Week 3 Homework Guide

I'm pleading patience with the details of the syllabus!  I'm trying to adjust topic discussions to the actual amount of class time we have (it's never enough) and adjust pacing of things so as not to overwhelm.  Please use this as your homework guide for this week and put a copy in the front of your notebook to check off as you go.

On that note please note that we will begin cartoon projects in two weeks.  Next week we are practicing in groups.

It looks like the link for the Noel Piper mp3 file is a bit wonky in the document.  You can find that file HERE.  It is not required, but I love it. 

Week 3

Analyzing Political Cartoons

Follow this LINK to go to the website we looked at in class today.  (I figured out how to make websites bigger when I want to show you details in the future!)  You can practice with some of the other examples by clicking the 'Test Yourself' Link.  Bring in at least one cartoon next week and we'll look at them together (we'll pair up in groups).  Your presentations will begin in two weeks.

Don't bring your favorite - you don't want to use it up before your project!

Remember when you tell what your Political Cartoon is about and describe what it means I'm only holding you accountable for these techniques:

• Symbolism
• Labeling
• Exaggeration

If you want to on your own you can go further and talk about Analogies and Irony, but it isn't required.  As a quick review of these techniques take a look at the following cartoon  (Please know that I'm new at this, too.  I'm learning right along with you - and you may have better interpretations than me!):

Labeling:  (this is the easy one!)

The ship is 'Big Government', the cargo of the ship has many labels - these all were associated with causes for the current recession, the children have yokes around their necks so that you know who they are 'Future Taxpayers'.

Exaggeration:

The ship is not really out of proportion to the size of the children - ships are large, but when you juxtapose the two together it makes the size of the ship seem larger (or the children seem smaller).  Can you see that?  Is it really possible for children to pull a ship?

Symbolism:  (this is the the hardest one that I am asking you to work with)

The ship labeled 'Big Government' combined with all of the cargo and did you notice President Obama hanging over the bow, yelling?  Together these symbolize Obama's fiscal policy (his government spending).  Things like TARP and stimulus money and bailouts that he's trying to use to get the economy moving.

The children are wearing yokes.  Yokes are used on work animals like horses or oxen to pull things.  The yokes symbolize the tax burden that Obama's fiscal policies are placing on future generations.  (That's you guys in case you were wondering!)

My final Analysis:  President Obama's fiscal policies to get us out of the recession have increased the size of government and placed an impossible tax burden on future generations.  This is what the cartoonist is saying.  Once you understand him or her you can then agree or disagree!

(If you want to talk a bit about irony - notice that the ship is not in an ocean - it's in a desert!)

Reading Time

I am really very interested to know how long it is taking you to read your textbook - a careful reading as described in previous posts and handouts.  (This week it's approximately 13pp of reading.)  So make a note of your time (the back of the index card that you are using for vocab is probably a good place) and visit this blog post at the end of the week.  Leave a comment letting me know the total time.  If you can't figure out how to comment, send me an email!

Week 2 Handouts

Sorry for the tardiness of these - my three year old decided to flush and apple down the toilet when we got home.  (Ok, maybe somethings are better not to know, but suffice to say my hands are just now dry enough to touch a keyboard!)

Just in case you don't know how to use Scribd, click the button on the menu bar at the bottom of the document that looks like a cloud with an arrow pointing down.  This will allow you to open the document on your computer.  You can then save it electronically or print it out!  Pretty cool, huh?

Please print this page out and place it in your Chapter 2 Tab.  Also remember to read over these questions BEFORE you do your reading!  Read it carefully it has important information about next weeks opportunity.
Chapter 2 a City Upon a Hil - 2


This is the Economics handout I showed you in class.  Please print it out and put it in your Economics tab.  Look it over, but we will discuss it in class next week.


Economics Why Bother

A Suggested Schedule to Guide You

I thought that some of you might benefit from a suggested schedule to guide your weekly work and study:

(Begin each reading session by looking over the list of questions given for your reading before you begin.) 
Tuesday after co-op: 
 Spend at least 30 min. reading the assigned text reading (you may want to listen or look at the summary of the chapter from the Roadmap first)

Wednesday: 
Spend about 1.5 hours of text reading on Wednesday
Remember to break your reading into 25 min. chunks and to break those chunks into bites/bytes and to read for understanding checking your own understanding before moving on.  This is especially important for those of you who are using the audio version - don't go through 25 minutes of text non-stop without narrating/telling back to yourself what you have read.  If it's helpful spend 2-3 minutes looking over How To Read Your Text until you get the habit!

Thursday: 
Finish any remaining text reading (most of you will be through or nearly through)
Read your PSH assignment (there are not normally two in one week!)
Read Penny Candy
Think about upcoming Projects and work on any other assignments

Friday:
Set aside about 1-1.5 hours to compile your timeline, list of important people, record your vocabulary in your notebook and record any Current Events.
(You were remembering your index card while you read this week weren't you?)  This will be much easier if you have put a box/circle around dates and underlined names of new/important people as you read.

Monday: 
Spend about one hour to make sure that you can answer the questions from your handout (these are possible opportunity questions).  Try actually writing out an answer for one or two of them (don't pick the easy ones).  Call someone if you aren't sure how to answer on or to check your answer against someone elses.

A Note About Timelines and List of Important People

While you can find this information through your Roadmap Account, you are best served to build these pages for your notebook on your own.  A good goal is to have your text reading finished by Thursday and on Friday to build your timeline and important people lists.  You may then choose to check your work against the information on the roadmap or another student.  I just want you to be wary about not doing the work on your own - a butterfly who is freed from it's cocoon without having to wiggle and force its way out is too weak to fly!  At the end of each week I will post on the blog my own versions of my timelines and important people for you to compare your list against.  (Note this will be after I have checked your notebooks.)

Notebook Checklist

We went over our notebooks rather quickly yesterday, but I thought you all did an amazing job keeping up and following instructions.  You will get more familiar with how to use your notebooks as class goes on.  I've posted a checklist of your handouts just in case there was a mixup.  If you find yourself missing a handout let me know and I will email you a copy!

History Notebook Handouts


Here is a copy of the most current syllabus (see explanation in the above document):

Honors US History Syllabus