History Question

The essay’s substance involves the 3 key learner objectives of this class:

Demonstrate how ideas and groups have historically shaped the creation of and change in U.S. institutions.
Identify key institutions in U.S. politics and their impacts on social, economic, or political outcomes. This will include differential impacts on disparate communities.
Describe the impact of key ideas, people, events, institutions, or movements on the nature, history, and boundaries of American citizenship and the various forms of civic participation in a self-governing society.

You have a choice about the audience and the instructions for this culminating essay assignment. No matter whether you are an aspiring teacher or not, you can select either audience for this assignment.

Choice #1: for teachers with the audience being parents of your students. This version of the culminating assignment tasks you with demonstrating your understanding of the learner objectives by writing letters to parents.
Choice #2: for others with the audience being someone you meet while traveling internationally. This version of the culminating assignment asks you to imagine meeting someone truly interested in United States institutions and how they developed over time.

THESE ARE THE INSTRUCTIONS IF YOU SELECT THE ASSIGNMENT FOR TEACHERS

Imagine yourself as a 5th grade teacher in a Title I public school. You will be teaching your students this exact same material, but at their grade level. Your essay consists of 3 separate letters you will write to parents explaining what students will be learning when you cover 3 units:

“Shaping U.S. Institutions” [1st learner objective]
“Key Institutions in U.S. Politics” [2nd learner objective].
“American citizenship and civic participation.” [3rd learner objective].

Be very careful about the audience of your letter. Assume your audience is a a well educated parent, for example, your professor. This is not a 5th grade student. Do not make the mistake of “dumbing down” the information. Each of the 3 parent letters will have the same structure.

Part A: For the parents, you summarize in your own words the learner objective (of this class and what you will be teaching; they are the same) in a detailed paragraph. Be sure to use specific example from the various relevant lecture topics.

Part B: For the parents, give examples of lessons you will teach as a part of each of these units. The lesson ideas should come from the various lectures & topics that you learned in completing all of the various assignments.

Part C: You will explain to the parents the key parts of the learner objective that you would like them to reinforce when students work on their “homework”. Be specific in providing examples to the parents of the sorts of things they can help reinforce.

You will repeat this letter structure for each of the 3 units.

Please do not ask about a preferred length for your letter, but each letter should be no shorter than 1.5 pages single spaced. That is what you will need to explain parts A, B and C. [Each letter should be no longer than 3 single spaced pages.]

THESE ARE THE INSTRUCTIONS IF YOU SELECT THE ASSIGNMENT FOR AN INTERNATIONAL TRAVELER:

Imagine yourself traveling internationally. You meet someone who is extremely interested in learning about American Institutions and how they developed. You new friend stays in touch, and over time, asks you about the topics of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd learner objectives of this class. Your essay consists of 3 separate letters you will write to this new friend.

“Shaping U.S. Institutions” [1st learner objective]
“Key Institutions in U.S. Politics” [2nd learner objective].
“American citizenship and civic participation.” [3rd learner objective].

Be very careful about the audience of your letter. Assume your friend is well educated and has the ability to reach and speak English at a high proficiency. Do not make the mistake of “dumbing down” the information by pretending your audience has trouble reading English. Think about this person as being a professional. Each of the 3 letters will have the same structure.

Part A: For this friend, you summarize in your own words the learner objective in a detailed paragraph. Be sure to use specific example from the various relevant lecture topics.

Part B: For this friend, give examples from the various lectures & topics that you learned in completing all of the various assignments.

Part C: You will explain to this friend the key parts of the learner objective, as a way of summarizing what you wrote in detail in Part B.

You will repeat this letter structure for each of the 3 units.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR FILE.

1. Each letter essay should be single spaced.

2. Combine each of the three essays into 1 file to submit.

CHECKLIST-RUBRIC ON WHAT MUST BE IN AN ESSAY RECEIVING HIGH POINTS

1. Each essay looks like it has been proof-read carefully by the student and another as it should be free of grammatical errors with complete sentences and coherent paragraphs.

2. Each essay must use evidence to communicate coherent arguments where the evidence is drawn from sources used in this class

3. Each essay must include the content of at least 4 different lecture topics (it can include more) covered in class as examples. If you are confused about how to find these topics, each of the three learning outcomes is general. However, your essay must include specifics. The syllabus provides a cross-link between each of the learning outcomes and the different specific topics covered in each unit. You see this-cross-link in a table for each unit in the syllabus.

4. The minimum length is 1.5 pages single spaced 12 pt font.

5. Each paragraph has a topic sentence that communicates the basic idea of that paragraph, and the order of the paragraphs has been carefully considered and laid out in such a way as you think it will help the parent understand.

6. The audience for each essay is an educated adult, such as a physician or an attorney.

7. When you proofread your essay prior to submission, decide if it reads like someone knows the subject matter well, who understands the content well enough to not simply string together concepts, but who organizes the ideas in a way that would make sense to teach to a 5th grader or to make sense to someone who did not grow up in the USA.

Gibbons v Ogden (1824)

Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)

Mapp v. Ohio (1961)

Requirements: completed

WRITE MY PAPER

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