Course Overview
8th grade U.S. History is a course that focuses on our nation’s past from the
Colonial Period to Reconstruction. Throughout the year students will learn and hopefully appreciate the story of our ancestors through readings, lectures, projects, primary sources, and on-line resources. Students will be responsible for keeping up with assigned readings, maintaining an organized notebook, and completing assignments and projects.
Expectations
• I expect that you will be to class on time with all of your materials that are needed and you are ready to learn and try your best.
• I expect that you will respect your teacher, your peers, yourself, and the school materials at all times
• I expect that you will be open-minded, willing to share ideas, and willing to hear the ideas of others.
• I expect that you will complete all assignments and make an effort to always put forth your best work.
• I expect that you will be responsible enough to find out what you missed when you are away from class and that you will get the work made up in a reasonable amount of time.
• I expect that you will prepare for tests and quizzes and that you will come see me when you have questions and/or concerns.
• I expect that you will believe in yourself and that you have the ability to have success if you do the above items. I do believe in you. I do think everyone of you is capable of a high level of achievement in this class. We just have to communicate and work together to achieve this success.
Rules
• Be in your seat when the bell rings
• Raise your hand to be heard from
• Bring all materials to class everyday (Textbook, notebook, folder, writing utensils, agenda)
• Use restroom during passing times or non-instructional time
• You must fill out a pass and sign out every time you leave the room
“If you are going to do something, do it right!” - Mr. Beyer’s Dad
“Determine never to be idle...It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing.” - Thomas Jefferson
U.S. History Units
Unit 1 Introduction: America before 1750
Unit 2 Creating a New Nation: The American Revolution
Unit 2.5 The Constitution and Presidential Election
Unit 3 The Early Republic (Washington- Madison)
Unit 4 The Changing Nation (Jackson, War with Mexico, Manifest Destiny)
Unit 4.5 Research Project
Unit 5 The Civil War
Grading (percentages are approximates)
Tests and Quizzes 40%
Daily work 30%
Projects 15%
Participation/Responsibility 15%
Why do you need to learn about History?
• So we can follow great things done by people before us and we can avoid mistakes that people before us have made.
• By learning what has already been done, we can learn how to make things better.
• By learning about why people fought wars, we can learn to prevent future wars.
• By learning about people’s beliefs and ideas, we can start to value our own ideas and the ideas of others.
And most importantly….we can get beat our family and friends in trivia games and we know when to laugh at movies that make historical jokes!
Don’t Forget to follow me on Twitter @ jbeyer22!