II. Crossroads Social Studies Methods Syllabus: American History Themes In Historical Inquiry Methods For Teaching The Crossroads Curriculum

1. Evolution of American Society: Unit VII: What, then, is this American? and Unit VIII: Waves of Reform
   
   Teachers should explore and ponder the underlying values and assumptions of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution. After discussing and writing about these assumptions, teachers should make a list of ways in which these values and assumptions have or have not continued to the present. These explorations for teachers then form the basis for student projects.
   
   
   1. Values clarification exercises: Begin with fun versions such as "Spaceship," "The Mayflower Trunk," "Alligator River." Be careful to avoid unrealistic life-or-death exercises.
      
      
   2. Identify the values in the amendments as you have done previously. Form debate groups for each value and organize formal debates. These may take the form of a debate over a Supreme Court case or a lower court case. Groups then list and discuss how these values are or are not reflected in current America. Particular care should be taken to clarify and substantiate arguments.
      
      
   3. Sociological tools and group investigation projects: In each of the following, the novice teachers should first do the projects and then plan them for his/her students at the appropriate level.
      
      1. Have students use secondary sources for population growth, growth of industries (such as railroads, steel, or oil), and numbers of immigrants from various countries. (See pp. 7-8 of Bernstein's Essay VII).
         
      2. Make bar graphs of numbers and percentages. (Begin these in kindergarten and increase in sophistication.)
         
      3. Teach averages, mean, and standard deviation to selected students and then apply those techniques to sources of data as in (a) above.
         
      4. Apply the above to inquiry projects.
         
      
      
   4. Simulations: Make computer or board games of "Robber Barons," women's suffrage, railroad advances, lives of the immigrants (use the Oregon Trail as an example). For the model, see Joyce, et al. Be sure the novice teachers use and discuss debriefing in this model.
      
      
   5. Introducing point of view: In order to prepare to teach about point of view, the teacher should become very familiar with a number of primary documents. Choose at least three documents from those used in the text, such as the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, and the U.S. Bill of Rights. Describe the point of view of each document you choose in as much detail as you can. Try to include your own judgments, reactions, and beliefs in your description. As one exercise, compare and contrast Thomas Paine's Common Sense with the statement of the Stanford University professor about aiding draft resistors (see Unit XI).
      
   
   
2. The Question of a Distinctive American Culture
   
   Although there are many famous people and events in American culture, lives of historical value are a relatively untouched resource for students of all ages. Just as the curriculum introduced Harriet Tubman early in the school year, teachers can continue to introduce students and themselves to the unique and valuable individuals in American history. These can include local heros and heroines too.
   
   1. Bring in the literature of this period such as Horatio Alger, dime novels and the great works on American character such as those of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edith Wharton, Henry James, Henry Adams. This range of novels allows for many levels of capability, both of teachers and students.
      
      
   2. Group inquiry (cooperative learning) projects in art, architecture, inventions, and science: the development of the skyscraper, individuals such as St. Gaudens, Stephen Foster, Amy Beach, Julia Ward Howe, Abner Doubleday, Louis Sullivan, the great inventors, etc. Encourage both teachers and advanced students to find lesser known "greats."
      
      
   3. As a concurrent theme study the development of the national park system, from Teddy Roosevelt as a Progressive, through and continuing to the current struggles to maintain parklands. This notion also coincides nicely with problem-solving for America's future.
      
   
   
3. America as a Gathering of Peoples and Cultures
   Read Grant and Sleeter, Turning on Learning: Approaches to Multiculturalism. The student may also choose to read journal articles which demonstrate the differing points of view concerning multicultural teaching (Freire, Giroux, Jansen, Bartolome, King, etc.).
   
   
   1. Human relations, learning about each other's differences and similarities
      
   2. Single group studies: white European males, African-Americans, women
      
   3. Cultural pluralism
      
   4. Multiculturalism
      
   5. Social reconstructivism: teaching students to make changes in society