'High-Tech' Oral Family History Project

For a 'high-tech' project example go to my Mom's blog HERE and read this entry and watch the accompanying video .  This video was made by a HS student using a free software, Photo Story 3 which you can download HERE.  She says it's very easy to use, it really just creates a slide show and you can layer music and voice over the 'movie' of your slides.  I'm sure she would be available to answer questions (or one of her students would) if anyone wants to try this and has a question.

Other software such as Power Point and other photo management software will work, too, or it's ok to just just create a digital film.  If you decide to do a 'high-tech' project be sure that we work out compatability issues well in advance of presentation day.

Tomorrow I will post a couple of 'low-tech' examples.  I hope these will help get your wheels turning!

Assignment Guide/Checklist Through Christmas Break

Due Tuesday Dec. 6^th ALL STUDENTS

____Finished Missouri Compromise Questions

____Finished Nullification Treaty Questions

____Finish Reading the Chapter

____2 written narrations – one of your choice the other on Jackson’s War on the Bank.

(8^th and 9^th grade students narrations should be typed and be no less than 250 words each).  Students not using a journal for narrations should place them in the chapter 7 tab.  THERE ARE NO OPPORTUNITY QUESTIONS UNTIL NEXT YEAR - all students will complete the written narration assignment intead :)

In class we will use the completed questions that you have answered in a group discussion regarding the sectionalism that was quickly taking the whole nation captive. 

Online Friday Class (8^th and 9^th grade only)

We will finish up where we left off last on how to use Historical Documents.  Please have all of the materials with you for class – this was the timeline of the Louisiana Purchase handout and the letters – remember?  It’s been awhile!  I’ll try and dig out the email and send it again before class in case anyone has misplaced materials.

Due Tuesday Dec. 13^th

ALL STUDENTS

____Completed Short Answer/Essay Questions for Chapter 7

____Timeline and Key People completed in notebooks for Chapter 7

____Make sure you remember to bring some kind of technology device that has internet capability for our multiple-choice ‘test’.  Let me know ASAP if you need to borrow/share.

8^th & 9^th Graders

____PSH Lincoln on the Mexican War - (A typed narration of this reading in Chapter 7's tab)

____Make sure you are caught up on Penny Candy Readings

____Review Economics Handouts/Notes we’ve covered thus far.

____Send to me questions that you have regarding economics and any economic issues that we’ve covered in the class - or haven’t covered in class for that matter.  We will have a guest speaker/teacher in January and I would like to present to him questions that we have as a class.  You must submit at least one question!

No Online Class Friday Dec. 16^th!

Assignments over Christmas Break

____Read pp 269-292 in Bennett

____Complete Accompanying Questions

____Timeline/Key People in Notebook

____For second semester, make sure you have a copy of  My Folks Don’t Want me to Talk About Slavery by Belinda Hurmence

____Those of you who are reading the autobiography should have that completed when you return.  We will schedule a group discussion after break.

____Since you will be with family again over the holidays please consider this as a time to get some idea/start on your final project for the year – the Oral Family History!

____One last thing – if you are so inclined I recommend viewing Amazing Grace and Amistad.  Both of these films have to do with the abolition of slavery and I wish there was a way we could watch them together, but I can’t squeeze it in.  (WARNING – Amistad is rated R for some nudity and for violence so please make sure you discuss it with your parents first!)

After Christmas Break

____We will have a special class covering the Trail of Tears and the Indian Removal sometime during the week of January 3^rd.  There’s no preparation for this – just show up.  It will be a longer class – we’ll watch a video during part of it.  Why don’t we plan to bring a snack to share?

____We will also schedule our trip to the Andrew Jackson Museum (and it may make sense to do those in the same day?)

Recitation RePost

When you are preparing - don't forget the tips that you have received from Mrs. Calder and Mrs. Newton and as a reminder HERE is a link I gave you long, long ago that has presentation tips.  If you didn't check it out then, take the time to check it out today.  Remember your recitation is more than just memorization - it is also 'presentation'.  See you tomorrow!

Oral Family History Projects

DUE:  Not until the month of March -- the first presentation will begin Week 26 and we will have one or two presentations each week until we are finished.

REQUIREMENTS:  Since it is an 'oral' project there must be an 'oral' component -you must get in front of the class and share.  Even if your project can stand alone on it's own, you must introduce it at the beginning or provide some sort of summary at the end.  The only other requirement is that your project is in someway connected to your family history within the time frame of this class (1400s to 1920s).

I mentioned this project to you in the first weeks of class when we went over the syllabus together because I wanted it to be in the back of your mind all year.  I brought it up again a couple of weeks ago because I know that many of us will be getting together with family over the holidays.  It is a good time to ask questions, get family to tell stories and begin forming a plan for your project.

I'm going to leave the format of this totally up to you.  You are welcome to use technology - slide shows, digital photos, mp3's, movies, etc.  Feel free to ask me questions, but I want to leave a lot of room for interpretation - room for your creativity!

Assignments Over Thanksgiving Break

Remember this painting of William Penn's Treaty with the Indians by Benjamin West?

As always we move forward without neglecting to look back!  As you enjoy your holiday spend at least a moment reflecting on the Pilgrims and Puritans and their influence on the begining of our nation! 

I announced during class that I will not be assigning any opportunities this week, but that doesn't mean NO, homework.  Middleschool students who are keeping journals - you may choose to journal this week or not.  Here is a summary of what you do need to do before we meet again:

Text Book Reading:  
pp 220-247
(We begin Chapter 7 and our study of Andrew Jackson -- I'd like you to really learn as much as you can from the text becuase in the New Year we will be visiting the Andrew Jackson Museum in Waxhaw!)

Missouri Compromise Assignment:
Finish your maps and your worksheets and file them in Chapter 6 in your notebooks.  Also make sure that you have a summary of the Constitutional Slavery Compromises alongside these pages.  HERE is the link to the interactive map we used in class.  You will need both this map and the actual text of the Missouri Compromise (see previous post) to complete this assignment.  We will use this information again - we will build upon it when we look at the tarriffs during Jackson's presidency.  We will refer back to these worksheets leading up to our study of the the Civil War so make sure you have completed it!  It is not ok to 'guess' or estimate answers to these questions even if you think or know you are right.  Use the data on the map - it is information from historical documents and it's your first practice at using historical documents to answer questions.  As a note to help you answer the density question --- density compares the population per land area.  Division is used to calculate how many people there were per square mile.  This is already calculated for you and located at the bottom of each table, but I just wanted you to know what this number means and where it came from. 

Notebook Work: 
Use this time to reorganize and re-establish order in your notebooks.  File things where they go.  Some of your notebooks are becoming dangerous - spilling out their contents into the crate when I check them.  Also many of you are not completing notebook assignments... 
Chapter Timeline & List of Important People
This was designed as a tool to help you organize and think about your reading.  It was also designed to help you create a study guide for yourselves.  I will be making a post about each of these notebook assignments over the holidays to give you some tips and advice.  Do not neglect this notebook work - it is a part of your grade, but it will also help you be prepared for class!
Vocabulary
I apologize that we have not recently been able to fit this into our class time.  It is a valuable habit that I would like to help you develop and I'll try and reestablish this routine in the coming weeks.

Autobiography:
Those of you who are reading the autobiography use this time to either follow or catch up on your reading plans.  We will meet to talk about your readings, but it may not be until after the holidays, I'll keep you updated.

PSH:
pp 53-55 William Lloyd Garrison
I also encourage you to read the next piece which is a selection from Washington Irving's periodical in which he establishes the Gotham as a fictionalized NY!

Economics:
Make sure that you are caught up in your Penny Candy readings.  If all works out we will have a guest speaker on Economics in a few weeks.  Look over and review the handouts you've been given, and if you can, I encourage you to read the essay posted a couple of weeks ago 'I, Pencil'.

Projects:
Recitation
Use this time wisely to work on your recitations.  Finish memorizing and work on your presentation using the tips that Mrs. Calder shared with us last week.  Please refer to the recommendations and encouragements that Mrs. Newton shared with you in class today.  I had a chance to review them and they are very helpful -- Nick your's fell out of your notebook, I'll try and email you a summary soon!
Oral Family History
I'll be making a separate post detailing this project - it's due much later, but use this time of families getting together to ask for stories.  Basically, your project is just to present to the class (various formats are acceptable) something regarding your family history from the time period of this class (1400s - 1920).

Recitation Project

Dear students,

I was very sorry to not be with you yesterday and will try and figure out how we will review the last half of Chapter 5 together.  I wanted to speak to you now however about your recitation projects - I wanted to use yesterday to go over the requirements and see how you are doing.  Because of my abscence and because of the density of Chapter 6 and the nearness of Thanksgiving Break I have decided to push back this deadline until after Thanksgiving.  We have the time and there is no reason to rush.  I want to give you ample time not only for the memorization, but also some time to practice the presentation of your pieces.  I want this to be something that you have the time to do well and not just something to check of a list.

I will be speaking with you each privately in the next couple of weeks to see how things are going.  I would like an official record of what pieces each of you have chosen.  Could you respond to this post with a comment telling me the name and authorship of the piece you have chosen?

The assignment details for Chapter 6 are forthcoming momentarily, but you should have already looked the chapter over and at least read the summary by now!

Thanks,

Mrs. Amber

Recitation Project Requirements

You should be ready for your recitation on November 1st.  (The original due date was the 25th of October, but since we now have fewer students I can allow some extra time for this assignment.)

#1  Your piece should be pre-approved by me to make sure it fits the requirements
#2  Your must memorize your piece (no helps or notes)
#3  Your piece should be no shorter than 1 minute to recite
#4  Your piece must be related to this class in some fashion - either written by an author who lived during the time period of our book, or a speech given or a document written during this time period, or have some other connection.
#5  You must introduce your piece (tell about it and where it came from and what the connection to US History is if it has one).
#6  It is ok to recite only a portion of a long piece - just be mindful and thoughtful in your editing and make sure you inform us that it is edited.
#7  It is ok to perform a piece of music if anyone is so inclined!

For example, in your text when Bennett tells of Nathaniel Hale's execution he refers to Hale's speech and his reference to a quote from Cicero (a Roman), "Give me liberty, or give me death."  You could take this event and do a couple of things.  One, you could look up the rest of Hale's speech and recite it, or you could look up the rest of Cicero's speech fore recitation since it's obvious that Hale knew Cicero.  It is ok to memorize Cicero even though he's Roman, because of the Hale connection - you just have to tell us what that connection is.  Make sense?

Some Recitation Helps

Many of you have asked for some help in picking your recitation pieces.  I thought I would start first with some inspirational help - a scene from one of my favorite movies, The Dead Poets Society starring Robin Williams:

I know that some of you are choosing a poem for your piece, and this movie is full of wonderful recitations by Williams and his students.  It is rated PG, but I think that is a  very liberal rating not only because of some sexual references but also because of  the circumstances surrounding the death of one of the students.  Please speak with  your parents before watching this film. 

If your recitation interests tend toward more of a literary interest - poetry or fiction - I have a website that you may find very helpful.  It's a page put together by a literature professor at Washington State University.  You can find a list of American Authors and a list of American Literary movments, but most helpful to you may be the timeline.  That way you can pinpoint poets or authors within a particular time period that may be of interest to you (or check to make sure that your author/poet wrote in the timeperiod of this first section of our class).  Take a look at it HERE and you may want to bookmark it - it could be helpful in your English/Lit classes, too!  Your recitation doesn't have to be a poem - it can also be a selection from a piece of fiction!

If your interests tend more toward the political or military interests you may be most interested in reciting a speech (or portion of a speech).  I have found two helpful resources (in addition to your text):

Biblical Patriot's Important and Historical Speeches (these are only of American Interest, but be careful of the dates!)

Wikipedia's List of Speeches (this is a very comprehensive list, so not all of them are appropriate for this assignment)

Your text is actually a good resourece, too.  It is full of quotes of speeches, famous documents, and poems which are all appropriate for this assignment.  They are easy to spot because they are either indented to set them apart from the rest of the text or they are in italics.  Also check those footnotes for more ideas!

I also found a very good resource for helping your with the presentation portion of the assignment.  It's a website called Poetry Out Loud.  Look at their tip page HERE.  Take a few minutes to listen to listen to some of the student recitation videos.  Poetry Out Loud is actually a national competition that encourages youth in memorizing and reciting poetry!

Another post this afternoon will clearly and simply lay out the requirements for this assignment... 

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!!

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!