Rationale

The first main choice I made in creating this website textbook project was the layout. The layout of the textbook may not seem important, but I believe that a more interesting and colorful layout will further engage the reader. I chose a pink background, as I believe that pink is a captivating color and is underused. Therefore, the reader would be interested in the text because of the color choice. Another layout choice I made for this textbook is the spiral notebook format. I thought that this format seemed more like a traditional textbook which would allow the reader to still feel as though they are learning traditionally, even though the textbook is online. Regarding the topics in my textbook, I decided that in order to make a well rounded assessment of the times, all aspects needed to be addressed, so I took one event from each aspect.  The firs topic i choose was the earthquake in Haiti, which I used as the foreign affairs aspect. My reasoning behind choosing this event is basically that it was a natural occurrence in which America stepped out of itself to help others genuinely. I took a more domestic stance on the event because usually in history America was known to invade and begin war. For Haiti, America invaded with supplies and aid for those hurt. I liked how this event showed that Americans are not what has come to be known as the ‘typical American’ and that as Americans we do care for the safety of others. I also liked how those organizing help reached out to all generations-to the younger generation via text for Haiti and for the older generation via the ex-presidents’ message.  I chose the healthcare reforms as my social aspect. I decided that although the healthcare reforms are very recent, will define the future of the country. As well, it shows that there is still room for change in America. The healthcare bill will alter the way Americans interact as well as hopefully allowing those without enough money to afford healthcare now, to receive benefits. All in all, Obama’s passing of this continues Clinton’s want for the bill and shows that America still has room to improve and change.  I used Hurricane Katrina as the natural disaster in America. Katrina shows, again how America still has room to improve, as rescue crews took too long to respond and this resulted in many deaths. America’s initial response to the disaster was less than perfect, but the response after the fact was excellent. I liked how the country as a whole came together to help aid those affected by the hurricane and the damages it caused.  The Oil rig burst the environmental aspect of the chapter. Although the oil rig bursting was a huge social negative, the environmental affects were staggering, and months after, animals are still being affected. I used the environmental aspect rather than the social because I believe that where the social aspect was important, the environmental aspect will be felt for longer and in the future will be more important than the social disturbance that caused it.  The poverty levels in America from 2009 to the present work as the underprivileged aspect of my text. I feel like this ties in with many other aspects of the text and would work as a ‘glue,’ so to speak to connect some of the other aspects to a common internal theme. I find these rates startling as well as negative for the country. I feel as though the healthcare reforms directly relate to this as does the Election of 2008, which I used as my political aspect. The election was important politically because Obama became the first African American man to become President of the United States. This was absolutely historically groundbreaking and essential to include in my textbook.  Each aspect I included in my textbook work together to frame current the American experience. I believe that each example is essential to the understanding of current American history. I included videos on every page for two reasons-one being that much current history revolves around technological devices, so i believed that utilizing these devices was important. The second reason for this was to give the readers a first hand look at the times. I feel as though history books can sometimes be very long winded and much too wordy. To avoid this, I was brief in my examples and used many videos to show first hand what I discuss in the textbook. I tended to include topics that I clearly remember, which I feel is actually history. I did not include little events that occurred for I feel that such events are very irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. I also did not include much about foreign affairs as there were not many, and the major war is currently ending so it would be more effective to talk about the war as a whole after the current situation develops. I believe that my textbook is a very effective learning tool and would work very well to teach readers about current history.