Directions: Use the themes, questions and video clips below to teach and learn with portions of C-SPAN's American Writers program featuring Theodore Roosevelt and The Winning of the West. Link to the complete video clip list to identify clip descriptions and create your own lessons. Each theme contains questions and video clips appropriate for varying grade levels.
Curriculum Advisory Team Member, Axel Ramirez.

1. Why was Medora considered the "frontier"? What impact did the railroad have on the buffalo? What other changes were taking place that impacted the location and the nature of the frontier? To what degree did Roosevelt experience these changes first-hand?
2. To what time and place does the title Winning of the West refer? How did Roosevelt research his account of history? Is it an accurate account? What were his own biases?
3. In Roosevelt's account, who won the west and why? who lost? Why?
4. What other frontiers have there been in America's history? In Roosevelt's lifetime? What did the frontier mean to historians like Roosevelt? What did it mean to Americans, according to these historians?
5. What did the Dakotas and the frontier mean to Roosevelt personally? Make a prediction about how this may have affected him in his public life.

1. How and why did Theodore Roosevelt develop his own heroes? Who were his heroes? In what ways did he imitate his heroes in his own life?
2. What are some of the reasons some Americans might have identified him as a hero? Why might some have not labeled him heroic?
3. Who did Roosevelt seek out to accompany him on his heroic pursuits? What qualities did he admire?
4. Who else participated? For example, what role did African Americans play? How inclusive was Roosevelt's vision of heroism? What role did women play in Roosevelt's life? Consider especially his second wife, Edith.
5. How did the theme of heroes carry over in his lives as a private person, a writer and a public official?

1. Describe the time period in which Roosevelt rose to prominence. Why was leadership needed or sought?
2. How did his personal background and experience suit him to leadership for this time? How did he acquire a national following without a strong party connection?
3. What skills did he have with people? How did he acquire and then use these skills as a politician? In what ways did his experiences on the frontier shape his views on leadership?
4. How was the international arena similar to the frontier? What marked Roosevelt's leadership in the international arena?
5. Evaluate Roosevelt's skills as a leader. What were his strengths? What were his shortcomings?