Civic Values Comic

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!!

Past Two Days: September 27th

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.

History Timeline

Past Two Days- September 25th

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.

Past Two Days: September 20th

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.

In-Class Infographic

Past 2 Days: September 18th

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.

Spreaker Podcast

Past Two Days Assignment

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.

Civic Values- Rewindy

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

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

Artifacts Assignment

Maeve C.

September 6th, 2012

G

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.