6/13 - 6/14 Class Update

Yesterday, we finished up our immigrant guides during class.

Today, we spent the class studying for our final.

....aaaaaaaand just realized that this is (most likely) my last blog post for the year!

6/11 - 6/12 Class Update

Both yesterday and today, we have worked on our immigrant guides during class. They're due tomorrow at the end of the day, but I'm going to finish mine up tonight because I'm doing it on the computer and I don't know if there will be any computers available for me to work on tomorrow.

Only six days of school left!!

6/7 & 6/10 Class Update

On Friday, we continued to work on our immigrant projects. They're due by 2:13 on Thursday, but I'm trying to have mine done before that. It's difficult to work on it during class because mine is being written in Google Docs, but I can only connect to the internet on my iPod about half the time and never on my laptop, so I'm ending up doing a lot more at home than I anticipated. I'd like to finish it up before I go to school on Thursday if at all possible, so I'm trying to make the lack-of-internet thing work out.

Today, we made presentations on our Smithsonian Quest badges about the work we had to do for them. We were done with that before lunch. After lunch, we talked about what we liked/disliked about the badges and whether or not we thought they were worth doing for Mr. Boyle's future classes. Overall, I thought they were a nice break from the usual curriculum, but I didn't like the website we used very much. The website was finicky at times, plus I wasn't particularly interested in the topics there were to choose from. I would've liked it better if it was set up more like a research project that could be done on anything and presented in anyway we wanted to. That way, I could have learned about absolutely anything I wanted to, instead of just what the Smithsonian badges were about. 

What does it mean to be an American? A Documentary Project

Works cited

6/4 - 6/5 Class Update

Yesterday, we worked on our immigrant guide projects in class.

Today, we went to the media lab to continue working on our Triton 16% badges. Today was the last day to work on them. I finished my first badge a while ago, but I wasn't able to complete the second. For whatever reason, the website allowed me to work on the next quest before my first quest had been approved for my first badge, but that isn't working for the second. I submitted the second out of three quests today, but it has yet to be approved so I won't have time to do the third quest and finish the badge.

5/31 & 6/3 Class Update

On Friday, we began working on our immigrant projects in class. We are creating guides for immigrants moving west on how to be successful based on what we've learned while reading My Antonia and studying western expansion.

Today, we didn't have class due to the half day.

5/29 - 5/30 Class Update

Yesterday, we filled out a worksheet of evidence of the United States acting as a good neighbor or world power in the Monroe Doctrine, the Platt Amendment, the Roosevelt Corollary, Dollar Diplomacy, and Moral Diplomacy. That worksheet proved to me that I'm going to have to study A LOT for the final...

Today, we did triad debates on the Bush Doctrine over whether it should be a part of United States foreign policy. We were split into groups of either three or four, with one for pro, one for con, and one to two acting as judges. 

US Intervention in Haiti

Question: What do many of the Americans in Haiti think of Haitians, and how do they (Americans) treat them (Haitians)?

Many Americans think that the American Occupation is responsible for making Port-au-Prince and similar cities paved and well kept, but Americans in Haiti know otherwise. In Haiti, everything is kept clean and well swept, unlike many places in America, and has been like that since before the American Occupation. They are not lazy people, by any means- a woman who walks eight or ten miles with a bundle of produce on her head that will not make her more than a dollar is a waste of energy, but not a sign of laziness. Americans in Haiti find Haitians to be kind, courteous, and hospitable people- the absence of crime in Haiti further proves this.

Through the American Occupation, Americans improved the public hospital at Port-au-Prince, helped with the enforcement of rules of modern sanitation, and helped to build the road from Port-au-Prince to Cape Haitian. While this was beneficial to Haiti, it wasn't good for the Haitians themselves. Americans forcibly seized Haitian men to put them to work. They were in the same grouping as the African Americans used to build roads in the South. American marines used hunting these Haitians with rifles and machine guns as a sport.

5/23 - 5/24 Class Update

Yesterday, we visited the media lab to learn more about United States interests in Latin America. We visited this website and filled out a worksheet with questions like "How many times did the United States send troops to Central America and the Caribbean between the 1890s and the 1930s?" and "What do you think are the reasons the United State sent troops and supervised finances in Central America and the Caribbean?" We also looked at photographs of the Mexican Revolution and made a list of answers for the question "What sort of problems did the revolution appear to cause for the people of Mexico?" After this, we began an activity on US Intervention in Haiti (which will be posted sometime later tonight, since I haven't finished it yet...).

Today, we worked on our Triton 16% Smithsonian Quest badges in the media lab.

Breaking Barriers- YouTube video

Magic Johnson: Changing the Future of HIV and AIDS

5/21 - 5/22 Class Update

Yesterday, we talked about the Roosevelt Corollary. First, we talked about other countries' perceptions of America and that they're due to the media and TV shows. Once we got back on topic, we split into groups to analyze different sections of the Roosevelt Corollary. We looked for key words, wrote a summary, and wrote it in our own words.

Today, we finished up the work on the Roosevelt Corollary from yesterday. We also asked some questions about things like a project we have coming up and our final.

5/17 & 5/20 Class Update

On Friday, we picked out what our groups decided to be the best/most appealing headlines for the activity about yellow journalism that we did on Thursday.

Today, we looked at a couple of political cartoons about the Panama Canal. We also did a sentence level deconstruction on Teddy Roosevelt's speech at the University of California in 1911 about the Panama Canal to determine if he was justified in his actions in Panama.

5/14 - 5/15 Class Update

Yesterday, we continued to work on our badges or whatever we had the materials for. I was able to finish my writing assignment during this time.

Today, we created "yellow journalism" headlines for various topics. "Yellow journalism" is exaggerated and not necessarily true headlines used to sell more newspapers. The topics we created headlines for were the 1890's, Alaska, Hawaii, Cuba Libre, Weyler and reconcentracion, "yellow journalism," war fever, the Maine, and Cautious McKinley.

Smithsonian Badge: H2O Hero

Issued to:	ebooth
Badge issued by:	Smithsonian Quests
Badge awarded by:	10th Grade
Badge Issuer Contact:	smithsonian@learningtimes.com
Issued on:	May 7, 2013
Also issued to:	18 others

To earn this badge, there were two quests to complete. The first quest required doing a quiz on how much water different things, like eggs and bread, need to be produced. I found a lot of the numbers to be much higher than I thought they would be- one slice of bread needs ten gallons of water! After I took the quiz, I had to make a bar graph on how much water various things actually need. For the second quest, I had to write a short article for an imaginary advice column that gave five tips on how a busy family could conserve water. I gave advice like to refill water bottles instead of buying disposable ones and to take shorter showers. Overall, this badge wasn't difficult to earn, nor did it take very long.

5/10 & 5/13 Class Update

On Friday, we read the short story "To Build a Fire" by Jack London. We took notes on knowledge versus instinct while we were reading. After we went over our chart, we discussed whether knowledge or instinct would've enabled the narrator to survive.

Today, we worked on our Smithsonian Quests. We weren't able to go down to the computer lab, so we worked on what we could do without a computer.

5/8 - 5/9 Class Update

Yesterday, we read a secondary source about Red Cloud, a Lakota chief. We also read a speech he had made about Indian rights. After we read the documents, we answered some questions on them, which we talked about later during class.

Today, we did the same thing as yesterday, only the documents were about Sitting Bull. We also saw a picture of Red Cloud and Sitting Bull and tried to identify them based only on their appearance. The majority of the class was able to guess who was who.

5/3 & 5/6 Class Update

On Friday, we had a fishbowl debate, which is where we were divided into groups and only one person in each group participated in the debate. Everyone else took notes and was allowed to non-verbally help their group member during the debate. The debate was on what should happen to the Cherokee people. My group had President Jackson, who wanted them to move. Based on our documents, he believed that them moving would create fewer issues between whites and Amerindians, establish new lands, and create wealth and power for Mississippi and Alabama.

Today, we went to the computer lab to work on our Smithsonian Quests. I finished one about water today and am currently waiting to find out if my work was approved.

Cherokee Man's Burden Poem

I don't like writing poems. They make me sad.

Pile on the Cherokee Man's Burden,
It's nearest to your door;
Why try to oppress them
When you can give them the floor?
Ignore their wants and wishes
And focus on your own,
Drive them from their ancestral land
And give them new land to know.
Sounds great in theory,
But how will it work out?
Will the Cherokee's start a war
Or sit there and pout?
In vain, we'll go to court
But still be forced to go along with it.

Boyle, I hate you right now.

5/1 - 5/2 Class Update

Yesterday, we continued working on our projects during class.

Today, we began a new unit on imperialism. I'm not sure what we did in class because I was out on a StuCo field trip, but I'm getting the makeup work tomorrow.

Oregon Trail Game- Scratch Project

Learn more about this project

4/29 - 4/30 Class Update

For the past two days in class, Mr. Boyle has been out. He let us bring in our laptops to work on our Scratch projects, which are due on Thursday. Mine's almost done, so I might upload it later tonight- it was done but then none of the scripts worked, so I have to redo them all and figure out what went wrong.

4/24 - 4/25 Class Update

Yesterday, we went to the media lab to create presentations about different products that would've helped Homesteaders. My group was assigned the thresher, a machine used to separate grain from stalks.

Today, we presented the presentations that we made yesterday to the class and a panel of "entrepreneurs." It was decided that the thresher was a good choice for the entrepreneurs to purchase.

4/22 - 4/23 Class Update

Yesterday, we went to the computer lab to begin "Triton 16% Time", or our class's version of Google 20% Time. This gives us approximately one day per cycle to work on what we're interested in. We're working on different badges using the Smithsonian Quests Program. It's not being graded and the only assessment that's being done is by a group of experts selected by the Smithsonian Institution. We'll still be presenting the work we had to do for the badge later in the year. I chose to do H2O Hero. None of the activities required for this badge seemed to be too difficult or labor-intensive. I may or may not have finished earning the badge in one class period, but the page changed and had different activities after I submitted my work, so I'm not sure what's going on with that.

Today, we had a sub. We went to a couple of different stations where we learned more about soddies. The different stations included (sort of) living in a soddy/arranging where things like eating, sleeping, and sitting would be done, taking a (fake) picture of a person who would've lived in a soddy, and smelling sod. We had a competition going for who could stand the smell for the longest. Brittany had 32 seconds, but Jess beat her with 2 minutes 18 seconds. Some questions I have to answer in this blog post:

What's your overall impression of living in a soddy? It's really dark and there's not much you can do in your house because of this. If you lived in one, you better hope it doesn't rain so that you could go outside to do everything that requires being able to see what you're doing.

How long would you last living in a soddy? It depends on how long it would take for me to get used to the smell and how limited I would be by not being able to see anything. Probably a couple hours, at most.

Based on what you've learned, would you leave for the city or stay in the great plains? I would definitely leave for the city. Any plans of farming would be crushed by the difficulty of farming the land, so combining that with the condition of homes, I'd be in the city as fast as I could.

4/11 - 4/12 Class Update

Yesterday, we were put into pairs to write a skit about Manifest Destiny based on Horace Greeley's quote from the New York Tribune in 1851, "Go west, young man, and grow up with the country." The skits answered questions like what was in the west, if only young men went west, and if we would follow Greeley's advice if we were living in the 1800's.

Today, we learned about the push and pull factors. These are the different things that either pushed or pulled people out west. 

Manifest Destiny

Today, we were put into pairs to write a skit about Manifest Destiny based on Horace Greeley's quote from the New York Tribune in 1851, "Go west, young man, and grow up with the country." The skits answered questions like what was in the west, if only young men went west, and if we would follow Greeley's advice if we were living in the 1800's. I liked doing the skits because they showed what we had actually learned without us just writing an essay. Plus, skits end up with quotable moments, like "Someday, in Mr. Boyle's sophomore English class..this is history.."

I forget what the actual question I'm supposed to answer here is, but I'm pretty sure it was something along the lines of, "Was 'Manifest Destiny' good or bad for the United States and why?", so I'll answer that. The benefits of Manifest Destiny for the United States included more land for people who were willing to travel and live in a new place to get it, as well as new opportunities to be successful for individuals and families in the 1800's. Overall, it was good in terms of expansionism and new opportunities, but it still came with downsides. These include people needing to completely uproot their lives and starting the Mexican War over territory disputes.

Diary Entry on Erie Canal

Assignment: write diary entry as person assigned in class (settler) on positive/negative effects on the Erie Canal.

As a settler, the Erie Canal was greatly beneficial for me. It posed many positive economic effects, as well as some positive social effects. Due to the Erie Canal, the costs of shipping have gone down and created a bigger industry for goods. Things like books and newspapers are in higher demand to be printed because they're less expensive. Before the Erie Canal, workers had to shovel grain and transport it by carrying it; now a conveyor scoops and transports the grain, which is much more efficient. Industry is also boosted by steam engines and lots of merchandise. In fact, Syracuse has since become a large industrial center, which wouldn't have happened without the Erie Canal. All of this new industry and lower shipping costs have improved settlers' standard of living. The only downside to the Erie Canal that I can see is the increased pollution to the lakes.

4/4 - 4/5 Class Update

Yesterday, we learned about the War of 1812. When we got to class, we were put into pairs to create a slogan, icon, and poem based on different documents that we were given. My group had the British's view on the War of 1812. They were at war with France at the same time and didn't really care about their war with America. Our slogan was, "You can't get to the top without making a few enemies." The icon was a British ship between America and France, both of which were pointing weapons at the ship. Our (unfinished) poem was:
You can't get to the top
Without making an enemy or two
You can't be the best in the world
Without fighting each battle through

All energy must be focused
On the enemies in France
Send over a few ships
America should have no chance

Today, we didn't have class due to the half day.

4/2 - 4/3 Class Update

Yesterday, we had a snap debate on the most significant factor for the start of the War of 1812. Overall, the most people chose Orders in Council as the most significant factor. Impressment came in second, the Chesapeake Affair came third, and no one chose incitement.

Today, we technically had class but only one person was actually in class because we all had Accuplacer testing.

Snap Debate Takeaway

I'm sticking with Orders in Council as the most significant factor. Impressment didn't affect absolutely everyone, like the Orders in Council did. The Chesapeake Affair resulted in the Embargo Act, which was pretty much the United States equivalent of the Orders in Council. Incitement didn't change my opinion because Britain being hostile to Americans wasn't a new thing- it was already present in the Orders in Council.

3/28 - 3/29 Class Update

Yesterday, we worked on our ebooks during class.

Today, we used a choose your own adventure story on Lewis and Clark's expedition. We wrote diary entries (posted below this) about different stages on the story.

Diary of the Corps of Discovery

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ejoTje0AP5PURNXkZrY0c2u3WyfU9ZxFjw5wazElVps/edit?usp=sharing

This isn't done yet and I was in the middle of a sentence when we had to post it...

The Story of the Civil Rights Movement

For the record, this website has completely stopped working at least twice today and it's really frustrating.

3/26 - 3/27 Class Update

Yesterday, we continued looking at the Black Panther Ten Point Program. Mr. Boyle tried to get everyone riled up about it because that's how whites felt when it was first created.

Today, we worked on our ebook project during class. We went to the computer lab to do this.

3/22 & 3/25 Class Update

On Friday, we talked about the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act.

Today, we talked about the Black Panther's Ten Point Program.

3/19 - 3/20 Class Update

Yesterday, we didn't have class due to a snow day.

Today, we listened to speeches by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

3/15 & 3/18 Class Update

On Friday, we were put into groups to read documents and begin answering questions about Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X's plans for the future of black Americans.

Today, we finished answering the questions from Friday.

3/13 - 3/14 Class Update

Yesterday, for the first part of class, we talked about Twitter, blocked websites, and Mr. Boyle's lack of utilizing Instagram. After lunch, we took PowerPoint notes on sit-ins and Mr. Boyle tried to find a video but wasn't able to.

Today, we took PowerPoint notes and watched a video on Freedom Rides.

Ps- pretty sure my time stamps are all messed up, considering it's 4:26 on Thursday, not 1:10 on Wednesday.

3/8 & 3/11 Class Update

On Friday, we didn't have class because school was canceled.

Today, we talked about segregation in schools today and were given relatively recent articles about it.

Tommie Smith Desktop Documentary

3/6 - 3/7 Class Update

Yesterday, we watched a video on the murder of Emmett Till and answered questions about the movie. His murder was the spark of the Civil Rights movement by creating anger in African-Americans and white Northerners, which encouraged them to make sure Emmett Till's fate didn't happen to anyone else.

Today, we learned about the Montgomery Bus Boycott and why it was successful. We read five different sources to find reasons why it was successful.

3/4 - 3/5 Class Update

Yesterday, we read a timeline about the Scottsboro Boys Trial. We were put in groups to write diary entries from the point of view of different people during the trials. My group got Ruby Bates, one of the two women who accused the nine boys raping her and her friend Victoria Price. Ruby felt guilty due to her actions and eventually confessed to the rape charge being a scam.

Today, we learned about the case of Brown v. Board of Education. The case was five different cases that were combined. These cases, mostly from the South, were from people against the segregation of schools. White and African American children went to different schools that were supposedly "separate but equal," but African American children often received lower quality school supplies and teachers. The Supreme Court  ruled that school districts could no longer be segregated as a result of the case.

2/27 - 2/28 Class Update

Yesterday, we talked about Marcus Garvey and the United Negro Improvement Association. We read four documents about him and the UNIA, as well as answering questions. We also were given a writing assignment to answer why Marcus Garvey was a controversial figure.

Today, we read multiple poems by Langston Hughes and listened to a couple of songs by Duke Ellington from during the Harlem Renaissance.

2/25 - 2/26 Class Update

Yesterday, we only had 7 or so minutes of class due to the assembly running into F period. We listened to Mr. Boyle while he talked about what he got from the assembly.

Today, we got in partners to read and analyze documents about the Civil Rights Movement. We got in different groups and shared what we had so we'd have he stuff for both documents.

2/14 - 2/15 Class Update

Yesterday, we filmed the drawing part of the RSA project. I controlled the camera while the others in my group were drawing, but we had some difficulty with making the camera focus stay where it was supposed to because the tripod would let us raise the camera view but not lower it. Due to this, I held the tripod at weird angles to have the camera capture what we wanted it to.

Today, we recorded the VoiceOver for the RSA project. This recording will go over the video we did yesterday. Over vacation, Mr. Boyle is going to put the finalized video together so it will be ready when we go back to school.

Reconstruction Timeline

2/6 - 2/7 Class Update

Yesterday, we finished the PowerPoint notes about the response to the Fifteenth Amendment, which we focused on the Civil Rights Cases and the Jim Crow Laws, which allowed for segregation of public places and transportation.

Today, we talked about sharecropping. At first, the contracts for sharecroppers seemed to be fair, but upon further investigation, there was no way for sharecroppers to get out of it and pay off their debt, which made it very similar to slavery.

2/4 - 2/5 Class Update

Yesterday, we took PowerPoint notes on the response to the Fifteenth Amendment. The government passed the Enforcement Act of 1870 and the Civil Rights Act of 1875 due to the response by the South. We then looked at the Civil Rights Cases from 1883.

Today, we decided if treating people equally means treating them the same. It was decided that to treat people equally, they have to be given the same opportunities, even if it's unequal conditions that get them there. Also, treating people equally is proportional to their conditions. For example, if two people went to the doctor with headaches and one had a brain tumor while the other had a regular headache, equal treatment would be proportional to their condition. We also talked about the Plessy v. Ferguson case.

1/30 - 1/31 Class Update

Yesterday, we read the textbook to find out about different plans for Reconstruction. We looked at plans by Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and the radical Republicans. We also filled out a map about radical Reconstruction in the South from 1865-1870. President Lincoln had hoped to restore southern state governments to "successful operation" by December 1865. This didn't happen for more than a decade due to the Radical Republican rule, which put the South under military rule and divided the South into five districts, each of which were governed by a Northern general.

Today, we read Andrew Johnson's obituary from The New York Times, which was mostly a sketch of his career (it was very long). We also talked about the impeachment process.

1/28 - 1/29 Class Update

Yesterday, we went to the computer lab to learn about the early white Southerner's response to reconstruction. We went to a website and filled out a worksheet with questions asking about an assigned state about things such as the population growth and the cash value of farms. We also looked at a political cartoon about the Black Codes, as well as filling out a worksheet about the Black Codes in the Post-Civil War South.

 Today, we learned about the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. We filled out a worksheet about the 14th Amendment to determine what it actually did. We then created a magazine cover about the 14th Amendment.

1/24 - 1/25 Class Update

Yesterday, we talked about Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865). We also talked about the difference between restoration and reconstruction after the Civil War. The point of restoration was to abolish slavery and the point of reconstruction was to gain social and political equality for African Americans, as well as to punish the South.

Today, we talked about Abraham Lincoln's assassination. It's weird to think that it took the United States almost two weeks after Lincoln's assassination for them to successfully find and kill John Wilkes Booth. It would never take that long to find someone responsible with today's technology and security measures, if it was even possible for them to get that close to the President.

Winnie the Pooh!!! (and first day of 3rd quarter!)

In honor of Winnie the Pooh Day (January 19th!), we're reading a Winnie the Pooh character breakdown and deciding which character we're most like. After that, we'll be taking a quiz to determine which character we really are.

I'm pretty sure my dad would say that I'm like Owl, but I would say I'm more like Rabbit. The quiz tells me...

Which Winnie the Pooh Character Are You?

You are Rabbit. You are clever, intelligent, and level-headed. You have close, loyal friendships, but you have a bit of a short temper when the people around you act foolishly.

I remember when I watched Winnie the Pooh, I always got really annoyed by Rabbit. Supposedly, your own faults are the ones you're quickest to judge in others, so it makes sense that I got annoyed by him.

12/20 - 12/21 Class Update

Yesterday, we read about either Gettysburg or Vicksburg, filled out a worksheet about the battle, and created a "billboard" about it. My group had Vicksburg and our billboard was pretty epic. We tried to find the date for the Vicksburg Campaign, but Google told me that it was December 20th, 2012 so we abandoned that idea. We drew the Mississippi River and a battle scene on ours, which clearly made it better than the other groups.

Today, the class went to the winter concert assembly since we had history last period.

1/14 - 1/15 Class Update

For both yesterday and today, our class time has been spent studying for our midterm. I'm not looking forward to the rest of the week...

1/9 - 1/10 Class Update

Yesterday, we had our Civil War unit test.

Today, we got our midterm review sheets and studied and/or harassed Mr. Boyle for the whole class.

Beau really wants me to play with him so I guess I'm done with blogging for today.

1/7 - 1/8 Class Update

Yesterday, we took Powerpoint notes on "The Tightening Anaconda," which is about the Anaconda Plan. We also watched a video on this and the Emancipation Proclamation.

Today, we took Powerpoint notes on Appomattox and the end of the Civil War. We also asked Mr. Boyle questions about our test tomorrow.

1/3 - 1/4 Class Update

Yesterday, we talked about the Emancipation Proclamation., which freed slaves in states in rebellion against the United States. It didn't free slaves in border states or other areas under the Union military control. We read a blog post from someone who thinks that the Emancipation Proclamation wasn't effective enough and believes it to be "uninspiring." We also read through the Gettysburg Address and answered questions on it.

Today, we looked at the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, which is located by the State House in Boston. We also took PowerPoint notes about African-Americans joining the Civil War as soldiers. They were granted permission to serve in the military in the Emancipation Proclamation. One of the first all African-American units to be formed was the 54th Massachusetts Regiment under the leadership of Robert Gould Shaw.