weaving themes in American history with high school

.....grand overarching themes connecting American history with the history of the world is the theme of population migration. The American narrative is frequently framed as a narrative of continual migration. American migration patterns have continually shifted, from the prehistoric migrations of people via the Siberian land bridge and early Viking migrations to North America through the more familiar American narrative of the first pilgrims arriving from England.

Both McKeown (2004) and Tyrell (2007b) points out, educators need to be careful to avoid repeating the Eurocentric or even purely Anglocentric narrative of migration. Migration is not a static process that has clear beginnings and endings, but is an ongoing process in which groups of people gradually shift their identities as well as their geospatial surroundings. Kupperman (2002) warns educators against perpetuating the "central myth" of an American history that simly started in the east with the pilgrims and ended in the Pacific.

The "true beginning" myth, as Kupperman (2002) calls it, is both Anglocentric and outright false given that "America was international before it was national," (p. 105). Educators in an 11th grade classroom can frankly discuss patterns of population migration in ways that encourage discourse on immigration and identity formation. In fact, a second grand overarching theme in American history that overlaps with patterns in world history is related to identity.

Identity has been a salient theme in American history partly because of the construction of American identity through the perpetuation of the American mythos. American identity has radically changed over time, reflecting alterations in social norms but also in shifting allegiances. Regionalism has also impacted differential identity patterns.

Haomaolaoinen & Truett (2011), for example, show how borderlands actually share more in common with each other than their neighboring regions because borderlands are characterized by "cultural mixing," "situational identity" construction, "spatial mobility," and also "ambiguities of power," (p. 338). Because identity is closely linked with the social construction of power, discourse on identity in history is important in an 11th grade high school classroom. A third overlapping theme or pattern in American and world history is related to globalization.

McKeown (n.d.) urges 11th grade history teachers to address globalization not as if it is a static era of history but rather a dynamic concept. Globalization refers to more than just economic trade but to identity and population migration, too. As McKeown (n.d.) puts it, globalization is "a sense of living in the midst of unprecedented change," (p. 219). Tyrell (2007) adds that globalization and international commerce are not uniquely 20th century phenomenon.

Although the USA did not depend on international trade in the 19th century and before, the nation was connected to a vast global market that was burgeoning, especially in specific industries In 2006, Florida mandated that American history "shall be viewed as factual, not as constructed, shall be viewed as knowable, teachable, and testable," (VanSledright, 2008, p. 110). This frightful law indicates the rigidity with which a hegemonic regime can enforce a specific historical narrative for political purposes.

Unfortunate attempts at propagandizing through history curricula and pedagogy perpetuates a hegemonic narrative focused on the myth of American exceptionalism. Both Kupperman (2002) and VanSledright (2008) decry the "exceptionalist position" that many scholars and teachers have been effectively "forced" into based of laws like those in Florida and social pressures to never diverge from the common story (p. 104). High school history educators who address intersectionality as well as the commonalities between global and American history do in fact teach what is "factual. .