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. 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 begin Topic 13 The Great Depression and the New Deal.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
What are some of the contrasting theories as to what caused the Great Depression?
Learning Objectives
Topic 13.1 Causes of The Depression
Objectives: Identify how weaknesses in the economy in the 1920’s caused the Great depression. Explain why the stock market crashed in 1929 and the crash’s effect on the economy. Describe how the Great depression deepened in the US and spread overseas. Identify the causes of the Great Depression and discuss how historians differ about them.
Topic 13.2 Americans Suffer
Objectives: Examine the spread of unemployment in America’s cities. Analyze the effects of the Great Depression on Farmers. Analyze the impact of human and geographical factors that created the Dust Bowl. Describe how the Great Depression affected family life and the lives of African Americans and Mexican Americans.
Topic 13.3 Two Presidents Respond
Objectives: Contrast Hoover’s Approach to the economic crisis with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s approach. Describe the programs that were part of the first New Deal and the effect on the lives of Americans.
Topic 13.4 The New Deal Expands
Objectives: Analyze the ways that the New Deal promoted social and economic reform and its long-term effects. Explain how New Deal legislation affected the growth of organized labor. Evaluate Roosevelt’s plan to increase the number of US Supreme Court justices on the course of the New Deal.
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 take the quiz for Topic 12 World War I and the 1920’s on Tuesday. We will finish watching War Horse and begin Topic 13 The Great Depression and the New Deal on Wednesday.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
What are some of the contrasting theories as to what caused the Great Depression?
Learning Objectives
Topic 13.1 Causes of The Depression
Objectives: Identify how weaknesses in the economy in the 1920’s caused the Great depression. Explain why the stock market crashed in 1929 and the crash’s effect on the economy. Describe how the Great depression deepened in the US and spread overseas. Identify the causes of the Great Depression and discuss how historians differ about them.
Topic 13.2 Americans Suffer
Objectives: Examine the spread of unemployment in America’s cities. Analyze the effects of the Great Depression on Farmers. Analyze the impact of human and geographical factors that created the Dust Bowl. Describe how the Great Depression affected family life and the lives of African Americans and Mexican Americans.
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we will continue Topic 5 Emerging Europe and the Byzantine Empire.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
How did the Crusades have a significant effect on medieval society in both the East and the West.
Learning Objectives
Topic 5.3 The Growth of the European Kingdoms
Objectives: Explain how during the High Middle Ages, monarchs began to extend their power and build strong states. Discuss why King John of England put his seal on the Magna Carta in 1215, recognizing the rights of his nobles, and keeping the English monarch from ever becoming an absolute ruler. Describe why unlike England and France, the lands of Germany and Italy did not become united during the Middle Ages. Explain how the Slavic peoples settled in central and eastern Europe, forming new kingdoms.
Topic 5.4 Byzantine Empire and Crusades
Objectives: Describe how the Byzantine Empire created a unique civilization that was eventually weakened by the Crusades. Explain how the Eastern Roman Empire evolved into the smaller Byzantine Empire, which created a unique civilization in the eastern Mediterranean. Explain how the Macedonians expanded the Byzantine Empire, but new threats arose in the late eleventh century. Describe why the Crusades had a significant effect on medieval society in both the East and the West.
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 12 World War I and the 1920’s. We will talk about culture in the 1920’s and on Thursday we will have the Topic 12 Quiz.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
In your opinion, why were the 1920’s a great time for American heroes and celebrities? Did these heroes reflect values and expectations that American society created for itself?
Learning Objectives
Topic 12.7 An Unsettled Society
Objectives: Compare economic and cultural life in rural America to that in urban America. Analyze how foreign events after World War I and nativism contributed to the first Red Scare. Analyze the causes and effects of changes in US immigration policy in the 1920’s. Describe the goals and motives of the KKK in the 1920’s. Analyze the intended and unintended effects of Prohibition.
Topic 12.8 The Roaring Twenties
Objectives: Describe how increased leisure time and technological innovations led to a widespread shared popular culture in the 1920’s. Analyze the changing role of women in the 1920’s. Describe how the concept of modernism shown in art and literature reflected postwar disillusionment.
Topic 12.9 The Harlem Renaissance
Objectives: Analyze how the Great Migration and the philosophies of Marcus Garvey affected African Americans in the 1920’s. Trace the development of jazz and its impact on American society and the rest of the world. Discuss the themes explored by writers and artists of the Harlem Renaissance.
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we will take the Quiz for Topic 4 Early Asian Civilizations on Tuesday. We will begin Topic 5 Emerging Europe and the Byzantine Empire on Wednesday.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
How might laws be different if they were based on settling personal feuds rather than on protecting society as a whole?
Learning Objectives
Topic 5.1 Transforming the Roman World
Objectives: Explain how the new European civilization combined Germanic, Roman, and Christian elements. Describe why the Frankish kingdom was the strongest of the early German states and developed new laws based on the importance of family in Germanic society. Explain how the Bishop of Rome became the leader of the Christian Church. Discuss how Charlemagne expanded the Frankish kingdom and created the Carolingian Empire.
Topic 5.2 Feudalism
Objectives: Describe how the collapse of central authority in Europe led to a new political order known as feudalism. Compare and contrast the methods used by Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims while invading Europe during the ninth and tenth centuries. Discuss how the system of lords and vassals spread throughout Europe after the collapse of the Carolingian Empire. Explain how men and women of the nobility were guided by a code of ethical behavior and society’s expectations of their roles.
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!
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we will continue Topic 12 World War I and the 1920’s. We will finish WWI and then move onto the 1920’s on Thursday.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
What is the legacy of World War I? Where mistake made in resolving the conflict or was it the best conclusion Europe could have hoped for at the time? Defend your answer.
Learning Objectives
Topic 12.3 The Home Front During World War I
Objectives: Analyze how the US government mobilized the public to support the war effort. Describe opposition to WWI and how the federal government responded to it. Analyze the causes and effects of migration and social changes that occurred during WWI.
Topic 12.4 The End of World War I
Objectives: Understand the contributions of the American Expeditionary Force to the Allied victory in WWI. Describe the issues raised by President Wilson’s Fourteen Points. Analyze the decisions made at the Paris Peace Conference and included in the Treaty of Versailles. Evaluate the pros and cons of US participation in the League of Nations. Explain why the US Senate did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles.
Topic 12.5 The Post War Economy Boom
Objectives: Describe the economic problems the US faced after WWI. Explain the economic growth and prosperity of the 1920’s, including how Henry Ford and the automobile industry helped spark the boom. Analyze the consumer revolution and the bull market of the 1920’s. Compare the different effects of the economic boom on urban, suburban, and rural America.
Topic 12.6 Government in the 1920’s
Objectives: Analyze the policies of Presidents Harding and Coolidge encouraged economic growth and prosperity in the 1920’s. Discuss the effects of political scandals, including Teapot Dome, on Harding’s presidency. Explain the role that the US played in the world during the 1920’s.
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!
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we will continue with Topic 4 Early Asian Civilizations.
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
What is the difference between the Buddhist and neo-Confucian philosophies? What impact might these two philosophies have had on early Chinese society?
Learning Objectives
Topic 4.2 The Mongols and China
Objectives: Discuss how shifts in religious beliefs caused major changes in the organization of Chinese society. Describe how the Mongols created the world’s largest land empire by conquering all of China. Explain how neo-Confucianism differs from Confucianism.
Topic 4.4 India After the Guptas
Objectives: Explain how tensions arose between the Muslim rulers and the majority Hindu population of India. Describe how Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam all influenced the development of India. Discuss how the rich culture of India was reflected in its art, literature, architecture, and technological advances.
Topic 4.5 Civilization in Southeast Asia
Objectives: Describe how the geographical features of Southeast Asia had a major effect on its political, cultural, and economic development. Explain how the geography of Southeast Asia led to the development of distinct cultures throughout the region. Discuss why the growth of the states of Southeast Asia depended largely on trade and agriculture.
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
Hey Folks!
This week we will begin Topic 12 World War I and the 1920’s. We will take the Topic 11 Quiz on Tuesday and be watching the documentary “They Shall not Grow Old.”
Have a great week!
Essential Question:
WWI is generally considered to be the first instance of total war, where every of-age citizen and all possible resources are mobilized for the war effort. In light of this, do you believe that Britain’s blockade of Germany-which eventually extended to all goods, thereby violating international law-was justified?
Learning Objectives
Topic 12.1 The Great War
Objectives: Identify the causes of WWI. Analyze the impact of technological innovations in weaponry that resulted in the stalemate on the Western Front.
Topic 12.2 America Enters World War I
Objectives: Analyze the reasons behind isolationism and neutrality in the United States before 1917. Explain why the United States entered the conflict on the side of the Allies.
This Week’s Assignments
Last Week’s Assignments
