Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Let's YouTube about it.

Here's my documentary, y'all, and right above it is my works cited. Enjoy!


Daniel Shays." Shays Rebellion and the Making of a Nation. Springfield Technical Community College, 2008. Web. 10 June 2013. <http://shaysrebellion.stcc.edu/shaysapp/person.do?shortName=daniel_shays>.

"Lit2Go." The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Educational Technology Clearinghouse, 2013. Web. 11 June 2013. <http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/21/the-adventures-of-huckleberry-finn/>.

"New Persepctives on the West: Sitting Bull." PBS. WETA Film Project, 2001. Web. 12 June 2013. <http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/s_z/sittingbull.htm>.


Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Let's finish a quest - it's cool enough without a funny title.

Notice of Badge Completion

Issued to: hanbanan
Badge issued by: Smithsonian Quests
Badge awarded by: 10th Grade
Badge Issuer Contact:   smithsonian@learningtimes.com
Issued on: May 30, 2013
Also issued to: 20 others


This process has been different from what I imagined. When Mr. Boyle said that we would be able to do a project that would reflect our interests, I thought that there would be a wider range of topics to choose from that touched on all different types of people. Instead, I thought that they were all geared towards the enviornment or muesams themselves. I understand why this might be the case - we are in a history class, people, I'm not stupid - but there are so many other topics within that branch that could have been addressed. Most of the quests involved doing some sort of art project, like making a collage or drawing an artistic interpretation of something, which was hard to do in a computer lab and not an art classroom. This severely limited the quests that I was both interested in and had the means to do.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Let's read the news.

How have the Haitians responded to the presence of U.S. Marines in their country? Well, I dunno ... guess I have to ... you know, write about it.

Breaking news! We're reporting live from Haiti with the findings that they are unhappy with the U.S. presence in their country for the past four years. The U.S. first entered Haiti when they found them "unfit to rule," but the Haitians soon found that they preferred any ruler to the U.S. forces in their country. New sources confirm that when the Haitians tried to strike their American oppressors, the marines retaliated with unmistakable violence. Villages where destroyed, and thousands of natives were killed or mutilated in the violence that followed. The NAACP went into Haiti and confirmed that they were being mistreated, reporting that racism and imperialism were in play.

How did we not know this earlier? The U.S. tried to cover up the fact that they were blatantly taking over every aspect of Haitian society and destorying lives in their wake. While they made it seem like they were unfit to rule themselves after the "coup d'etat," in actuality they just wanted to have Haiti under their control.Will the U.S. hear the cries of injustice, or will they let Haiti fall under the sweltering heat of injustice? Tune in tomorrow for the next update.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Let's create some pana-monium.

You totally see what I did there. Pandamonium, pana-mon ... okay, it's not that funny.

Yesterday, after we watched a tutorial on the Panama Canal, we looked at political cartoons depicting the building of the Canal and the Monroe Doctrine. We answered questions and discussed this as a class.

Today - after our mini-rant thing - Mr. Boyle divided us into groups of four and gave us snippets from a speech or something about the Monroe Doctrine. We had to find key words, summarize it, and write it in our own words, then present it to the class.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Let's read Jack London.

Yesterday in History, we, uh, well, we were supposed to be working on our 16% Projects, but with MCAS ending halway through the period we were exhausted and a little loopy. Mr. Boyle instead gave us a quick rundown of what was due soon and the Sophia for that night.

Today we read a Jack London story, "To Build A Fire." It took place in Alaska, where, you guessed it, our Sophia was on. We learned about what it was like living in Alaska at that time, and Mr. Boyle had us discuss knowledge verses instinct.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Let's put the 'sass' in assassination.

Yesterday we had our first 'fishbowl' (glub, glub) where we were each assigned a side of a debate to defend and read up on. One member from our group went into the center to voice our opinions on the problem: should the Cherokee Indians be forced to move West? As the Judicial Branch, we said no, as did the Cherokees (duh) and the Missionaries. Even though Andrew Jackson was the only one for yes, the Cherokees were forced to move West along the trail of Tears. If only we could stop him with impeachment ... or assassination.

Today we worked on our Smithsonian Quests in the Library.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Let's game out.

Yesterday we finished our presentations and the entrepreneurs made their decisions. The final verdict - no barbed wire. Looks like all the enthusiasm in the world could not sell this product.

Today we had time to work on one of our many projects - creating an Oregon Trail game. Fun times. Looks like that's what we'll be doing through next week too.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Let's be one with the prairie.

Yesterday, it was all about sod. Mr. Boyle brought in some for us to smell, allowing us to really experience what the first pioneers might have been living with twenty-four-seven. From there, we moved onto the station where we saw the actual amount of space they had living in a soddie, and later, what it was like to take an actual picture in the nineteenth century.

Today we moved on from soddie's to talk about - gasp! - faming tools. So fascinating. We were each assigned one, and were given the task of advertising it. Who doesn't love barbed wire? Guess we'll have to figure that out when we present tomorrow.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Let's loose on Jeopardy!

It seems to be a reoccurring theme here. Today, when we were down at the computer lab starting our Smithsonian web quest, we found an online Jeopardy! in the desperate pursuit for the paint program. No such luck, and I guess next time we'll have to find another way to create any future sea predators, as part of the badge 'TimeTraveler' on the website.

The class before that - wow, it must have been a week ago or something crazy like that - we were supposed to do a Socratic Seminar, where we led a discussion on the push and pull factors between the journey towards the West. Since there were some difficulties with the video, however, we ended up making our questions in class.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Let's interpretive dance.

How about no. Today's skit performances were bad enough, where we were set to the task of creating a skit revolving around Greeley's quote on Manifest Destiny: "Go west young man, and grow up with the country." We needed to discuss why people were open to following this advice, and what they suspected was out west.

Yesterday, we were cryptically given a letter P, N, or S. Turns out we were reading cards that had to do with our experiences on the Erie Canal, and fill ina chart about the positive and negative effects that the canal had on all parts of life.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Let's reflect - no, we aren't mirrors.

Looks like it's time to reflect on what we did in class today. You can practically see my excitement through the computer screen, can't you?

At first I thought that the Incitement of the Amerindians was the main cause of the War of 1812. However, by the end of class, I had decided that the the Order of Council had more of an impact. While the Incitement was a large portion of the decision to go to war, I feel that the Order of the Council had a larger impact on the everyday life of people. Without trade, they were all effected. They were touched by Britain in such an everyday part of life that it was hard not to get involved in the decision.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Let's reflect about reflecting.

Today and yesterday we started to talk about the Black Panther group, and what they demanded of our government in order to achieve equality. We filled in a chart yesterday, and today we discussed it. With the extra time from the lock down drill, we talked about new (exciting!) things we'll be doing next quarter, including how crappy our blog posts have been (I'm paraphrasing) and how that's going to change.

Friday, March 22, 2013

Let's make motivational speeches.

I haven't blogged in what feels like forever. So here's a quick summary of the last three days - bonus.

The day before yesterday and the day before that we worked on articles about Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Once we took notes on our respective articles, we were split into groups to share the information we found.

The day before yesterday we got to listen to the "I Have A Dream" speech, and learn about the march on Washington.

Yesterday we learned about the Voting Rights Act, and listened to a speech made by Lyndon B. Johnson regarding it.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Let's stand for Civil Rights.

My documentary on Emmett Till and his effect on Civil Rights.

http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/my_videos

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Let's celebrate! (being the fiftieth blog post and all)

Yeah, fifty blog posts this year. How ... exciting. Not really, but you get the idea. Right?

We started off the week by talking about segregation in schools, then and now. Mr. Boyle gave us an article talking about race discrimination in the United States today, which led into another deep discussion in History class.

Today, we had a sub and watched a movie about the Civil Rights movement. Broad, no?

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Let's desegregate.

Yesterday we were split into groups in order to read about the segregation of schools in the case of Brown v. Board. Today we watched a documentary video about the murder and case surrounding teenager Emmett Till. It was truly horrific in places, like how such brutal killer could get away with murder.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Let's get jazzy.

Yesterday we started by discussing the two people from the other day, DuBois and Booker T. Washington. Once we finished with that, we got into larger groups to learn more about another influencal black figure, Garvey, who started the Black Star Line and the UNIA in both the United States and Jamaica.

Today we finished talking about Garvey and moved onto to the flight of African Americans to the cities and the Harlem Renaissance. We got to read poems, see paintings, and listen to music from this period.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Let's start a new unit.

All the way back last Friday before vacation, we dedicated ourselves to finishing - or in our case, working on - our projects. We got all of the filming done, drawing on Mr. Boyle's whiteboard, and plan to record our voices next Wednesday after school.

Today we started a new unit on Civil Rights, where we read essays of two prominent figures for African American rights. Our group had W.E.B. Dubois, who spoke out against the thoughts of Booker T. Washington. Mr. Boyle said we would continue with this tomorrow.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Let's squiggle with Expo markers.

At least, that's what it looks like to someone on the outside. Instead of a test for this unit, we're making videos of us drawing out and narrating the ten steps of Reconstruction and answering whether or not it was successful overall. Yesterday we got time to do a rough draft and decide what we were doing, while today three groups got to embark on filming their final drafts.

Let's assume time goes in a line.

I know, a pitiful Doctor who reference. Time doesn't really go in a line, it's more wibbly wobbly.


Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Let's make everyone equal!

Notes. Lots and lots of notes. This is what our past two History classes have been comprised of. Yesterday we took notes on the Civil Rights Act of 1875, and the events that followed, like the formation of the Klu Klux Klan. We discussed as a class whether or not the Civil Rights Cases were constitutional or unconstitutional.

We started off class today by taking notes on Jim Crow laws, before moving into talking about our upcoming animation project and were left to decide on what our ten steps were going to be in our groups.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Let's make loopholes.

That's exactly what plantation owners did, we learned today. Since slavery was outlawed, they just tricked former slaves into signing deals with the devil, giving them a long list of things they had to do in return for half the crops. Essentially, they were blackmailed into becoming in debt, and therefore slaves to the land owners. Again. Not so great for them, eh?

Yesterday we spent the first half of class reading a eulogy of the president Andrew Johnson, and then later discussing what he did after the death of Abraham Lincoln, his political views, and his motivations against the radical Republicans.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Let's just color from now on.

Sounds like a plan, right? Today, once we finished filling in columns with the specific plans for Reconstruction, we got to color in a map that showed how the Radical Republican party would divide up the Southern states and put them under military rule. The most fun I've had in ages.

Yesterday was dedicated to learning about the 14th Ammendment, and the rights it gave new black citizens. We watched a short clip and read some parts from the Ammendment, so we could gather enough information for our magazine cover. Coloring, again, anyone?

Monday, January 28, 2013

Let's pretend this is a witty title.

I'm frankly too tired to come up with something smart, so I' just going to write a short summary and be done with it. Amusing 'let's' titles are so beyond my thinking capacity right now.

On Friday we took notes on John Wilkes Booth and his infamous plot to kill Lincoln, his escape, and eventual death. At the end of the powerpoint, we listened to two musical pieces about the Civil War, one a tribute to Abraham Lincoln and what he did during his lifetime.

Today we took a field trip down to the computer lab, so we could visit websites Mr. Boyle had on the wiki. They were dedicated to certain states statsitics after the civil war and the devastation.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Let's take a personality quiz.

I have to admit, I was like ninety-nine percent sure that I was a Rabbit. I'm a total perfectionist, and a little OCD. I get really paranoid if lines aren't straight and all sorts of other crazy stuff. But, when I took the quiz on the suggested website, it told me I was Piglet, which I guess is a really good result. Piglet is really loyal to his friends, even though he's more than a little shy. I hope that I remain as loyal to my friends as Piglet does, and that I stay a good friend like they are to me.

And now for the class summary; yesterday and today we read a series of priary sources, like Jefferson Davis's "African Church Speech" and Lincoln's second inaugural address.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Let's slash-and-burn! (just kidding)

This is going to be short and sweet, got it? Okay. Yesterday we went over the end of the war, starting with Sherman's march and moving onto Lee's surrender at the Appomattox Court House. There was plenty of extra time for going over project stuff, and going over how to work that online talk ... thing. Whatever. That gave us extra time to study for the test today.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Let's study like the maniacs we are.

Last week we started off class by studying a statue that we learned was in Boston, done of the 54th Regiment, the first all African-American regiment to fight in the Civil War. Our whole class was dedicated to learning about them, from taking powerpoint notes to watching a clip from the movie 'Glory' with Caitlin's 'brother' Matthew Broderick as Robert Gould Shaw. He left just enough time to remind us about our quiz Monday (today!) on the Gettysburg Address and the test next Wednesday.

At the beginning of class today, we took notes from another powerpoint - Tightening the Anaconda or somethingerother - and we thought we were saved via some miracle from reciting the last paragraph of the Gettysburg address; we were not. After watching a video, the last ten minutes were dedicated to solely that ...

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Let's write a blog about reading a blog.

Happy New Year. I shall celebrate this happy occasion by blogging about history.

Our last history class before vacation, all the way back last year (har, har, har) was dedicated to watching a movie about Gettysburg, and, more specifically, Pickett's charge. It showed us the strategy and what happened during the battle in modern day speech.

Today we started off class by Mr. Boyle having us read a blog post. Mr. Boyle? And blogs? Together? No way. We debated whether or not the Emancipation Proclamation was an inspiration, and read Lincoln's Gettysburg address. Just before the end of class, Mr. Boyle announced that we would be having a quiz on it on Monday, so, looks like I better start studying.

Oh yeah, and the title? It's the equivalent to 'blogception.'