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.