Teaching U.S. History Thematically: Document-Based Lessons for the Secondary Classroom

by Rosalie Metro

Overview

Get started with an innovative approach to teaching history that develops literacy and higher-order thinking skills, connects the past to students’ lives, and meets state and national standards (grades 7–12). Now in a second edition, this popular book provides an introductory unit to help teachers build a trustful classroom climate; over 70 primary sources (including a dozen new ones) organized into thematic units structured around an essential question from U.S. history; and a new final unit focusing on periodization and chronology. As students analyze carefully excerpted documents, they build an understanding of how diverse historical figures have approached key issues. At the same time, students learn to participate in civic debates and develop their own views on what it means to be a 21st-century American. Each unit connects to current events with dynamic classroom activities that make history come alive. In addition to the documents, this teaching manual provides strategies to assess student learning; mini-lectures designed to introduce documents; activities to help students process, display, and integrate their learning; guidance to help teachers create their own units; and more.

Book Features:

• Addresses the politicization of history head-on with updated material that allows students entry points into timely topics like vaccination mandates, election denial, and climate change, as well as debates swirling around their own education, like the one about critical race theory.
• Makes document-based teaching easy with a curated collection of primary sources (speeches by presidents and protesters, Supreme Court cases, political cartoons) excerpted into manageable chunks for students.
• Challenges the “master narrative” of U.S. history with texts from Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Malcolm X, Dolores Huerta, Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, and Judy Heumann.
• Offers printable copies of the documents included in the book, which can be downloaded at tcpress.com.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807768846
Publisher:	Teachers College Press
Publication date:	07/28/2023
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	226,912
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Rosalie Metro is an associate teaching professor in the Department of Learning, Teaching, and Curriculum at the University of Missouri-Columbia and author of Teaching World History Thematically: Essential Questions and Document-Based Lessons to Connect Past and Present.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments  xi

Preface to the Second Edition  xiii

Introduction: Why Use a Thematic, Document-Based Approach for Teaching U.S. History?  1
Why Thematic?  2
Why Document Based?  3
Meeting Common Core and Other State and National Standards  6
Common Core State Standards  7
What Do We Mean When We Say “We”?: Framing our Study of U.S. History  8
Structure of a Unit  9
Structure of a Lesson  12
Assessment  16
Accounting for Grade Level and Differentiating Instruction  17
Classroom Climate  18
Designing Your Own Thematic Units  20

0.  Historians’ Skills: Why and How Study History?  21
Lesson 0.1: Who Are You in History?  22
Lesson 0.2: Who Are We Together?  24
Lesson 0.3: How Do We Want to Work Together?  26
Lesson 0.4: Why Study History?  28

1.  American Democracy: What Is American Democracy, and What Should It Be?  37
Lesson 1.1: What Did Kamala Harris Believe Were the Greatest Threats to Democracy in the United States?  38
Lesson 1.2: How Did Native American Traditions Influence American Democracy?  40
Lesson 1.3: How Did Thomas Paine Argue for Independence From Britain?  43
Lesson 1.4: What Was James Madison’s Argument for Representative Democracy?  45
Lesson 1.5: What Did Thomas Jefferson Believe Were the Main Responsibilities of Government?  47
Lesson 1.6: How Did Andrew Jackson Represent the “Common Man”?  49
Lesson 1.7: How Did Frederick Douglass Criticize American Democracy?  52
Lesson 1.8: How Did Abraham Lincoln Define Democracy?  54
Lesson 1.9: How Did Susan B. Anthony Interpret the Constitution?  56
Lesson 1.10: What Did John F. Kennedy Believe the United States Should Do for the World?  58
Lesson 1.11: Why Did Ronald Reagan Believe America Was Great?  60
Lesson 1.12: Why Did Barack Obama Think the United States Was Not Yet a Perfect Union?  62

2.  Diversity and Discrimination: What Does Equality Mean?  66
Lesson 2.1: What Was the Supreme Court’s Argument for Allowing Same-Sex Marriage?  67
Lesson 2.2: How Did the Virginia Slave Codes Change Race Relations?  69
Lesson 2.3: What Did the Constitution Say About Slavery?  72
Lesson 2.4: How Did Native Americans Argue for Equal Rights?  74
Lesson 2.5: How Did Sojourner Truth Define Equality?  76
Lesson 2.6: What Was the Supreme Court’s Rationale for Denying Black People Citizenship?  77
Lesson 2.7: Why Did John Brown Think Violence Was Justified to End Slavery?  79
Lesson 2.8: What Was the Supreme Court’s Reasoning for “Separate but Equal” Facilities?  81
Lesson 2.9: Why Did Elizabeth Cady Stanton Believe Women Deserved the Same Rights as Men?  83
Lesson 2.10: What Was the Supreme Court’s Argument for Excluding Chinese People From U.S. Citizenship?  85
Lesson 2.11: What Was the Ku Klux Klan’s Argument for White Supremacy?  88
Lesson 2.12: How Did the Supreme Court Explain Its Decision to Overturn the “Separate but Equal” Doctrine?  90
Lesson 2.13: How Did Malcolm X Think Racial Equality Could Be Achieved?  92
Lesson 2.14: How Did Judy Heumann Oppose Discrimination on the Basis of Disability?  94

3.  States’ Rights and Federal Power: How Should Power Be Distributed Among Local, State, and Federal Governments?  99
Lesson 3.1: How Did Donald Trump Try to Challenge the Authority of State Election Officials?  99
Lesson 3.2: What Was the Balance of Power Between the States and Congress in the Articles of Confederation?  102
Lesson 3.3: How Did the Constitution Compare With the Articles of Confederation?  104
Lesson 3.4: How Did George Washington Explain His Decision to Suppress the Whiskey Rebellion?  106
Lesson 3.5: How Did States’ Rights and Federalist Interpretations of the Constitution Differ?  109
Lesson 3.6: Is the State or Federal Government Responsible for Protecting Native American Nations?  111
Lesson 3.7: How Did Daniel Webster Argue That States Couldn’t Nullify Federal Laws?  114
Lesson 3.8: How Did the Southern States Explain Their Decision to Secede From the Union?  116
Lesson 3.9: Why Did Dwight Eisenhower Enforce Desegregation?  118
Lesson 3.10: How Did Orval Faubus Argue for Segregation as a “State’s Right”?  120
Lesson 3.11: Does the State or Federal Government Protect Individuals From Environmental Harm?  121

4.  Government, Business, and Workers: What Role Should Government and Business Play in Promoting Citizens’ Well-Being?  125
Lesson 4.1: Why Did Some Amazon Workers Unionize?  125
Lesson 4.2: What Were Christopher Columbus’s Economic and Social Goals?  128
Lesson 4.3: Why Did John Calhoun Define Slavery as a “Positive Good”?  130
Lesson 4.4: Why Did the Lowell Mill Women Go on Strike?  132
Lesson 4.5: How Did W. E. B. Du Bois Think That the Government Succeeded and Failed in Helping Formerly Enslaved People?  134
Lesson 4.6: What Was Andrew Carnegie’s Argument for Social Darwinism?  136
Lesson 4.7: How Did the “Other Half” Live as Shown in Jacob Riis’s Photos?  138
Lesson 4.8: How Did Upton Sinclair Want to Change the Meatpacking Industry?  142
Lesson 4.9: What Was Henry Ford’s Plan for Ending Poverty?  144
Lesson 4.10: How and Why Was Tulsa’s Black Wall Street Destroyed?  146
Lesson 4.11: What Were the Aims of the New Deal?  149
Lesson 4.12: Why Did Lyndon Johnson Launch a War on Poverty?  151
Lesson 4.13: Why Did Dolores Huerta Believe Farmworkers Were Being Mistreated?  153
Lesson 4.14: What Was Reaganomics?  155

5.  Foreign Policy: Under What Circumstances Should the United States Intervene in World Events?  159
Lesson 5.1: Why Did Anthony Blinken Consider Climate Change Relevant to National Security?  159
Lesson 5.2: Why Did George Washington Believe the United States Should Stay Neutral?  162
Lesson 5.3: How Did the Monroe Doctrine Change U.S. Foreign Policy?  164
Lesson 5.4: How Was the Idea of Manifest Destiny Used to Justify Taking Over Foreign Lands?  166
Lesson 5.5: Why Did Mark Twain Oppose U.S. Colonization of the Philippines?  167
Lesson 5.6: How Did Woodrow Wilson Try to Convince Americans to Stay Neutral in World War I?  169
Lesson 5.7: How Did Franklin D. Roosevelt Explain His Decision to Involve the United States in World War II?  171
Lesson 5.8: How Did Eleanor Roosevelt Explain the Purpose of the United Nations?  173
Lesson 5.9: How Did the Truman Doctrine Change U.S. Foreign Policy?  175
Lesson 5.10: Why Did Martin Luther King Jr. Oppose the Vietnam War?  177
Lesson 5.11: On What Basis Did Henry Kissinger Advise Richard Nixon to Oppose Chilean President Salvador Allende?  179
Lesson 5.12: How Did Bill Clinton Explain His Decision to Intervene in the Genocide of Bosnian Muslims?  182
Lesson 5.13: What Was George W. Bush’s Strategy in the War on Terror?  184

6.  Civil Liberties and Public Safety: Under What Conditions, If Any, Should Citizens’ Freedoms Be Restricted?  188
Lesson 6.1: Why Did Ted Cruz Oppose Covid-19 Vaccine and Mask Mandates?  188
Lesson 6.2: How Did the United States Explain Its Decision to Declare Independence From Britain?  191
Lesson 6.3: What Does the Bill of Rights Guarantee?  192
Lesson 6.4: How Did John Adams Restrict Freedom of the Press?  195
Lesson 6.5: What Was Abraham Lincoln’s Argument for Suspending Habeas Corpus Rights During the Civil War?  196
Lesson 6.6: Was Carrie Nation’s Temperance Activism Protected by the Constitution?  198
Lesson 6.7: How Did Herbert Hoover Explain His Decision to Disperse the Bonus Army?  200
Lesson 6.8: How Did Franklin D. Roosevelt Justify the Internment of Japanese Americans?  202
Lesson 6.9: How Did Paul Robeson Defend Himself Against Joseph McCarthy’s Accusation That He Was a Communist?  204
Lesson 6.10: How Did COINTELPRO Justify Its Surveillance of U.S. Citizens?  206
Lesson 6.11: What Rights Did the Black Panther Party Demand, and Why?  208
Lesson 6.12: How Did the U.S. Government Defend the USA PATRIOT Act?  211
Lesson 6.13: What Was Barack Obama’s Plan to Reduce Gun Violence?  213

7.  American Identity: What Do We Mean When We Say “We”?  217
Lesson 7.1: Great Law of Peace, Dekanawida, C. 1500 (Lesson 1.2)  218
Lesson 7.2: An Act Concerning Servants and Slaves, Virginia House of Burgesses, 1705 (Lesson 2.2)  218
Lesson 7.3: Declaration of Independence, CONTINENTAL CONGRESS 1776 (Lesson 6.2)  218
Lesson 7.4: Our Hearts Are Sickened, John Ross, 1838 (Lesson 2.3)  218
Lesson 7.5: Scott V. Sanford, 1856 (Lesson 2.6)  219
Lesson 7.6: Declaration of Immediate Causes, South Carolina Legislature, 1860 (Lesson 3.8)  219
Lesson 7.7: The Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. Du Bois, 1903 (Lesson 4.5)  219
Lesson 7.8: Investigation of the Labor Conditions, Massachusetts House Document NO. 50, 1845 (Lesson 4.4)  220
Lesson 7.9: On Women’s Right to Vote, Susan B. Anthony, 1872 (Lesson 1.9)  220
Lesson 7.10: Appeal for Neutrality, Woodrow Wilson, 1914 (Lesson 5.6)  220
Lesson 7.11: My Life and Work, Henry Ford, 1922 (Lesson 4.9)  221
Lesson 7.12: The Klan’s Fight for Americanism, Hiram W. Evans, 1926 (Lesson 2.10)  221
Lesson 7.13: The New Deal, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1936 (Lesson 4.11)  221
Lesson 7.14: Day of Infamy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1941 (Lesson 5.7)  221
Lesson 7.15: By Any Means Necessary, Malcolm X, 1964 (Lesson 2.12)  222
Lesson 7.16: Why I Am Opposed to the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King Jr., 1967 (Lesson 5.10)  222
Lesson 7.17: A Shining City on a Hill, Ronald Reagan, 1974 (Lesson 1.11)  222
Lesson 7.18: The War on Terror, George W. Bush, 2001 (Lesson 5.13)  223
Lesson 7.19: A More Perfect Union, Barack Obama, 2008 (Lesson 1.12)  223

Appendices  225
Appendix A: Quick Reference Guide  225
Appendix B: Course Entry Survey  234
Appendix C: Course Exit Survey  234
Appendix D: Unit Entry Survey  234
Appendix E: Biographical Paper Instructions  234
Appendix F: Summit Research Worksheet  235
Appendix G: Unit Exit Survey  235
Appendix H: 21st-Century Issue Letter Instructions  236
Appendix I: Designing Your Own Thematic Units  236
Appendix J: Online Content  236

References  237

Index  239

About the Author  249

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“Metro's second edition updates an already fabulous history teacher resource. Her blend of insightful essential questions, compelling primary source documents, and thoughtful strategies engage both teacher and student in impactful historical analysis.”
—Diana Laufenberg, executive director, Inquiry Schools

Praise for the First Edition

"Not only is the book a thorough and comprehensive guide for teachers, it is an invaluable tool for educators looking to encourage and enhance reflective practice and promote meaningful, engaging, and inclusive teaching and learning."
—Teachers College Record

"This is an indispensable guide for any teacher looking to bring serious intellectual engagement to the history classroom."
—Sam Wineburg, Stanford University

"Teaching U.S. History Thematically provides teachers a practical yet compelling response to problems in history education. I am excited to use in my college classes; this is required reading!”
—LaGarrett King, University of Missouri

“A remarkably thoughtful and engaging aid to teaching U.S. history. Using carefully chosen primary documents, Metro raises pointed questions that will help teachers and students alike wrestle with the place of the past in the present.”
—Jill Lepore, Harvard University

Editorial Reviews

"The design and organization of Teaching U.S. History Thematically encourages educators at all levels (e.g., teacher education programs, preservice social studies education candidates, and inservice social studies teachers) to reflect upon the curriculum and its purpose and to adopt an innovative approach for high quality lessons that promote an inclusive story of all Americans throughout history. Not only is the book a thorough and comprehensive guide for teachers, it is an invaluable tool for educators looking to encourage and enhance reflective practice and promote meaningful, engaging, and inclusive teaching and learning."

—Teachers College Record

'Metro’s work is a useful source for those thinking of becoming social studies teachers. Rather than tell these new teachers what and how to teach, Metro’s work suggests a different approach. Some college and university professors might find the overall approach interesting if they are involved in training secondary education social studies teachers. It may help candidates think through curriculum development and lesson and unit planning."

— H-Net

From the Publisher