—Constitutional history in the classroom. But what approach to the Constitution should you take? What quality teaching resources are available? How can you interest your students in a document that is more than 200 years old?

In 2008, Teachinghistory.org published a roundup of Constitution Day resources. Many of those resources remain available, but online Constitution Day content continues to grow. Check out the sites below for materials that recount the Constitutional Convention of 1787, compare the Articles of Confederation with the Constitution, explore U.S. Supreme Court cases that have interpreted the Constitution, and apply the Constitution to contemporary debates.

Online Resources

The Library of Congress's Constitution Day page collects the full text of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Amendments, as well as the Federalist Papers and the Articles of Confederation. Lesson plans for grades 6–12 accompany the documents. The page also includes short suggested reading lists for elementary, middle, and high school, and links to relevant Library of Congress American Memory collections, such as Documents from the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention and the papers of James Madison, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. Also check out the Library's collection of primary sources "Creating the United States."

You can find an elegant, simple presentation of the Constitution on the National Archives' Constitution Day page. Check out their high-resolution PDF of the original document, part of NARA's 100 Milestone Documents exhibit.

If the Constitution is proving a difficult read for your students, try the National Constitution Center's Interactive Constitution. Search the text by keyword or topic, and click on passages that are unclear to find explanatory notes from Linda R. Monk's The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution. The Constitution Center also offers its own Constitution Day page, with a short video on the creation of the Constitution, interactive activities, and quizzes.

If you're not already familiar with EDSITEment, created by the National Endowment for the Humanities, take a look through their extensive collection of lesson plans. A quick search reveals more than 90 lessons related to the Constitution.

Interested in bringing home to students the Constitution's importance today? The New York Times' Constitution Day page links current events to the Constitution in more than 40 lesson plans. The Times also invites students to submit answers to questions such as "Should School Newspapers Be Subject to Prior Review?" and "What Cause Would You Rally Others to Support?"

Can't find anything here that sparks your interest or suits your classroom? Many more organizations and websites offer Constitution Day resources, including the Bill of Rights Institute, the American Historical Association, Annenberg Media, and Consource. (Check out our Lesson Plan Reviews for a review of a lesson plan from Consource on the Preamble to the Constitution.)

Subscribe to 10