US+History+II+Honors

=US HISTORY II HONORS ASSIGNMENT for July 26 - July 28, 2011=



In your new page, entitled "US History II" complete the following:
Activity 1
 * Preview what history you will be learning about in your course by taking previewing notes on the following topic list. Before beginning, make sure you look back at what you learned about previewing during week 1 of this course. In previewing this topic list and taking your previewing notes, what conclusions can you come to about the course and its content? What questions to do you have? Comments? What do you already know something about? What seems interesting? What vocabulary do you need to look up? Etc...Etc...


 * __US History II Curriculum Topics (for more depth and specifics click here)__**


 * The Second Industrial Revolution (1880-1920)
 * American Imperialism (1865-1918)
 * America in World War I (1914-1918)
 * The rise of Progressivism in America (1890-1920)
 * The Roaring Twenties (1919-1929)
 * The Great Depression (1929-1941)
 * The New Deal (1933-1941)
 * America in World War II (1939-1945)
 * The Cold War (1945-1991)
 * Economic Growth in the 1950s (1945-1960)
 * Changes and Upheaval in the 1960s (1954-1975)
 * The Civil Rights Movement (1954-1975)

Activity 2 Next, you will take a look at National History Day (NHD), which is an annual project-based competition done throughout the United States. In your US History II class you will be completing a National History Day project this year (FYI - you will have the option of working in a group). Your NHD project will be on a topic of your choosing and will be presented as either a poster, a website, a research paper, a documentary, or a performance. Before creating the project you will do a lot of research, note-taking, primary source analysis, image analysis, brainstorming, outlining, etc.
 * Go to the NHD website, look around, create a link to it in your notebook in your US History II page, and take some previewing notes on what NHD is all about. Make sure you go to a few different pages, especially being sure to check out info on the 2012 theme.
 * Big question: can you identify at least a couple of topics from the US History II curriculum that fit the 2012 NHD theme?

Activity 3

Now you will have an opportunity to practice some of the work we have done in this course and some of what you will be doing in order to complete your National History Day research this coming school year. For this work, you will need to select a topic from the US History II curriculum standards found here- you may choose a general topic, a specific topic, a person, an event, a law, etc. to research. For example, you might choose the Sherman Antitrust Act or the building of the Panama Canal or Dwight Eisenhower or the Korean War or the Red Scare or...any of the topics found in the curriculum list.

For this work, you will need to keep track of all the websites and sources that you use, so make sure you ALWAYS copy and paste the website link (URL) near the notes or info you are taking from the site. MAKE SURE that you are always keeping in mind and USING what you have learned in this course and throughout your schooling.

Tasks:
 * Select a topic for your research.
 * See if you can find it by going to [] (scroll down to the bottom of the page for the huge list of topics or you can use the search feature) and if you can, use history.com to begin reading up on your topic and take notes as you read. Make sure you keep track of the site address.
 * Next, find at least 3 other websites that have good information on your topic, add to your notes from them and make sure to keep track of the site addresses.
 * Use the internet to find one good PRIMARY SOURCE on your topic. Use crocodoc to mark up the primary source and embed it into your notebook.
 * Add to your notes based on your primary source info and analysis.
 * Find at least two good images related to your topic, add them to your notebook (keep track of the websites they come from) and then explain what they are and why they are important.
 * Take some time to add left column thoughts (comments, questions, connections, predictions, key vocab, etc) to your notes on your topic. Be sure to consider what questions you still have about it.
 * Try to find answer to the questions you still have and add to your notes.

Activity 4
 * Under a new heading, write a thesis statement about your topic. What argument can you make and prove about it? Make sure it is a strong, clear, detailed statement.
 * Then, write a 1-2 paragraph summary of your findings on your topic, explaining what it is all about and its significance in history.