Greetings!

Welcome to my blog! I teach United States History at Potomac Falls High School, in Sterling, VA. This year, as part of our county's One to the World initiative, students will be blogging about one of six themes in American history: freedom, race, democracy, immigration, exceptionalism, or the American dream. They'll pick one of them, which they'll relate to each unit's content. To kick off things off, I'm asking students to announce which theme they've chosen -- and why. They should say something about how their theme relates to current events, while linking to and evaluating one online source. Students are strongly encouraged to find their own, but may use one of the following websites:

Freedom

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-new-definition-of-freedom-in-america/2015/06/09/b545da2c-0e1d-11e5-adec-e82f8395c032_story.html?utm_term=.2b95a88d7adb

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/07/14/americas-freedom-reputation-is-on-the-decline-a-year-after-nsa-revelations/ 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/feb/1/ed-feulner-americas-declining-economic-freedom/

Race 

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/03/14/where-is-black-lives-matter-headed

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/30/politics/why-black-america-may-be-relieved-to-see-obama-go/

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/24/us/racism-problem-cnn-kff-poll/

Democracy

http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/04/25/why-is-america-so-bad-at-promoting-democracy-in-other-countries/ 

https://www.thenation.com/article/why-is-american-democracy-so-broken-and-can-it-be-fixed/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terry-newell/does-america-have-too-muc_b_7763802.html

Immigration 

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/10/02/50-years-ago-immigration-changed-in-america

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/does-immigration-harm-working-americans/384060/

Exceptionalism

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/02/the-end-of-american-exceptionalism/283540/ 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/restoring-american-exceptionalism-1440801129

The American Dream 

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2009/04/american-dream200904

http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2117662_2117682,00.html

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/american-dreams-portraits/405907/

Students should summarize their link, identify its point of view (if any), and agree or disagree with it. Also, they have to comment on at least one classmate's blog entry. This could take the form of a question or comment, just keep it appropriate. I'm looking forward to blogging together!