Summary Blog 10/22/12- (Going to miss the 23)

Today during class we watched animated battles during the revolution after the Declaration was announced. We saw the intelligent tactics George Washington used to fake out the British which is essentially how they ended beating the British. We then talked about "The Crisis" written by Thomas Paine and how George Washington read it to his troops to get them amped up. We discussed whether or not we believed that today mens souls our tried, recalling what we wrote in our essay on Friday.

The American Revolution Timeline

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/the-american-revolution--262

Class Summary 10/17/12 - 10/18/12

Yesterday we went over the summaries we did the day before of our section of the Declaration of Independence, writing down the notes other groups gathered and giving them ours. We then had a discussion on whats your word worth to you, and if things don't go your way would you break a promise. We also talked about how in Julius Caesar Brutus trusted everyone to carry out the plan of murdering Caesar but when making the Declaration of Independence they had to sign the document insuring their word. Some people said that this was because we have lost that trust we used to hold for one another while others thought the situations were entirely different so why compare them. We then filled out the handout we were given on the Structure of the Declaration. Today we read a persuasive article by Thomas Paine as to how during the revolution mens souls were tried. "These are the times that try mens souls" was the quote. We then wrote an essay or response on whether or not we felt that the quote applies to today, 2012. I do not believe that today the common man's soul is tried, so in my essay I gave reasons as to why I believed that.

Class Summary 10/15/12 - 10/16/12

Monday during class we presented our American Revolution project. We each were assigned a person to draw and find out about them and how they were significant to the revolution. We were also to attach a pocket containing an item that had something to do with your person but is not common knowledge of him/her. It was fun looking at the other projects and learning about how each person played a role in the revolution. Today walking into class some of us were given a date, person, place, or thing and the others a definition and were to find our match, this is how we were paired up in groups. We then took out our devices and looked up a website that had all of the Declaration of Independence. Me and my partner were assigned the introduction. We then had to summarize our portion of the Declaration and talk about its contents. Towards the end of class we make fake tweets about our section.

Fake Tweet / Krunched URL

Krunched.com/Twistertee

Voice Thread On Patrick Henry

<object width="480" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=3529254"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=3529254" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="480" height="360"></embed></object>

http://voicethread.com/share/3529254/

Summary Of Class 10/11/12 - 10/12/12

Yesterday during class we learned about the Battle of Concord and Lexington and the Battle of Bunker Hill. When we walked in projected on the white board was a map of the all of the different Battles. It showed where the British and American troops rode and had facts about what happened. The map helped us get a better understanding of the battles and the decisions and problems the troops faced. At the end of class we wrote a summary of the battles and how they played out. Today on the way into class we were given a paper that split up into groups based on the article you got. In the groups we read the paper we were assigned whether it was the Olive Branch Petition, the Common Sense Pamphlet or James Chalmers Plain Truth. After reading it we found quotes that we thought did a good job of demonstrating the purpose of the article. We then split off with our original group and sat with people who had the other two documents. At our new group we shared the information we had with each other. At the end of class we discussed all of the information together. 

Nation VoiceThread

<object width="480" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=3511725"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://voicethread.com/book.swf?b=3511725" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="480" height="360"></embed></object>

http://voicethread.com/share/3511725/

Class Summary 10/5/12 and 10/9/12

Friday during class we reviewed what we had talked about in the Ed Cafe. We took notes on each event or act and what they lead to. Today during class we watched a man talk about a case where a man was found guilty for murder on the behalf of multiple teen boys eye witnesses. He talked about how the human brain adds in things to your memories without you knowing it, that may not be true. It was too dark for the boys to be able to see the shooter, but they had a false memory that they could in fact see him and that it was this man who was put to jail, even though he was innocent. This is why this man believes we should not feel confident a case is close based on eye witness. We then read a resource about the Boston Massacre and decided if the account was reliable keeping in mind what we had learned about the tricks our brain plays on our memories. Each group got a different witness and at the end of class we split up to fill in the other resource's information.

Class Summary 10/3/12 - 10/4/12

Yesterday during class we went to the library's computer lab. There we got in our groups and together we made a powerpoint on the event profile we were given. We broke up the sections evenly and the sections you had you were to summarize in the powerpoint. My event was The Intolerable Acts. Today we did an Ed Cafe on the event we were given. We were to pick a creative name for our event and then  talk about it for eight minutes to the people who had different events. We debated on who in the situation or even was right and who was wrong. We then listened to the other events and took notes about them, finishing each discussion by writing our take away from it. I really like this activity because it gets us up, moving, and talking to one another.

Class Summary 9/1/12- 9/2/12

Yesterday in class we read and discussed the colonies in 1775. Over the weekend we had to fill out a paper about them by looking at maps given to us. At the very beginning of class we reviewed this. We then created a composite person from each of the three colonial regions and started to record our voices reading our descriptions of the average colonists. Today in class we learned about the French and Indian War and the Royal Proclamation of 1763. We started off class looking at a picture of George Washington, and learned how he tied into what we were learning. We then read sections of the packet about the French and Indian War in our groups, taking breaks to summarize what we just read.