u/Jolly-Poetry3140

Those who teach middle school US History (colonization to reconstruction), where do you start?

I always start with Native Americans and Jamestown and all of that. Recently, I heard someone in my district say they skip all of that and start with the French & Indian War.

That seems really absurd to me because the reasoning is “they learned it in 5th grade” but realistically we don’t know that as fact. Also, to jump right into conflict without context just seems so antithetical to being a history teacher/historian lol. I just don’t see how you can start without covering basic things like geography, 13 colonies, and the Middle Passage. I wonder if the person was exaggerating though and maybe they do a day or two of review before jumping in.