Friday, April 26, 2013

Past Two Days: April 26

Today, if we had a device, we were to work on one of the many projects. Yesterday, we finished presenting the projects from the day before, in which we had to try to convince people to buy an invention from you.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

April 23 Recap

Yesterday, April 23, we learned various things about what life was like in the west. For example, we pretended we were living in a soddy, which is a house-type structure, typically one story, that is made of a mixture of mud and grass. The walls were often 3 feet thick, a perfect insulator. During the activity, we had to decide where we would sleep and eat and such. We figured out that without much space, we would have to pack together tightly. The next activity was basically to sit still for one minute straight. During this time in the west, people had to be completely still while someone took their picture, otherwise the picture would be blurry. It was easier said than done- you had to keep your facial expression constant, which I had trouble doing. If I was living in the west without the advanced cameras we have today, there would be no clear pictures of me out there. The final activity was smelling sod, which made up the sod houses. We had to discuss whether or not we thought we would be able to get used to the smell. Most of the people in my group agreed that they would, but I thought differently. I would get so sick of the smell after just a couple minutes. Overall, I feel like I learned a lot of good background details about the west. I like doing activities like this because it makes the information taught easier to understand and remember.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Past Two Days: April 22

Today, we went to the media lab to work on a new project. We were given a link to a website that gave options for a quest. We were able to pick any topic that interested us and do the work for it. I like this idea because it gives us the opportunity to research or learn about things that intrigue us, rather than just learning things because we were told to.

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Past Two Days: April 10

Tonight, we were assigned the task of blogging about Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny was the belief that God wanted Americans to expand westward. I don't think that this was beneficial because it forced the Native Americans out of their land and into the west, which they were opposed to doing. It was a selfish move on the Americans' part. When people are forced out of their homes to move somewhere they don't want to go, it can cause many conflicts, and instead of traveling on the path to growth, it could hinder the journey.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Past Two Days: April 8


Today, we were given six worksheets to read and take notes about. After that, we were to write three diaries based on the events we read about. It was all about how difficult it was on the Oregon Trail and how people migrated west were faced with many obstacles such as disease, weather, and Indian tribes. Many of them could not afford transportation other than by mule or ox, and it often took them weeks to get to their next destination.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Past Two Days: April 4

Yesterday, we got together into groups and read about different peoples' involvement in the War of 1812. I was assigned to learn about the African Americans in the war. I found out that the whites were not planning to have them fight, but they were desperate for soldiers and eventually gave in.
Today, the majority of the class was missing so we just talked about Whitney Houston's performance of the Star Spangled Banner. We also finished up presenting the information we got yesterday.

Monday, April 1, 2013

Past Two Days: April 1

Today, we discussed the causes of the War of 1812 and we had to decide which event, in our opinion, was the main cause. We were given four choices: impressment, the Chesapeake Affair, the Orders in Council, and incitement.
We were assigned to discuss which the event we chose in this blog post.
I concluded that incitement was a huge issue and led to the start of the war. Incitement was when the British gave the Amer-Indians weapons to use against the Americans. Naturally, this made America angry and frightened at the same time, and in order to extinguish these feelings, a war was in order. The fact that the British went behind America's back, even though America was neutral and was not involved in Britain's and France's past disputes, influenced many people to try to fight back their safety. People panic when they feel threatened, and this is exactly what America felt when they heard that the Indians could attack them while they were at their weak point and economic loss. I think that the other events added to the growing threat of war, but the involvement of weapons put things into immediate action.