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10th Grade Social Studies

Year-Long “Current Events” Assignment

History is the study of past events. It is the study of people, places, and cultures that may have existed for thousands of years. By studying the past we can better understand our present, and by studying our present we may be able to more accurately predict our future. Today’s most significant political, social, economic, and cultural news are rooted in events that may have occurred hundreds of years ago. By taking a look at our past, we can explain the events of today. Linking our past with our present is important in that it will help to place today’s news within a context that we can understand and explain.

The project that you have been assigned is going to have you researching current events from a variety of media (including newspapers, journals, and the internet), and then analyzing them for their historical ties to the subjects that we are studying in class. For example (you may not use these three articles in your project):

Huckabee says 2 states in Holy Land 'unrealistic'

Former U.S. presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said Tuesday there is no room for a Palestinian state "in the middle of the Jewish homeland" and Israel should be able to build settlements wherever it wants — taking a stance firmly at odds with Washington.

This article links to our study of post-WWII Europe, and the creation of the combined Arab Palestinian state and the Jewish Israeli state. The resulting tensions are still making headlines today.

Stocks slightly higher after sharp drop

NEW YORK – Investors moved back into the stock market Tuesday, joining in a worldwide rebound from the previous day's big sell-off.

This article could be linked to our brief unit study on the Great Depression, in which the financial crash of the stock market contributed greatly to the economic collapse of the late 1920’s and the 1930’s.

South Korea rocket launch bound to rile the North

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea is counting down to its first space launch on Wednesday that will likely open the door to its nascent rocket program and rile neighbor North Korea, hit by U.N. sanctions after its own rocket launch in April.

This article is yet another example of the ongoing struggle and competition between rivals North Korea (Communist) and South Korea (pro-Democracy), and ties in with our extensive look at the Cold War and the two opposing ideologies.

The theme here is that today’s news is based on historical events. History has an influence on every headline in today’s newspapers. In order to understand today’s struggles between Israel and Palestine, to comprehend the importance of the Stock Market as a measure of the US economy, and to put into context the intense rivalry between North and South Korea, you need to study the history behind the conflicts.

The Assignment:

Starting in September, begin to look through the newspaper, browse online news sources, and begin to read through a variety of magazines. What you are looking for is a variety of current news articles that are based on the topics that we are going to be studying in class. The three examples on the previous page should give you an idea of the types of articles that I am looking for. There are really no limits to what your current news article can be about, as long as you can relate it to one of our classroom topics. Maybe your news article will be about the death of a popular activist or Hollywood star from the 1950’s or 1960’s. Maybe a world sports record set in the 1940’s was just broken. Your article might be about the anniversary of a major WWII battle, a music festival, or an event in the US Space Program. Your article might be about the opening of a new museum exhibit focusing on Vietnam, a controversial book being published on the JFK assassination, a library dedication President Reagan, a remake of a popular television show from the 1950’s, or a new race issue reminiscent of a topic we talked about during our Civil Rights unit. Any historical topic that we discuss in class can provide you with a link with which to find current news articles. For example, we will talk about the nativist movement and anti-immigration laws of the 1920’s. In the news today you can find many articles dealing with the issues of illegal immigration and deportation, undocumented workers, and border patrols. These are modern issues that have a link to similar events from the past.

Specifics:

1. You must find eight articles total throughout the semester for this project. I will collect one article per unit. The due date for each article and its accompanying analysis write-up will be announced at the beginning of that unit.

2. Of those eight articles, one must be related to each of the following broad topics:

1920’s America – Politics and Prosperity

The Great Depression and the New Deal

World War II

The Cold War

Activism and the Civil Rights Movement

The Vietnam War

Topics covered during the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations

Topics covered during the Reagan thru Obama administrations

1. You can use any print-based media source to find your current event articles (ie.

newspapers, magazines/journals, online news sources). In print, newspapers such as the News Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer, Baltimore Sun, Washington Post, New York Times, or USA Today work well. Magazines like Time, Newsweek, US News and World Report seem to generate a lot of articles. On the internet, news sources like ABC, CBS, or NBS online are easy to read, NY Times online, Yahoo! News, CNN, or USA Today may be a good place to start. There are plenty of free resources available.

2. Once you find a news article you should clip it out, copy it, or print it out.

3. Using either a blank sheet of paper, construction paper, or another other type of mountable paper, affix the news article to one side with glue.

4. On the backside of the paper affix the following form using glue, and be sure that it is typed and completed with all of the necessary information.

Form

Name:

Class Period:

1. Title of the Article:

2. Date of the Article:

3. Source of the Article: (Name of the newspaper, magazine, journal, or the URL of the website)

4. Historical Unit that the Article is related to: (from the list of units provided)

5. Summary of the Article: One paragraph basic summary of the article. Three to four sentences that summarizes the main points of the article. Do not simply rewrite the article. This is a brief summary of the main topics covered in the article, in your own words.

6. Explain the historical relationship between the article and the unit: Two to three sentence analysis of the article that specifically links aspects of the article to a particular topic that was covered in this particular unit. What parts of our historical unit are mentioned? What is the historical basis of the article? How does a specific historical topic relate to a modern news story?

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