Throughout the year, I will post information on this blog about our class. You will be able to find assignments, due dates, suggested resources, and some Lycèe/Roby announcements. I will update the blog every 7 - 10 days.
If you need to contact me, however, please call the American Section and leave me a message at 01 34 51 74 85 or you could email me at michelesilvestri@yahoo.com. Please note, I check my email three times a week.
Below you will find some information about this class.
Content
This course covers the period in American history stretching from the end of the Civil War to modern times. We explore the evolution of the United States chronologically as well as thematically, learning about the course of US history from the experience of reconstruction through the advent of the American nation as a world power to the challenge of the Great Depression, while looking in detail at various aspects of United States civilization during these years: government, society, culture, industry and science, among many other interesting topics. In addition, our class places considerable emphasis on the ways in which American history has influenced US identity today.
Texts
The book we use this year is entitled United States in Modern Times (Harcourt Brace & Company). As much as possible, we also consider primary sources, what one historian has called "witnesses of the past."
Objectives
This course has numerous aims, beginning with the goal of enhancing student knowledge about the fascinating era under consideration, knowledge that will be essential in middle school, high school and beyond. We also emphasize the refinement of research, writing and oral skills so that participants become historians who are both impassioned by and practiced in the fascinating craft of historical scholarship.
Expectations
Students are asked to read several pages per week and to prepare the assigned passages for active engagement in class discussion. Once in the classroom, participants are expected to show respect for the opinions of others and to help in the building of a constructive learning environment. While some assignments take the form of research projects and in-class tests, students are asked to complete other forms of homework and classwork during the year.
Evaluation
Participants earn grades out of 20: 17/20 corresponds to an "A" and 14/20 to a "B". Yet whatever the work, various factors enter into any given mark, including the effort a student has made, the historical accuracy of what he or she has said or written, the extent to which each participant has included important information, and the strength of his or her argumentation.
