Showing posts with label historiography. Show all posts
Showing posts with label historiography. Show all posts

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Historiography, Day 6 - Class Recap


The Apollo program was researched by some students as a part of the textbook examination. A few students chose Neil Armstrong or other astronauts as their "Great American" for the comparative biography assignment, as well. This is one of the lunar models build for the Apollo program, now on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.

Hi everyone,

Today was mostly a work day in class on the Comparative Biography assignment, which is due on Friday at the start of the day. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
Behavior LT 1: I can self direct my learning.
Research LT 1: I can effectively conduct and apply research.
Critical Thinking LT 5: I can justify and support arguments or interpretation with appropriate evidence.

Soundtrack: "American Woman" by Lenny Kravitz. Selected for today because many students selected American women for their Comparative Biography assignment, due next class! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 10/3/19:
News Brief - Mehdi
Comparative Biography
Work Time
Names and States

Homework: Read the blog. The Comparative Biography assignment is due Monday at start of class!  The next news brief is assigned to: Kadison.

News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by Mehdi, who selected an article about this story to share with the class: NYTimes.com - Bernie Sanders Is Hospitalized, Raising Questions About His Candidacy. We talked about this story for a bit, and then moved on.

Kadison was selected to do the next news brief.

We also watched the BBC World News update in class. 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):


Comparative Biography: The last part of the "notable Americans" worksheet asked for the name of someone you consider to be a "Great American" - students were allowed to define that however they wanted, however, the person had to be someone that was 1) real, and 2) multiple biographies existed of. With this person in mind, this is the assignment that I introduced last class (also posted in Google Classroom):


We talked about the importance of finding good sources for this (Wikipedia is allowed for this assignment!) as well as how to cite your sources using EasyBib.com or another generator.

This assignment should end up being about 2-3 pages in length, as you look in depth at the biographies you find on your Great American.

Work Time: The rest of class was devoted to work time on the comparative biography assignment,. Please email me or comment with any questions, as this assignment will be due at the start of class on Monday!

Thanks, everyone - see you next class!
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Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Historiography, Day 5 - Class Recap


Many students in class selected Martin Luther King, Jr. as someone who they considered to be a "Great American" to research.

Dear class,

This week, we will be wrapping up our unit on the study of how history is told, by doing a little research of our own. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
Behavior LT 1: I can self direct my learning.
Research LT 1: I can effectively conduct and apply research.
Critical Thinking LT 5: I can justify and support arguments or interpretation with appropriate evidence.

Soundtrack: "Circle of Life" from The Lion King. Selected for today because biographies are a portrait of someone's life. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 10/1/19:
News Brief - Chloe
Debrief Notable Americans
Comparative Biography
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Continue to work on the Comparative Biography – due next Monday at start of class! The next news brief is assigned to: Mehdi.

News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by Chloe, who selected an article about this story: CNN.com - CNN Poll: Support for impeaching Trump rises among independents and Republicans. We discussed this story for a bit and then moved on.

We also checked in about the weekend to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Mehdi was selected 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):

Debrief Notable Americans: The assignment for last class (this was also posted in Google Classroom) was to look at a few short biographies of notable Americans through history and to try and assess any biased words in them, whether or not they achieved the "American Dream," and whether or not this person is a "Great American" - students were able to define this however they wanted. Here are the biographies (try to select a range, not just the first three) and the assignment:



In class today, we talked about the notable Americans and had a conversation about the answers to the questions for each one. This activity transitioned us to...

Comparative Biography: The last part of the "notable Americans" worksheet asked for the name of someone you consider to be a "Great American" - students were allowed to define that however they wanted, however, the person had to be someone that was 1) real, and 2) multiple biographies existed of. With this person in mind, this is the assignment that I introduced today in class (also posted in Google Classroom):


We talked about the importance of finding good sources for this (Wikipedia is allowed for this assignment!) as well as how to cite your sources using EasyBib.com or another generator.

This assignment should end up being about 2-3 pages in length, as you look in depth at the biographies you find on your Great American.

Work Time/Names and States: The rest of class was devoted to work time on the comparative biography assignment, as next class will be as well. Please email me or comment with any questions, as this assignment will be due at the start of class next Monday!

Thanks, everyone - see you later this week! Here's the States quiz on Sporcle to help with studying states. I passed out a class roster with pictures for the names - there will be a quiz next week on these, so study up!
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Friday, September 27, 2019

Historiography, Day 4 - Class Recap


One of the biographies that was an option to read today in class was about Charles Lindburgh, who flew this plane (now on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC) from New York to Paris in 1927.

Hello everyone,

Today, we continued our work with assessing how history is told, by investigating bias and what makes someone a "great" American. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
Behavior LT 1: I can self direct my learning.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Critical Thinking LT 4: I can evaluate information and explanations within a given context and develop a relevant conclusion.

Soundtrack: "Otherside" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Selected for today because of our discussion about bias and being "one sided" in interpretations of history. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/27/19:
News Brief - Meghana
Finish Textbook Examination
Bias and Biographies
Great Americans

Homework: Read the blog. Finish the textbook examination if you did not in class! The next news brief is assigned to: Chloe.

News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by Meghana, who selected an article about this story: NYTimes.com - Document: Read the Whistle-Blower Complaint. We discussed this story for a bit and then moved on.

We also checked in about the weekend to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Chloe was selected 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):

Finish Textbook Examination: This was an activity that we mostly finished last class, and the main goal of today was to analyze how the textbooks have looked at singular events in history, and how that might have changed over time. Here is the assignment that was due today in class (it is graded):


Hopefully this was an interesting activity for you to see! We debriefed this activity in class today and discussed what we saw in terms of how the events were described over the course of time.

If you are at home and wanting to look at the class textbook online, it is available on this website in chapters. If you did not finish this assignment and need to see the old textbooks on the cart, they will be in Ms. Ferris's room, N229, during Period 7 and 8 to access.

Bias and Biographies: Next, we continued to discuss historical perspective, as we defined the term bias. Here's the short PowerPoint that we went through:


Bias is unfairly preferring one person or group over another. This often takes the shape in history of people and events being portrayed in very positive or very negative ways, using language that does not present a "balanced" account of who the person was or what actually happened in the event.

Great Americans: The assignment for today (this is also posted in Google Classroom) was to look at a few short biographies of notable Americans through history and to try and assess any biased words in them, whether or not they achieved the "American Dream," and whether or not this person is a "Great American" - students were able to define this however they wanted. Here are the biographies (try to select a range, not just the first three) and the assignment:



The last part of the assignment asks students to write down someone they consider to be a "Great American" - we will be working with this selection next class, so please make sure it is someone that multiple biographies exist for.

If students finished this in class, I encouraged them to start getting familiar with all of the states in our country, which there will be a test on (probably in a few classes). To help, here's a Sporcle quiz.

Thanks, everyone! See you next week!
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Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Historiography, Day 3 - Class Recap


A passport is a book that also has historical facts in it! This is my favorite page from my older passport. Kiribati is a particularly difficult stamp to get!

Dear students,

I hope you enjoyed our work with looking at how the telling of history has changed through textbook examination! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
Behavior LT 1: I can self direct my learning.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Critical Thinking LT 4: I can evaluate information and explanations within a given context and develop a relevant conclusion.

Soundtrack: "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin. Selected for today because of the five year anniversary of the death of my dad, who loved this band. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/25/19:
News Brief - Moises
Finish "Lies"
Textbook Examination
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Finish the textbook examination if you did not in class! The next news brief is assigned to: Meghana.

News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by Moises, who selected an article about this story: CBSNews.com - Trump call transcript shows he pressed Ukrainian president to probe Biden — live updates. We discussed this story for a while (there were some good questions about it in class!), before moving on.

We also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Meghana was selected 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):

Finish "Lies": Last class, we looked at historical perspective and some of the major "lies" people believe about American history. Today, we finished that look at 7 lies told and tried to understand why that would happen, before using that information to move on to a new assignment.

Textbook Examination: The main goal of today was to analyze how the textbooks have looked at singular events in history, and how that might have changed over time. Here is the assignment that will be due at the start of next class (it is graded - paper copies were available in class or it is also available to submit electronically on Google Classroom):


Hopefully this was an interesting activity for you to see! We also talked in class about the importance of citations when you are researching. I gave an example citation for the textbook as:

Author. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year. Format.

For the main class textbook, this would be:

Danzer, et. al. The Americans. McDougal Littell, 2005. Print.

If you are at home and wanting to look at the textbook online, it is available on this website in chapters.

Work Time: The rest of class was devoted to in class work time, looking at one of your 5 major events and seeing how textbooks have addressed it throughout time. This assignment was due at the end of class and will be graded for the Critical Thinking LT 4. Thanks, everyone! See you next class!
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Monday, September 23, 2019

Historiography, Day 2 - Class Recap


One of the "lies" that James Loewen discusses in his book "Lies My Teacher Told Me" is about Abraham Lincoln being portrayed as single minded in terms of saving the Union, instead of a deep thinker who wrestled with the idea of slavery and the treatment of people of color.

Hello everyone,

Another interesting class today on understanding history! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
Behavior LT 3: I can communicate and work effectively within a team or group.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Soundtrack: "Love the Way You Lie (Clean)" by Eminem and Rihanna. Selected for today because of the connection to "Lies My Teacher Told Me."

AGENDA 9/23/19:
News Brief - Lucy
Important Events
History
The Biggest Lie

Homework: Read the blog. The next news brief is assigned to: Moises.

News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by Lucy, who selected an article about this story: NBCNews.com - Tropical storms Karen and Jerry approaching Puerto Rico, Bermuda. We discussed this story for a bit and then moved on.

We also checked in about the weekend to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Moises was selected 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):


Important Events: Last class, we devoted the end of class for each student to try and identify what they felt the 5 most important events in United States history are. We came back to discussing these events in class today. Next class, we will look a little at what the text book has to say about these events, as we continue to have a critical eye on history.

History: We discussed a question about who or what bears responsibility for the event described, using this excerpt from a book called "What Is History:"


Here's a real life example, regarding an autonomous driving car:


We had another conversation in class about who was to blame for this incident - again, using our interpretations of the facts, as historians do.

The Biggest Lie: Simply put, this is one of the most important books for social studies/history teachers: 


The book came out in 1995, but was recently revised and republished. In class, we read this interview with the author, James Loewen, about the biggest lie that is told in history classes:


As we read, the lie is that America is constantly getting better, all the time, and that there are not times when it is getting worse. We broke up into 7 smaller groups and read through the interview, then I asked the groups to do a little research on the "lies" from the book, which included:

1) Christopher Columbus
2) Woodrow Wilson
3) The first Thanksgiving
4) Betsy Ross
5) Helen Keller
6) John Brown
7) Abraham Lincoln

As a class, we wrote out what we found as the lies about these people/events and had a good discussion about why they are lied about (up to the John Brown group). For more on Thanksgiving, see here: NYTimes.com - Everything You Learned About Thanksgiving Is Wrong. We will come back to this next class! See you then!
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Thursday, September 19, 2019

Historiography, Day 1 - Class Recap


Today in class, we discussed how important perspective is to understanding history. This is a photo taken at the "Four Corners" intersection between Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Photo taken in 2007.

Dear class,

We began a new mini unit on historiography (the study of history) through the lens of American Studies. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
Behavior LT 3: I can communicate and work effectively within a team or group.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Soundtrack: "History" by One Direction. Selected because of our look at what history is today in class. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/19/19:
News Brief - Amin
Gallery Walk
What is History?
Five Events

Homework: Read the blog. The next news brief is assigned to: Lucy.

News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by Amin, who selected an article about this story: BBC.com - American Airlines sabotage mechanic 'has possible IS links'. We talked about this story for a bit in class, before moving on.

We also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Amin was selected to do the next news brief.

As part of the news brief, we usually watch 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):

Gallery Walk: The American Dream poster assignment that we started last class was due today in class for students. As such, I wanted everyone to see what the rest of the class did, so we placed the posters on desks and walked around to see them. I also wanted students to notice if there were any common themes on the posters. I will take these and put them up around the room! If you did not complete the poster, please get it in to me as soon as possible, as it is a graded assignment.

What is History?: Next, we started our new unit on understanding history a bit more. To begin, this is the presentation that we began in class:


Basically, I want students to see that what we think are facts can actually change over time - we will be investigating this more over the coming classes.

Five Events: To start thinking like historians, I asked the class to consider what they thought the five most important events in American history are and why. This is what class ended with today, as students used the textbook or Chromebooks to write what they thought. Here's the list the class came up with as The Five Most Important Events in United States history:

• September 11th, 2001. (21)
• Civil War. (16)
• World War II. (14)
• Civil Rights Movement/MLK Speech. (11)
• Revolutionary War (when the US became a country). (11)
• Moon landing (Apollo 11). (7)
• 13th Amendment to the Constitution, legally ending slavery (6)
• President Obama. (6)
• Great Depression (5)
• Women’s suffrage (right to vote) (3).
• Industrial Revolution (3).
• JFK assassination. (2)
• Lewis and Clark Expedition (2).
• Google’s release date
• The Internet being created.
• Same sex marriage equity.
• Louisiana Purchase/Manifest Destiny.
• California Gold Rush.
• Dust Bowl 

We will continue with this work next class! See you then!
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Friday, September 28, 2018

Historiography, Day 7 - Class Recap


Today in class we did some review on the 50 states as we wrapped up our unit on the study of how history is told.

Dear class,

It was great to be back with you all! It was mostly a final work day for any missing work as we also learned each other's names and reviewed names of states. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
Behavior LT 1: I can self direct my learning.
Research LT 1: I can effectively conduct and apply research.
Critical Thinking LT 5: I can justify and support arguments or interpretation with appropriate evidence.

Soundtrack: "Poker Face" by Lady GaGa. Selected for today because of our class learning names and faces of everyone. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/28/18:
News Brief - Issac
Comparative Biography
States Map
Names/Faces

Homework: Read the blog. The Comparative Biography assignment was due today in class - turn it in on Google Classroom ASAP if you have not already! Study for upcoming states/names quiz next Thursday! The next news brief is assigned to: Trent.

News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by Issac, who selected an article about this story: TheVerge.com - Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook page will be deleted on Sunday, says hacker. We discussed this story for a bit and then moved on.

We also checked in about the weekend to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Trent was selected 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):


Comparative Biography: Last class, you had a guest teacher as I was at a training. I heard that class went well, but the WiFi really was an issue, so I gave a bit more time to students needing wrap up their assignment today. Here it is (also posted in Google Classroom):


We talked about the importance of finding good sources for this (Wikipedia is allowed for this assignment!) as well as how to cite your sources using EasyBib.com or another generator.

This assignment should end up being about 2-3 pages in length, as you look in depth at the biographies you find on your Great American.

States Map: Next, I passed out a blank map of the United States. Students will be quizzed on the states next week on Thursday and spelling counts! Here is the map that I passed out in class:


To practice with this, I introduced the class to this online game (which we played last year a lot with countries of the world): Sporcle.com - States Quiz. Please remember that you will need to know where the state is, as well as how to spell the name of the state, for the quiz on Thursday!

Names/Faces: One of the main takeaways from my work with the 9th Grade Success team on Wednesday was the importance of continuing to build relationships between students in classes. As we brainstormed ideas, we thought one fun way to continue working on this would be to have a quiz on names and faces in the class!

To help with this, I passed out a copy of the class roster with names, nicknames, and pictures in a random order. On the quiz next Thursday, I will use pictures of students that I took in class - these pictures (and the class roster itself) will not be posted online to protect student confidentiality. If you missed class, you need to pick up a copy of the class roster in person to begin studying.

Next week, we will begin our unit on Native American history and contemporary issues, which I am really looking forward to. It will tie in with your work in Lit and Comp with Mr. Puterbaugh well!

Have a great weekend, everyone!
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Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Historiography, Day 6 - Class Recap


The Apollo program was researched by some students as a part of the textbook examination. A few students chose Neil Armstrong or other astronauts as their "Great American" for the comparative biography assignment, as well. This is one of the lunar models build for the Apollo program, now on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.

Hi everyone,

I missed you today in class, as I was out of the building at a 9th Grade Success training with some other Westview teachers! It was mostly a work day with the substitute teacher. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
Behavior LT 1: I can self direct my learning.
Research LT 1: I can effectively conduct and apply research.
Critical Thinking LT 5: I can justify and support arguments or interpretation with appropriate evidence.

AGENDA 9/26/18:
News Brief - Gerardo
Comparative Biography
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. The Comparative Biography assignment is due Friday at start of class! Grades for the textbook examination activity have been posted - make sure you have it done! The next news brief is assigned to: Issac.

News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by Gerardo, who hopefully selected an interesting story related to the United States to talk about.

Issac was selected to do the next news brief.

It is unlikely you watched the BBC World News update, but 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):


Comparative Biography: The last part of the "notable Americans" worksheet asked for the name of someone you consider to be a "Great American" - students were allowed to define that however they wanted, however, the person had to be someone that was 1) real, and 2) multiple biographies existed of. With this person in mind, this is the assignment that I introduced last class (also posted in Google Classroom):


We talked about the importance of finding good sources for this (Wikipedia is allowed for this assignment!) as well as how to cite your sources using EasyBib.com or another generator.

This assignment should end up being about 2-3 pages in length, as you look in depth at the biographies you find on your Great American.

Work Time: The rest of class was devoted to work time on the comparative biography assignment,. Please email me or comment with any questions, as this assignment will be due at the start of class on Friday!

Thanks, everyone - see you next class!
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Monday, September 24, 2018

Historiography, Day 5 - Class Recap


Many students in class selected Martin Luther King, Jr. as someone who they considered to be a "Great American" to research.

Dear class,

This week, we will be wrapping up our unit on the study of how history is told, by doing a little research of our own. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
Behavior LT 1: I can self direct my learning.
Research LT 1: I can effectively conduct and apply research.
Critical Thinking LT 5: I can justify and support arguments or interpretation with appropriate evidence.

Soundtrack: "Circle of Life" from The Lion King. Selected for today because biographies are a portrait of someone's life, and for today being the anniversary of my dad's death in 2014. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/24/18:
News Brief - Ryan O.
Debrief Notable Americans
Comparative Biography
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Continue to work on the Comparative Biography – due Friday at start of class! Be good for the guest teacher on Wednesday! The next news brief is assigned to: Gerardo (Wednesday) and Issac (Friday).

Wildcat News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by Ryan O, who selected an article about this story: WCVB.com - Church that firefighter was supposed to be married in, bursts into flames. We discussed this story for a bit and then moved on.

We also checked in about the weekend to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Gerardo was selected to do the next news brief (and Issac will have it on Friday).

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):

BBCNews.com - One-minute World News

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



Debrief Notable Americans: The assignment for last class (this was also posted in Google Classroom) was to look at a few short biographies of notable Americans through history and to try and assess any biased words in them, whether or not they achieved the "American Dream," and whether or not this person is a "Great American" - students were able to define this however they wanted. Here are the biographies (try to select a range, not just the first three) and the assignment:



In class today, we talked about the notable Americans and had a conversation about the answers to the questions for each one. This activity transitioned us to...

Comparative Biography: The last part of the "notable Americans" worksheet asked for the name of someone you consider to be a "Great American" - students were allowed to define that however they wanted, however, the person had to be someone that was 1) real, and 2) multiple biographies existed of. With this person in mind, this is the assignment that I introduced today in class (also posted in Google Classroom):


We talked about the importance of finding good sources for this (Wikipedia is allowed for this assignment!) as well as how to cite your sources using EasyBib.com or another generator.

This assignment should end up being about 2-3 pages in length, as you look in depth at the biographies you find on your Great American.

Work Time: The rest of class was devoted to work time on the comparative biography assignment, as Wednesday will be as well (you will have a guest teacher, as I am out of the building at an all day meeting). Please email me or comment with any questions, as this assignment will be due at the start of class on Friday!

Thanks, everyone - see you later this week!
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Thursday, September 20, 2018

Historiography, Day 4 - Class Recap


One of the biographies that was an option to read today in class was about Charles Lindburgh, who flew this plane (now on display at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC) from New York to Paris in 1927.

Hello everyone,

Today, we continued our work with assessing how history is told, by investigating bias and what makes someone a "great" American. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
Behavior LT 1: I can self direct my learning.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Critical Thinking LT 4: I can evaluate information and explanations within a given context and develop a relevant conclusion.

Soundtrack: "Otherside" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Selected for today because of our discussion about bias and being "one sided" in interpretations of history. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/20/18:
News Brief - Faith
Finish Textbook Examination
Bias and Biographies
Great Americans

Homework: Read the blog. Finish the textbook examination if you did not in class! The next news brief is assigned to: Ryan O.

News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by Faith, who selected an article about this story: CNN.com - After 'major escalation' in US-China trade war, what happens next?. We discussed this story for a bit and then moved on.

We also checked in about the weekend to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Ryan O. was selected 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):

Finish Textbook Examination: This was an activity that we mostly finished last class, and the main goal of today was to analyze how the textbooks have looked at singular events in history, and how that might have changed over time. Here is the assignment that was due today in class (it is graded):


Hopefully this was an interesting activity for you to see! We debriefed this activity in class today and discussed what we saw in terms of how the events were described over the course of time.

If you are at home and wanting to look at the class textbook online, it is available on this website in chapters.

Bias and Biographies: Next, we continued to discuss historical perspective, as we defined the term bias. Here's the short PowerPoint that we went through:


Bias is unfairly preferring one person or group over another. This often takes the shape in history of people and events being portrayed in very positive or very negative ways, using language that does not present a "balanced" account of who the person was or what actually happened in the event.

Great Americans: The assignment for today (this is also posted in Google Classroom) was to look at a few short biographies of notable Americans through history and to try and assess any biased words in them, whether or not they achieved the "American Dream," and whether or not this person is a "Great American" - students were able to define this however they wanted. Here are the biographies (try to select a range, not just the first three) and the assignment:



The last part of the assignment asks students to write down someone they consider to be a "Great American" - we will be working with this selection next class, so please make sure it is someone that multiple biographies exist for.

Thanks, everyone! See you next week!
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Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Historiography, Day 3 - Class Recap


A passport is a book that also has historical facts in it! This is my favorite page from my older passport. Kiribati is a particularly difficult stamp to get!

Dear students,

I hope you enjoyed our work with looking at how the telling of history has changed through textbook examination! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
Behavior LT 1: I can self direct my learning.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Critical Thinking LT 4: I can evaluate information and explanations within a given context and develop a relevant conclusion.

Soundtrack: "Book of Days" by Enya. Selected for today because of our work with analyzing how the textbooks have changed throughout the course of time.

AGENDA 9/18/18:
News Brief - Gabe
Important Events
Textbook Examination
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Finish the textbook examination if you did not in class! The next news brief is assigned to: Faith.

News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by Gabe, who selected an article about this story: XXLMag.com - XXXTentacion's Sister Thinks His Murder Was an Inside Job. We discussed this story for a bit and then moved on.

We also checked in about the weekend to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Faith was selected 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):

Important Events: The homework from last class was to create your list of what you believe to be the 5 most important events in United States history. As a class, we made a list of your responses to this, in terms of helping everyone think of these, and also, to see how different historians will obviously interpret and analyze history differently.

Textbook Examination: The main goal of today was to analyze how the textbooks have looked at singular events in history, and how that might have changed over time. Here is the assignment that was due today in class (it is graded):


Hopefully this was an interesting activity for you to see! We also talked in class about the importance of citations when you are researching. I gave an example citation for the textbook as:

Author. Title of Book. City of Publication: Publisher, Year. Format.

For the main class textbook, this would be:

Danzer, et. al. The Americans. McDougal Littell, 2005. Print.

If you are at home and wanting to look at the textbook online, it is available on this website in chapters.

Work Time: The rest of class was devoted to in class work time, looking at one of your 5 major events and seeing how textbooks have addressed it throughout time. This assignment was due at the end of class and will be graded for the Critical Thinking LT 4. Thanks, everyone! See you on Thursday!
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Friday, September 14, 2018

Historiography, Day 2 - Class Recap


One of the "lies" that James Loewen discusses in his book "Lies My Teacher Told Me" is about Abraham Lincoln being portrayed as single minded in terms of saving the Union, instead of a deep thinker who wrestled with the idea of slavery and the treatment of people of color.

Hello everyone,

Another interesting class today on understanding history! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
Behavior LT 3: I can communicate and work effectively within a team or group.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Soundtrack: "Love the Way You Lie (Clean)" by Eminem and Rihanna. Selected for today because of the connection to "Lies My Teacher Told Me."

AGENDA 9/14/18:
News Brief - Connor
History
The Biggest Lie
Important Events

Homework: Read the blog. Create your list of the 5 most important events in United States history - due at the start of next class. The next news brief is assigned to: Gabe.

News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by Connor, who selected an article about this story: FoxNews.com - 93-year-old 'Candy Man' from Iowa buys his neighbors chocolate every week. We discussed this story for a bit and then moved on.

We also checked in about the weekend to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Gabe was selected 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):

History: Last class, we discussed a question about who or what bears responsibility for the event described. Here's a real life example, regarding an autonomous driving car:


We had another conversation in class about who was to blame for this incident - again, using our interpretations of the facts, as historians do.

The Biggest Lie: Simply put, this is one of the most important books for social studies/history teachers: 


The book came out in 1995, but was recently revised and republished. In class, we read this interview with the author, James Loewen, about the biggest lie that is told in history classes:


As we read, the lie is that America is constantly getting better, all the time, and that there are not times when it is getting worse. We broke up into 7 smaller groups and read through the interview, then I asked the groups to do a little research on the "lies" from the book, which included:

1) Christopher Columbus
2) Woodrow Wilson
3) The first Thanksgiving
4) Betsy Ross
5) Helen Keller
6) John Brown
7) Abraham Lincoln

As a class, we wrote out what we found as the lies about these people/events and had a good discussion about why they are lied about.

Important Events: With this in mind, we devoted the end of class for each student to try and identify what they felt the 5 most important events in United States history are. If you did not finish this today in class, it is homework. Next time, we will look a little at what the text book has to say about these events, as we continue to have a critical eye on history. See you next week!
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Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Historiography, Day 1 - Class Recap


Today in class, we discussed how important perspective is to understanding history. This is a photo taken at the "Four Corners" intersection between Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah. Photo taken in 2007.

Dear class,

We began a new mini unit on historiography (the study of history) through the lens of American Studies. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
Behavior LT 3: I can communicate and work effectively within a team or group.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Soundtrack: "History" by One Direction. Selected because of our look at what history is today in class. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/12/18:
News Brief - McKenzie
Revisit 9/11 and 12/7
What is History?
The Biggest Lie

Homework: Read the blog. The next news brief is assigned to: Connor.

News Brief: Today's news brief was brought in by McKenzie, who selected an article about this story: USGS.gov - M 4.2 - 70km SSW of Kaktovik, Alaska. We discussed this story for a bit (as well as the ongoing controversy about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and whether or not to drill there) and then moved on.

We also checked in to see if anyone was up to anything interesting or fun outside of class.

Connor was selected 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):

Revisit 9/11 and 12/7: Because we did not have much time at the end of last class, I wanted to come back to analyzing the two speeches from US presidents about these two days: President George W. Bush on 9/11 and President FDR on 12/7. Here are the speeches:


The questions we looked at were here:

Are there common themes running through these speeches? Be specific.

•  What was the reason for delivering each of these speeches?
•  What effect do you think each of these speeches had on the nation and/or the rest of the world?
•  What are the most important lines in each of these speeches?

I was also curious to hear any stories that students had related to 9/11 or 12/7 that they were willing to share in class. Thanks, everyone!

What is History?: Next, we started our new unit on understanding history a bit more. To begin, this is the presentation that we began in class:


The reading that we did in class from Edward Hallet Carr's book "What is History?" can be found here:


Please note the vocabulary at the bottom, which we went over as a class before reading the excerpt.

As a class, we discussed the story's question about who or what bears responsibility for the event described. This is exactly what historians do all of the time!

Due to the shortened Wednesday schedule today, this is all that we covered in class. See you on Friday!
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