Winners, Losers, and Mercantilism: September 30, 2015

Today, we wrapped up our mercantilism game and you guys debriefed the activity before leaving class.  The point of the activity was to teach you what the policy of mercantilism was and how it led to the development of the 13 colonies (and we live in one of them!).  Tomorrow, we'll look at how well the activity hit the target, and we'll start learning about the development of the 13 colonies into distinct regions.

Don't forget that next week you'll be retaking your "pop quiz" on the original 13 colonies! Practice your colonies!  Below is a link to the worksheet for tonight.  Look at the earlier blog post for the practice materials on the colonies.

Mercantilism Worksheet

Riches, Fame, and the Mercantilism Game!!! September 29, 2015

Today in class, we played a game to help you grasp the concept of mercantilism. This was the guiding economic principle that all the European powers followed during the 1600's and 1700's. According to mercantilism, the way to become a powerful country was by stockpiling silver and gold and establishing colonies to generate raw materials and buy finished goods back from the "mother country."

We did not finish playing our game in class today, so we will spend tomorrow wrapping up the game and finding out what you learned/remember about mercantilism.  See you tomorrow!  Enjoy the break from homework, but remember, next week you will be retested on the original 13 colonies.  Map and key on yesterday's blog post.

Primary vs. Secondary Sources: September 28, 2015

Hello -
Today we started with a "pop quiz" (except it's not really a quiz) about the 13 original colonies.  Next week, you will see the same assignment again, and you will get a chance to redo it for a better score.  If you earned a 13 or 14 out of 14, you are excused from the retake.  If you still don't do well, you need to find another time to do your retake.  I have linked a blank practice map and an answer key below.

Otherwise, we wrapped up our primary/secondary source lesson today.  We reviewed the Mayflower Compact and what makes it a primary source.  The good news is, the Mayflower Compact is the hardest primary source you will read all year, so now that's out of the way!  Then, we returned to Q1-3 and identified if the sources listed were primary or secondary, or neither.  You seemed to do pretty well with that process.

HWK:  Bring in a piece of primary source evidence that proves what YOU did this summer. Remember, primary source evidence means it is firsthand knowledge, from an eyewitness, or original to the times.  It does not need to be a document - it can be a photograph, a ticket stub, a program from an event, whatever you have!

Blank colonies map

Colonies answer key

Happy Weekend! September 25, 2015

Everyone took a quiz today.  I hope you did well!  If you did not get a chance to check my nameless wonders for your work, please do so as soon as you can.  This is a good time to check your grade in PowerSchool and look for any missing work that you don't have credited to you.  Please turn it in as soon as possible.

Homework:  Per 7, the following is due for you on TUESDAY.

Choose ONE of your educated guesses from assignment Q-4.  Confirm - were you right or not?  However, please make sure you CITE EVIDENCE to prove why you were right or wrong (meaning, tell me where you found proof - textbook, New Look book, or through your own research).

Firsthand Knowledge and Ready for Assessment: September 24, 2015

First of all, here is an online study aid for the quiz tomorrow:

Quizlet link

Play around with the features on this site!  It will help you study and review in a number of ways.

Today in class, we are learning about primary sources and what those are by examining one of the most famous primary sources in our history that you've never heard of - the Mayflower Compact.  You're going to look at this document very closely, to see what you can (and can't!) figure out from these sources.  We'll be looking at primary sources all year, so this is an important concept.  Hope you get to have some fun with it, too!

More Swimming! September 23, 2015

Today, all our classes had time to participate in a fishbowl discussion.  It went well and I was pleased with how you did!  We will continue to do this at regular intervals through the year.  I hope you enjoyed having a chance to chat with your compadres, and had at least one time when you heard something or read something that made you think.  In our discussions, we talked about how mass entertainment portrays different groups of people, such as teens or Native Americans, and how that can affect what we think about them.

HOMEWORK:  Prepare for your quiz Friday!  I have attached the PowerPoint we used in class today to review.

Review PowerPoint

Swimming with the Fishes: September 22, 2015

Today in class, most classes started a fishbowl discussion about -- well, a lot of things: Native Americans, mass media, entertainment, historical fact vs. historical fiction, and whose responsibility it is to tell the truth.  You did very well and I look forward to continuing our discussion tomorrow!

I also announced our first quiz, coming up on Friday.  We will be doing some review questions tomorrow and Thursday at the beginning of class.  It is based on the five terms associated with historical thinking on our handout.  Let me know if you have any questions....

HOMEWORK:  Read the article given in class.  Choose four to five statements from the article that made you think.  Set up a T-chart on your paper with quotes on one side, and your response on the other.

If you were in per 1 - 6, read the Thanksgiving article.
Thanksgiving articleIf you were in per 7, read the Pocahontas article.
Pocahontas article

Disney History: September 21, 2015

Hey guys!  Today, most of my classes prepared for a fishbowl discussion about the Disney movie Pocahontas versus historical reality.  Per 7, you guys missed a class last week, so we are trying to catch up to the other four classes.

What you need to do outside class (aka The Work of Home):

Per 1 - 6:
Take out your "Earliest Colonies" word sort (Q1-4).  Choose ONE of your "Educated Guess"es from the back of the sheet, and confirm whether you were right or not!  HOWEVER ... the key part is, cite your source for your information!  For example:

"As the textbook shows...."
"According to the New Look book...."

If you did not find an answer to your educated guess, use your smart device and find out!  Just make sure to cite your source in your answer.

Per 7:
Read the "Thanksgiving: A Day of Mourning" article given in class.  Highlight what you think are the FIVE most important points in the article.  Bring it to class tomorrow!

Happy Friday! September 18, 2015

More to come soon, but here are the readings:

New Look at Thanksgiving - Plymouth

New Look at Jamestown

Per 7, get the handout from yesterday's blog post.

Were You A Survivor? September 16 and 17, 2015

Today in class, we got a chance to talk about your understanding of "conflict" and "cooperation".  These terms are important to us this year, because in some ways, the story of human existence can be summed up as the tension between these two opposites. As we continue our work on the early colonies, keep in mind how razor-thin the margin between survival and failure can be, and how that might push the colonists to compete for scarce and necessary resources!

The work - By now, most of you are finished with your textbook summary note sheet.  Once you are done with that, you can work on one of the following:

• Venn diagram of Jamestown and Plymouth
• Note sheet on your assigned "New Look" book - 1607/Jamestown or 1620/Plymouth

We will continue to work on this in class tomorrow.  See me to check off assignments (textbook, Venn diagram, note sheet) as you complete them.

HOMEWORK:

Wednesday, 9/16 - nothing new

Thursday, 9/17 - self-assigned/20 minutes' work on the Jamestown primary source handout given in class.

Jamestown Primary Source worksheet

What Did We Learn? September 15, 2015

Yesterday, I took you out in the woods to walk in the shoes of the first settlers - at least for fifty minutes!  You were given the task of trying to help your "colony" survive the first winter by finding food, shelter, and resources, as evidenced by creating a popsicle stick house as a group.  However, most groups did not have enough of all the resources to create the house alone.  Whether you chose to work with the other groups or against them, you had to make choices - often very interesting choices - about whether to cooperate or come into conflict with other groups!

Today, you had a special guest star playing the role of Mrs. Siecke.  You continued the work of learning about the first colonies by gathering information on a graphic organizer, which you may or may not have finished in class.

HOMEWORK:  For tonight, you got a debriefing handout about yesterday's activity to complete.  If you weren't here, complete JUST the first two questions and write "ABSENT" at the top.  Thanks!

Get Your Story Straight: September 11, 2015

Hi everyone,
I hope you had a good time reliving an event from your past and seeing what someone else had to say about it!  I always enjoying looking over this assignment and reading your responses.  We also got ready to start taking notes on Jamestown and Plymouth.

No new homework tonight.  Next week, we are going to hit it hard with Jamestown and Plymouth, after a day of experiential learning on the ropes course.  Please make sure (!!!) if you have not gotten a ropes course form to us, bring in one on Monday!  I have posted a link below.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Ropes Course Form

No News is Good News: September 10, 2015

No homework tonight.  If you were absent today, we did a warm-up activity and then watched the rest of the video we started yesterday.  I can get you a link to the video if you need it.  See you tomorrow!

You Know More Than You Think You Do: September 9, 2015

Today in class, we started transitioning from talking about historical thinking to talking about historical content.  Our first content unit is about the earliest British colonies that survived, those being Jamestown and Plymouth.  I know you all have some familiarity with something to do with these colonies, and our work in class today focused on drawing out what you already know (we call that "prior knowledge" in teacher talk).  Then we started looking at an old educational video about the two colonies so we can apply our knowledge about perspective and bias.  Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

HWK:  Complete Part 2 of the worksheet handed out in class today, completing the sentence stems on the back of the handout.  If you want some guidance on how long you should work, do as much as you can in about 20 minutes of effort.  If you need another copy of the handout, it is linked below.

The Earliest Colonies Prior Learning Worksheet

Trustworthy Sources: September 8, 2015

Hey everyone,
Today we shared our work on evaluating the trustworthiness of different kinds of sources.  You got a chance to share your thinking, either as a "victim" or a "volunteer," about what makes a source more suitable than another.

Per 1, 2, 5, and 7 all finished this assignment last week and discussed it today.  Per 6 worked on it in class and submitted it today.

HWK:  All classes EXCEPT per 6 need to turn in the second half of their personal story for Evaluating Sources TOMORROW.  Per 6, it is due for you on THURSDAY.

No Trust Issues Here: Thursday, September 3, 2015

Our guiding question for class today was, "what is trust?"  We all nod understandingly when our friends say something is trustworthy, but what do we mean by that? To an historian, trust is critically important, and not something to be taken lightly.  The sources we read, the people we believe, the artifacts we examine, all these need to be handled with an eye toward this important concept.

In class today, we started by discussing "trust" and what that means.  Then you worked in round-robin partner interviews to choose trustworthy sources in a worksheet exercise. When we reconvene on Tuesday, we will talk as a class about the sources we chose and why we trust one source over another.  Eventually we will be looking at OURSELVES as sources, and deciding if we're the most trustworthy option or not!

HWK:  Today, you passed in your half of your two-part personal story (Evaluating Sources).  Your homework is to have the other person involved write out his or her part for WEDNESDAY.  If you need a copy, it's linked under yesterday's blog post.

If you and a fellow Team 12'er are talking about the same story, you do NOT need to do this again.  HOORAY!!  On Tuesday, I'll collect names of kids who need me to make copies and we'll deal with it from there.

Thanks everyone, have a great weekend, and....FREE TOM BRADY!!!

Thinking Like An Historian, Day 2: September 2, 2015

Congratulations - Day 3 is in the books!  We used our new vocab terms today to talk about a current event, the renaming of Mt. McKinley in Alaska.  You did a good job looking at this issue from multiple perspectives and identifying the biases and perspectives different groups and individuals would have.

For the next part of this unit, you will be looking at how hard it is to get one accurate account of any given event.  Your homework for tonight is to complete the first part of the "Evaluating Sources" assignment - choose one major event or memorable story from your life, and share it on the first page of the handout.

Evaluating Sources, parts A and B

Thinking Like An Historian: September 1, 2015

Today in class, we discussed some of the issues that historians have to consider by defining terms that influence our understanding of history.  We defined perception, perspective, bias, and interpretation, and then most of my classes spent time discussing how they would figure out what really happened if they were Mr. Perkins investigating a fight in the cafeteria.

HOMEWORK:  Complete assignment Q1-1, "The Lunchroom Fight". Spend 15-20 minutes drafting possible questions to find out what happened, using "w" words as your guideline.  If you lost your handout, it is linked below.

The Lunchroom Fight