You will have the opportunity to retake your quiz on Tuesday in class. You will need to come prepared with your COLONIES CHART and your OLD QUIZ. If you do not have the first item, look on the old posts for the links. If you don't have the second item, you will have to take the WHOLE quiz over again - otherwise, you only need to do the parts that you did poorly on.
The quiz will be the SAME content, DIFFERENT format. You need to tell me on Friday if you want to retake!
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
"Taxation Without Representation is Tyranny!" October 8/9, 2014
The assembly yesterday threw us off a bit, so I am wrapping today's class and tomorrow's class into one big blog post. Here we go:
Per 1, 2, and 5 got through our activity summarizing the major ideas we charted on the graphic organizer yesterday, and experienced the tyranny of British rule in "The King's M&Ms". Tomorrow (Thursday), they will start completing an outline of Chapter 6.
Per 6 & 7 finished the graphic organizers and did a practice round of summarizing for one or two of the categories on the graphic organizer. Tomorrow, they will complete the summarization activity and experience the tyranny of British rule.
We have TESTING, oh fun oh joy, on Friday and Tuesday. Stay tuned for more details.
HOMEWORK: Your Impressions of America assignment is due Friday. I don't care if you're in per 1 & 2, you need to get it to me sometime that day.
Below is a picture of our thinking, courtesy of Celine, Mark R., Mike C., and Hannah O.:
Per 1, 2, and 5 got through our activity summarizing the major ideas we charted on the graphic organizer yesterday, and experienced the tyranny of British rule in "The King's M&Ms". Tomorrow (Thursday), they will start completing an outline of Chapter 6.
Per 6 & 7 finished the graphic organizers and did a practice round of summarizing for one or two of the categories on the graphic organizer. Tomorrow, they will complete the summarization activity and experience the tyranny of British rule.
We have TESTING, oh fun oh joy, on Friday and Tuesday. Stay tuned for more details.
HOMEWORK: Your Impressions of America assignment is due Friday. I don't care if you're in per 1 & 2, you need to get it to me sometime that day.
Below is a picture of our thinking, courtesy of Celine, Mark R., Mike C., and Hannah O.:
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
"If I Am Not For Myself, Who Will Be For Me?": October 7, 2014
Today we had a nice, relaxed day taking some notes on a graphic organizer. Here's Zoe diligently working, getting photobombed by Reilly! The purpose of the graphic organizer is to help you gather some ideas about how American colonists were starting to develop a different identity from their British compatriots. Keep these ideas in mind as we start talking about the road to Revolution.
Today we also have a fantastic opportunity to see history presented in a different way from usual. We are fortunate to be hosting Gwendolyn Quezaire-Presutti, performing as Oney Judge Staines, the runaway slave of Martha Washington. To prepare for this role, she spent many years researching Oney's life, relying heavily on primary source documents and evidence to craft her performance. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks to Nick V. and Greta S. for opening and closing our presentation!
Here is a picture of Ms. Quezaire-Presutti in character. She is performing tonight at the Exeter Historical Society at 7 pm, if your parents would like to see her:
HOMEWORK: Tonight, you need to write up a brief statement of the following:
* What product do you intend to make for your Impressions of America assignment?
* What supplies do you need, and do you have them?
* What plan do you have to get this done? When will you work on this, and for how long?
If you want to make up your quiz, you also need to write up a brief plan for how you are going to prepare (take more notes, re-read chapter sections, correct original quiz, or….) and when you are available for a retake.
Monday, October 6, 2014
A New Way of Being: October 6, 2014
Today in class, we began to look at the aftermath of the French and Indian War, and the impact this event had on the colonies. We started by sharing some of our homework responses and looking at the idea of trigger incidences - events that start a series of chain reactions, leading to another major event. An example of a trigger incident might be injuring yourself in PE, for example. Let's say you sprain your wrist in PE one day. The wrist is your writing hand, so you can't do schoolwork for a couple of days. You get behind in your schoolwork, and then your grades fall. Your parents look at your grades on PowerSchool and realize you have - shock and horror! - a C- in your very most favorite class, US History!!! They ground you until you are 35 and you get in an epic name-calling screaming fight. The trigger incident in this case was injuring your wrist, and the major event would be the epic fight.
We also looked at how the colonies were starting to get ideas and attitudes that were different from the mother country's ideas and attitudes. Colonists were used to living with very few rules or restrictions placed on them by England, under the policy of salutary neglect - the official British policy of leaving the colonies to manage themselves as long as they (the colonies) were profiting the mother country. The French and Indian War left England with an enormous war debt to pay off, so be on the lookout for how that affects their relationship with and to the colonies.
We ended by looking at a clip from Last of the Mohicans, where a British military recruiter comes face-to-face with the new attitude of the colonists, and he doesn't really like what he sees.
If you missed class today, please see me when you get back to find out what you need to do.
HOMEWORK: All week, we will be working on an assignment called Impressions of America. For tomorrow, I want you to have identified what kind of product you want to create for this assignment. The final product is due FRIDAY.
We also looked at how the colonies were starting to get ideas and attitudes that were different from the mother country's ideas and attitudes. Colonists were used to living with very few rules or restrictions placed on them by England, under the policy of salutary neglect - the official British policy of leaving the colonies to manage themselves as long as they (the colonies) were profiting the mother country. The French and Indian War left England with an enormous war debt to pay off, so be on the lookout for how that affects their relationship with and to the colonies.
We ended by looking at a clip from Last of the Mohicans, where a British military recruiter comes face-to-face with the new attitude of the colonists, and he doesn't really like what he sees.
If you missed class today, please see me when you get back to find out what you need to do.
HOMEWORK: All week, we will be working on an assignment called Impressions of America. For tomorrow, I want you to have identified what kind of product you want to create for this assignment. The final product is due FRIDAY.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Reading Between the Questions: October 3, 2014
Today, we spent our second and last day reading, reviewing, and reflecting upon the textbook section on the French and Indian War to answer our self-generated questions. One thing a lot of you have discovered is that the textbook doesn't answer all your questions - NOR SHOULD IT. If you are REALLY thinking and REALLY inquiring and REALLY learning, your questions are going to be far more wide-ranging, interesting, and complex than any one source can answer.
I'm very pleased with the "lightbulb" moments I saw a lot of you reach. More than once, I overheard someone say, "Oh! That answers the question we had right here," or, "Hey, wait, we asked a question about that." Let me tell you, every teacher LIVES for those moments!!!
HOMEWORK: You have a very brief reading to read and a chart to complete to wrap up our discussion of the F&I War.
If you lost your copy, here is a link to the reading.
You also need a copy of the chart that goes with it.
I'll leave you with a video clip of Emma and Hannah demonstrating the power of deep and insightful reading:
I'm very pleased with the "lightbulb" moments I saw a lot of you reach. More than once, I overheard someone say, "Oh! That answers the question we had right here," or, "Hey, wait, we asked a question about that." Let me tell you, every teacher LIVES for those moments!!!
HOMEWORK: You have a very brief reading to read and a chart to complete to wrap up our discussion of the F&I War.
If you lost your copy, here is a link to the reading.
You also need a copy of the chart that goes with it.
I'll leave you with a video clip of Emma and Hannah demonstrating the power of deep and insightful reading:
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Reading Like a BOSS: October 2, 2014
HOMEWORK: If you did not read the handout you were given yesterday and answer the questions to Input #6, please do so tonight. Look at yesterday's blog post if you need more explanation.
First, let's all admire these pictures of Nick, Al, and Collin KILLIN' IT in Social Studies today!
In class, I made the analogy that our brains function a lot like this Velcro wall here. The stuff you already know is the wall - it's covered with the information you've learned and remember from the past. The new learning, whether it's from a text or a video or painful experience, is the suit with the opposite side of the Velcro on it. Now, the more strips you have on your Velcro wall - the more you already know or have experienced about a topic - the more likely it is that the new learning (the kid in the Velcro suit) will "stick" and you'll understand it. The less you know, the less likely it is that the learning will stick, and/or the more work it's going to take for you to find a way to make that information stick.
The activity we've been doing, the Question-Building, is intended to help you build that Velcro wall BEFORE you read the textbook. I could have asked you, "Read the section in the text and tell me what caused the French and Indian War, and what effect it had on the colonies." Some of you probably could find some ideas in the book to repeat back to me, but for a lot of you, it would not have been a very effective assignment. Now that we've spent some time looking at pictures, reading maps, analyzing quotes, and so on, you've built a Velcro wall for your reading to stick to. The goal is for you to UNDERSTAND what we're reading and and learning and thinking about in class, not just go on an answer hunt for the "right" response and spit it back to me!
So today and tomorrow, you will be reviewing the questions you generated and reading the text to try to answer as many of those questions your group generated as possible. If you can't answer all of your questions, THAT'S GREAT - it means that you have more "loops" in your Velcro wall than you did before. Now, when you hear a snippet of information about the F&I War in the news, or a reference in a movie, or see a poster or walk by a museum exhibit, you may have that Aha! moment when you finally get an answer to your unanswered questions! Remember, learning is a messy, unpredictable, demanding, and sometimes frustrating business - but only if you're doing it correctly. ;)
First, let's all admire these pictures of Nick, Al, and Collin KILLIN' IT in Social Studies today!
Awwww yeahhhhh. That is some HIGH QUALITY thinking and learning going on!!!!
What these gentlemen are demonstrating is the second phase of the Question Building process, which we completed in class today. Now that you've had time to go through some or all of the evidence available to you, you spent some time in class reviewing the questions that arose while you worked. We are going to use these questions as Focus Questions for our reading. What is the point of Focus Questions? Well, I'm so glad you asked!
In class, I made the analogy that our brains function a lot like this Velcro wall here. The stuff you already know is the wall - it's covered with the information you've learned and remember from the past. The new learning, whether it's from a text or a video or painful experience, is the suit with the opposite side of the Velcro on it. Now, the more strips you have on your Velcro wall - the more you already know or have experienced about a topic - the more likely it is that the new learning (the kid in the Velcro suit) will "stick" and you'll understand it. The less you know, the less likely it is that the learning will stick, and/or the more work it's going to take for you to find a way to make that information stick.
The activity we've been doing, the Question-Building, is intended to help you build that Velcro wall BEFORE you read the textbook. I could have asked you, "Read the section in the text and tell me what caused the French and Indian War, and what effect it had on the colonies." Some of you probably could find some ideas in the book to repeat back to me, but for a lot of you, it would not have been a very effective assignment. Now that we've spent some time looking at pictures, reading maps, analyzing quotes, and so on, you've built a Velcro wall for your reading to stick to. The goal is for you to UNDERSTAND what we're reading and and learning and thinking about in class, not just go on an answer hunt for the "right" response and spit it back to me!
So today and tomorrow, you will be reviewing the questions you generated and reading the text to try to answer as many of those questions your group generated as possible. If you can't answer all of your questions, THAT'S GREAT - it means that you have more "loops" in your Velcro wall than you did before. Now, when you hear a snippet of information about the F&I War in the news, or a reference in a movie, or see a poster or walk by a museum exhibit, you may have that Aha! moment when you finally get an answer to your unanswered questions! Remember, learning is a messy, unpredictable, demanding, and sometimes frustrating business - but only if you're doing it correctly. ;)
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Natives and English and French, Oh My! OCTOBER 1, 2014
It's OCTOBER, people!!!! Doesn't it seem like just a week ago we were looking at late August on the calendar???
Anyway, today in class, we continued with the process of reviewing evidence, drawing conclusions from the evidence, and formulating questions. Tomorrow you will be using the textbook to help you answer the questions you drafted.
HOMEWORK: First of all, if you did not get the quiz questions revised, you NEED to do that ASAP. If you need links to the textbook, go to yesterday's blog post and find the link.
Your NEW homework involves your Question Building chart. You were given (or should have picked up) a reading at the end of class about the Albany Plan of Union. It has the cut-up snake picture on the front.
Anyway, today in class, we continued with the process of reviewing evidence, drawing conclusions from the evidence, and formulating questions. Tomorrow you will be using the textbook to help you answer the questions you drafted.
HOMEWORK: First of all, if you did not get the quiz questions revised, you NEED to do that ASAP. If you need links to the textbook, go to yesterday's blog post and find the link.
Your NEW homework involves your Question Building chart. You were given (or should have picked up) a reading at the end of class about the Albany Plan of Union. It has the cut-up snake picture on the front.
- Find the chart and look at the questions you came up with for input #6.
- Read the handout.
- Review the questions you raised.
- Try to answer as many of the questions you raised as you can.
- You can put your answers in the last box of the chart, or on separate paper.
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