STANDARD COMPETENCIES:

 

 I. Determine what makes the American West distinctive, historically and otherwise.

 II.   Distinguish the West and Western history from the Southwest and Borderlands history.

 III.   Analyze the West within the context of the trends of general American history.

 IV.     Hypothesize what the West’s future might be and how history might inform policymakers.

 V.    Describe Western history with a constant awareness of diversity, including women, Native Americans, and the groups, such as African and Asian Americans, who had unusual roles in the West.

 VI.   Maintain the connection between Western history and its natural environment.

 VII.     Evaluate the past and present approaches to Western historiography, with special emphasis on the Turner Thesis, as well as revisions and rejections of it.

 VIII.       Trace and compare the legendary West as it developed around the realities, including Western character as portrayed in art, music, film, storytelling, and Western Americana.

 IX. Four general goals integrate history with workplace skills:

       A.      Acquire information from many sources

       B.      Break complex and multiple sources of information down into parts to create clearer understanding

       C.      Understand the impact of time and space on perspective

       D.      Develop narrative structures and arguments based on evidence

 X.     Throughout the course, students should be introduced to course content, practice using course content, and demonstrate they can:

       A.        Describe how peoples, groups, cultures, and institutions covered in this course change over time

       B.        Understand the events covered in the course in historical context and recognize how social, cultural, gender, race, religion, nationality and other identities affect historical perspective

       C.        Communicate orally and in writing about the subject of the course and select and apply contemporary forms of technology to solve problems and compile information

       D.        Use different resources for historical research, including libraries, databases, bibliographies and archives

       E.         Analyze secondary sources and recognize differences in historical interpretation

       F.         Identify types of primary sources, the point of view and purpose of their author or creator

       G.        Create substantive writing samples which employ critical analysis of primary and secondary sources, and document those sources correctly

       H.        Construct knowledge in the discipline and synthesize historical narratives and timelines from primary and secondary sources, maps, and/or artifacts and critically analyze, interpret and evaluate many different points of view to construct historical arguments.

 TOPICAL OUTLINE:

 

 I.      Defining the Far West: Geography, Turner and Anti-Turner Theses

 II.     The Western Wildernesses, East of the Mississippi

 III.    Indians of the Far West

 IV.     Imperial Competition and Conquest

 V.      Removal and Reservations

 VI.     The Civil War in the West

 VII.    Western Rushes, Land Policy, Settlement

 VIII.   Women in the West

 IX.     Railroads, Mining, and Industry

 X       Economy, Labor, and Class

 XI.     Communities, Religion, Ethnicity, and Gender

 XII.    Conflict and Violence in the West

 XIII.   Politics in the West

 XIV.    The Imaginary West

 XV.     The Depression and World Wars in the West

 XVI.    The Modern and Future West

 XVII.   The West in the American Mind

 XVIII.