Emergence of Modern America – Everyday Americans, Exceptional Americans

Bridging the Mississippi

bhurwit3 — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 16:55:30 +0000

In this lesson, students will investigate the need for development of railroad transportation across the Mississippi River to facilitate westward expansion. It will conclude with the construction of Eads Bridge at St. Louis Missouri. The students will analyze the importance of rivers (specifically the Mississippi) when it comes to transportation and trade. They will also describe the drawbacks rivers created for westward expansion.

Road Building and the Growth of Cities

bhurwit3 — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 17:54:58 +0000

Students will analyze four different photographs to understand what road conditions were like in the early parts of the 20th century. They will discuss the difficulties of travel and why these difficulties might have prompted the building of better roads. I will guide the discussion to help the students figure out how improving road conditions affected the growth of cities.

Immigration: Why Come to the United States?

Jessica Kilday — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 18:46:09 +0000

In this activity, I will introduce our unit on Immigration. Our curriculum focuses mainly on the reasons for the increase of immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but the concept is also brought up again later in the year as we talk about societal changes after World War II. With this introductory activity, students will use primary sources to guide them in discovering why immigrants came to the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first source is the hook, in which students will use song lyrics to brainstorm reasons for immigration. The second source is an interview with an immigrant of the early 20th century. The third source is a cartoon which compares and contrasts “here” (European country) to “there” (U.S.). Using 3 different categories of primary sources allows students of varying abilities to feel comfortable participating, which is especially important for English Language Learners or Special Education students.