Skills Based Learning Targets (year long)

• Analyze a variety of textual sources, including primary and secondary written sources, tables and graphs, and maps to demonstrate understanding and use information from these sources to understand historical questions (Reading Analysis)
• Synthesize information from a variety of sources and places and use it to come to a broader understanding or form an argument (Synthesis)
• Write a clearly described and detailed argument and defend it using historical evidence (Argumentation)
• Write and speak coherently and clearly in a variety of formats and settings and clearly present information both visually & verbally (Communication)
• Analyze and understand the relationship between causes and effects in history and use it to further their understanding of historical processes and events (Cause & Effect)
• Use compare and contrast methods to analyze historical processes and events (Compare & Contrast)

Content Based Learning Targets (by unit)

• Create an argument analyzing Christopher Columbus as a historical figure (1.1)
• Identify the positive and negative effects of the Columbian Exchange on both Native Americans and European colonists (1.2)
• List the major motivations behind the development of European colonies in the Americas and why colonists were motivated to settle colonies (1.3)
• Identify and differentiate the various forms of representative governments created in the colonies (1.4)
• Understand the regional differences between the colonies economically, socially, and politically (1.5)
• Understand the political and economic relationship between Great Britain and their American colonies (2.1)
• Analyze and describe the various factors that helped cause the American Revolution (2.2)
• Understand the factors that led to the American victory, including the role of the French, the leadership of George Washington, and the rebel tactics (2.3)
• Identify and understand the effects of the American Revolutionary War (2.4)
• Identify the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation and the need to revise them (3.1)
• Describe the compromises that led to the U.S. Constitution, including the Virginia and New Jersey Plans, the 3⁄5 compromise, and the Bill of Rights (3.2)
• Understand the historical precedents for the executive branch established by George Washington (3.3)
• Understand the causes and effects of the War of 1812 (3.4)
• Analyze the role that Westward expansion and the issue of slavery had in creating sectional divisions within the United States (4.1)
• Identify the events that led to the territorial expansion of the United States, including the Louisiana Purchase, the Mexican-American War, and the Gadsen Purchase (4.2)
• Identify the causes and effects of the U.S.-Mexico War (4.3)
• Identify and understand the economic, social, and cultural differences between the North and the South (4.4)
• Identify and understand the various causes of the U.S. Civil War, including the political impact of debates over slavery and growing sectional polarization in key events including the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850 and the Fugitive Slave Law, the rise of the Republican Party, the Southern secession movement and the formation of the Confederacy (4.5)
• Explain the events and leaders of the U.S. Civil War and analyze how the differences in resources of the Union and Confederacy (economy, technology, demography, geography, political and military leadership) affected the course of the war and Union victory (5.1)
• Understand the social experience of the war on battlefield and home front, in the Union and the Confederacy (5.2)
• Understand the effects of the Civil War (5.3)
• Identify the content of and reasons for the different phases of Reconstruction, and understand their successes and failures in transforming the country, including the formation of black codes, Jim Crow, and violence against African-Americans (5.4)
• Identify and understand the causes and effects of the policy of Native American removal and relocation, including the ‘Trail of Tears’ and Indian Removal Act (6.1)
• Understand the relationship between the U.S. government and Native American tribes, including the formation of treaties and military conflicts (6.2)
• Understand the policies of the U.S. government towards Native American assimilation and their impact on Native American culture and society (6.3)
• Create an argument related to the use of Native American mascots using historical evidence to support their claim (6.4)
• Compare and contrast the characteristics of ‘robber barons’ and ‘Captains of Industry’ during the Industrial Revolution, while creating an argument about a specific historical figure and using evidence to support their argument (7.1)
• Identify and understand the pros and cons of early industrial capitalism and the Gilded Age, including the reforms of the Progressive era (7.2)
• Identify and understand the causes of immigration between 1865-1914 (7.3)
• Understand the causes of rapid urbanization, life in early industrialized cities, and the effects of urbanization on American society (7.4)
• Analyze the arguments related to the role of the United States in the world in the era of Western Imperialism, including the motivation of specific events (8.1)
• Identify and understand the factors that led to the American involvement in World War I (8.2)
• Understand the effects of World War I, including the treaties that ended the war, on American foreign policy (8.3)
• Understand the impact of the Roaring 20’s and Prohibition (9.1)
• Identify the various causes of the Great Depression (9.2)
• Identify and define the major programs of the New Deal and their impact on the nation (9.3)
• Understand the economic, social, and political effects of the Great Depression on American society (9.4)
• Understand the factors that led to the U.S. involvement in World War II (10.1)
• Compare the progression of the war in Europe to that in the Pacific (10.2)
• Analyze the U.S. decision to drop the atomic bomb and form a historical argument on the topic (10.3)
• Analyze the internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II and create a historical argument on the topic (10.4)
• Understand the role and important of the U.S. ‘home front’ during World War II, including the sacrifices made by citizens and the role of women in the work force (10.5)
• Understand the origins of the Cold War and the relationship between the United States and Soviet Union (11.1)
• Understand the impact of McCarthyism and other domestic events and policies during the early Cold War in the United States (11.2)
• Understand the causes and the effects of the Korean War (11.3)
• Identify and understand specific Cold War “hot spots” including, the Berlin Airlift, Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, the ‘space race,’ and the nuclear arms race (11.4)
• Understand why the United States got involved in Vietnam and escalated their presence in the nation (11.5)
• Understand the nature of the fighting of Vietnam, how it differed from previous wars, and how the nature of the war affected domestic politics and American opinions, including the anti-war movement (11.6)
• Understand the background, causes, and the need for a Civil Rights Movement (11.2)
• Identify the major groups and individuals who led the Civil Rights Movement, especially Martin Luther King Jr., and understand their impact on the movement (11.3)
• Understand and compare the various strategies of the Civil Rights Movement, including specific historical examples where those strategies were used (11.4)
• Understand the role of the U.S. Supreme Court and Congressional legislation in the advancement of the Civil Rights Movement (11.5)
• Analyze the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech and create a historical argument related to whether or not we have reached Dr. King’s goals, using historical evidence to support that claim (11.5)