Social Studies Department
Global History & Geography 9
Geography History and Geography 9 is the first part of a two-part course required by the New York State Board of Regents for graduation in the State of New York. This course is required of all 9th grade students. The material covered in this course covers a wide scope, beginning with the study of history and prehistory and continuing until approximately 1750. Connections to contemporary events will be made within each unit. As we want our students to become the Heroes of Tomorrow, this course has a unit of study entitled “Dinner with Heroes” in which students study a historical figure and role-play that person in a Socratic Seminar “dinner” discussion.
Additionally, students will begin developing the following historical thinking skills:
I. Analyzing Historical Sources and Evidence
II. Making Historical Connections
III. Chronological Reasoning
IV. Creating and Supporting Argument
Global History & Geography 10
Geography History and Geography 10 is the second part of a two-part course required by the New York State Board of Regents for graduation in the State of New York. The material covered in this course covers world history from 1750 to the present and culminates in the NYS Global History and Geography II Regents Exam in June. As we want our students to become the Heroes of Tomorrow, this course has a unit of study entitled “Dinner with Heroes” in which students study a historical figure and role-play that person in a Socratic Seminar “dinner” discussion.
Additionally, students will continue developing the following historical thinking skills:
I. Analyzing Historical Sources and Evidence
II. Making Historical Connections
III. Chronological Reasoning
IV. Creating and Supporting Argument
AP World History: Modern
In AP World History: Modern, students investigate significant events, individuals, developments, and processes from 1200 to the present. Students develop and use the same skills, practices, and methods employed by historians: analyzing primary and secondary sources; developing historical arguments; making historical connections; and utilizing reasoning about comparison, causation, and continuity and change over time. The course provides six themes that students explore throughout the course in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places: humans and the environment, cultural developments and interactions, governance, economic systems, social interactions and organization, and technology and innovation.
United States History & Government
United States History & Government is a course required for graduation by the NYS Board of Regents. This courses presents a survey of United States History & Government from the pre-colonial era to the present-day. In the first term, students will study pre-colonial America through the Reconstruction. In the second term, students will study Post-Reconstruction through the present-day. This course is both reading and writing intensive building upon the historical thinking skills taught in Global 9 and Global 10.
AP United States History
In AP U.S. History, students investigate significant events, individuals, developments, and processes in nine historical periods from approximately 1491 to the present. Students develop and use the same skills and methods employed by historians: analyzing primary and secondary sources; developing historical arguments; making historical connections; and utilizing reasoning about comparison, causation, and continuity and change. The course also provides eight themes that students explore throughout the course in order to make connections among historical developments in different times and places: American and national identity; work, exchange, and technology; geography and the environment; migration and settlement; politics and power; America in the world; American and regional culture; and social structures.
Participation in Government
Through engaged learning opportunities and a culminating policy project, students will understand their rights and responsibilities as citizens of local, national, and global communities. Students will broaden their concept of participation in government, government representations, legislation, gain a clearer understanding of policy making, and develop advocacy skills to authentically apply their choices to their lives. Through participation in the Generation Citizen program, students will participate in a series of activities focused on the following themes Citizenship, Government Representations, Civic Action, and Public Policy.
Economics
In this one-semester course, students will learn the fundamentals of the free market system, banking, finance and taxation, comparative economics systems, and the United States in the world economy. Additionally, students will study financial literacy.
Sociology
This course is focused on introducing students to the foundations of sociology. Sociology focuses on the systematic understanding of social interaction, social organization, social institutions, and social change. Understanding sociology helps explain social patterns by making vivid the social basis of everyday life, and develops critical thinking by revealing the social structures and processes that shape diverse forms of humanity.
Black Communities & Complex Identities
This introductory course in the Black experience is largely constructed around the voices and language used by black people themselves. The course is organized chronologically, with an emphasis on the ideas of black social thought, political protest and efforts to initiate social change.