Maeve's American History Blog: 2012

Today, we were first given a worksheet titled "To Suspend or Not to Suspend?" It was about suspending the writ of habeas corpus. We then answered short questions based on opinion and went over them. Next, we read Lincoln and the Writ of Liberty, which showed what Lincoln thought was the best thing to do for society and for government. We answered questions and discussed it as well.
Yesterday, we did the second QR code scavenger hunt of this year. The questions related to the battles of the Civil War.

30 DAY CHALLENGE
Day 14

Today, we were each given a packet with information about the clash of the North and South and were asked questions about it. Then, we had to write the information we found into a google document so that the whole class could have access it.
Yesterday, we got a primary source document about Abraham Lincoln's view of the American Union. After we were finished reading it, we answered questions regarding what we just read and then went over it.

30 DAY CHALLENGE
Day 13

Today I was sick and didn't go to school. Yesterday, we read a document about the Declaration of Independence and answered questions about it.

30 DAY CHALLENGE
Day 12

Yesterday, we took a test on the American Civil War for the entire period. Today, we had a half day in school and didn't even have history.

30 DAY CHALLENGE
Day 11

Yesterday, we looked at a political cartoon of the candidates in the 1860 election. It portrayed Lincoln and Douglas fighting over influence of the western territory and Bell and Breckenridge either trying to fix the United States' problems or hinder them. After, we looked at the total electoral votes that each candidate got and that Lincoln won the election with less than 40% of the votes.

3O DAY CHALLENGE
Day 10

Today we had a substitute teacher and we worked on a worksheet about the North and the South and their opinions about slavery.
The day before, we read more documents about slavery and did another worksheet.

30 DAY CHALLENGE
Day 9

Today, we read, and watched a clip, about Lincoln's and Douglas' debate about slavery and their views regarding it. We then worked on a sheet comparing and contrasting what they thought about what should be done.
Yesterday, we learned about Dred Scott's case and how it portrayed what people thought about slavery. After we read about it, we completed a worksheet.

30 DAY CHALLENGE:
Day 8

Wasn't sure if we had to blog today, since we didn't even have history. Anyhow, yesterday we were given three worksheets to read and answer questions about. Each worksheet had a political cartoon representing the situation. The first of the three was about the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854. The second was about "Bleeding Kansas," and how abolitionist revolt in 1856 caused other attacks. The last was about the violence spreading more and more, and how Preston Brooks attacked Charles Sumner in the Senate.

30 DAY CHALLENGE
Day 7

On Friday, we read about "Eliza's Escape," from Uncle Tom's Cabin (Chapter 8) and it pretty much took us the whole class. Then, today, we reviewed what we had read and had a discussion about it. We were the given an excerpt from the Fugitive Slave Act and analyzed what it meant. We then discussed the fairness of it. After that, we read Frederick Douglass' Fourth of July Speech and talked about what exactly he was saying about holidays and celebrations

30 DAY CHALLENGE
Day 6

Yesterday, we read different accounts and details about the Mexican War and filled in a chart about what each of the documents talked about. We also watched a video about the Mexican War and had a true or false quiz at the end of it. Unfortunately, I took notes on the wrong things.
Today, we took more notes about the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and what it meant for the slaves. We then read the story of "Eliza's Escape," from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe. It was hard to follow because the dialect was hard for me to understand.

30 DAY CHALLENGE
Day 5
This is a picture I took a couple days ago on a day that we didn't have to blog.

Yesterday, as I said in the blog before this, we dropped history. Today, we reviewed the map of the Missouri Compromise, and then read different articles about the events succeeding it. We filled out a chart about what we read.

30 DAY CHALLENGE

Day 4

"Be Yourself."

Today, we didn't actually have class, but I've been blogging on the odd days of the cycle rather than the even ones so I need to catch up. Anyway, on Friday, we went to the computer lab to look at an interactive map for the Missouri Compromise. We then filled out two papers about what we saw.

30 DAY CHALLENGE
Day 3

Yesterday, we took notes on a Powerpoint. I had to read a document about Abraham Lincoln and his views about employment. I answered questions about it, and then got together with a partner to exchange information.
Today, we finished what we hadn't finished from the day before and took notes on another Powerpoint.

30 DAY CHALLENGE
Day 2

Today in history, we filled out a worksheet about whether or not the Constitution promoted slavery or anti-slavery, and despite how unlikely it seems, it probably supported slavery.
Yesterday, we read a primary source about historical figures and their involvement in slavery. We completed a worksheet answering where they were born, if they were born into a wealthy or a poor family, and how they became known for their efforts.

30 DAY CHALLENGE
Day 1

For my 30 day challenge, I decided to take one photo a day, because I love photography.

Today in history, we took the preamble to the Declaration of Independence quiz, and then we took notes about the end of the American Revolution. The day before, we watched an hour long video about the different pieces of artwork that was done during the revolutionary period.

Today in history, we did a scavenger hunt. We used an app on the iPod that scans QR codes. There were 10 QR codes on the first floor of the school that we needed to find. Each contained a question that we had to write down and answer. I liked the activity but it was pretty stressful because the group that passed it in first with all correct answers got bonus points.
Yesterday, we talked about the battle of Trenton and the Battle of New York and watched the animation of it on the projector.

Yesterday, we split off into two groups and exchanged notes that we took on the Declaration of Independence.
Today, we read the famous essay by Thomas Paine and then wrote our own essay about whether or not we agreed with what he was saying.

I'll keep it short and to the point, since I doubt anyone is actually going to enjoy reading what we did in full extended detail about what we did in history class. Yesterday, we presented our Revolutionary Replica and I presented Abigail Adams to the class. I learned about lots of other significant figures from the American Revolution.
Today, we were given a term and we had to match the definition with somebody else's in the class. We read a section of the Declaration of Independence and then made a fake tweet about what it talked about. I got the conclusion and it mostly talked about independence from Britain and that everyone should respect each others' enforced rights.

Today, we were given one of three different resources to read and take notes on. I had the Olive Branch Petition, issued to King George III by the delegates of the Second Constitutional Congress in order to be peaceful with England while keeping loyalty with the king. Then we broke off into other groups to learn about what other people read.
Yesterday, we watched an animation about the Battle at Lexington Green, the Battle at Concord, and the Battle of Bunker Hill. We took notes on these topics as well.

On Friday, we discussed what we learned during the Edcafe. Some of the material was unclear before but we took some notes and got the basic facts for each event. After, we received some papers about Paul Revere's ride and we had to read one of the information sheets. We used what we learned to write a sonnet about the true ride of Paul Revere.

On Thursday, we did the Edcafe. I had the Boston Massacre and the Townshend Taxes. We rotated in order of when each event occurred in time and learned about the most important things pertaining to each event. After each topic, we had to write down what we took from the conversation or something new we learned due to the discussion.

Yesterday in history, we went to the computer lab and researched the topic we were given by Mr. Boyle and we got into groups based on who had the same topics. I was given the Townshend Taxes/Laws and the Boston Massacre. I learned that the Townshend Taxes were proposed by Charles Townshend, from Britain, in order to help pay for the soldiers. It was later considered to be adopted in the colonies as well. I also learned that the Boston Massacre wasn't, by definition, a true massacre. A massacre is an event or battle in which many people are killing, but during the Boston "Massacre," only 5 people were killed and 6 were injured.
Today, we presented the same topic in the form of an Edcafe lesson. We did additional research on the topic and took notes on it in order to lead a group discussion. We rotated around so that everyone got a chance to listen to another person's presentation that everyone was given the details about different events.

During the past two days in history, we started learning about the American Revolution.
Yesterday, we went over the previous homework, The Three Colonial Sections: More Similar or Different? We talked about the separation of colonies in eastern Massachusetts, including New England. We took notes about which states belonged in which colony prior to the Revolution.
Today, we read a document about George Washington and his involvement in the French and Indian War. Then we talked about the colonies some more and took more notes.

I had no idea how to put this into a blog because the link for my comic only takes you to the main page, where you can't even see it. I sent an email to you containing it, so hopefully it works. I can't find a link that can bring you to it.
So if you get an email from artisancam.org or something, please don't delete it. It should take you to the comic strip.
Thanks!!

Today in history, we took a test about Congress, the branches of government, and the U.S. Constitution. I thought it was pretty easy, especially with the study guide we were given beforehand. Like all tests, there were a few I got stuck on, but overall I think I did pretty well.
Yesterday, we did an "Edcafe." This is just an activity in which each person in the class researches a topic that they were given by Mr. Boyle and presents it to a small group a few days later. This Edcafe was about the First Amendment of the Constitution and I was assigned to research the right to petition the government. I learned about a lot of cases where people actually did petition the government. One case I found was about women's rights in being able to vote equally. This petition actually worked, and women had more rights than they did before and were more equal to men. I also found one about the abolishment of slavery worldwide, and it did succeed in stopping slavery in some areas. I even found a petition about women's rights to drink coffee. I took notes on all these things and then presented them to a group. This was a fun activity to do because we got to interact with our classmates. This method of presenting makes sure everyone gets to speak, and I think that because of this, I was able to remember all of the information that I was told. It was a very effective learning method for me.

Today in history, we began by reading a document about the Federalist Party. They were mostly wealthy people who relied on trade with foreign nations. They weren't as concerned with the states' rights and gave the government the power it needed to run. Their intention was to create strong financial systems. After, we read a document about the Democrat-Republican Party. It was formed by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson and favored the states' rights because they were closest to the people. The Democrat-Republican Party were constitutionalists, so they believed that anything not written in the Constitution could not be acted upon by Congress.
Yesterday, we read "The Bill of Rock and Roll Rights: Hypothetical Case," in which a hundred party-goers went to Roger Will's house, who was one of the party-goers, to have a good time. Madonna was performing. However, the Massachusetts 'Blue Laws' got in the way, and we had to figure out which of the Constitutional Rights would have bailed the given person out.

Today in history class, we were given more assignments to complete for homework. We went to the lab and had the option to work on the letter to Congress, due tomorrow, the research project about the first amendment, or play another icivics.com game. You can guess what the majority of the class picked. I was among that majority. In my defense, it was an addicting game about the rights people were given so it was EDUCATIONAL!!
Yesterday in class, half of us read documents about the views and supporting details of the federalists, and the other half of the class read documents about the antifederalists. After, we split into groups of three and informed the others about the document they hadn't read yet. When we were all caught up on the notes, we had to create a magazine cover informing and advertising either the federalist ideas or the antifederalist ideas. Mr. Boyle assigned which groups would advertise which, and my group and I were picked to do the antifederalist portion. Then we colored it.

During the past two days in history, we discussed different branches of government. Today, we created info graphics depicting the three levels of government with facts about each branch. For example, my group drew a tree and the words "executive," "legislative," and "judicial" on three separate branches and then wrote information on leaves drawn to the branches.
Yesterday, we had an activity we had to fill out called "One President or Three?" in which we had to correctly state what each plan (The Virginia Plan, the New Jersey Plan, and the Hamilton Plan) was saying. The categories included how many people the plan involved, how they were elected, their term length, whether or not they could be reelected, general powers they had, whether or not they could be impeached, whether or not the had the power to veto, and their appointment power.

During the past two days in history class, we talked about the Constitutional Convention and our founding fathers. On September 11th, we read documents about the views the founding fathers had regarding the changes the Constitution should make to society. I read documents about William Patterson, James Wilson, and George Mason. I learned that Patterson believed that in some states, two branches of government were less necessary than in other states. He thought that Congress should have more power. Wilson also believed that states should vary in the number of branches they have, and wanted to give less power to Congress, since "Congress doesn't control the people, it is a single Legislature." Mason thought that people did not want to put all their power into Congress so he believed in having more than one Legislative branch.
The next day on September 12th, we didn't have class, and yesterday, the 13th, we exchanged information that we gathered on the 11th and wrote it down. I learned more about David Brearly, James Madison, Roger Sherman, Elbridge Gerry, Charles Pinckney, and Oliver Elisworth. Brearly thought all states should have equal vote so there would be less dispute between bigger and smaller states. Madison said that the number of representatives should be in proportion with the size of the state, so that bigger states would have more representatives. Sherman thought that the state should do the actually electing, but with input from the people. Gerry thought that problems were caused by democracy and that people should nominate others to make all the decisions. Pinckney believed in having national legislatures elect the national legislatures because they were more experienced and best fit to make the decision. Elisworth supported wisdom from the second branch as opposed to an election of the people.

Hopefully this website works and takes you to my civic values essay!

http://private.rewindy.com/story/5Pslkw6R/view/1

Maeve C.

September 6th, 2012

Dear Journal,

I'm an archeologist in the year A.D. 4000. I'm searching for remnants of the people that used to live on this planet before us, the planet that we call home. I have been fairly lucky in my findings, as I have found many iPods and plastic spoons. The iPods are no use to us anymore, since all their screens are shattered, and now we have more advanced technology that does everything for us. I can't imagine how the people thousands of years ago lived- they had to go to school and learn from specialized academic trainers that they called "teachers." Other inconveniences that they lived with made the explanation for their death obvious.

Good morning Journal,
Today I was up at the crack of dawn to continue where I left off with my studies, and wouldn't you believe it, but it may have done me a bit of good. I teleported to a mysterious island called "Byfield." It had lots of trees. I did a little bit of digging when my robot sensed something beneath the earth about seven feet or so down. I reset the robot's commands and ordered it to retrieve it. After a few minutes, it pulled out an item and handed it to me. It looked like one of those old-fashioned things that I believe were called "books." I opened up the front cover to find lots of paper inside little plastic cases. Attached to the paper by some means of some adhesive substance were photographs, artistically placed onto the page with the addition of colorful scraps of paper and writing. I kept turning the pages, which were filled with ancient photographs. I opened up a contraption located inside my robot and scanned it under the laser point. The robot registered for a second and then told me that it was called a scrapbook. In the olden days, it was used to document photographs in a creative way. Robot told me that it was a sign that the prior humans had a trace of intelligence, a fact I found hard to believe. Still, I had to accept it, as the evidence was directly on the screen. My mechanical friend also informed me that the person who had created it believed in keeping friends and family close, but liked crafts and creative thinking. I assumed that the person that was in the photographs most frequently was the one that had created the photo record. I will make a note to myself that I should try this spot again with hopes for more evidence.

Journal-
I know you'll be greatly fascinated to know that I found other piece of evidence, supposedly by the same girl. I scanned the pages of the scrapbook and found fingerprints. Checking the files, I concluded that the girl who made the scrapbook was named Maeve. Peculiar name, and even more peculiar is what I found lying beneath the dirt today. It was another piece of paper, but thinner and longer. It had some words centered on the top but it was so faded that I could hardly tell what it read. I could make out the word "Burlington," but it's probably something only she and others of her generation understood the meaning of. I skimmed the rest of the paper with my eyes before being able to make out another word. That word was "sweater." And just with that word, the mystery deepened. Then another symbol caught my eye. "$." Finally, it all made sense. It must have been some sort of record of purchases that Maeve had made. She must have gone to a store or place named Burlington and gotten a sweater. It showed me that she loved to shop and spend money, but judging by the small amount that she had bought, she also liked to save her money- but for what? Digging some more, I found another one of those little purchase records, this time for a toy. She must have been generous and loved to give gifts. Perhaps she had smaller siblings that she gave this particular toy to? Despite my findings, I felt nowhere close to figuring out who she was as a person.

I think I've figured it out, Journal.
I found another artifact representing Maeve's life and I can almost figure out how she lived. This new artifact was what Robot told me to be a "textbook." Flipping through it, there were more words that I have ever read in my life, and pictures of people and places that I never knew existed. Many of the men in the book had strange facial hair and weird hats. This textbook must have been what she used in school; it shows me that she was a determined student that worked hard to succeed in life. She worked on remembering the history of the people who lived before her. Maybe if we had those textbook things today, we would know more about Maeve and her people. I can see it now though- Maeve lived with her family and siblings more than a millennium before us, and she didn't spend all of her time with technology, rather, she worked to preserve memories in books. She was an academic who cared about obtaining knowledge, but cared even more about the people around her.
Journal, I think I've figured it out.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Friday, December 7, 2012

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Friday, November 30, 2012

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Monday, November 19, 2012

Friday, November 16, 2012

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Monday, October 1, 2012

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Friday, September 14, 2012

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Thursday, September 6, 2012