Tuesday, October 23, 2012

10/22-10/23

Yesterday in history we learned about and took notes on the Revolution at a time when the colonists felt defeated and like they had lost. We looked at another map on the projector. Mr. Boyle also moved the date of the memorization quiz back to Thursday. Today in history we did a partner scavenger hunt using QR codes.We had to search around the first floor for different QR codes to scan. Each code gave you a question about the American Revolution or described a battle and then we had to answer the question/give the battle name and give the date.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Civic Values in the U.S

10/17-10/18

Yesterday in history we filled in our papers with summaries of the different parts of the Declaration of Independence. Then as a class we compared Brutus' trust of the other conspirators to stand with him through out the whole thing versus the signers of the Declaration adding their signatures and binding themselves to the document. Brutus trusted the people's word although if things had started going downhill for the conspirators they all could have just left and lied about their involvement. Today we had a sub and we read Thomas Paine's Common Sense. It was written to get the American colonists more pro-revolution and anti-Britain. In the southern colonies, most people were Tories and supported the crown. Thomas Paine wanted to change their opinions and make more than just 1/3 of the country support the revolutionary cause. After reading it, we had to write an essay either agreeing or disagreeing with the statement "these times (2012) are still the times that try men's souls."

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

10/15-10/16

Yesterday in history we presented our Revolutionary Replica "guests" to the class. We each gave a short presentation about our guest that included eight to ten important and interesting facts about them and how they were important to the revolution and share what was in their pocket and why. Everyone was really nervous and uncomfortable while they were presenting and so was I. It was really nerve wracking to talk in front of the whole class like that. Today we worked in groups of four to decipher what the Committee of Five was talking about in different parts of the Declaration of Independence. We then made a fake tweet from one of the committee about that part and went to a bitly site to shorten the link.Then everyone put their links on the projector so that in our respective groups we could make a website that had all of the other websites on it and we could read everyone else's tweets. This is the website that my group made: http://krunchd.com/055d

Friday, October 12, 2012

10/11-10/12

Yesterday in history we learned about the Battle of Concord and Lexington and the Battle of Bunker Hill. On the projector, Mr. Boyle had a map of the Battles that showed where the British and American troops were located and where they moved to. Using that, we were able to see how the battles played out and effected what the troops did next. Then we took a few notes on what we had just learned. Today we were handed a paper on the way into class and split up into groups based on that paper. In our groups we read papers about the Olive Branch Petition, the Common Sense Pamphlet or James Chalmers' Plain Truth. We had to figure out the purpose of each document and find quotes to prove it. We then got into another group with people who had all different documents and we shared the information we had with each other and then with the class.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Ed Cafe Presentation

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1XGb3SPG4pirbLuicwwDe_cbwmeKl8UpZXiS05InVoPc/edit

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

10/5-10/9

On Friday in history, we reviewed what we had learned during the EdCafe. We learned a lot during it, but the conversations we had weren't as good as the first Ed Cafe we did because none of us knew very much about the events we were discussing, so we had to learn about them before we could talk about them. After we talked about the Ed Cafe, we read a poem about Paul Revere's ride and then learned what really happened that night. Today we watched a short speech/lecture given by a man on witness accounts and whether you can trust them in court or not. Then,we worked in groups of three or four and read a short primary source about Lexington and Concord and who fired the first shots of the war. Then we gathered with people from different groups and learned about what their source said. Some people said that the British started the war and some said that it was the Americans and we had to decide whether or not the sources could be considered accurate or not.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

10/3-10/4

Yesterday in history we went to the computer lab with our Ed Cafe group and made a presentation on Googledocs about our topic for the Ed Cafe to be put on the wiki for people to use. My group was the Boston Tea Party with Andrew, Colin, and Jimmy. We made slides on the events leading up to the Boston Tea Party, what really happened during it and the reactions and repercussions of it. Today in history, we had the Ed Cafe. We got to listen to someone from each group talk about their event/topic and then discussed it with the other people sitting there. In some groups you would spend the whole time talking about it and arguing different view points on it and in other groups you would only talk for the first minute or so before running out of things to talk about. It all depended on who else was in the group.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

10/1-10/2

Yesterday, we spent the class going over our homework from the weekend. The homework was on the three colonial sections of the early U.S: New England, the Middle, and the South. It focused on the differences and similarities between them. Then, once we had finished going over the homework, with a partner or two, we wrote down what we thought the average citizen from each section would look like and made a voice recording of that. Today, we learned about George Washington as a military leader with respect to the French and Indian War. The war started because the French had land west of the Appalachians that the British wanted. The British eventually won the war and then prohibited colonists from settling there so as not to disrupt the Native Americans living there. This made George Washington and other colonists who had helped win the war feel disrespected and like their efforts were for nothing.