Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Historical Investigation/Cold War, Day 8 - Class Recap


I have not been to Salem, Massachusetts, but I have been to Boston, and this is a photo of Paul Revere's house, still standing there! It was built in 1680, and the Salem Witch Trials were 1692-3. Photo taken in 2009.

Dear class,

As indicated on the Historical Investigation calendar, today was an open wall class where we watched The Crucible (about the Salem Witch Trials), to continue to understand how mass hysteria occurs. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets Addressed:
Critical Thinking LT 4: I can evaluate information and explanations within a given context and develop a relevant conclusion.
Critical Thinking LT 5: I can justify and support arguments or interpretation with appropriate evidence.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Research LT 1: I can effectively conduct and apply research.

Soundtrack: "Hells Bells" by AC/DC. Selected for today because of the film watched in class and connection to witchcraft. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/16/19:
Wildcat News Brief - Ryan O.
The Crucible
Historical Investigation Work Time

Homework: Read the blog! Continue working on your Historical Investigation outside of class! Next news brief: Kiran.

News Brief: Ryan O. had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: Engadget.com - Lyft removes e-bikes from various cities over unexpectedly strong brakes. After discussing the story, we also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Kiran was assigned to do the next news brief.

As part of the news brief, we also watched the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):


Finally, we also watched Westview Wildcat News today in class. Here it is if you missed class or wanted to see it again:


The Crucible: The reason we had open walls today in class was that in Lit and Comp 10, students will be starting to read and analyze the play The Crucible, especially as it relates to mass hysteria, which is what our American Studies class has been working on for the past couple of weeks. Here is the worksheet that we asked students to complete as we watched the film:


If you were only in class for one period (due to not having Mr. Puterbaugh as your teacher), that is fine - do not worry about finishing the film on your own.

It was great to see how engaged students were with this film and in the aftermath, discussing what happened, as well as how it related to history! Yay!

Historical Investigation Work Time: This is the major assignment of the semester, which will involve quite a lot of research time inside and outside of class. Here's the assignment overview:


We are now on the biggest section of the Historical Investigation: the actual research! Here's what we went over in class as an example from Mrs. Ferris:


Here's the calendar for the next month and what we will be doing - be aware that this is subject to change and revision!


The rest of the class was devoted to work time on the Historical Investigation. Next class will mostly be a work day, though I also want to look at the role of "fake news" in spreading mass hysteria, so we will spend some time reading to prepare for a discussion next week.

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