USII- Period 2 and 7
Modern American History
Design and present a Pecha Kucha style presentation on a specific topic in modern American History.
Each slide must be only 20 seconds long and the text must be limited. You will be working in groups of 2.
There must be 18 slides total. (No longer than a 5 minute presentation).
 Your goal will be to present why your event/person/topic is important to American History
http://www.thethinkingstick.com/learning-through-presentations
Day 1 Task: Choose your topic and tell me your angle by the end of class today
Suggestions:
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9/11-factual. What happened that day? Why? How did it change US?
Technology: What are the 5 most important inventions of modern America- What social,
economic and political effects might they or do they have on society?
How did the Cold War end? What were the aftereffects? What happened to all those weapons?
How did the US emerge as the lone Superpower? Do you think we still are?
Economy
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Impact of “quants”
Recent financial collapse
.com bubble
Tax debate
Outsourcing to other countries
What is “Reaganomics”/ “supply-side” economics
Degrees of social inequality
Impact of government (safety, environmental, etc...) regulations-too many/ not enough?
Occupy Wall Street
Politics
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Election of 2008
Influence of lobbyists on politics
Party partisanship in the 2000s
Impact of the TEA party
Clinton- love him
Clinton- hate him
G>H.W> Bush- underrated/ineffective, etc...
Creation/impact of Fox news/ 24hour news
Natural disasters/tragedies
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’93 WTC bombing
Virginia Tech/ Columbine shooting
Y2K
Oklahoma City bombing
Rise of AIDS
Society/ Culture
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Cyber bullying- have we become hyper sensitive?
Too much political correctness
Hip Hop movement/culture (gangs, violence, baggy pants, drugs, glorifying lack of education)
Rise of and evolution of gangs- Bloods/ Crips
Social networking sites
Are we in an age of narcissism?
Changing demographics- any aspect (problems associated with it, illegal aliens, Arizona law,
proof of “the shrinking world,” benefits of diversity)
“going green” / global warming
Rise of West Coast market
Overdiagnosed diseases and/or Rise of autism/ADD and/ or Peanut allergies
Rise of “McMansions” –why do we all of a sudden need so much space?
International
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creation of the European Union- Euro
Fall of the Berlin Wall
Somalia
Invasion of Panama
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Grenada
Kosovo
Persian Gulf War
Iraq War (2003)
North Korea- when did they become so crazy?
America’s connection to Osama Bin Laden before September 11th
Rise of Al Qaeda-terrorism/freedom fighters in the Middle East. Why? How?
1980 Olympics
Capture of Osama Bin Laden
“Arab Spring”
Scandals
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Monica Lewinksy sandal
Election of 2000
Enron
Tupica and/or Biggie
Bernie Madoff
Natural Disasters
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Hurricane Katrina
Tsunami 2004
Exxon Valdez and/or BP oil spill
Entertainment
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Was all 80s music really that bad?
Music-Boy bands
What do popular movies/TV shows tell us about the country?
Popular entertainers
Impact of MTV
Rise of reality TV
Popular toys/videogames
Trends/Fads
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Fashion trends- what and why? How do they cycle back?