U.S. History Thematic Units

Every history teacher deals with the dilemma of how to fit centuries of history into a single school year. Before I made the shift to teaching United States history thematically, my students barely ever learned anything more recent than the Korean War. By shifting my strategy from moving through history chronologically to viewing social studies through broader themes, my students are now able to make big-picture connections between events.  

Before I made the switch, my 8th grade U.S. history course started with Reconstruction in the 1860s and ended with the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. I was racing the clock to try to fit in over 100 years of history, only to realize even if I made it to the Vietnam War, (which I rarely did), I was leaving out an entire 60 years of history!  It is difficult for students to understand the country that they live in today without understanding the important context of the last several decades. 

Teaching thematically has allowed me to worry less about trying to frantically race through the timeline. It allows me to more seamlessly include more recent history and highlight how it connects with earlier eras and modern America.

There are so many ways that you could break down the themes in American History.  The options are truly endless.  Each of my units are guided by an essential question (many were inspired by Gilder Lehrman) and key ideas. If you are looking for ideas, here is how I break down my units, each guided by an essential question:

U.S. History Thematic Units:

Theme 1: Equality

Topics: Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement

Essential Question: How have Americans fought for equality?

Ideas Explored: Protest Movements, Legislation, Civil Disobedience

Theme 2: Movement

Topics: Westward Expansion, Immigration, Great Migration

Essential Question: Is America the land of opportunity?

Ideas Explored: Push and pull factors, impacts of migration on communities

Theme 3: War

Topics: World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Iraq War, Afghanistan War

Essential Question: Is war ever justified?

Ideas Explored: Causes of War, Leadership, Homefront

Theme 4: Innovation

Topics: Industrial Revolution, Roaring Twenties, Digital Age

Essential Question: Is all progress positive

Ideas Explored: Technological advancements, conservatism, wealth gaps

Theme 5: Crisis

Topics: Great Depression, Great Recession, COVID-19

Essential Question: How involved should the government be in trying to solve a crisis?

Ideas Explored: Government Policies, Economics, Federalism

Theme 6: Foreign Policy

Topics: Imperialism, Model UN, Current Events

Ideas Explored: U.S. as a world’s police, Diplomacy

8th Grade Social Studies

American History Thematic Unit

Social Studies Skills

Each of these topics and themes are explored in expert groups.  In these small teams, students work together to learn about topics or people within the larger theme or topic.  Then, they teach one another about their topic using a variety of strategies, like mini-lesson presentations, gallery walk posters, menu projects, or jigsaw activities.  

By the end of the unit, students have done deep research on one topic, but have learned about related topics from their peers.  This helps them create connections between historical events, while building important social studies skills, like research, writing, and presenting information.  

Students leave this course having analyzed large themes throughout history, not just memorizing names and dates.  They see how decisions made by Americans during one time period influence policies made in a different era. They understand how wars that were fought decades ago still affect our foreign policy in the 21st century.  They start to see how the world that we live in today was shaped by the people and policies that came before them.

By organizing my curriculum this way, students understand broad themes in history and the last 70 years of history aren’t neglected.  To be honest, I still don’t have time to fit in every unit that I would like and some units get much more love than others.  However, by teaching thematically, students are seeing more of the big picture of U.S. history, rather than a lot of detail of a few snapshots in time.

If you’re not totally ready to take the plunge on teaching American history thematically, I encourage you to try it with just one unit.  How could you incorporate a different time period that has a similar theme to the one you are teaching? 

I’d love to hear what types of units other teachers who teach thematically are covering.  Let me know in the comments below how you organize your units.