What Does it Mean to be American?
This year I am making a commitment to emphasize the theme American National Identity in my APUSH classes and will attempt to do so with a recurring project titled “What does it mean to be American?” American National Identity is a difficult concept to explain because it has changed across time periods and does not have the same meaning to everyone in the same time period. The answers students come up with may bolster the current understanding of what it means to be American, or it may challenge accepted notions. What matters is that students create an argument based on historical evidence and is thoroughly researched.
Students will be in groups for each semester, but only one student will be responsible for producing a project for each unit. They will create an 8-12 minute presentation, video, report, or podcast in which they explain their response for the historical period that they are studying. Students are encouraged to pick topics that will expand their view of what it means to be American, or at the very least help them understand their own views further. The student instructions handout covers the specifics, but here are somethings I will make sure to highlight in class.
Research
Students will have to use one primary source from the College Board’s Optional Source List. This list was recently released by the College Board as way to encourage students to interact with historical sources more frequently.
Students will also be responsible for incorporating a Secondary Source that they have found on their own or through their research group. The project guidelines includes possible places to find new secondary sources that go beyond their own textbook or a generic Encyclopedia article. Your school may have access to more research databases that your students can utilize.
Presentation
Student presentations will be followed by a question and answer period in which the presenters will be asked more questions about their topic and research process. The answers to these questions will make up a portion of the final grade.
The two documents below explain the project in full and includes outlines for students to use throughout the research process. It also includes a sample rubric to grade the final work.
A Note on the use of GenAI
Your policy may differ, but the project includes general guideline of acceptable uses of GenAI in the research process. Feel free to change these to what is appropriate for you and your classroom.
I hope that you use this project in your classroom and that it creates moments of learning and inquiry for your students. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions about ways to incorporate it into your class.