Greetings!
My name is Dale Kern and I’m the High School Social Studies teacher and Senior Advocate. I received my Bachelor of Arts in History from Tennessee State University where I also minored in Political Science. While I was there, the emphasis of my studies centered around eras of social change in US history and the practices implemented by people who sought social justice. I earned my State of Colorado teaching license through the ASPIRE to Teach Alternative Licensure Program at CU Denver.
The 2023-2024 school year will be my eighth year of teaching and my fifth at Westgate. Before coming to Westgate, I taught US History and Music at Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center in Golden where I worked with at-risk youth who were in the custody of the Division of Youth Services. My time at Lookout gave me experience practicing trauma-informed care and guided me in adopting the principles associated with TIC; safety, choice, collaboration, trustworthiness and empowerment.
As a social studies teacher, I believe that it is imperative to not only develop the readiness of my students as critical thinkers and engaged citizens; but to also help facilitate learning experiences where they can find growth and personal enrichment.
In my free time I enjoy backpacking, traveling, and snowboarding. I'm also a musician and I play guitar in a few local bands around Northern Colorado.
Hey Folks! This week we will do a News Review and Analysis for Media Journals on Tuesday.
Have a great week!
Essential Question
What are the subjective and objective factors that go into the transmission of world events to the public?
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we continue to talk about Plato
Have a great week!
Essential Question
How does the Allegory of the Cave relate to Plato's views on education and the pursuit of knowledge?
Learning Objectives
Summarize key biographical details about Plato's life and historical context, including his relationship with Socrates and his contributions to the development of Western philosophy.
Explain Plato's Theory of Forms:
Articulate Plato's Theory of Forms, including its central concepts, such as the distinction between the physical world and the realm of Forms, and its implications for understanding reality.
Assess the significance of Plato's use of dialogues as a philosophical method, considering how they facilitate the exploration of complex ideas and the development of philosophical inquiry.
Identify ways in which Plato's philosophy has influenced subsequent thinkers and philosophical traditions, and evaluate the enduring relevance of his ideas in contemporary philosophical discourse.
Formulate critiques of Plato's philosophy based on ethical, epistemological, or political considerations, and construct reasoned responses to these critiques drawing on textual evidence and philosophical reasoning.
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we will move onto Topic 7 Renaissance and Reformation.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
Which of the effects of cultural blending do you think is the most significant?
Learning Objectives
Topic 8.1 The Ottomans Build a Vast Empire
Objectives: Understand how the Ottomans established a Muslim empire that combined many cultures and lasted for more than 600 years. Compare and contrast how modern societies, from Algeria to Turkey, had their origins under Ottoman rule.
Topic 8.2 Cultural Blending and The Birth of Modern Persia
Objectives: Explain how the Safavid Empire produced a rich and complex blended culture in Persia. Describe how modern Iran, which plays a key role in global politics, descended from the culturally diverse Safavid Empire. Identify examples of cultural blending in the Safavid Empire.
Topic 8.3 The Mughal Empire in India
Objectives: Explain how the Mughal Empire brought Turks, Persians, and Indians together in a vast empire. Identify how the legacy of great art and deep social division left by the Mughal Empire still influences southern Asia.
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks! This week we will do a News Review and Analysis for Media Journals on Tuesday. On Thursday we update Topic posts and discuss our individual topics.
Have a great week!
Essential Question
What are the subjective and objective factors that go into the transmission of world events to the public?
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we will continue Topic 10 The Columbian Exchange. We will have a quiz on Wednesday or Thursday.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
How were native people of the Americas affected by the arrival of Europeans? What role did the quest for gold, god, and glory play in the treatment of native peoples?
Learning Objectives
Topic 10.4 Exploration and Expansion
Objectives: Understand how Europeans began to explore distant lands, motivated by religious zeal and the promise of gold and glory. Explain the goals of Columbus and the consequence of his explorations. Analyze how contact with Europeans affected the people of the Americas.
Topic 10.5 Spain and France in the Americas
Objectives: Explain the religious rivalry among Europeans Nations. Describe Spanish society in New Spain and Peru. Evaluate the cause and effects of Spanish imperial policies in the American Southwest. Explain how the fur trade affected the French and the Indians in North America. Describe the French expansion into Louisiana.
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we will finish Topic 15 Post War America. We will have a quiz on Wednesday.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
How did American educational priorities change in the years following World War II?
Learning Objectives
Topic 15.6 Mass Culture in the 1950’s
Objectives: Examine the rise of the suburbs and the growth of the interstate highway system. Explain the causes and effects of prosperity in the 1950’s on consumers. Discuss postwar changes in family life. Describe changes in education in the postwar period. Describe the rise of new forms of mass culture.
Topic 15.7 Social Issues of the 1950’s
Objectives: Summarize the arguments made by critics who rejected the culture of the 1950’s. Describe the causes and effects of urban and rural poverty. Explain the problems that many minority groups faced in the postwar era.
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we continue to talk about Socrates.
Have a great week!
Essential Question
Why does Socrates ask; ‘is the unexamined life worth living?
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks! This week we will do a News Review and Analysis for Media Journals on Tuesday. On Thursday we update Topic posts and discuss our individual topics.
Have a great week!
Essential Question
What are the subjective and objective factors that go into the transmission of world events to the public?
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we will move onto Topic 7 Renaissance and Reformation.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
What factors set the stage for the Protestant Reformation?
Learning Objectives
Topic 7.1 The Italian Renaissance
Objectives: Describe the characteristics of the Renaissance and understand why it began in Italy. Identify Renaissance artists and explain how new ideas affected the arts of the period. Understand how writers of the time addressed Renaissance themes. Explain the impact of the Renaissance.
Topic 7.2 The Renaissance in Northern Europe
Objectives: Describe the themes that northern European artists, humanists, and writers explored. Explain how the printing revolution shaped European society.
Topic 7.3 The Protestant Reformation
Objectives: Summarize the factors that encouraged the Protestant Reformation. Analyze Martin Luther’s role in shaping the Protestant Reformation. Compare and contrast the differences between Protestant ideology and those of the Catholic Church.
Topic 7.4 Reformation Ideas Spread
Objectives: Describe the new ideas that Protestant sects embraced. Understand why England formed a new church. Analyze how the Catholic Church reformed itself. Explain why many groups faced persecution
during the Reformation.
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we will continue Topic 10 The Columbian Exchange.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
How were native people of the Americas affected by the arrival of Europeans? What role did the quest for gold, god, and glory play in the treatment of native peoples?
Learning Objectives
Topic 10.3 Early Civilizations in South America
Objectives: Explain how the Inca developed a well-organized and militaristic empire with a distinct Inca culture. Describe how the Chavin, Nazca, and Moche cultures existed in South America before the Inca came to power. Explain how the Inca developed a well-organized, militaristic empire with a highly structured society.
Topic 10.4 Exploration and Expansion
Objectives: Understand how Europeans began to explore distant lands, motivated by religious zeal and the promise of gold and glory. Explain the goals of Columbus and the consequence of his explorations. Analyze how contact with Europeans affected the people of the Americas.
Topic 10.5 Spain and France in the Americas
Objectives: Explain the religious rivalry among Europeans Nations. Describe Spanish society in New Spain and Peru. Evaluate the cause and effects of Spanish imperial policies in the American Southwest. Explain how the fur trade affected the French and the Indians in North America. Describe the French expansion into Louisiana.
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we continue Topic 15 Post War America.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
What effect did the 2nd Red Scare have on free speech in the United States? Does the fear of communism create situations where we begin to embrace what we claim to despise?
Learning Objectives
Topic 15.4 Cold War Fears at Home
Objectives: Describe the efforts of President Truman and the House Un-American Activities Committee to fight communism at home. Explain how domestic spy cases intensified fears of communist influence in the US government. Analyze the rise and fall of Senator Joseph McCarthy and the methods of McCarthyism.
Topic 15.5 Post War Prosperity
Objectives: Describe how the United States made the transformation to a booming peacetime economy. Discuss the growth of the Sunbelt and the effects of migration. Describe the changes in the US economy in the postwar period. Discuss the accomplishments and leadership qualities of Harry Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Topic 15.6 Mass Culture in the 1950’s
Objectives: Examine the rise of the suburbs and the growth of the interstate highway system. Explain the causes and effects of prosperity in the 1950’s on consumers. Discuss postwar changes in family life. Describe changes in education in the postwar period. Describe the rise of new forms of mass culture.
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we will begin Topic 9 The Columbian Exchange.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
What was the relationship between early peoples and their environment?
Learning Objectives
Topic 9.1 The Peoples of North America
Objectives: Describe how hunters and gatherers spread into the North American continent and established their unique ways of living. Explain how distinct cultures were created by early hunters and gatherers moved across the Bering Strait into North America.
Topic 9.2 Early Civilizations in Mesoamerica
Objectives: Describe how early Mesoamerican civilizations flourished with fully developed political, religious, and social structures. Explain how the Olmec, the first Mesoamerican civilization, appeared around 1200 B.C., and the city of Teotihuacan thrived until A.D. 800. Explain how the Maya and the Toltec were able to rule Mesoamerica for nearly nine centuries. Relate the conditions that helped the Aztecs rule Mesoamerica until the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s.
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks! This week we will do a News Review and Analysis for Media Journals on Tuesday. On Thursday we update Topic posts and discuss our individual topics.
Have a great week!
Essential Question
What are the subjective and objective factors that go into the transmission of world events to the public?
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we continue Topic 15 Post War America.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
Does the US policy of containment and the notion of self-determination align with our beliefs in freedom and democracy?
Learning Objectives
Topic 15.1 The Beginnings of the Cold War
Objectives: Trace the reasons that the wartime alliance between the US and USSR unraveled. Explain how President Truman responded to Soviet aggression in Eastern Europe. Describe the causes and results of Stalin’s blockade of Berlin.
Topic 15.2 The Korean War
Objectives: Explain how Mao Zedong and the communists gained power in China. Describe the causes and the reasons for US involvement in the Korean War. Identify the long-term effects and outcomes of the Korean War.
Topic 15.3 The Cold War Intensifies
Objectives: Describe how Cold War tensions were intensified by the arms race between the US and USSR. Explain how Eisenhower’s response to communism differed from that of Truman. Analyze the impact on the US of significant international Cold War conflicts. Describe how Cold War tensions were intensified by the space race.
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we will move onto Topic 6 Europe in the Middle Ages.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
Why was the Church such a powerful influence in lay people’s lives during the Middle Ages?
Learning Objectives
Topic 6.1 Peasants, Trade, and Cities
Objectives: Describe the process of how new farming practices supported population growth, and the revival of trade led to a money-based economy and the rise of cities. Describe life under the manorial system of the Middle Ages in which serfs worked the lands of lords. Explain how the revival of trade during the High Middle Ages gave rise to a money economy and the growth of cities, which became centers for manufacturing and trade.
Topic 6.2 Medieval Christianity
Objectives: Describe how, under strong leadership, the Catholic Church reached the height of its pollical power and became a dominant and forceful presence in medieval society. Explain how new monastic orders emerged as religious enthusiasm spread through Europe. Describe the reasons why ordinary people observed the Church’s sacraments, venerated saints, and took pilgrimages to holy shrines.
Topic 6.3 Culture of the High Middle Ages
Objectives: Explain how technological innovations made Gothic cathedrals possible, while an intellectual revival led to the formation of universities. Explain the importance of medieval university students applying scholasticism to the study of theology. Discuss why troubadour poetry and the heroic epic poem were popular forms of vernacular literature in the twelfth century.
Topic 6.4 The Late Middle Ages
Objectives: Explain how the Black Death had disastrous social and economic effects, spreading throughout Europe during the mid-fourteenth century. Describe how the Great Schism of the Catholic Church caused great pollical conflict and let Europe divided for four decades. Cite evidence as to why England and France waged the long, violent Hundred Years’ War. Analyze the reasons why France, England, and Spain emerged as new monarchies by the late 1400s.
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Topic 5-1 – 5-4
Topic 5 Quiz
