Teaching U.S. History Thematically: Document-Based Lessons for the Secondary Classroom

Get started with an innovative approach to teaching history that develops literacy and higher-order thinking skills, connects the past to students' lives, and meets state and national standards (grades 7–12). Now in a second edition, this popular book provides an introductory unit to help teachers build a trustful classroom climate; over 70 primary sources (including a dozen new ones) organized into thematic units structured around an essential question from U.S. history; and a final unit focusing on periodization and chronology. As students analyze carefully excerpted documents, they build an understanding of how diverse historical figures have approached key issues. At the same time, students learn to participate in civic debates and develop their own views on what it means to be a 21st-century American. Each unit connects to current events with dynamic classroom activities that make history come alive. In addition to the documents, this teaching manual provides strategies to assess student learning; mini-lectures designed to introduce documents; activities to help students process, display, and integrate their learning; guidance to help teachers create their own units, and more.Book Features: Addresses the politicization of history head-on with updated material that allows students entry points into the debates swirling around their education. Makes document-based teaching easy with a curated collection of primary sources (speeches by presidents and protesters, Supreme Court cases, political cartoons) excerpted into manageable chunks for students. Challenges the "master narrative" of U.S. history with texts from Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Malcolm X, César Chavez, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, and Judy Heumann. Offers printable copies of the documents included in the book, which can be downloaded at tcpress.com.

Table of Contents:
Contents (Tentative) Acknowledgments Introduction: Why Use a Thematic, Document-Based Approach for Teaching U.S. History? Why Thematic? Why Document Based? Meeting Common Core and and Other State and National Standards What Do We Mean When We Say "We"? Structure of a Unit Structure of a Lesson Assessment Accounting for Grade Level and Differentiating Instruction Classroom Climate Designing Your Own Thematic Units 0. Historians' Skills: Why and How Study History? Lesson 0.1: Who Are You in History? Lesson 0.2: Who Are We Together? Lesson 0.3: How Do We Want to Work Together? Lesson 0.4: Why Study History? 1.  American Democracy: What Is American Democracy, and What Should It Be? Lesson 1.1: What Did Kamala Harris Believe Were the Greatest Threats to Democracy in the US? Lesson 1.2: How Did Native American Traditions Influence American Democracy? Lesson 1.3: How Did Thomas Paine Argue for Independence from Britain? Lesson 1.4: What Was James Madison's Argument for Representative Democracy? Lesson 1.5: What Did Thomas Jefferson Believe Were the Main Responsibilities of Government? Lesson 1.6: How Did Andrew Jackson Represent the "Common Man"? Lesson 1.7: How Did Frederick Douglass Criticize American Democracy? Lesson 1.8: How Did Abraham Lincoln Define Democracy? Lesson 1.9: How Did Susan B. Anthony Interpret the Constitution? Lesson 1.10: What Did John F. Kennedy Believe the United States Should Do for the World? Lesson 1.11: Why Did Ronald Reagan Believe America Was Great? Lesson 1.12: Why Did Barack Obama Think the United States Was Not Yet a Perfect Union? 2.  Diversity and Discrimination: What Does Equality Mean? Lesson 2.1: What Was the Supreme Court's Argument for Allowing Same-Sex Marriage? Lesson 2.2. How did the Virginia Slave Codes Change Race Relations? Lesson 2.3: What Did the Constitution Say About Slavery? Lesson 2.4: How Did Native Americans Argue for Equal Rights? Lesson 2.5: How Did Sojourner Truth Define Equality? Lesson 2.6: What Was the Supreme Court's Rationale for Denying Black People Citizenship? Lesson 2.7: Why Did John Brown Think Violence Was Justified to End Slavery? Lesson 2.8: What Was the Supreme Court's Reasoning for "Separate but Equal" Facilities? Lesson 2.9: Why Did Elizabeth Cady Stanton Believe Women Deserved the Same Rights as Men? Lesson 2.10: What Was the Supreme Court's Argument for Excluding Chinese People from U.S. Citizenship? Lesson 2.11: What Was the Ku Klux Klan's Argument for White Supremacy? Lesson 2.12: How Did the Supreme Court Explain Its Decision to Overturn the "Separate but Equal" Doctrine? Lesson 2.13: How Did Malcolm X Think Racial Equality Could Be Achieved? Lesson 2.14: How did Judy Heumann Oppose Discrimination on the Basis of Disability? 3.  States' Rights and Federal Power: How Should Power Be Distributed Among Local, State, and Federal Governments? Lesson 3.1: How did Donald Trump Try to Challenge the Authority of State Election Officials? Lesson 3.2: What Was the Balance of Power Between the States and Congress in the Articles of Confederation? Lesson 3.3: How Did the Constitution Compare with the Articles of Confederation? Lesson 3.4: How Did George Washington Explain His Decision to Suppress the Whiskey Rebellion? Lesson 3.5: How Did States' Rights and Federalist Interpretations of the Constitution Differ? Lesson 3.6: Is the State or Federal Government Responsible for Protecting Native American Nations? Lesson 3.7: How Did Daniel Webster Argue That States Couldn't Nullify Federal Laws? Lesson 3.8: How Did the Southern States Explain Their Decision to Secede from the Union? Lesson 3.9: Why Did Dwight Eisenhower Enforce Desegregation? Lesson 3.10: How Did Orval Faubus Argue for Segregation as a "State's Right"? Lesson 3.11: Does the State or Federal Government Protect Individuals from Environmental Harm? 4.  Government, Business, and Workers: What Role Should Government and Business Play in Promoting Citizens' Well-Being? Lesson 4.1: Why Did Some Amazon Workers Unionize? Lesson 4.2: What Were Christopher Columbus's Economic and Social Goals? Lesson 4.3: Why Did John Calhoun Define Slavery as a "Positive Good"? Lesson 4.4: Why Did the Lowell Mill Women Go on Strike? Lesson 4.5: How Did W. E. B. Du Bois Think That the Government Succeeded and Failed in Helping Formerly Enslaved People? Lesson 4.6: What Was Andrew Carnegie's Argument for Social Darwinism? Lesson 4.7: How Did the "Other Half" Live as Shown in Jacob Riis's Photos? Lesson 4.8: How Did Upton Sinclair Want to Change the Meatpacking Industry? Lesson 4.9: What Was Henry Ford's Plan for Ending Poverty? Lesson 4.10: How and Why Was Tulsa's Black Wall Street Destroyed? Lesson 4.11: What Were the Aims of the New Deal? Lesson 4.12: Why Did Lyndon Johnson Launch a War on Poverty? Lesson 4.13: Why Did Cesar Chavez Believe Farmworkers Should Unionize? Lesson 4.14: What Was Reaganomics? 5.  Foreign Policy: Under What Circumstances Should the United States Intervene in World Events? Lesson 5.1: Why Did Anthony Blinken Consider Climate Change Relevant to National Security? Lesson 5.2: Why Did George Washington Believe the United States Should Stay Neutral? Lesson 5.3: How Did the Monroe Doctrine Change U.S. Foreign Policy? Lesson 5.4: How Was the Idea of Manifest Destiny Used to Justify Taking Over Foreign Lands? Lesson 5.5: Why Did Mark Twain Oppose U.S. Colonization of the Philippines? Lesson 5.6: How Did Woodrow Wilson Try to Convince Americans to Stay Neutral in World War I? Lesson 5.7: How Did Franklin D. Roosevelt Explain His Decision to Involve the United States in World War II? Lesson 5.8: How Did Eleanor Roosevelt Explain the Purpose of the United Nations? Lesson 5.9: How Did the Truman Doctrine Change U.S. Foreign Policy? Lesson 5.10: Why Did Martin Luther King Jr. Oppose the Vietnam War? Lesson 5.11: On What Basis Did Henry Kissinger Advise Richard Nixon to Oppose Chilean President Salvador Allende? Lesson 5.12: How Did Bill Clinton Explain His Decision to Intervene in the Genocide of Bosnian Muslims? Lesson 5.13: What Was George W. Bush's Strategy in the War on Terror? 6.  Civil Liberties and Public Safety: Under What Conditions, If Any, Should Citizens' Freedoms Be Restricted? Lesson 6.1: Why did Ted Cruz Oppose COVID-19 Vaccine and Mask Mandates? Lesson 6.2: How Did the United States Explain Its Decision to Declare Independence from Britain? Lesson 6.3: What Does the Bill of Rights Guarantee? Lesson 6.4: How Did John Adams Restrict Freedom of the Press? Lesson 6.5: What Was Abraham Lincoln's Argument for Suspending Habeas Corpus Rights During the Civil War? Lesson 6.6: Was Carrie Nation's Temperance Activism Protected by the Constitution? Lesson 6.7: How Did Herbert Hoover Explain His Decision to Disperse the Bonus Army? Lesson 6.8: How Did Franklin D. Roosevelt Justify the Internment of Japanese Americans? Lesson 6.9: How Did Paul Robeson Defend Himself Against Joseph McCarthy's Accusation That He Was a Communist? Lesson 6.10: How Did COINTELPRO Justify Its Surveillance of U.S. Citizens? Lesson 6.11: What Rights Did the Black Panther Party Demand, and Why? Lesson 6.12: How Did the U.S. Government Defend the USA PATRIOT Act? Lesson 6.13: What Was Barack Obama's Plan to Reduce Gun Violence? 7.  Identity: What Do We Mean When We Say "We"? Lesson 7.1: Great Law of Peace, Dekanawida, c. 1500 Lesson 7.2: An Act Concerning Servants and Slaves, Virginia House of Burgesses, 1705 Lesson 7.3: Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, 1776 Lesson 7.4: Our Hearts Are Sickened, John Ross, 1838 Lesson 7.5: Scott v. Sanford, 1856 Lesson 7.6: Declaration of Immediate Causes, South Carolina Legislature, 1860 Lesson 7.7: The Souls of Black Folk, W. E. B. Du Bois, 1903 Lesson 7.8: Investigation of Labor Conditions, Massachusetts House Document 50, 1845 Lesson 7.9: On Women's Right to Vote, Susan B. Anthony, 1872192 Lesson 7.10: Appeal for Neutrality, Woodrow Wilson, 1914 193 Lesson 7.11: My Life and Work, Henry Ford, 1922 Lesson 7.12: The Klan's Fight for Americanism, Hiram W. Evans, 1926 193 Lesson 7.13: The New Deal, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936 Lesson 7.14: Day of Infamy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1941 193 Lesson 7.15: By Any Means Necessary, Malcolm X, 1964 Lesson 7.16: Why I Am Opposed to the War in Vietnam, Martin Luther King, Jr., 1967 Lesson 7.17: A Shining City on a Hill, Ronald Reagan, 1974 194 Lesson 7.18: The War on Terror, George W. Bush, 2001 Lesson 7.19: A More Perfect Union, Barack Obama, 2008 Appendices Appendix A: Quick Reference Guide Appendix B: Course Entry Survey Appendix C: Course Exit Survey Appendix D: Unit Entry Survey Appendix E: Biographical Research Paper Instructions Appendix F: Summit Research Worksheet Appendix G: Unit Exit Survey Appendix H: 21st-Century Issue Letter Instructions Appendix I: Designing Your Own Thematic Units Appendix J: Online Content References Index About the Author

About the Author :
Rosalie Metro is an assistant teaching professor in the Department of Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum at the University of Missouri-Columbia and author of Teaching World History Thematically: Essential Questions and Document-Based Lessons to Connect Past and Present.