Spinney's Modern World History at Santa Fe Prep: May 2014

Course Description

Welcome! This site is for students, parents, teachers and anyone else interested in the tenth-grade World History 2 Course at Santa Fe Prep.

The overall course covers the history of the world from roughly 1500 to the present. The first quarter opens with the time when Asia was the center of world affairs, then traces European encounters with Asia and the Americas, and the complex interactions and consequences of the so-called "Columbian Exchange" between Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa. The first quarter ends with a survey of the European Renaissance and Reformation, in both its local and global dimensions. The second quarter will focus on the rise of absolute monarchies and new ideas and practices, especially with the scientific revolution and Enlightenment. The second quarter ends with assessments of the legacies of the French Revolution, Napoleon and the emergence of the British Empire. The third quarter starts with the implications of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars in the wake of the Congress of Vienna, i.e., the discourse on rights, reaction, revolution and reform, the rise of new ideologies, in particular, Classical Liberalism, nationalism, and romanticism, and conservative reactions to the changes wrought by the American and French Revolutions. The course then examines the rise of industrialization and social change in 19th-century Europe, and the emergence of middle and working class cultures, followed by new iterations of liberalism and conservatism, the proliferation of more ideologies, e.g., socialism, communism, ultranationalism, social Darwinism, and antisemitism. Then the course examines the unification of the Italian and German nation states, and the creation of the modern welfare state. From there the course traces the rise of a new wave of Western imperialism, followed by the rest of the world's reactions to the rise of European empires and ideas, and in particular, the emergence of industrial Japan and their surprising victory over Russia. The third quarter ends with the outbreak of the First World War. The fourth and final quarter surveys the effects of the First World War, followed by the brief peak of classical liberal nation states and promises for peace, and the rapid rise of authoritarianism, in both communist and fascist variations, with a special focus on the rise of Nazism, the Nazi racial transformation of Germany and the Holocaust and Shoah of modern Europe. The fourth quarter concludes by looking at the causes and effects of the Second World War, the Cold War, the end of European empires in Asia and Africa, the emergence of the Modern Middle East and China, the end of the Cold War, history since 1989, all the way to the present, including current events.

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Capstone Evaluation Guidelines

The following criteria will be considered in the grade (20% of final grade), depending on the nature of the project

1. A portfolio that demonstrates the culmination of a full body of work from the whole year.

- Includes: Independent research papers, presentation materials, oral history interviews, etc.

2. A project that shows a very strong command of the historiography related to the chosen topic, i.e., understanding of a key debate(s) in the secondary source materials, plus an overview of important primary sources.

3. A project that provides a set of building blocks for future student research, thus modeling the dialectic of the research process.

4. Format: title, introduction, primary and secondary source archives, online resources, etc.

5. Readability, accessibility and usability.

7. Ability to be instructive and help the class expand our knowledge in the study of world history.

8. Creativity, originality, innovation, initiative.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Week 18: Into the Twenty-First Century

Monday through Friday, May 19-22, 2014.

Monday, 5/19: Capstone work and final exam reviews; meet in library.

Tuesday through Thursday, 5/20-22: Capstone presentations and review.

Homework: In preparation for possible discussion time and course wrap-up:
Please read "Into the Twenty-First Century," in Western Civilization, pp.787-803,
and Charles Mann, "In Bulalacao: Fractured Celebration," 1493, pp. 491-502.

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Week 17 - The Emerging Contemporary World

Monday through Friday, May 12-16, 2014.
Long periods: Work on oral history interviews and capstone projects.
Oral history interview transcripts are DUE on Friday, 5/16.
- Turn in paper copy; email copy to Logan Luiz, Jimmy Chen, and Annie Wu.
Final revisions and archival copies of independent research papers are DUE on Monday, 5/19.
- Turn in paper copy; email copy to Spinney.
Capstone presentations will run Week 18, Monday through Thursday, 5/19-22.
- updates in content and layout DUE by Friday, 5/16.
Final Self- Reflections are not mandatory, but encouraged; DUE by Tuesday, 5/27.

Day 1, Monday, 5/12: The end of European Colonialism.
In-class: Wrap up discussions on decolonization; finish reading and discussing primary source sets.
Key terms: The Non-Alignment movement, the Balfour Declaration (1917), Zionism, The League of Arab States, 1948 UN partition plan, Gamel Abdul Nasser, and the Suez Canal Crisis (1956).
Homework: Review textbook sections on Israel/Palestine in Sherman/Salisbury, pp. 753-755.

Day 2: Out of Palestine: The Creation of Modern Israel.
In-class: Discuss the readings on Israel/Palestine.
Homework: Read the handouts, and review the textbook materials on the emergence of modern China.

Day 3: The Emergence of Modern China.
In-class: Discuss the handouts on the emergence of modern China.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Spring Semester Final Exams and Capstone Project Expectations

1. Schedule:
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
1:00-3:00 PM in the gym
Extended Time Exams in the Network Classroom

2. Review.
A. Review 2013 Spring Semester blog posts for key themes, questions, terms and persons.
B. NOTE that this exam is comprehensive for the whole spring semester and will include coverage of materials related to the rise of human rights and new ideological struggles after the French Revolution, i.e., liberalism, nationalism, Marxism and the reconfiguration of conservatism. This also encompasses the origins and effects industrialization and the rise of the new imperialism in the late 19th century, as well as the more recent materials on the 20th century (see notes below).

3. Format.
A. Objective Sections
- Goal: demonstrate grasp of basic knowledge from this semester's study of modern history.
- Matching Key Terms and Persons
- True/False
- Short Answer

B. DBQ: Document-based Question.
- Goal: Demonstrate grasp of historiography, i.e., leading points of view in the available secondary source materials, to provide groundwork for your thesis, i.e., a clear response and argument to the question.
- Make effective use of available primary source documents and knowledge as supporting forms of evidence to show key points of thesis.

4. Possible DBQ Themes.
A. What were the effects of the First World War?
B. How did the Nazis seize power?
C. How did the Nazis attempt to racially transform German society and Europe?
D. Is the Holocaust explicable?
E. What were the effects of the Second World War?
F. What were the causes of the Cold War?
G. Why did decolonization occur?
H. What are the legacies of decolonization?
I. What are contemporary issues that the world faces, and how might the study of world history offer any guide to the future?

5. The Alternative: The Capstone Projects
- Goal: Demonstrate solid grasp in a particular area of the class in terms of the historiography, i.e., secondary sources for a particular subject, and/or develop electronic resource collections of primary and secondary sources, annotated bibliographies, additional online resources, new library acquisitions in coordination with the librarians for future research, and/or alternative exhibitions, e.g. in the visual arts, dance, etc. Please see the separate post on the capstone projects for more details.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Week 16 - Decolonization

Monday through Thursday, May 5-8, 2014
Guest lectures by Ellen Zieselman: Period 3&5 on Monday, 5/5.
Long periods: Work on Oral History and Capstone Projects.
Final drafts of independent research papers DUE Monday, 5/19 (worth up to 100 extra points).
Oral history interview projects DUE Friday, 5/16.
Capstone presentations will run Week 18, Monday through Thursday, 5/19-22.
Final Exam Review, Week 18.
Head's Holiday, Friday, 5/9.

Day 1, Monday, 5/5: Decolonization

In-class: Discuss decolonization materials and homework questions from Week 15. Review “The Twilight of Colonialism,” in The West in the World, eds. Sherman/Salisbury, pp. 752-757.

Key Terms and Persons: Apartheid, decolonization, postcolonialism, Gandhi, Satyagraha, nonviolence, Ho Chi Minh, Dien Bien Phu, and Kwame Nkrumah.

Homework Question#1: What was decolonization? What were the reasons for the end of European colonial rule, and what were some of the arguments made and the strategies used in the struggle over decolonization?

Homework question#2: What role did the United Nations and the Cold War, i.e., the US and USSR, play in this struggle?

Homework question#3: What were the consequences of decolonization and the legacies of colonial rule?

***No new homework outside of readings in class.