Class Recap 12/3

Today in class we looked at a piece of art. It was a cartoon that included Abraham Lincoln, Stephan Douglas, John C. Breckinridge and JOhn Bell. It portrayed them and what they stood for in the presidential election. For example, John Bell's approach was to forget about slavery and focus on the country as a whole, so he is shown in the cartoon with bglue trying to glue the US back to gether. Meanwhile, Lincoln and Douglas are fighting over the southwest and Breckinridge is doing his own thing with the south east.As for my 30 day challange, i have been slacking a little more than usual due to the fact that i become one of the wrestling managers so i do not get home as early, However, i am still doing a good job.

Timetoast

Class Recap 11/20

Today in class we did some worksheets on the Kansas Nebraska Act. They were pretty reader friendly and i did not really mind doing them. I felt like i learned all the necessary facts to understand the basic concept of this point in time. I found it interesting that Preston Brooks from the south came up to the north to physical hurt the senator of massachusetts, Sumner. This struck me as ironic, that he would retaliate to a speech with physical violence. Once we were done with the worksheets we talked about them and then class was over. As far as my 30 day challenge is going, its good. I have been procreating less which results in less stress.

Class Recap 11/16

Today in class we looked at a picture of 28 slaves escaping. Seeing how they were dressed sparked some questions about the reliability of Frederic Douglass's word, seeing that it contrasted with what was portrayed in the picture. After we were done looking at that we were told to read an excerpt of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" which is about a slave who escaped and a slave master who is trying to find him. As for my 30 day challenge its going well. However, I have started to begin to realize I need a small break of time in between school and home work so I don't end up doing 10 hours straight of homework, seeing it takes a couple hours to finish homework after I've been sitting in a classroom for seven hours straight.

John C Calhoun VoiceThread

Class Recap 11/13

We spent our class today in the computer lab. We used the computers to compare and contrast the states prohibiting slavery versus the states permitting slavery in respect to their land areas and populations. I think this was a good way to have class because it was something different. Also, by looking at the map on the computer it gave us a visual representation instead of just numbers on paper. We were forced to interact with the map by answering questions about it. I enjoyed today's class. As far as my 30 day challenge goes, I think I am doing pretty good. I have basically been doing homework since I got home from school and this is the last thing I have to do. It feels great to be done this early.

Class Recap 11/8

Class today was based on a topic that actually appeals to me. This topic was the Underground Railroad. We took some notes on it then we looked at several textbook views on it. All of the textbooks explained it very generically and didn't really explain how significant this whole thing was. The ones published in the south were actually semi biased when it comes to talking about the Underground Railroad, viewing it as almost a bad thing.
My 30 day challenge is going pretty good, the past two days I have done my homework before doing anything else when I got home.

Clad Recap 11/7

In class today we worked in groups. We discussed the similarities between the defenders of slavery and the similarities between the opposers of of slavery. When we were done with that, we were told to analyze the Constitution broken down into different parts. We had to write down arguments for why people believed it was pro-slavery and why people believed it was anti-slavery. This was very interesting to see his people made assumptions and tried to twist certain things in their favor, even if it was a far stretch. Yesterday, we were given the assignment to watch a Ted Talk episode and state one thing that we would do to better ourselves for the next 30 days. I decided to have more self discipline and break my usual routine of going home and watching Breaking Bad, which is my obsession at the moment. For the next 30 days I will do my homework right when I get home and hopefully this habit will carry on for more than just the next month.

Class Recap 11/1

During the first part of class today, we were told to give feedback about the project we just completed. I think this was a good thing to do because it will help the teachers improve the project for future students. During the second part of class, we went to the library and presented our projects to our teachers and other students. After we had had a chat with the teacher, we were free to look at and play other people's projects. I think this was a good activity because it sort of gave us a break from the normal structure of class; which I think is very necessary every once in awhile.

Class Recap 10/30

I felt like today was a very productive class. Even though it was less structured, I felt like it was a good environment to work on our projects and have fun at the same time. Those who had game boards got to play them with other classmates, and got to test them out which I thought was good. The others could give them constructive criticism so they could make them better. Also, those doing projects other than game boards got to talk to others and get ideas from them to make their project better.

Civic Values in the US VoiceThread

Timetoast

Class Recap 10/23

Today, I thought class was a pretty good one. We split into groups and were told that there were QR codes all around the hallways. With our groups, we had to scan each one with a QR code scanner on a device and write down what each ones message was. These messages happened to be quesitions. The first group to answer all the questions with the correct dates got 5 extra points, because the assignment counted as a test grade. I think the competition aspect of it gave people the drive to work hard and i also think this activity incorperated the whole BYOD thing very nicely.

Class Recap 10/19

Yesterday in class, we had a substitute. She explained to us that we would be reading a document by Thomas Payne. The beginning line was "Thesae are the times to try men's souls." We were asked to write an essay according to the question "Is now (2012) the time to try mens souls?" Today, we expressed our opinions on the subject that we had written about on the day before. We discussed things such as the economy, how we present ourselves, etc. and got to share with the class how we felt about these things. I think this is important because by hearing other classmates ideas, people thought harder about the initial question.

Class Recap 10/17

The past couple days in class we have been learning about the Declaration of Independance. Yesterday, we were put into groups and had to analyze one section of it and figure out the key points that were being put across. We then, by using a fake twitter builder, made a twitter feed. This forced every group to try to summarize their section into 140 characters or less. Today, the class split into two big groups who further discuessed the Declaration of Independance. We shared the information we had gathered within our smaller groups the day before with each other so everyone had a summary of the important document.

Revolutionary Replica VoiceThread

Class Recap 10/12

Today in class we worked in groups. Each group was given a legal document. My group was given "Commen Sense" by Thomas Paine. He was a strong believer in Amercian colonies becoming independent from Britain. Another group was given "Plain Truth" which was a Loyalists response to Paines "Common Sense" in which Paine was called a " political quack." The third group was given the Olive Petition. the Olive Petition was written by the Second Continental Congress  toKing George lll and was the first document pushing the colonies away from Britain. To learn about the other groups documents, we split up so people from each group were brought together in a new group. they shared the information they got. I think this as a good way of learning about the other two documents because since we were on such small groups, we were able to discuss our documents in depth and clear up any confusion by talking to each other and asking ech other questions.

Class Recap 10/10

Today, we spent the class talking about the Battle of Lexington and Concord and the battle at Bunker Hill. I enjoyed the animation because not only was I learning by listening, but I was also learning by looking at a visual representation of the events as well. Without having the animation on the board I think it would have been a lot more difficult to understand the directions were the at and militia were coming from and going to. I didn't realize how many more men the British lost compared to the colonists. Although the colonists didn't necessarily win all of the land they fought for, they still won. They took a stand against the British and held their own. I have a new appreciation for them after today.

Class Recap 10/5

Today in class, we read a poem on Paul Revere. The poem glorified Paul Revere and made it seem like he was the biggest hero at the time. However, after we read the misleading poem, we learned the real story behind what happened that night. It turns out. more people than just PaulRevere were involved and for some reason, they dont get all the credit they should. I think it was important to learn this so as students we know the truth and dont believe false information. After learning the real sotry, we were given the assignment to write a sonnet of our own with a partner about what really happened. I enjoyed this class.

Ed Cafe ll

During class on Wednesday and Thursday, we did another Ed Cafe. On Wednesday, we prepared for it. We were grouped together and told to make google presentation, which was actuallly pretty cool. We all got to work on the same project at once through different computers. However, with google being uncooperative it got very frustrating at times. Then, on Thursday, it was the actual Ed Cafe day. Overall, i think it was a success. However, it did not go over as smoothly as it had the first time. There was so much information that was important from both, it was hard to get it all down in time. Also, all of the events were connected so if you hadnt learned about one of them it was hard to fully understand the one you were being taught. I enjoyed this project and i think we should do more with google presentations so group members can stimutaneously work on the same project even if theyre using different computers.

Comic Strip Part 2

http://www.wittycomics.com/comic/75593

Comic Strip Part 1

http://www.wittycomics.com/comic/75592

Ed Cafe

Overall, I think the Ed Cafe activity today went over very well. I got a lot from it and it was interesting to hear it from other students and not just the teacher. At first, 8 minutes seemed like a relatively long time to me for students to be talking about one thing and staying on one subject. However, it came a lot more natural than I thought. I think everyone did a fantastic job of finding out information and teaching it to their classmates. I enjoyed this activity and think we should do it more often. It made me think about each part of the first amendment individually, therefore making me think more critically about it.

Timetoast for Constitution

Spreaker, Friends and Civic Values

Infograph

What Have We Done Over The Past Few Days In Class?

Over the past couple days, we have been talking about the Constitution and how our country got started. More specifically, the decisions that had to be made in order to form a Constitution that everyone agreed on. While this extremely important document was just a work in progress, there were many disputes on various subjects; all of which we discussed in class. One decision that had to be made was whether the United States should have a bicameral legislature or unicameral legislature. Another dispute was over representation. Some believed in equal representation while others believed in proportional representation. Lastly, there was an argument between the delgates on election by the people or election by the legislature. We learned that all of these disputes were resolved by compromising. This compromise is known as the Connecticut Compromise. We have also done some other work with the Constitution. For example, we had to memorize the Preamble. Overall, i think we have learned a lot about the Constitution over the past few days.

Artifacts That Describe Me

If a Historian were to come back from a 100 years later, what three artifacts would they find that would describe you the best?
          If a historian came back from 100 years later, an artifact they would find that would describe me very well would be a lacrosse stick. I absolutely love the sport of lacrosse and I think it says a lot about me; not just the obvious stuff but the underlying facts as well. It's obvious that if a lacrosse stick describes me then I play lacrosse and enjoy it. However, there may be another meaning to it. If they did enough analyzing they would maybe realize that it could also represent my ethnic background of partial Native American. My Native American ancestors were very passionate about this sport hundreds of years ago as I am today.
          Another artifact that they may find that describes me well is a field hockey stick. To most people, a field hockey stick is just a piece of equipment. To me, it's meaning is a little different. It's a sign of starting over in order to succeed. Up until this fall, I have cheered my whole life but due to a setback I decided to go out for field hockey. I wanted to be using my full potential, and with that stick it gave me the power to do so. I fell in love with the sport instantly, and it all started with the stick.
         Last but not least, a collage of pictures of me and my friends would describe me very well. I have no idea where I would be without my friends, we go through everything together. From the happiest moments of our lives to the most upsetting we have always stuck by each other. I think by seeing me in pictures with all my friends it would be quite obvious to the historian that I am a very outgoing social person who loves being around people they care about. To me, having trustworthy friends is one of the most important things you can have in life and by my big smile in the pictures, I'm sure the historian wouldn't have a hard time figuring out that I'm very thankful to have them.