The+Assignment


 * Transforming US History**

** “Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.” ** ** ( **** 1/20/09 **** ) ** ** Excerpt from [|Inaugural address of President Barack Obama] **

Barack Obama has issued to us, the African American Scholars Program, a specific challenge: we can no longer simply sit back and ask for change; we can no longer sit by and demand change; we must take action and bring about change; we must get involved and be the change we wish to see.

Many of us have complained about the dearth of a substantial African-American and Latino presence in the BHS history curriculum. We now have a real opportunity to take on this challenge and effect real change.

In the next few weeks, we will work together to bring change to the US history curriculum at BHS. The histories of African Americans and Latinos find a limited place in the US curriculum. Little of it is currently in the text books and little is in the training of most US history teachers. So, to bring change to the curriculum, we must bring the material to the teachers.

We will work together to prepare a thorough, researched report on an important event in African American or Latino history in the 19th or 20th century that is not yet in the US history books used by Brookline High School. You will either select a topic from a list generated by Mr. Fischer and Mr. Vick or come up with your own (we’ll help you with that). Either way, you will need to present your topic to us and explain why it is important and why you are curious about studying this aspect of history. Then we will work with two librarians (Ms. Shinn and Ms. Collins) and several history teachers to research and write about these events.

The President spoke of using new instruments to meet the challenges we face as Americans. As a Scholar, you will have the chance to make use of a new piece of technology as you undertake your challenge. As part of this project, you will be introduced to the newest web-based software for research, a resource that BHS has just purchased; you will be the first to use this. This will give you a major head start for the research project you will do as part of your World History class.

After researching your topic, you will produce **__two__** final products. The first will be your research paper that will take the form of a textbook section. You will write 3-4 pages about the event you selected. Please be sure to include, in addition to a description of the actual event, why it is important to you as a scholar and why it should be included in the BHS history curriculum. You will submit these assignments to us. Additionally, these documents will be turned in to Dr. Gary Schiffman, chair of the BHS history department. He will review them for possible inclusion in the curriculum. If all goes well, the material you study and report on will become a part of the US history curriculum for the 2009-2010 school year.

In addition to the paper, you will be responsible for teaching a lesson to the class about your topic. You will have ten minutes to teach the Scholars about the topic you selected. I expect that your lesson will be engaging and informative. To this end, it should have a “hook” (something to pull learners into the lesson), and a way to assess whether your peers have actually learned what you are teaching. Additionally, I expect you to include PowerPoint to support your speaking. We will teach you how to do this. Knowing how to use PowerPoint well will enable to you earn A’s on oral presentations, and you’ll have many oral presentations to do in the next 3 ½ years.

This is an important project. It will help you build your skills, contribute to the Brookline community, and benefit the Scholars family. As it is so important, it will require a substantial of amount of time, good thinking, and hard work. This will require that you use your time extremely effectively. We will do much of the work for this project during class time. Some of the work, however, will require that you work on your own at home.

This is an exciting opportunity. It will benefit Brookline High School tremendously and give you some of the skills you need to succeed with future research projects. The teachers who are involved are all very excited to be working with you. I know you’ll rise to this occasion and seize this opportunity.

Let’s get to work.