Friday, September 30, 2011

Alabama Immigration Law - State Laws vs. Federal Laws

One of the major points of conflict in the writing and ratification of the Constitution is State's Rights vs. Federal Powers.  Whose laws are preeminent?  Did you think this issue was resovled way back in the 1780s?  Maybe you thought it wasn't resolved until after the Civil War?  Well, it's still not resolved!  The following Federal Court Case regarding Alabama's Immigration Law that they passed this week is a case in point.  This case may quickly wind up in the Supreme Court, and it may be one of the biggest Supreme Court Decisions in our lifetime.  Here is an excerpt from an article in the NY Times:


(Alabama students protesting the Federal Court's ruling)

A federal judge on Wednesday upheld most of the sections of Alabama’s far-reaching immigration law that had been challenged by the Obama administration, including portions that had been blocked in other states.
The decision, by Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn of Federal District Court in Birmingham, makes it much more likely that the fate of the recent flurry of state laws against illegal immigration will eventually be decided by the Supreme Court. It also means that Alabama now has by far the strictest such law of any state.  (Read the rest of the article HERE.)

Some Fun Constitutional Resources

You may think it's silly, but one of the best resources I have come across for the writing of the Constitution is a children's picture book by Jean Fritz called, "Shhh!  We're Writing the Constitution"



 If you have a copy of this book or can get it from the library I suggest you do so!  If you can't get a copy, you can watch this version from School Tube, but is not the book in it's entirety - it leaves out quite a bit.  This isn't bad, but I recommend the book above just the video!  




You guys may be too young to know about School House Rocks, but here is a short clip of the Preamble to the Constitution (which by the way is an option for your recitation):



If you do choose to memorize the Preamble, though --- try to do a better job than Barney!!


Revolutionary War Tree Timeline

I found this image online at a site called RosewoodTimes.  I'm not sure of the origin of the illustration, but I thought it might be a helpful reference for those of you who are visual.  If you would like a copy to print out and put in your notebook let me know and I'll send it in an email.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

This Weeks Homework

Class, you will find your weekly homework check list below.  Please note the change of format for our class discussions and prepare your reading accordingly.  This will be a permanent change until further notice.

In addition to this change, please review your schedules for the following opportunities to meet with me outside of class time (Location will be at Dilworth Coffee):

WEEKLY OFFICE HOURS - I have set aside Saturday from 1:00-3:30 for one on one meetings with parents and students.  If you have questions you would like to discuss with me,  would like a special one on one tutoring/review session, or if I have requested a private meeting with you please email me with a specific time within these hours that you can arrive.  I'll schedule slots in 30 minute increments.

LITERATURE EVENING - I am offering another evening for discussing literature next week on Thursday.  I would like to meet with groups individually and this week we will focus on our novels instead of autobiographies.  I will schedule an autobiography meeting in 2 weeks with the entire class.  Here is the planned schedule - please let me know if you will be able to attend or not.  If there is a conflict let me know as soon as possible and perhaps we can work out alternate arrangements.

Washington Irving 6:30-7:15
Edgar Alan Poe 7:20-8:05
Last of the Mohicans 8:10-8:55

SKYPE CHAPTER REVIEW SESSION
I'm still working out the technical details on this, but this review is for the following students:  Kaela, Trey, Julia, Samantha, and Jonathan.  I have set aside NEXT Friday afternoon, October 7th, from 3:30-4:30 and need to know how many of you are available during this timeslot.  We will do a comprehensive review beginning with Chapter 1.  You will need your notebooks and your text book alog with a computer and webcam.  I'll email more technical details later.

Week 7

Monday, September 26, 2011

John Jay and the Mississippi River Rights

I realize that this week's opportunity is a difficult question.  There are two reasons why it's difficult for you.  First of all, you need to lift your eyes from looking just at this chapter and remember all that we have read and discussed so far in this class pertaining to the differences between the northern and southern colonies, now states. 

This needs to be a constant exercise - the going over of all that you have read and learned to see how things are related.  It is also a good idea to look forward as far as you can to what you know what is coming and ask how does what's happening right now in my reading cause, effect, or influence that?  What's coming is the Civil War and even before these states are 'United' the issues that are at the root of that war are already in place.  The differences and tensions between northern and southern states were born back in their infancy as colonies.  Do not fall into a habit of focusing only on the portion of the chapter we are currently reading!

The second reason this question is difficult for you is that I don't believe Bennett gives you all the information clearly.  I'm going to attempt to fill in the missing holes for you in this post.  Even though this is a difficult question, it is a very important one.  It was because of the controversy over this treaty that many southern states held out for so long against signing the Constitution!  They were skeptical of a union that they felt favored the interests of one group of states over another.  This controversy of John Jay's treaty was in large part the foundation for those feelings.

Before I give you the background on John Jay and Gardoqui I wanted to give you a few references to review for the differences between the northern and southern colonies/states.  Specifically you want to examine and think about the differences in the economies of northern states and southern states.  The northern conlonies/states based their economies on trade - remember the settlement patterns - they were crowded along the coast of New England with many, many harbors.  Shipping was their lifeline.  The fishing industry was also a large part of their economy.  If you remember our economy lessons they had more capital (harbors and ships) to take their resources to places where they could be sold or traded.  Their harbors were also a point of entry for goods from Europe that got distributed throughout the other colonies/states.

The southern states economies were based on agriculture.  Their main resource was land, they had a shortage of capital and they depended upon a large force of slave labor in order to make their economy work.  Their need for land meant that their colonies/states were more sparsely settled - that they were spread out and they did not have easy access to harbors to get their crops to markets.  These agriculturists also saw their future in western lands - remember that idea of Manifest Destiny - the right to all the land all the way to the sea.  (A good example of this feeling of going west is Pa in the Little House series.)

Remember these class conversations?  Can you visualize or picture how different the interests of the northerners and the southerners were?  Now let's take a look at the controversy over the Mississippi River.  I'm going to begin by laying out the setting filling in some information that Bennett does not tell you:

#1  The Revolution had ended - the colonies had won their independence from Brittain and they considered themselves states.

#2  Neither Brittain nor the states were honoring the Treaty of Paris drawn up and signed in 1783.  It was ratified by the Continental Congress in 1784.  The problem was that each state saw itself as a separate entity - they did not all think that a treaty passed by the Confederation should have more authority than laws passed by their own governing bodies.  There were two main areas in which the states were disregarding the treaty - the first was in paying back their debts.  Each state was supposed to pay back it's own debt to their British creditor, but not all were doing so.  Some thought these debts should be renounced.  Under the Treaty of Paris states also were supposed to make restitution for property and land confiscated from British loyalists during the war and they were supposed to prevent any future prosecution or harrasment of British loyalists.  This was also not happening in many states.  The Articles of Confederation had no authority to force states to abide by the treaty.  As a result Brittain had not yet pulled its forces out of the Northwest territory.  This was threatening to the infant states.

#3  In addition to occupying it's forts in the Northwest Brittain kept her Royal Navy in American waters as a constant threat.  (The fighting had stopped, the peace treaties were signed, but the hostilities were not ended!)

#4  There was more than one treaty negotiated to end the American Revolution.  Our treaty with Brittain was called the Treaty of Paris.  Brittain negotiated other treaties as well with Spain, France and the Netherlands resolving their involvement in the war.  One part of the treaty with Spain gave back to Spain the territory of Louisiana and extended the panhandle of Florida west to meet the territory of Louisiana.  If you look at a map you will see that this cut off all access to any ports along the southern borders of southern states.  It essentially landlocked them and they lost access to the important port at New Orleans.  (It was not until later that France gained control of this territory and not until the Jefferson presidency that we purchased it from Napoleon!)

#5  There were many Americans who were moving west to settle.  There were two tensions on this front.  The first was that there were suspicions that both the British and the Spanish were agitating the western indians agains these western settlers.  The other tension with this westward movement had to do with territories gaining the right to statehood (the Northwest Ordinance p 110).  This ordinance said that the way expansion would be handled was by creating new states and not making existing states larger.  It also said that slavery was banned from these Northwest territories (it was in this territory that Brittain still held occupying forces).  There was the question of slavery to be answered in all new territories and as the western population grew this question became more crucial.  This also held the possiblity of upsetting the tenuos balance of slave and non slave states in the Confederation.  Slave states did not want more free states and free states did not want more slave states.

#6  The government of the Confederation wanted to negotiate a treaty with Spain  over the southern border, but had very little power.  (The army had been disbanded and there were only about 100 soldiers at this time).  To give you more background - in the midst of the Revolution John Jay was sent to Spain to gain their help in the effort for independence.  He failed, but Spain did agree to give the Americans secret loans so they could purchase armaments.  So the young confederate states were in debt to Spain, too!  After the war was over Spain revoked the states rights to navigate the Mississippi River and closed the port of New Orleans to them.

#7  After the war there was an economic depression - especially in the northern states.  They depended on shipping.  The British were not trading with them, they British occupied American waters, and they were doing everything they could to strangle their trade.  They were becoming desperate.

Now enters Don Diego de Gardoqui!  He is acting on behalf of the king of Spain and Spanish interests and has been granted the power to negotiate with the states.  In addition to trying to turn heads and win favors with Jay and other political leaders through bribes and favors he wants to protect the rights of Spain and Spanish power in the Americas and this means New Orleans and Florida.  Spain does not recognize the right of  American states to use the Mississippi or the port of New Orleans.

The Confederate Congress votes to give Jay the power to negotiate a treaty with Gardoqui (Spain) and his instructions cover two points - southern boundries and free navigation of the Mississippi with access to New Orleans.  They gave him the power to negotiate a treaty only if it had those two elements in it.  Gardoqui works to entice Jay to forfeit navigation rights on the Mississippi or any access to the port of New Orleans in exchange for favored trading privelages with Spain.  Jay to his credit is probably less enticed by Gardoqui than he is pressured by the powerful northern states and their merchant interests.  They clamor for an opportunity to get their economy moving again.  The Mississippi really means nothing to them. 

No treaty was negotiated and Jay goes back to congress and there is a second vote to give him the power to negotiate a treaty that does not include navigation rights.  The issue the southern states had with this treaty was that the first instructions to Jay passed with a 2/3 majority vote (9 in favor) but the second set of instructions only passed with a 7 to 5 vote with southern states voting against giving Jay the power to negotiate such a treaty.  They did not accept that second vote as valid. 

Nevertheless, Jay does negotiate a treaty, and in it he forfeits America's use of their navigation rights of the Mississippi and access to the port of New Orleans (of interest mainly to southern states and settlers in western territories) for a period of 25 years.  Jay's argument is that if Spain signs a treaty that says that America forfeits use of their rights for 25 years they are really recognizing that at least they do have such a right which can be used in later negotiations.  Southerners accuse Jay of trying to split the confederation and it is such a contentious point that it keeps states from signing the Constitution after it is written.

This is not fully resolved until 1795 when Thomas Pinckney negotiates a treaty with Spain called the Treaty of Madrid!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Church History Slam

I thought you guys might enjoy this very abbreviated version of Church History - some of this we talked about a couple of weeks ago.  I don't think that your literature teachers have Slam Poetry as a literature genre on you handouts - but it's a legitimate form of literature.


Monday, September 19, 2011

Week 6 Homework & Opportunity

Here are your homework and opportunity handouts for this week.  For those of you who are having difficulty using scribd I'm providing links to the same handouts as Google Documents.

You can find Week 6 homework HERE

and

You can find the Chapter 4 Opportunity Review HERE.

Week 6

Chapter 4 Reflection and Choice

Saturday, September 17, 2011

A Number Four Essay

It's not as hard as you think - your answers need not necessarily be long nor complicated.  They need to answer the question, they need to make sense even to someone who hasn't read the question, they need to be specific naming details, giving backround information and contain few if any general statements. 


Here is the answer that received a four on our last opportunity.  It was written by Caleb a sixth grader.  It's not perfect, but I think he's on the right track with the most important things that I expect out of you all.  I hope posting this example helps you and I appreciate Caleb allowing me to share it:



I think Thomas Paine was an agitator of war and to back that up I would say that because he wrote Common Sense urging people to fight for freedom.  And it was the best selling pamphlet in America and he donated about every penny to the Continental Army.

If I were at this point grading writing and not just content (and especially for some of you eigth and ninth graders I do take this into account a bit) I think you could take Caleb's answer and turn it into this:
Thomas Paine was an agitator for war in the years that led up to the Declaration of Independence.  He published a pamphlet titled 'Common Sense' that urged people to fight for their freedom.  Common Sense was the best selling pamphlet in America.  Instead of keeping the profit for himself, though, Paine used it to support the war effort donating nearly every penny to the Continental Army.
For some of you older students right now I hope for this answer (a second hurdle answer), but frankly would be thrilled with the first hurdle as a warm up.  The next goal is for you to be able to add to the second answer things like the date, and more specific details about what Paine wrote in Common Sense - like that his writing spoke directly against the king and even against all kings.  This is what I'm calling a third hurdle number four answer.


Even better if you could use the quote of the pretended 'Father of his people who can unfeelingly hear of their slaughter, and composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul' or even just paraphrase or refer to it.  Even better still would be to compare Paine to John Adams who Bennett said helped men see their political and legal rights. He said Paine moved men's emotions AND that he used the Bible and their strong religious beliefs to stir them up against the king.  All this information and even more is on p 81 of your text.  These are components of a fourth hurdle numer four answer! 


My goal over the next two years is to encourage you and exhort you in your reading so that you can begin to form second hurdle and third hurdle answers.  My hope is that some of you can begin to approach and clear the fourth hurdle by the end of next year.


But for now Caleb's answer is the first hurdle I've placed on the track.  A few of you have come close, but he was the first to clear it.  Once most of you are jumping the first hurdle and doing it routinely we'll move on to a second hurdle answer in which I raise the bar on the difficulty of reaching a four.  To quote Jan Karon, "There is rest for the weary and the wicked don't need none."


Also note for many questions it's not really about 'what' your answer is - it's how well you answer it!  When I came up with this question I had two or three people in my mind (I didn't sit down and make a list of them all) and Thomas Paine wasn't on my short list!  If Caleb had only named Paine and given me general statements I might have given him 2 points, but he made a good argument and backed it up. 


So, don't worry about what answer you think I'm looking for.  What I'm really looking for is how well you form YOUR answer!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

The Writing of Opportunities

I have finished reading and scoring Week 4's opportunities.  I cannot post any specific details about the answers yet because we have someone making up this opportunity because of an absence.

However, I am VERY pleased to tell you that we have the first '4' this week.  (We also have one student who received a 3+.)  These students have helped me to clarify exactly what makes not just a good or good enough answer, but what makes an EXCELLENT answer.  I want to share this with you so that it can help you as you prepare for this week's opportunity.

The characteristics of a 4 are as follows (Note that these may vary from question to question, but they make an excellent starting place.):

  • The answer to the question is clearly and concisely stated and the answer stands alone meaning it makes sense to someone who doesn't even know what the question is.

  • Specific details are given that support the answer.  General statements are not specific details.  Specific details name actual people, places, events, times, actions.

  • Explanations are given of those specific details to ensure that the reader understands what they are.  In other words naming details is good, but going further to tell something about them is expected.

  • Make the impact/meaning --in other words a strong conclusion.

(If this student allows I will post their answer so you can see what I mean more clearly.)

Benjamin West


This week in class I introduced the artist Benjamin West.  Even though he was born in the colonies (the tenth child of an innkeeper), he mostly painted in England - he was president of London's Royal Academy for many years.  A story is told that he first learned to paint when some Indians showed him how to mix clay from the riverbank with bear grease.  He went on from these humble beginnings to an appointment as the official history painter at the court of King George.

In contrast to the people we have talked about who were 'polymaths' (educated and excelled in many fields like language, government, theology, philosophy, the arts, science, etc), West was an 'autodidact' which simply means that he was very poorly educated in anything other than painting.

As a history paiinter he not only painted compositions of stories from classical history, but compositions of contemporary events.  Here are the paintings I showed in class:


William Penn's Treaty with the Indians, 1771


His Majesty George II Resuming Power, 1789


Treaty of Paris, 1783

An interesting note on this last painting - West intended for the British delegation to be included in the painting but they would not sit for it.  This is why the paiting was incomplete!  (Sorry I didn't know that before class.)

Colonial Music

Most music in the American colonies was music that was brought here not music that was written or composed here.  Knowing something about colonial music can help us understand more about the colonists.  There were a few type of colonial music:  ballads (story songs), dance songs, folk songs, theatre music (for operas and such), church music and military songs.  The music came from all the countries represented in the colonies - England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, France and even Africa.  This melodic melting pot set the stage for a type of music to come that would later become distinctly American.

Many people lew a whole lot of songs.  It was very common to write new words for the melodies or 'tunes' of these songs.

Here is the song that I played in class yesterday - this song has many different sets of lyrics and there are even versions of it that children learn as a rhyme:



Here are some other songs you can listen too (credits to Kieth and Rusty McNeil).  These have a short historical narrative before and after them:

Soldier, Soldier Will You Marry Me?  (this is a folk and military song)
Kugadza Umambo (this is an African drum rhythm)
Free America (a song written by Dr. Joseph Warren)

Tips for Using Online Roadmap to Last Best Hope

Some of you are asking questions about how the Online Roadmap works.  The Homepage for the Roadmap is HERE. (For your convenience I have also placed a link on the sidebar of the blog.)  I have suggested that you should listen to the online summaries of the chapters before beginning your reading and some of you also want to know how to read and listen to your book online.  I hope the following instructions are helpful:

#1  Make sure you are logged in - this is located on the left menu of the Homepage (you have to scroll down).  If you are not logged in you can only see sample materials!!

#2  You have all purchased the premium version of the site.  To access that information you have to scroll down and click the red square that says Premium Access.

#3  Click the button that says Premium Media (you may or may not have to select Volume I).

#4 From here you can read the text book online or listen to the audio version of the text.  There are some other links on this page - the most useful one for you may be the mnemonics.  If you don't know what mnemonics are or how to use them you can watch a short video explanation HERE.

#5 Unfortunately to access the regular materials and chapter resources you have to go back to the basic site.  On the top menu click 'Back to Basic Site'.

#6  Click Volume I and select your chapter.  Click 'Chapter Media'.  Here you can listen to the chapter summary and also listen to an mp3 which gives extra information or things to think about further once you've finished reading the chapter.

#7  There are many other tools that you can use and explore under each chapter such as graphics, maps, timeline, key people and events, government, vocabulary and everything.  Don't spend too much time here or rely on this information too much, though.  The most important thing you can do is your reading - your ACTIVE reading.

THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR YOUR MIND WORKING ON AND THROUGH THE MATERIAL!!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Week 5 Homework & Opportunity Review Questions

Week 5

Chapter 3 the Greatest Revolution 2

Monday, September 12, 2011

For Class Tomorrow

#1  If you have the ability - please scan your political cartoon and attach it to an email which you send to me.  If you do not have that ability, place your cartoon in a page protector in the front of your notebook so I can take a digital photo of it before class begins.  This is so we can put your cartoon up on the board for your presentations.

#2  Don't forget your cartoons!

#3  If you have study hall with me please bring a copy of your weekly schedule that you have been working on.

#4  Don't forget your cartoons!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Ground Zero


If you remember 10 years ago this day at all your memories may be vague ones.  I hope, though, that as you look at this picture of our President and former President side by side and reflect on the meaning of this day, you realize how blessed we are to live in a country where political power is transferred from one President to another peacefully. 

Our presidents willingly give up their power as the head of our nation because of words written on paper over 200 years ago.  Words that you are now watching being birthed in your reading.  We and our fellow citizens may have strong feelings toward these men, but they are standing at the end of a long line of men leading all the way back to President Washington and those who governed under the Articles of Confederation before him. 

You are listening  to the stories of Oliver Cromwell and the English  kings who came before and after him over the next two weeks.  When you read of General Washington kneeling before Congress surrendering his army at the end of the Revolutionary war and refusing more than two terms in office, remember the stories of Cromwell and the kings.  Remember too, the story of these two men - Obama and Bush.  It was Washington's surrender more than two hundred years ago which birthed this picture.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Key Factors for Change in Colonists Attitude toward Britain and the King

Franklin before Privy Council in London

This is the first question on the opportunity review sheet.  I have finished grading last week's opportunities and I would like for you to strive for more specifics and details.  I reread this week's reading this morning while waiting at appoinmets and I made a list of these factors.  I found over 22 possible reasons (and there may be more)!  Read slowly and deeply, think about your reading and strive for understanding. 

Be Active Readers -- remember I encourage you to spend 3 hours this week inside your text!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Week 3 Opportunity

Chapter 2 a City Upon a Hil - 2answers



 Here's my example essay.  Again this is not what I expect from you in terms of length or number of details and writing style but I hope it helps you have something to aim for.

French & Indian War Essay (Week 3)

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

The Great Awakening

Another great history teacher that I learn from is Dr. George Grant.  Dr. Grant teaches at Franklin Classical School in Franklin, TN.  This week on his blog he had a post about The Great Awakening in which he shared a poem/song called Awaken.  You can read it HERE.

Supplemental Podcasts

These are totally supplemental - I just wanted to make sure that you were aware they were available.  Our friend Bob Packet of History According to Bob has a few podcasts currently available pertaining to the Revolution.  If you have the time I do encourage you to listen.  There are three on the Boston Tea Party which can be found on the archive page HERE.

Boston Tea Party Part I
Boston Tea Party Part II
Where Did the Boston Tea Party Take Place?

He just released one on the Intolerable Acts which is on his home page HERE.
Intolerable Acts

If any of you use iTunes you can subscribe to his iTune podcast for free HERE.

Colonial History - the BackStory

There were many references in this weeks reading to events that occurred in England - such as Oliver Cromwell, England's war with the Dutch, King Williams War, etc.  In the upcoming chapter as we read through the beginnings of the Revolution there will be comparisons between those times and struggles and the struggles of the English Civil war.  As we read about the birth of our government it will help to understand about the struggles of the English government.  In order to make these comparisons and understand why our founding fathers were so opposed to monarchies you have to know the story of England.

Today I began reading out loud to you from a favorite book, Our Island Story by H.E. Marshall.  I am keeping my promise to post the links to the free audio files for the remaining chapters that apply to our studies.  You can find those audio files HERE.   Just scroll down the page - I read to you chapter 76, How A Woman Struck A Blow For Freedom.  Over the next two weeks I would like you to listen up to chapter 86, William the Deliverer.  All the chapters are less than 10 minutes long.

Monday, September 5, 2011

2 Notes about your Literature assignments:

#1 - I am scheduling a Literature Review evening on Thursday, September 15th from 7:00 to around 8:30 or so.  We will meet at the Dilworth Coffee near Highland Creek.  This is an opportunity for us to talk just about your literature - what you're reading, how it's going, struggles, ideas, questions, themes, etc.

#2 - I finally have the details on the literature assignments for both Dr. Gordon's and Mrs. Stith's class.  They are as follows:

*** Please note - I have tried to accurately translate both teachers' 'Week #'s' into actual dates.  I am assuming that they have scheduled their weeks and breaks to coincide.  Please do however double check these dates yourself - I don't want to be responsible for late projects!!

Mrs. Stith's class:
Fall - 2 book projects due October 25th and December 6th
Spring - 2 data sheets due January 31st and February 28th.

Dr. Gordon's class:
6 novels this year due 10/6, 11/22, 1/3, 1/31, 2/28, and 3/27

One of the things I did not want to do was to comandeer all your reading choices.  I was thinking that you would be reading more books for these classes this year.  So, I would like to ammend my literature assignment as follows:

Students in Mrs. Stith's class should be responsible for 2 literature selections this year.  I do encourage you to read one autobiography.  You must let me know your book choice and place a reading accountability plan in your notebook to show me your reading progress.  Calculate your reading plan based on the due dates for your English class.  As long as I see you reading one book from my class each semester and you provide me with a copy of your project/data sheet in your notebook you will have met my literature requirement.

Students in Dr. Gordon's class should be responsible for 3 literature selections this year.  One of your selections must be an autobiography.  You must let me know your book choice and place a reading accountability plan in your notebook to show me your reading progress.  Calculate your reading plan based on the due dates for your English class.  As long as I see you reading 3 books for my class this year and you track your reading in your notebook and provide me with copies of you data sheets/essays you will have met my literature requirement.

Both Dr. Gordon and Mrs. Stith are encouraging you to read books from this booklist:

101 Books

Week 4 Handouts

Here is your homework checklist and your Opportunity review questions.  I went ahead and posted them early --- just in case there is some new disaster waiting around for tomorrow afternoon!  Don't forget to prepare for your political cartoon presentations!

Week 4

Chapter 3 the Greatest Revolution

Of Work and Poets

Today - the first Monday of September - is a national holiday - LABOR DAY.  The mail will not run today, the banks are closed, and at least some of your parents are probably home from work.  What is Labor Day and how did it become a holiday?


Labor Day is a creation of the labor movement - something we have not talked about yet, but it is on the horizon.  It is a day set aside to celebrate the contributions of American workers to the strength and prosperity of this country.  The first Labor Day was celebrated in New York in 1882 and in the next three years it grew in popularity to become a "working man's" holiday throughout the entire country.



Today I heard a poem on the radio by our new Poet Laureate, Philip Levine.  He is known as the poet of the 'industrial heartland' and the poem I heard is titled 'What Work Is'.  You can hear the entire interview and Levine reading the poem HERE.  If you want to hear more about his work when he was younger you can listen to Terry Gross's interview HERE.   (Whenever you have the opportunity to hear a poet read his own work take advantage!)

What Work Is
We stand in the rain in a long line
waiting at Ford Highland Park. For work.
You know what work is—if you’re
old enough to read this you know what
work is, although you may not do it.
Forget you. This is about waiting,
shifting from one foot to another.
Feeling the light rain falling like mist
into your hair, blurring your vision
until you think you see your own brother
ahead of you, maybe ten places.
You rub your glasses with your fingers,
and of course it’s someone else’s brother,
narrower across the shoulders than
yours but with the same sad slouch, the grin
that does not hide the stubbornness,
the sad refusal to give in to
rain, to the hours of wasted waiting,
to the knowledge that somewhere ahead
a man is waiting who will say, “No,
we’re not hiring today,” for any
reason he wants. You love your brother,
now suddenly you can hardly stand
the love flooding you for your brother,
who’s not beside you or behind or
ahead because he’s home trying to   
sleep off a miserable night shift
at Cadillac so he can get up
before noon to study his German.
Works eight hours a night so he can sing
Wagner, the opera you hate most,
the worst music ever invented.
How long has it been since you told him
you loved him, held his wide shoulders,
opened your eyes wide and said those words,
and maybe kissed his cheek? You’ve never
done something so simple, so obvious,
not because you’re too young or too dumb,
not because you’re jealous or even mean
or incapable of crying in
the presence of another man, no,   
just because you don’t know what work is.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Blog Tools

You will notice I made some changes to the blog.  I want it to be useful to you.  In the right hand column there is a RSS feed for This Day in History from the History Channel.  You can click on the link and see other events that happened on this day.

Just below that you will see a link - History According to Bob.  Bob Packett is a history professor and he publishes free history podcasts.  Our family listens to him frequently and we own several of his cds.  He is currently in the midst of a series on the Civil War, and he also just released a cd collection of his French and Indian War podcasts.  His podcasts are usually 10 minutes each or less and I highly recommend them!

I have also added an email gadget.  Each of you are already signed up to recieve the posts to your email accounts, but now if your parents also want to recieve posts they can sign up for them using this gadget.  (This one allows for an unlimited number of email addresses.)

There is also a Featured Political Cartoon.  When I can find appropriate cartoons I will post cartoons from the time period we are studying otherwise they will be current ones.

You will also find a link to the Roadmap Website for your convenience.

September 3, 1783

You'll be reading about it before you know it... and it happened exactly 228 years ago.  The Treaty of Paris was signed on THIS DAY IN HISTORY(It ended the Revolutionary War.)

French and Indian War Map

Thank you, Trey for sharing this map.  I think you can click on it to make it larger...


How many of you know how to comment on a blog?  If you do, check in to this post with a 'Got it!' or 'Hello'.  I'm trying to figure out how much technology you guys can handle and what your comfort levels are.

Opportunity Grades

I have finalized my grading scale for your opporunities.  This scale will be in effect for the first semester or until I publicize a change.  I estimate that students will take around 28 opportunities during the year.  I will calculate their grade based on their 20 highest scores.  Opportunities are a total of 25% of a students grade.

I am not going to change the difficulty of the questions, but I am giving students who achieve at least 1/2 of the points of each opportunity (a 2 or above) more grace as shown below.  I'm doing this while you are learning a new way of reading and studying.  Over the next few weeks students who recieve more than two or three of scores below a 2 either aren't doing the Active Reading style encouraged or need further assistance.  I will be seeking out those students privately. 

A+  (4)
A    (3.5)
A-   (3)
B+  (2.5)
C    (2)
C-   (1.5)
D    (1)
D-  (.5)
F    (0)

Occasionally I'm going to misword a question or write something that could be easily misunderstood.  If I see a pattern of students misunderstand a question or a portion of a question I will throw out that question/point.  If that is the case the following grading system will apply based on a 3 point scale:

A+  (none awarded unless all other answers or parts are EXCEPTIONAL!)
A    (3)
A-   (2.5)
B     (2)
B-   (1.5)
C    (1)
D+  (.5)
D    (0) - only if the student attempted to answer.  If no attempt was made an F will be given even if a point/question is thrown out.

If you have questions or concerns please contact me.

Opportunities 1 & 2

This post is to show you what my expectations were for the last two opportunities that you have taken and encourage you to dig in for the upcoming 3rd.  I thought my map might amuse you - I did not practice drawing the map as I asked you guys to do - you can tell I really don't know what Central America, South America and Canada look like - I just have a vague concept from memory.  Some indian tribes and explorers I confuse and am unsure about without looking - still!

Opportunity 1


For the last opportunity I gave you a list of possible questions - and gave you a hint to be prepared to answer not just the easy ones.  (That meant be prepared to answer the harder ones!)  As you can see below all of the information to answer this question was in the text - I've provided page numbers for your convenience.  You will notice however that all of the information is not on the same page - it's not a simple look at the question, find that part of the text and copy down the answer.  You will not have any (very few at least) questions like that in the next two years.

That's why its' VERY, VERY important that you begin to learn to read in a different way.  I know that it is possible for every one of you to read this weeks Bennett homework in one hour or less.  Very few of you (maybe none - I certainly can't) can read it once in an hour or less and be able to retain the information and answer the questions (which requires you to grasp the ideas and think about what you've read).  That's why I'm asking you to do different levels of reading.  I expect you to spend at least 3 hours each week - reading slowly for understanding/misunderstanding, scan reading for information (timeline/important people), and a deeper reading of portions of the text working through your questions. 

Please read your text slowly - break it into small bites/bytes.  After each one stop and see if you can repeat to yourself what you just read.  Then move onto the next chunk taking breaks every 25 minutes.  This is how you read the text the first time.  That 'repeating to yourself' has a special name - 'narrating'.  In order for you to learn something your brain actually goes through a physical change.  You can retain information for a short period without your brain making the effort to 'change', but then it falls out like sand in a sieve!  When you narrate (a form of paraphrasing) your brain must act on what you've read.  That acting causes a physical change in your brain which causes you to LEARN not just retain.  You then own it - you've made it yours!

This is ACTIVE reading not PASSIVE reading.

PLEASE DON'T BE A PASSIVE READER!
Opportunity 2

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Propaganda & Doth

(This word was on more than one persons vocabulary list this week!)
(Someone asked in class if this poster was a political cartoon.  I said that it was a better example of propaganda)



Propaganda
Communicating information in a way that tries to influence the opinion of your audience.  Propaganda is not impartial or objective.  There is an agenda being promoted, either subtly or overtly (look those words up if needed).  By definition propaganda is technically a neutral term - you could be influencing your audience for their good.  The connotation (look it up) of this word now, however, thanks to it's most manipulative masters like Hitler, Mussolini, Mao Tse Tung and currently Kim Jong-il is negative.  But it's not just the bad guys who used it - the US produced a lot of propaganda during WWII so that citizens would support the war effort and buy US War Bonds among other things.  (I was surprised recently to find this message even in reruns of Lassie!)  You could argue that Benjamin Franklin’s political cartoon of the segmented snake was propaganda.





Doth
Ok, this one requires a little grammar (something I'm just beginning to see the value and worth of).  'Doth' is a present tense of the word 'do'.  It is a holdover from Old or Middle English.  You'll hear it in familiar quotes like this one from Shakespeare:  "The lady doth protest too much," or in poems like "How doth your garden grow?".  Sometimes it is used instead of puting a present tense 's' on a verb like in protest and sometimes it literally replaces the word does!  I'm curious whose word this was and where you read it.  Was it someone reading Irving?