The Theme Concept

With a thematic approach to the study of history, topical events, concepts, and ideas in one era build to the next, providing teachers with knowledge that links the past with today and today with the past.  In this way, teachers of grades 5-12 who participate in Consortium events will be able enhance their knowledge of the specific subject matter that they teach as well that of other grade levels. The result is greater continuity across curriculum standards and grade level content expectations.

"2005-2006: Feeling Secure In America

This theme will examine national sentiments concerning security and defense from the early colonial era to the present day.  Revolution, Imperialism, Totalitarianism, Communism, Terrorism, and many other specific eras and concepts will be explored through lecture, discussion, and discovery using primary and secondary sources.

"2006-2007: Beyond Slavery & Civil Rights

While many teachers give due attention to slavery and its consequences as well as the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, other key elements of discrimination are often overlooked in our classrooms.  From the labor crises of the early colonial era that helped to solidify a slave-based economy in the south, to controversy over the slave status of new states in the first half of the nineteenth century, to the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, race relations have constantly been an enormous formative force in American History.  Events concerned with this theme will explore these ideas using primary and secondary sources to expand and enrich participant's knowledge.

"2007-2008: Trade, Tariffs, & Taxes"

Economic development, import/export relations with other nations, and the collection of taxes have been constant sources of success and failure throughout American History.  Topics for this theme may include early economic growth and taxation under British Colonial rule, post-Revolutionary western expansion, industrialization, depression, and the development of a global economy.