I am sorry that I don't have extensive notes for this lecture - what was covered was heavily dependent on slides and overheads - most of these are copywrited and thus I can't put them on the web site.
You should understand the following points, most of which are in various places in your book:
The Canadian Shield provides the core or nucleus around which mountian building episodes (controlled by plate tectonic movements and interactions) have taken place for the past 2 billion years
The Canadian Shield itself is composed of belts of rocks that were assembled by plate tectonic-like processes even earlier in the Earth's history.
At various times N.America has been joined to Europe, Africa, and Siberia.
The interior parts of N.America are understood in terms of subtle but very important arches and basins which have controlled the distribution of sediments throughout the last billion years.
How the Appalachians formed (and when).
Western N.America is best understood in terms of 'terranes' or microplates which have been swept up by the westward movement of N.America - these 'exotic' terranes brought unusual rock types, fossil assemblages and mineral deposits to the growing continent.
Remember the difference between the terms:
Finally, remember that the other continents around the world have similar sequences of events in their pasts - most are not as completely and obviously developed as they are here in N.America.