Upper School History Program

The philosophy of the Eagle Hill History Program is to build a love of history. Hence, the emphasis is not placed on sheer memorization of facts. Instead, history teachers are encouraged to make the curriculum come to life through multi-sensory activities such as role-playing, collages, dioramas, and visualization activities. The students come to realize that history is a story of peoples’ lives and the multitude of obstacles, joys and decisions experienced by these people. The units are taught in a chronological manner so that the students can learn how one event has impacted another. In addition, there is a major emphasis placed on themes (such as communication and transportation) so that the students can draw parallels between the past and the present. The students learn that while specific incidents in history do not repeat themselves, these themes do recur and thus, unify people throughout the ages.

Since the primary goal of Eagle Hill is to be a transitional program, the students are also instructed in study skills. In so doing, they can handle more traditional history programs in their futures. Therefore, the use of a textbook and notetaking skills are instructed. The students also learn specific concepts including point of view, fact vs. opinion, cause and effect and sequencing. With these skills, the students can approach history in an organized and analytical manner.

History and science are taught in alternate years to provide enough time for the intensive language based remediation classes that are the cornerstone of Eagle Hill School. The history classes include: U.S. History I- Native Americans-Civil War; U.S. History II- Reconstruction-Present Day; World History I- Early Civilizations-Middle Ages; World History II- Renaissance- Present Day

At Eagle Hill, History is approached as a combination of bringing content information to life, as well as, instructing skills so that the students can become more facile in researching information and thereby become lifelong learners.