Welcome to 8th grade Social Studies. Please check this site nightly for homework, class updates and links to useful websites.
Course Overview
The 8th grade course, The American Citizen, will explore the history of the country’s founding, examine the enduring government structures that were conceived in these early years, and consider how subsequent trends have shaped the identity and obligations of American citizens. Students will move from a study of the aspirations of the earliest settlers to the unique qualities of the disgruntled colonies and then to the American Revolution and the Constitutional Convention. The next focus is on the three branches of government and the sacred liberties that sprang from these early experiences and Philadelphia meetings, with a steady emphasis on their current incarnations and import. The course’s final section considers how expansion, immigration, industrialization and war have altered the American Citizen’s sense of identity and duty. Several distinct themes and “essential questions” will help steer students through the course material, all of them supporting the overarching question of what it means to be an American citizen today.
The class will also consciously hone skills that reside at the heart of the social studies discipline. Students will read primary sources, research topics of interest, produce clear and coherent writing, and present arguments using both traditional public speaking skills and 21st century technologies.
Course Overview
The 8th grade course, The American Citizen, will explore the history of the country’s founding, examine the enduring government structures that were conceived in these early years, and consider how subsequent trends have shaped the identity and obligations of American citizens. Students will move from a study of the aspirations of the earliest settlers to the unique qualities of the disgruntled colonies and then to the American Revolution and the Constitutional Convention. The next focus is on the three branches of government and the sacred liberties that sprang from these early experiences and Philadelphia meetings, with a steady emphasis on their current incarnations and import. The course’s final section considers how expansion, immigration, industrialization and war have altered the American Citizen’s sense of identity and duty. Several distinct themes and “essential questions” will help steer students through the course material, all of them supporting the overarching question of what it means to be an American citizen today.
The class will also consciously hone skills that reside at the heart of the social studies discipline. Students will read primary sources, research topics of interest, produce clear and coherent writing, and present arguments using both traditional public speaking skills and 21st century technologies.