Advice Needed On U.S. History/Social Justice Course Focus

[Michael Grzelak]

I only have 13 weeks to teach U.S. History to over-aged and under-credited high school students in an inner city setting.  This will be my third year teaching this course and this year I wanted to change things up.  Instead of just reducing the amount of material and focusing on limited content in U.S. History, I want to create a solid social justice curriculum centered in U.S. History.  I am a history lover and have thousands of ideas about topics to focus on, but 13 weeks is still not a lot of time, especially with my students.  I think focusing on social justice themes will make it more meaningful, but I am looking for suggestions and feedback about what to actually cover in these 13 weeks.

 

What do you believe are the most important content points and skills to cover in a 13 week social justice/U.S. History course?

 

Any ideas, comments, of tips would greatly be appreciated about the content focus within a 13 week social justice/U.S. History course.  Thanks so much~

[ron_peck]

Michael,

What time frame in U.S. History are you teaching? You're going to want to focus on a few units with a lot of depth to bring the concepts into focus for your students. Bring it back to their own lives and experiences and have them select the topics that interest them. What you need is a comprehensive suggestion list from which to work and glean ideas, no?