History

The goal of AMSA’s history curriculum is to expose students to the major developments of world history, promote inter-disciplinary learning in all AMSA humanities classes, and encourage the development of the knowledge and practices demanded of American citizens. Above all else, AMSA History teachers believe that the study of world history and American history in particular is essential to helping us maintain our nation’s most valued ideals and institutions. As historian and former U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett has stated, “Americans are heirs to a precious historical legacy. Let it never be said of us that we failed as a nation because we neglected to pass on this legacy to our children…. Let it be said that we told our children their story, and the whole story, the long record of our glories, of our failures, of our aspirations, our sins, our achievements and our victories. Then let us leave them to determine their own view of it all: America in the totality of its acts. If we can dedicate ourselves to that endeavor, I am confident that our students will discern in the story of their past the truth. And they will cherish that truth. And it will keep them free.”

AMSA’s current history curriculum is based on the ideas presented in AMSA’s founding charter – but departs from it in one major way. The original charter called for (p.6 and p.9) the continuous study of World history through high school. In other words, each year, students would learn about the history of the entire world – America, Europe, Asia, Africa, etc. – during a certain period of time. To enable the creation of AP courses, the curriculum has been revised so that students can take geographically discrete classes at the high school level with the option of taking the corresponding AP class – grade 10 European history (with two sections, honors and AP) and grade 11 U.S. history (also with two sections, honors and AP).

Lower School

For grades 6-8, AMSA’s history curriculum is organized chronologically. In grade 6, students will learn about human origins and the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Israel, and Greece. In grade 7, students will learn about Alexander the Great and Hellenism, the Roman Republic, and the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. In grade 8, AMSA students will study the rise and spread of Islam and the Medieval period in Europe.

Upper School

Themes

Throughout all grades, students in AMSA’s history classes will be introduced to important events and people as well as the great themes and central quests of human history. AMSA students will learn about the lives and ideas of such leaders as Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Christopher Columbus, Napoleon, George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Bismarck, Teddy Roosevelt, Stalin, Hitler, Winston Churchill, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Important themes that AMSA students will study include the development of democratic thought and democratic political systems, the growth of state power, the origins and influence of the world’s great religions, the impact of geography on civilizations, the origins and spread of capitalism, and the origins and impact of war.

Goals

When teaching the curriculum, AMSA’s history teachers are committed to three core goals: 1) to teach history well, we have to have superior content knowledge; 2) to teach history well we must share the passion we have for history to our students; 3) to bring history alive in the classroom we must share our passion and consistently practice principles of good teaching – planning and preparing each lesson with a clearly stated learning objective, activating student involvement with Do Now’s and Socratic questioning, and consistently checking for student understanding on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis through a variety of assessments.

Upper School History Overview

Upper School History Courses

How to Change the World

Introduction to Anthropology

American Culture Through Film, Literature, and Mass Media

Milestones of Asian History

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