THE COMMON SCHOOL ERA

Your task is to research the development, ideology, and politics of the common school in the United States of America. Pay careful attention to the social and political contexts that gave rise to this form of schooling.

1. You will need to seek information from at least 3 sources, BEGINNING with EITHER of the editions of The American School, Chapters 5 & 6 by Joel Spring on closed reserve in the library. Take thorough notes about the issues that affected the development and content of schools during this period.

2. After gaining an overview of the time and the issues from Spring, choose one idea to focus on as you pursue your next 2 sources. For example, you might want to learn more about Horace Mann, the conflict between Catholics and Protestants, the demands of the “workingmen” concerning education, the relationship of the high school to the common school, or the relationship of political parties, free market economy, and the schools. Keep careful notes about whatever topic you pursue.

3. You will keep an annotated bibliography of your sources

4. Once you have enough information, create a time-line of the time period from 1820 to approximately 1850. Include events pertaining to education, politics, the economy, and society.

5. Next, create a poster that provides a visual representation of key features and ideology about the common school AND the particular topic you investigated. You could use a concept map or bullets for the features and ideology. If you compare and contrast the positions of the Whigs and the Democrats, or the Catholics and Protestants, or charity schools and common schools, you could use an H-map or a Venn diagram. Also include on the poster significant world and national events of the time period.

6. Then, prepare an oral presentation of approximately 15 minutes. Connect the information you researched to the functions of schooling that education in this time period served. Prepare an outline of your talk to be handed in.

7. Finally, write three assessment questions (and their answers) that could be used to assess your peers’ understanding of the information you will be presenting.

8. On Monday of Week 8, you will hand in

· An annotated bibliography

· Your notes from three sources

· The timeline

· The poster

· The outline of your talk

· Three assessment questions with answers

9. You need to be prepared to give your presentation to the whole class though

only one person will be selected randomly to actually give the talk.