Elective+Course

Elective Course: A Historical Outlook of the American Family


**//Course Title://** A Historical Outlook of the American Family

**//Course Description://** The American Family is an elective history course offered for junior and senior high school students. //A Historical Outlook of the American Family// is a history course that is intended for students to critically think and analyze the facts, events and ideas about what the ideal image of the American family has been over time and space. Students will learn about how American society’s creation of the ideal family developed and has shifted to the present. Also, this course will help students to learn about what significant events of our history have influenced and shaped this idea of the “traditional” American family. This course takes an approach for understanding how the American idea of the so-called “traditional” family has changed throughout history up to the 21st century by focusing and comparing how American society’s values, culture, economy, trends, environment and other areas of lifestyle have influenced this ideal image of what the American family should be. Students will study what the various family structures have been, what each family member’s function has been and how family member’s roles have evolved over time. We will also, explore how relationships such as dating, marriage, parent/child, etc have changed over time, their impact of family life and why these changes might have occurred. Students will develop an understanding about the American idea of the “traditional” family through U.S history from participating in a variety of activities. These activities are intended for students to learn by investigating, critically reading, analyzing primary and secondary sources, participation in class discussions, conducting research and evaluate information to allow students to have the ability to develop a position from the given information.

**//The American Family Lesson Units//** The Course Units will be divided to focus on particular eras of the American Family. With each unit we will examine and study what influenced the so-called ideal American family as well as understand how the family’s role and function in society changed over time.

**//Unit 1: The Colonial & Victorian American Family 1600s-1900s//** In this unit students will examine the role of the family in the way of life for Colonial American society. Students will learn how the function a family size served as an important purpose for the nation’s communities. Students will develop an understanding of each family member’s role in the family. This unit will also include studying the Victorian American family and how it changed from the colonial period. Students will analyze in what ways the American family had changed from the Colonial period. Specifically looking at the differences based on social, religious, political and economic factors. During this unit students will explore the societal functions of each member of the family and how these functions can be misconstrued. The unit will enable students to understand the reality of the American family of this period in contrast to the common false image created by society. Students will understand how significant events such as the Civil War during the Colonial American family period and the Gilded Age during the Victorian American family period influenced the perspective of this period’s family and how it was different from the ideal image.

**//Unit 2: The Progressive Era & Reform 1890s-1930s//** In this unit students will begin to critically think how the ideal American family was influenced and affected by the events occurring during the period of the Progressive Era. Students will examine the political and social policy issues to help them understand how these may have transformed the American family life. Specifically, students will be focusing on the impacts that the Prohibition, Women’s Suffrage Movement, The Great Depression and the New Deal had on the American family. Students will develop an understanding of why these events during this period may have caused certain changes in the American family. Finally, during this unit students will make comparisons of how the ideal and realistic American family had changed from the previous unit. Students will look at the historical events up to this period to see what the typical ideal family seemed to be for society and contrast it to what the typical family was actually like.

**//Unit 3: The Nuclear Family 1940s-1960s//** This unit will allow students to critically think about the changes that have occurred to American societies ideal family through history. Students will evaluate the social, economic and political issues of this period to develop an understanding of what the “ideal” family was during this period of history. Students will specifically be focusing on the long-term impacts the Depression had on the family, such as forcing society to delay marriage, having children and families learning to share living quarters with others. Focusing more so on studying how the stresses of WWII led to the pressure for society to return to the “traditional” American family. Students will evaluate how in the aftermath of the previous stressful periods of conflict for Americans, society created the home and family to be a symbol as a place of comfort, safety and stability. Students will evaluate what the family was actually like during this period compared to the “myth” of the American family. Students will make a comparison of the previous eras family structures to this period to see how the American concept of the ideal family had changed up to this period.

**//Unit 4: 1970s To 21st Century//** The purpose of this unit is to help students understand how the structure of the family has transformed with the changes of the social, political and economic events in history to reflect the way of life. Further, how the 21st century family structure has come to be and what has caused it to be structured the way it is. Students will analyze how family life has been influenced by the changing roles of men and women in society. As well as, how these changes have created new challenges for families. Students will analyze the pressures on the family by society and what the consequences have been. Students will have the knowledge at the end of this unit to be able to differentiate the perceptions created of what the American family structure is to what the actual reality of the family is.

**//Resources//**

//The Family//. J. Ross Eshleman & Richard A. Bulcroft. Prentice Hall; 12 edition. 2009. Print.

//The Way We Really Are: Coming to Terms with America's Changing Families//. Stephanie Coontz. New York: BasicBooks, 1997. Print. Image Cite: []

Students will use //The Way We Really Are// & The Family as readings to help guide them in their thinking of the concepts and ideas of this course. We will also analyze a variety of magazine advertisements for each specific time period during each unit to understand how the media helped push a certain ideal image of family society. Students will explore how the advertisements messages, images evolved though history and were used a form of propaganda to push the notion of the “American Family”. Students will view video short clips of various T.V shows and movies to help them understand what the typical family was presented to society to be like. Students will compare these depictions of the ideal family shown in the short video clips with what the actual family was like in America to develop an understanding of how there was a shift of this “ideal” family in history in correlation with the social, political and economic issues. Students will gain the knowledge of what the actual family has been like compared to the “myth” of the traditional American family.

**//Assessing Students://** Students will be assessed by observation of their participation and contribution of their thoughts of the material during class discussions and debates throughout each unit. Students are expected to share their viewpoints and reasons for reaching their way of thinking about the material. Students will be evaluated on the completion of the various assignments given to them for each unit. Students will be required at the end of the semester to write a research paper a topic of their choice, with my approval that is related to the American Family and give a presentation to the class about their findings of their research.