S+Belton,+Roger

**Office Phone: 207-491-XXXX** **Office Hours: By appointment** ** E-mail: roger.belton@maine.edu **
 * Teacher: Mr. Belton**

=Summary of Unit= This unit will cover American History from 1981 to present. This will cover the presidencies of Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama. Throughout this unit, the topics of social, political, economical, geographical, and cultural change will be discussed. By the end of the unit, students will be able to explain how the events of the 1980's have shaped the world today. Students will be expected to include major points in these past 30 years in their final project. Some of these major points are: Reaganism, the fall of communism, the Iran-Contra affair, Grenada, musical development across the decades, enhanced EPA regulation, the Gulf War, 9/11, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the election of Barack Obama. =Establish Goals= The Maine Learning Results Grade Level: 9-12 Content Area: Social Studies Subject: "The post-Reagan era." Standard E-1 Historical knowledge, themes, and patterns.

=Students will understand that= •There are several different perspectives in history. •There has not been a declared war involving the US since WWII. •The American military has been #1 military for a few decades, and that status comes with a price tag.

=Essential Questions= •How have the different perspectives in history changed the world today? •Why has the United States moved to an era of quasi wars? •Why does the American Military need to be number 1, and how does the price effect the country?

=Students will know= •Events: Iran-Contra affair, Berlin Wall, Iranian hostage crisis, the Gulf War, 9/11, the war in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq. •People: Reagan, Bush, Bush Jr., Clinton, Gorbochev, Osama Bin Laden, Saddam Hussein. •Locations: Columbia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, United States.

=Students will be able to= •Students will be able to analyze and criticize the reasoning for the locations of various events. •Students will be able to remain open to other perspectives and make their own conclusions. •Students will be able to exhibit and describe the roles that various people played in modern political affairs. •Students will be able to read between the lines and make meaning of why people in modern history have made the decisions that they did. •Students will be able to design a build a model showing where and why important events in modern history happened. •Students will be able to be aware of why various locations were chosen and how that effected the world.

**Performance Task Overview** Students will take the role of a junior reporter who has been given the task of summarizing the events of the past 30 years. Students can do this by creating either a picture or movie compilation (or a combination of both). Product with have to be supplemented with either a verbal live presentation or a narration included in the movie. In order to get an accurate picture of the past three decades, students will have to include scenes from at least three of the big ideas. The selection of which big ideas students want to use is up to them. The final product will be a sampling of a full-sized product, at approximately five minutes. Students will be addressing news agencies and historians, as this is a product that they're looking to sell.

=Expectations= Attendance - Students without a valid excuse for being absent will not be allowed to make up missed work. Students with an excused absence will be given one additional class day to make up their late work for each day absent. Assignments - Assignments are expected to be turned in on-time. Late work will be marked down 7 points per day late. For work missed while absent, this rule applies after the grace period is concluded. All assignments will be graded based off of content and effort. The following assignments will be graded accordingly: Writing Assignments: 25% Homework: 15% In-Class Assignments: 15% Projects: 30% Participation: 15% Classroom - Students are expected to come to class prepared with a pen/pencil, paper, laptop, and any textbooks provided. All students will be expected to conduct themselves appropriately in the classroom, by respecting others, remaining as attentive as possible, and by keeping vulgar language to a minimum. In addition to behavioral expectations, students are also expected to treat all school and personal equipment gently, and avoid any unnecessary damage. Plagiarism - According to dictionary.com, the definition of plagiarism is as follows: " The unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work." It is the responsibility of students to do their own work. Any act plagiarism will be dealt with accordingly. Students are given assignments to judge where they are, not to figure out where someone else is. Only the work of a student will be reflected in their grade. Participation - In addition to attending class, students are also expected to participate in all class activities. The purpose of this classroom is to get students motivated to learn more about history, and how it effects them. Participation will include how students interact during group projects, how they participate in class activities, and how well they contribute to classroom discussion.

=Benchmarks= Point system, points for each major project/stage (400 points) This way all students could access the information easily, instead of just the teams.
 * Webspiration - Creating a graphic timeline that describes important events and explains their importance. (100)
 * Flash - Making an animation that shows the geographical significance of events, and how these affected them. (50)
 * Wiki Page - Use the wiki in conjunction with a class debate, allowing students to use the wiki as a repository of information. (50)
 * Comic Life - Create a sketch or comic of political relationships between America and other countries, or even for internal affairs. (75)
 * Blog - Have students use the blog as a journal, having each student use it to review what they learned from each class. Students will create a story of the class and create a virtual storyboard to be reviewed at the end of a unit. (75)
 * Quizlet - Students will create a quizlet during an in-class activity (Lesson 2) and implement it in-class, with the perspective activity. (50)

=Grading Scale= **A** (93 -100), **A-** (90 - 92), **B+** (87 - 89), **B** (83 - 86), **B-** (80 - 82), **C+**(77 - 79), **C** (73-76), **C-** (70 - 72), **D+**(67 - 69), **D** (63 - 66), **D-** (60 - 62), **F** (0 - 59).