Getting to Know Jim Crow

As a result of the end of Reconstruction and ultimately the Plessy ruling by the Supreme Court, new laws were passed in many parts of the United States called Jim Crow laws.

"Jim Crow was not a person, yet affected the lives of millions of people. Named after a popular 19th-century minstrel song that stereotyped African Americans, "Jim Crow" came to personify the system of government-sanctioned racial oppression and segregation in the United States."
The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow. Educational Broadcasting Corporation, 2002. Web. 26 November 2012. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/index.html

Today, you will work to explore that system. Please follow the instructions to the linked webquest. This will be submitted.
 Jim Crow Webquest

End of Reconstruction Writing Prompt

1. In descibing the achievements of the Reconstruction period, Civil Rights leader, W.E.B. Dubois stated, "It was Negro loyalty and the Negro vote that restored the South to the Union; established the new democracy, both for white and black."  Using a key piece of evidence from your webquests or notes fom the subsequent presentations, in a paragraph, analyze what Dubois meant regarding the success of Reconstruction.
2. In describing Reconstruction, Frederick Douglass said, "You gave us no acres.  You turned us loose to the sky, to the storm, to the whirlwind and worst of all, you turned us loose to the wrath of our infuriated masters."  Using a key piece of evidence from your webquests or notes from the subsequent presentations, in a paragraph, analyze what Douglass meant regarding the lack of success for Reconstruction.
3. If you had to choose, who was right, Dubois or Douglass?  Was Reconstruction a success or failure?  Use evidence from the webquest or subsequent presentations to justify your response.

Thinking about Reconstruction

You will be working in groups today to process the work we did with the Reconstruction website.

Your task is to create a page of bullet-pointed notes to present to the class, then post onto the blog.

You need to discuss and explain:

1- What are the key concepts?  What are the goals?  (think - political / physical / societal / other)

2- Methods - what was attempted?  Why?

3- Did it work?  What happened?  Why?  What was the impact / what were the consequences?

Reconstruction and its Effects

Reconstruction, one of the most turbulent and controversial eras in American history, began during the Civil War and ended in 1877. It witnessed America's first experiment in interracial democracy. Just as the fate of slavery was central to the meaning of the Civil War, so the divisive politics of Reconstruction turned on the status the former slaves would assume in the reunited nation. Reconstruction remains relevant today because the issues central to it -- the role of the federal government in protecting citizens' rights, and the possibility of economic and racial justice -- are still unresolved.
-America's Reconstruction:People and Politics After the War. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, 2003. Web. 11 November 2012. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhibits/reconstruction/introduction.html

Today, you will explore whether or not the United States' efforts to reconstruct from 1865-1877 successfully answered the issues raised by the end of the Civil War and whether there is unfinished work that we are still dealing with today.  To do so, open this document and follow its instructions carefully.  You will need to do a "save as" to your own documents in order to edit it.

Last Few Days Before the Election...How do you know who you would vote for?

Explore the following "candidate match" quizzes.  They are designed to match your opinions and ideas about the issues with a candidate's ideas about those same issues.  As you work, make a page in your notebook labeled Election 2012 and take some notes.  What issues are emerging as the most important?  What do you need to know about these issues (identify facts and details here)?  What are the candidates saying about these issues?  What policies do they support?

USA Today Candidate Match (be sure to click on the links and read what the candidates said about the issues that are most important to you.  Write down some key quotes or ideas).

VoteSmart (after doing the Presidential race,  click on the link for the Congressional Races.  Enter your zip code and see which Congressional candidate you align with).

ISideWith

SelectSmart



When finished, underneath your notes, do a response to this activity.
What do you think of your results (Note-you do not have to say what your results showed if you prefer to keep those private)?  Which issues did you value most highly and why? Are there any biases in any of these surveys? Are you surprised by your results? Why or why not?  Did your results vary from one test to the other? If so, why do you think this was so? 

Images of Jim

By now you have read through chapter 15 of Twain's novel.  Today in class we explored the nature of the relationship between Huck and Jim.  We wrote about the ways in which it did / didn't change after the events of chapters 14 and 15.

What are your thoughts about Jim at this point in the novel?  What kind of character is he?  How are you picturing him?

In a your notebook, respond to the following prompts:

1. Generate a list of 7-9 words you would use to describe Jim in terms of his beliefs, actions, and feelings.
2. Generate a list of 3-5 words you would use to describe Jim in terms of his physical appearance.

Next, view the set of images below - scroll through them. These come from a variety of sources but are all illustrations of Jim.  Some of them were images included within the text; others were covers or promotional posters.  Browse through the gallery slowly, spending time looking at each image.  Be aware of these issues (take some notes in your notebook - no need to write anything yet):

• Which characters other than Jim appear in the illustration?
• What are they doing?  What is their physical relationship with each other?
• What is Jim doing? 
• Examine the physical details of Jim - his face, especially eyes and mouth; his expression; his arms; his body - what is the image conveying about him?
• Who holds power in this image?  How is it conveyed?
• Is Jim shown through stereotypes?  Which ones?

Now, select one or two of the images that most closely illustrates the words you wrote above.  Cite the number of that image from the "Images of Jim" collection into your journal and add a short comment explaining the connection.
Then, select one or two of the images that is least similar to your description - the one furthest from your impression of him.  Again, cite the number of that image and and add a commentary in your journal.

Lastly, write a response to these questions:

• Which image most faithfully illustrates the novel's text?  How do Mark Twain's words represent Jim - as more of a character, or a caricature?

Themes from start of Huckleberry Finn

Here are the themes we identified in our discussion today:

• Social status
• conformity
• parents
• rebellion
• death
• education / learning
• Huck vs. Tom
• books
• independence
• right and wrong - morality
• slavery
• wealth / money
• past vs. present
• religion / prayer
• escape
• superstition
• loneliness / being alone
• confusion / uncertainty
• law
• sadness
• nature
• things we are used to vs. things that change

Civil Disobedience today

In our discussion of Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" today we referred to an article about Sister Megan Rice and her protest of America's nuclear facilities.  Here is a link to that article.

Also, here is Mark Ruffalo's reading of an excerpt from Thoreau:

Thoreau and the Mexican War

Today in class we talked about Manifest Destiny, then turned our attention to the Mexican War.

Tonight, you'll read Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience."  It is in the book you purchased or you can find a link to the text of it under our "important links" tab.

In your journal response, note which details from today's worksheet appear in Thoreau's essay.  Then, consider which of them Thoreau uses to justify his position (you'll first want to make sure you have a clear sense of what his position is).

It's Election Season!

It is now just  three weeks until the November election and thus, as responsible members of American society, it is encumbent upon us to become engaged and informed on the election process.  Today, we will first remind ourselves about important aspects of the political that you will be hearing a LOT about over the coming weeks, the electoral college and polling.  Next, we will begin to familiarize ourselves with the candidates themselves and the issues involved in this campaign.
Here are your instructions:

With your partner(s) create a google document.  Title the document Election Information.  This is where you and your partner will discuss and create your responses to the issues and questions posed.

Go to the Upfront Magazine

Read the article on the Electoral College

Then with your partner, click on Games and Quizzes tab, select the “Electoral Challenge” game and then go ahead and play.

Have a quick discussin with your partner. Who won? Why? What was the strategy used for victory?

Next, read pages 12-13 in the magazine on polling.

Then, go to the Web Links tab which will take you to Gallup, Real Clear Politics, and NYTimes swing state polls.

Have a brief discussion with your partner. What polls did you look at? What do these latest polls show? What pieces of data are most interesting and why? Do you think this data will have an impact on the election? Why?

Go to http://upfront.scholastic.com/issues/09_03_12/book

Read the full article on pages 6-9. 

Next, revisit page 7 of the article. Choose TWO issues that interest you and your partner. Then, you will spend time finding information about your candidate’s position using multiple sources. You will use alphabetical order to determine who is researching the Obama and Romney campaigns.

Create two charts in your google document that look like this:

Source used	President Obama’s Stance/Suggestions on _______(Issue #___)	Governor Romney’s Stance/Suggestions on __________ (Issue #___)

Sources that you can use to gather information include Barack Obama and Mitt Romney's websites,
Procon, CNN's Election Center, and NYTimes Election Agenda, or Ontheissues

When you are finished creating your charts for two issues, discuss and answer:
What seems to be the biggest difference between the candidates on this issue?
Are there any points of similarity?
Why is this an important issue for the country right now? Why is it a difficult issue for the country?

Four paragraph assignment

Today you will receive your Constitution test and essay on The Great Gatsby.  Read the feedback carefully - it is being given to you today with the express purpose of having you use the feedback to improve your future work, especially the assginment due tomorrow.

What is that assignment?

You've already written the first three paragraphs:
1- Emerson
2- Thoreau
3- Into the Wild

Today, we are adding the fourth:

Paragraph Four:

            What do you think?  Which one, Emerson or Thoreau, more closely aligns with your personal beliefs?  To what extent do you believe in what Emerson or Thoreau has to say?  Where are you still uncertain?

            You’ll need to select one or the other, then, using a specific personal example, explain both why you selected the one you did.  You do not need to use additional quotations from Emerson and Thoreau here – howeve, you should make explicit connections back to the ones you used in paragraphs one and two.  Furthermore, do make sure you tell a bit of your own story, naming a specific time when your experiences did / didn’t align with Emerson / Thoreau’s, before explaining why. Think of this as similar to Thoreau using his time in the woods as a was to express to us why he believes what he does believe.  Feel free to use what you wrote in the field trip packet as part of your answer.

---

Tomorrow you will submit all four of these paragraphs.

How?

Cut and paste the four paragraphs into one document.  You do not need to do any additional writing.

Submit your work to Turnitin.com by midnight tomorrow, Thursday, October 18th.

Writing about Thoreau

This weekend, you will write a paragraph about Thoreau's Walden based on the work we did together in class the past two days. On your worksheet you wrote about a main issue and a key point from Thoreau's work by using a variety of quotations. Now, combine all of that into a paragraph response:

What point is central to Thoreau's work?   What is he suggesting for people to do?  What does it take to achieve it? What are some of the issues it includes, and how does Thoreau explain them?

Your paragraph needs to have a clear point (topic sentence), at least two supporting quotations, and effective analysis of them in relation to your point. This is an exhaustive look at the language he used, taking the time to explain what it means just within the context of the essay – you are not using a personal viewpoint here or making outside connections (that will come later).

This is individual work - you are not working with your groups on this paragraph.

Save your paragraph - you will not be submitting it today.

Writing about Emerson - and taking care of business

Last time we were in the computer lab, our plans for a collaborative Google Presentation didn't exactly work out as planned.  We'll continue to explore different ways for us to collaborate but for now we still want to ues the research and writing you did about your assigned topic.

Instead of putting that information into the Google Presentation, please just save it in a Word document and e-mail it to Mr. Kramer.  We will compile them and make them available for future use.


Next, you will write a paragraph about Emerson's "Self-Reliance" based on the work we did together yesterday.  On your worksheet you wrote about a main issue and a key point from Emerson's essay by using a variety of quotations.  Now, combine all of that into a paragraph response: 

What point is central to Emerson’s essay - what does he mean by "self-reliance"?  What does it take to achieve it?  What are some of the issues it includes, and how does Emerson explain them?

Your paragraph needs to have a clear point (topic sentence), at least two supporting quotations, and effective analysis of them in relation to your point.  This is an exhaustive look at the language he used, taking the time to explain what it means just within the context of the essay – you are not using a personal viewpoint here or making outside connections (that will come later).

 

This is individual work - you are not working with your groups on this paragraph.

 

Save your paragraph - you will not be submitting it today.

Building a Nation

As Constitutional scholars, you all now have a deep understanding of the document itself and the ideals behind it.  However, American government was still in its infancy after the ratification of the Constitution.  How the government created by the Cosntitution would work in practice was (and is still today) still much in question.  Additionally, America was (and is) still defining the values and beliefs that were the foundations of American political and social thought.  Today, you will work to assess how the early nation was doing; how ideas like liberty were being developed; and whether or not, the new nation was accomplishing the goals set forth in the Preamble to the Constitution and heeding the advice given by its first leader, George Washington.

Instructions for class on 10/4/2012:

1) (15 mins.) In your American Reader read George Washington's Farewell address that begins on page 71.  You can also read it here in case you don't have your book with you.
Read carefully.  Make sure that you have a clear understanding of the values that Washington expresses and the recommendations he is making for the country.
Annotate the reading according to the actions and/or advice Washington offers in response to:

• The mounting criticism of government and the authority of the executive.
• The potential threat of political parties and interest groups
• The roles that religion and education should play in American society.
• The proper role of the United States in international politics.

2) (20 mins.) Next you will investigate a person or event that also influenced the early American republic.  Click on this link and find the person or event that corresponds to your assigned number.  Then you will research your term by going to the subscription databases on the Library website.  Using either the American History database, the Salem History database, or American National Biography online, research your assigned person or event.  Take notes about the key facts or details that are necessary to understand the significance of your assigned person or event.  Note-you may need to go to more than one database to get a full understanding.

3)  (15 minutes) Open this google presentation.  Edit the slide that corresponds with your assigned number.  Your slide should contain:

• A creative title that says something about the significance of your assigned person or event.
• Enough key details about your person or event that someone reading your post will understand it.  This may be written out in paragraph form or a list of bullet points.
• An image that relates to your assigned person or event.

4)  (15 minutes) After creating your slide, go into your notebook and respond to the following prompts about your event or person.

• Link your assigned event or person to George Washington.  According to his Farewell Address, what would George Washington say about the information you discovered?  In what way did (or didn't ) your person or event reflect the values or ideals that Washington defined in his address? 
• What is your assessment of this person or event.  How does your person or event match up with what we've been studying so far?  Does your research help to expand any ideas or notions of liberty that you've seen already?  Are there Constitutional questions that arise as a result of your research?  Does this person or event help to accomplish or go against the goals set forth in the Preamble?

5) (10-15 minutes.) Next, spend time exploring the events or people that your classmates have put into the google presentation by returning to it and looking at the whole slideshow.


6) (10 minutes.) After going through the slideshow, write a final response to this activity in your notebooks.  Based on what you've seen in your research and the slideshow, how would you assess this era?  How is the United States growing as a nation?  Are there any links or connections that you can make between any of the issues that arose then and what you see in the nation today? 

**Note the notebook responses from step 4 and 6 are due in class tomorrow.

The Bill of Rights today

To help us both understand the Bill of Rights and see how it continues to be relevant and actively debated today, we will spend the period looking at current events articles.

First, go to this website and spend a few minutes playing this game exploring what life would be like without the Bill of Rights.

Then, go to this website, also from the Bill of Rights Institute.  Here, you will find a constantly updated collection of current events that somehow link to the Bill of Rights. 

Look at the stories at the center of the page under the "Daily Headlines" heading, or click on one of the topics in the left-hand column.  Browse around until you find a story you'd like to work with today.

Read it carefully and determine which part(s) of the Bill of Rights connects with the story.  Note that sometimes it is stated explicitly in the story while other times it requires more interpretation, understanding, and analysis from you.

Here's what you'll then need to type up and e-mail to us:

1. A headline / topic about your story
2. A summary of the story and the issues it includes
3. A statement about which part of the Bill of Rights you will connect with it.
4. A paragraph explaining the connection, including explicit analysis of how the Amendment applies to your selected story.

Your Presentations - Revolutionary era documents and contemporary images

Click on the number below to view the presentation

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6
• 7
• 8
• 9
• 10
• 11
• 12
• 13
• 14

Documents of the Revolutionary Era and Contemporary Images

As a way to expand our thinking about the concepts, beliefs, and challenges of the Revolutionary Era, you will:
1- Excerpt quotations from the documents we've read
2- Find images from current events that somehow express the ideas those quotations contain
3- Assemble these into a Google Presentation (like a PowerPoint presentation) to share

Which documents?

• Patrick Henry
• Thomas Paine
• Letters between John and Abigail Adams
• The Declaration of Independence

How many quotations?

• At least ten.  They can all come from one of the documents or any combination of them

Where do I find images?  Try some of these sites

• CNN
• Time
• Reuters
• AP
• Yahoo

How do we put a Google Presentation together?

• We will give a quick demonstration of this in class
• Go to Google and sign in
• Go to "Drive" or "Documents"
• Click on "Create" and use the pull-down menu to select "Presentation"
• In this window you can cut and paste the quotations and pictures you selected above into slides
• Each side should have one quotation and one (or more) pictures)
• It will automotically save, but you should give it a name.  When you are finished you'll click on "Share" in the upper right corner.  Change the privacy setting to the middle one: "anyone who has the link."  Copy the link it provides.
• Send an e-mail to Mr. Rigler and / or Mr. Kramer with your link and the names of the people who created the presentation.

Presidential Candidates Speeches and Their Visions (contd.)

Last week, we had an opportunity to examine Mitt Romney's speech accepting the Republican nomination for president.  Last night, Barack Obama gave his speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president.  Your task for today is to analyze President Obama's speech and answer the same question about it that you did for Governor Romney's speech.

You can find excerpts from President Obama's speech here.

How did President Obama answer the question, "what does it mean to be an American"?

Select a quotation from the speech and use it in your response as you continue to add to your Google document from last week (go to your google docs to continue to edit it).  Explain what his quotation means, and how the President is defining what it means to be an American.  Be sure to read what the other members of your group are saying as well.  Allow that to guide, change, or enhance your own response.  Look at your responses on the common document as a continuation of the conversation that you had last week only this time it is about Mr. Obama's  speech.

After you've had the opportunity to examine last night's speech, continue your work by comparing and contrasting your responses from last week to this week.  Do another response where you explore your own views and these two visions.  Which candidate do you think answers the question in a way that more closely aligns with your own views and why?

Group 1 Speeches Reflections
Group 2 Speeches Reflections
Group 3 Speeches Reflections
Group 4 Speeches Reflections
Group 5 Speeches Reflections
Group 6 Speeches Reflections
Group 7 Speeches Reflections
Group 8 Speeches Reflections
Group 9 Speeches Reflections

2012 Presidential Candidate Speeches and Their Vision of America

Last night Governor Mitt Romney formally accepted his party's nomincation as the Republican candidate for President of the United States.  He delivered a speech on the closing night of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fl. 

You can find the text of the speech here.

Read the speech.

For these first few weeks of class we have been exploring the question: What does it mean to be an American?  Now that you've read Mitt Romney's speech, how do you think he answers that question?

Select a quotation from the speech and use it in a response on your Google Document.  Explain what his quotation means, and how he is defining what it means to be an American.  Be sure to read what the other members of your group are saying as well.  Allow that to guide, change, or enhance your own response.  Look at the creation of the common document as a conversation about Mr. Romney's speech.

Group 1 Romney Reflections
Group 2 Romney Reflections
Group 3 Romney Reflections
Group 4 Romney Reflections
Group 5 Romney Reflections
Group 6 Romney Reflections
Group 7 Romney Reflections
Group 8 Romney Reflections
Group 9 Romney Reflections

Next week we'll read what President Obama says to the Democratic National Convention and ask the same questions of his speech.