Final Draft: What It Means to be an American

Rough Draft: What It Means to Be An American

4/11/12

This week in history we began the week with a quiz on the Star Spangled Banner. I think I did very well on this quiz because I have known the song for a very long time. Next we continued on and learned about the construction of the Erie Canal. This canal was built in 1817 to promote Westward Expansion and trade. The canal opened America to new space and resources, but also spread disease and took land from American Indians. Next we learned about the Oregon Trail and the Plan of Manifest Destiny which both also promoted westward expansion.

This week in English we finished reading Into the Wild. Overall in this book I enjoyed learning about the exciting journey of Chris McCandless, but I really didn't like the chapters about the authors Northern voyage or the chapters that spent much too long analyzing Chris's personality. I think these chapters did add to the overall effect of the novel and gave it great organization, but these chapters were not very interesting to read about and just really dragged on.

A connection I made between History and English this week was between a man brought up in Into the Wild named Sir John Franklin and the quest of Lewis and Clark. My connection between these people is that Franklin was given the task of searching the Western area of Alaska in order to find the "Northwest Passage". Like Franklin, Lewis and Clark were also given the task to look for this rumored "Northwest Passage". In the end, neither parties found this Northwest passage because it does not exist.

4/6/12

This week in History we began learning about the expedition of Lewis and Clark. These two men were hired to set out and explore the new territory of America and to seek a specific passage. Although they did not find the passage because it did not exist, they discovered many new things while exploring this territory. By participating as a class on an online game on the projector, we learned many dangerous obstacles Lewis and Clark had to face on their journey including bears, storms, indians, and illness. We finished the week by learning about the British Invasion Plan during the war. The British bombedWashington D.C, but their plan was stopped at the Great :Lakes and in New Orleans.

This week in English we continued to read Into The Wild. So far I really like this book. We learn very early in the book that Chris dies in the abandoned bus of starvation and his body is found by hikers. This part of the story really interested me because it made me want to learn more about Chris's life and what provoked him to live so dangerously out in the wild when he had such a good life at home. Besides his problems with his parents, Chris lived a really good life in society. He had plenty of friends and was a smart kid with a bright future ahead of him, so what made him throw all that away?

A connection I could make this week between history and english class was that the journey of Chris Mccandless into the wild was much like th journey of Lewis and Clark into the Unknown. Both journeys were by foot, and both had to face many obstacles along the way. A difference between these two journeys is that Chris had many oppurtunities to make his journey easier, but did not take them while Lewis and Clark took every chance they could to ensure their own survival and make the trip short and easy.

4/1/12

This week in history we learned about de facto and de jure segregation. De facto segregation is segregation by choice, meaning people are seperated because of social conditions such as poverty. De jure segregation is segregation by law, meaning that people are segregated by the governments orders. This week we were also given the study guide for the test and the test was on friday. I thought this test was relatively easy because I prepared really hard and learned all the terms really well by creating helpful flashcards.

\This week in English we have started to receive papers for our notebooks for the book we are starting called Into the Wild. I already saw the movie during environmental science, so I think this will be a pretty good book! In the movie, a seemingly normal, smart kid just graduating highschool leaves his life and ventures out into the wild alone. He travels all the way to Alaska where he sets up camp in an abandoned bus. Throughout his journey he has many new experiences and meets many interesting people he befriends.

A connection I could make between my two classes is that Chris McCandless from into the Wild was much like African Americans during the civil rights movement. African Americans did everything they could to acheive freedom and eventuall happiness. Chris Mccandless did everything he could to acheive freedom from his controlling parents and acheive happiness in the wild.

3/24/12

This week in History we only had class on friday because we dropped class monday and had MCAS testing for the remainder of the school week. In Class on friday, we were given a set of ten pictures and a set of 9 captions, and given the task of arranging these photographs into chronological order on a timeline and arranging the 9 captions to go along with the pictures. After arranging them, we were given a posterboard to glue the timeline onto. When we went over the timeline, my group had a lot of pictures in different places from the other groups ordering.

This week all we did in english was meet twice and watch the To Kill a Mockingbird movie. The part we were at in the movie is where Scout and Jem are attacked by Bob Ewell and saved by Boo Radley. This part was interesting because when I read the book, I pictured Boo Radley as a young, shy boy. In the movie i was surprised when he was portrayed as a large man looking like he was around 30 who crept from behind the door. In the book I pictured Boo a lot younger and a whole lot less creepy.

I was unable to create a connection between the two classes this week because I didnt have enough classes that had similarities.We only did the timeline and watched the movie, which did not have anything to do with eachother. The only connection I could make between the two classes was that we didnt have many History or English classes this week due to MCAS. MCAS is meant to be a helpful test for students, but it really ends up limiting how much we learn that week by taking the place of our classes. This is a lot like how Atticus wanted to help the kids by telling them to stop talking about Boo Radley to keep them out of trouble, but it really provoked them to be even more curious about him. MCAS and Atticus are alike because they both have good intentions that can have some bad outcomes.

3/17/12

This week in History we have started to learn about the wise words of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X. We started this lesson by listening to the whole "I have a dream" speech by Martin Luther King Jr. Throughout the years, I have learned a lot about Martin Luther King Jr, so it was nice to hear the actual famous speech spoken by him. We also learned about Malcolm X's words against a nonviolent "Negro Revolution". He would rather have a "Black Revolution". Malcolm X beleived that just standing around watching his fellow African Americans being treated so badly would never work. He thought that the only way to spark a successful rebellion would be to use violence.

This week in English we spent most of our time working on our notebooks and had an in class essay. On this essay, I chose to write about the reoccurring Mockingbird theme going in the novel. A mockingbird is the symbol of true innocence. Some characters that display this mockingbird is Boo Radley, Scout, Atticus, and Tom Robinson. Throughout the novel, these character's innocence becomes corrupt in different ways which shows that killing a Mockingbird is a sin.

A connection I made between History class and English Class this week is between Tom Robinson and Martin Luther King Jr. Both were like mockingbirds because all they tried to do was help others. King did by helping African Americans to gain equality through his speeches and Tom did by helping Mayella with her chores for no pay. Both were killed, which was just like in the book how killing a mockingbird is a sin.