1. Welcome To 9th Grade American History

2. What to expect for the school year.
Course Syllabus
Online Textbook
Quia Quizzes
“5th Marking Period”
District Assessments
District Unit Exams

3. What is my goal with the course?
History vs. Social Studies
What are the differences?
History is not a Science!
Statistics don’t tell you anything
“There are lies, damned lies and then there are statistics.” – Mark Twain
What is lost in studying graphs and numbers is the “human element.”
The human element – what is that?
For example…

4. In World War One, a lot of people died…
In World War I, there were 18 million deaths
I think it’s impossible to imagine 18 million of anything
How do you learn anything from such a statistic?
Instead, if you focus on the “human element,” you get a story like this from a soldier, Earnst Junger from the First World War

5. What is it that defines you?
This is my 16th year of teaching
I’ve been married for 13 years
I have 5 kids
Do these statistics define me?

6. Assignment # 1 You are to provide a biography of yourself
You must include in your biography the following:
Your personal statistics
Where you were born?
How old are you?
What is your family make up?
You must provide a defining story about yourself. This defining story must give the listener:
An idea of who you are
It must be true (backed up by more than one source, please list a person who can verify that the story is true.)
It must be school appropriate.
This assignment must be one paragraph and it is due tomorrow