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.

3/10/12

This week in History we only had class 3 out of the 5 day week due to a half day and dropping class on one of the days. This week we began to learn about Rosa Parks and about the Freedom Riders. Rosa Parks was a very courageous woman who stood up for what she believed in and sparked rebellion by simply sitting in the front of a bus. The freedom riders were a group of people who rode a bus and took loads of abuse only to stand up fro their cause and try to gain equality for African Americans.

This week in English we read further into To Kill a Mockingbird until we finished it. At the end of the book, Scout and Jem were attacked by Bob Ewell on their way home from their pagent. Jem's arm was broken by Bob while Scout only had minor damages done to her costume. They were saved by none other than Boo Radley, who we find out is truly aa kind, shy young man all along. Overall I thiought this was actually a pretty good book.

A connection I made this week between To Kill a Mockingbird and History Class is between Scout and Rosa Parks. When Scout simply talked to the mob of men ready and armed to lynch, it prevented an innocent man from being murdered. When Rosa simply sat down on the bus, she sparked a great amount of enegy in the civil rights movement. Both used simple actions to spark a greater influence of action.

Shirley Chisholm Project

3/3/12

This week in History we have done a lot of things. We started by looking at school segregation in the south and how it was a problem and how it was solved. One court case that challenged school segregation was the Brown Vs. Board of Education case. School segregation was challenged in this case because it was said thatit violated the 14th and 5th amendments. A very interesting activity we did in class this week was watcing a video on the murder of Emmett Till. Till was murdered for whistling at a white girl, and his body was completely torn apart. This shows how severly mistreated African-Americans were in the south at this time.

This week in English we read on a lot in To Kill a Mockingbird. We have read so far up to chapter 28. At this point of the story Atticus has lost the court case and Tom Robinson has been killed because he was escaping. Tom in this story is a lot like a mockingbird because he didnt do anything but try to help people. It was terrible that he was killed just like how it is a sin to kill a mockingbird, becasue Tom was a kind man who only meant well.

My connection this week is that we learned about Emmett Till being killed for an unjust reson and Tom Robinson also being killed for an unjust reason. This shows the terrible mistreatment of black people in this time.

2/18/12

This week in history we talked a lot about life in the south compared to in the North. One day in class we read two poems about the Great Migration. This migration was where African Americans escaped the cruel treatement of the south by travelling to the north. The peoms were titled, "One way ticket" and "The South". In these poems, Langston Hughs expresses how cruel the south is and how inviting the north seemed during this time period, and how he never wanted to return to the south. Also in class this week we learned a lot about the mood of African Americans who did migrate to the north through jazz. We listened to many of these jazzy tunes, which all gave us different impressions. Some were sad seeming, some were happy, and others just had an overall relaxed feel to them. I really enjoyed listening to the jazz this week and learned a lot about the time period these songs were created in by doing so.

In english this week we kept reading on in To Kill a Mockingbird. In chapter 20, we meet a man named Dolphus Raymond who pretends he is a drunk in order to avoid people judging his actions. In chapter 21, Jem beleives so strongly that Atticus will win in court, but he does not. When Atticus walks down the aisle to leave the courthouse, he is given a standing ovation which shows how much the people of Maycomb respect and honor his actions. In Chapter 22, a heap of food is delivered by the town to the Finch household to thank Atticus, and Bob Ewell's swears his revenge on Atticus and spits at him. In chapter 23, Aunt Alexandra expresses her thoughts on the Cunninghams and Jem and Scout discuss social classes and why boo radley doesnt leave his house.

A connection I made this week was that Boo Radley is much like an African American during the Great Migration. According to Jem's theory, Boo Radley stays in his house because the world is so cruel, he does not want to come out and face it. During the Great Migration, African Americans left the South also because it was so cruel they didnt want to have to face it any longer.









                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

2/12/12

This week in History we finished up learning about the Radical Republican plan for Reconstruction. To finish uup this section, we had an essay test. The prompt for this essay was based on whether the Radical Republican Reconstruction plan was successful or not. In my essay, I wrote about how it was unsuccessful. My first proof on how it was unsuccessful was that the Black Codes were created, which took away the social and political rights that were wanted for African Americans. This took them away by setting up strict curfews, labor contracts, vacancy laws,etc that could all result in a form of slavery for African Americans. Another point I had was that African Americans were not given the right to vote because a law was put in order only allowing people to vote if their grandfather could vote, meaning African Americans could not vote because their grandfathers were slaves and slaves were not allowed to vote. Lastly, African Americans were segregated from whites, meaning they were not socailly acceptable. I found the Radical Republican Plan for Reconstruction was a very interesting topic to learn about.

In English this week we got much farther in To Kill a Mockingbird. The book has started to become very interesting at this point because we are getting into the court scene. In Capther 17 we are introduced to Bob Ewell, who gives his testimony in court saying that Tom raped Mayella and that she was beaten and had a black eye. In chapter 18 we are introduced to Mayella Ewell who starts crying and making a fuss on the stand even though she is almost 20. In Chapter 19 Tom gives his side of the story which is given very honestly and he sounds like a polite, innocent young man. After reading the court scenes, I beleive that Tom is innocent and really that Mr Ewell just beat Mayella because she talked to Tom a lot.

A connection I made this week was that Mayella was treated like an African American under the Black codes. Her father did not want her out fraternizing with colored people, so he made sure she stayed in their dump of a home all the time, just like how African Americans under the black codes were given curfews. Mayella not being able to talk to Tom because he was a colored man was like how people were segregated under the Jim Crow laws.

2/5/12

This week in history we began to talk a lot about the Reconstruction of the nation after the Civil War took place. First we talked about Lincoln's plan for reconstruction before he was assasinated. Lincoln's goal was to end slavery completely. Next we talked about the Radical Republican's plan, which was to give African American's the social and Political rights they deserved and punish the south for everything they had done wrong during the Civil War period. Lastly we looked at the 14th Amendment which gave everyone equal rights and equal treatment. This week we also took a quiz where we were required to memorize Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address completely and write it down on a lined half-sheet of paper. I think that I did very good on this quiz because I was very prepared and knew the Address very well. We also had a powerpoint this week on the Reconstruction Act, which made it so states had new  elections to create new constitutions, states had to allow all elligible male citizens to vote, people who supported the confederacy could not vote, these rights had to be garunteed to all people and all states needed to ratify the 14th amendment, and troops had to be stationed in states to ensure that african american people were given these rights.

This week in English we got through a lot of To Kill A Mocking Bird. In chapter 10, we learn that Atticus is truely a very talented shooter when he is forced to shoot Tim Johnson, a neighborhood dog that had gone rabid . When learning this, it made Scout and Jem really look up to their father and feel he had much more value now that he had a major accomplishment. In chapter 11, we get to know the Finch's neighbor Mrs. Dubose, who is a cranky old lady that has a lot to say about Atticus's descision about Tom robinson. After getting in trouble, Jem is forced to read to her until she dies at the end of the chapter. In chapter 12, Scout and Jem accompany Calpurnia to church while Atticus is away. At first they are not excepted at this church but then they are treated very highly. In chapter 13, Aunt Alexandra comes and stays with the finches and she is very bossy and opinionated. She thinks very highly of the finch family history and wants to enforce her veiws upon them. So far I'm actually really enjoying this book. Every chapter is exciting because something new happens in each one unlike some books that just drag on the same thing for multiple chapters.

Aunt Alexandra staying with the Finch's reminded me a lot of the period of reconstrction after the civil war in America. When Aunt Alexandra arrives, she believes there is much to fix in the household, just like the Radical Reppublicans believed about America at this time. Both the Radical Republicans and Aunt Alexandra both tried very hard for change, but whatever they did, the change was opposed. While Scout rebelled against Aunt Alexandra's rules and was careful not to "mind" her, people of the south used any loophole in the system to try and keep slavery.

1/29/12

This week in History was a 4 day week because we had friday off. We started the week by being given a handout on which was Lincoln's second inaugural address. After reading through this worksheet, we answered the questions that followed it. One of Lincoln's major goals in this address was to have the south rejoin the union completely and he did this by showing in the address how the war transformed the nation. We were also asked to memorize a portion of the address that started with "With malice toward none" for a quiz which had been pushed back to tomorrow. I feel really confident for this quiz because i have this portion thouroughly memorized. One day this week we did have a substitute and we were given a worksheet to complete but we were not told that our books were needed to complete the work. Because I did not have my book during this class period I decided I would finish the worksheet when I got home but the worksheets were collected at the end of class. We finished up the short week by learning the interesting story of Lincoln's assasination.

We started out English this week by trading in our Adventures of Huckleberry Finn books for To Kill a Mockingbird books. To begin the lesson on this book, we made our cover pages and then worked on the To Kill a Mockingbird Anticipation Guide.We were also given vocabulary worksheets that contained some tricky words that show up in To Kill a Mockingbird. I started this book on Friday and have finished all of chapter 1. This book started our really slow and boring, but eventually I got into it and it started to seem better. So far it is about a girl and her older brother living in a neighbohood who meet a boy named Dill. In their neighborhood is a family with the last name Radley who are very mysterious and have a dark history. Dill becomes very fascinated in the Radley household and wants to lure Old man radley out of the house and eventually dares the older brother Jam to touch it.

One connection I made in English is that Scout and Jam's cook in To Kill a Mockingbird is named Calpurnia, which also happens to be the name of Julius Caesars wife, from the Play Julius Caesar we read earlier this year. A connection I made between History and English is that when Wilks killed Lincol, he beleived it would end the south's problems but really it ended up making them worse. I can connect this event to english because we learned a term called Situational Irony which is when the opposite of what is expacted happens. This applies to wilk's situation because the opposite of what he expected happened for the south.

January 9-17th 2012

Because These classes we did basically the same thing every day, I decided to compile all of these blog days into one massive post.

Due to the steady approach of the dreaded midterm exams, we have been constantly reveiwing everything we have done so far in History to keep all of us prepared for the testing. We received a helpful study guide which helped to show us what things we have learned will be targetted on the test. Although this study guide is not excact in what will be on the midterms, it narrows everything we have learned this year down to about 40 event chouces, 2 choices of memorizing documents, and the one lengthy developed essay topic. During these lovely days we were given to reveiw, I noticed that something i would have to prepare for an excess amount of hours would be for the essay. On the past History tests, the essay portion has been the portion of the test i have lost many points on so I plan to figure out all of the examples and points I would like to include in my essay before the actual midterm in order to ensure that my essay is better than ever. I have also used m classtime wisely by creating event flashcards for EVERY SINGLE EVENT that is given to us on the study guide. Although this took quite a while, I completed them and feel they will be most helpful in remembering specific details and why these events are significant. For the document memorizing portion we are eaither going to be given the preamble to the constitution or the beginning portion starting with "we hold these truths to be self eveident" of the declartion. I plan to only briefly look over these doctument portions because I feel I have these thoroughly memorized.

In English, we have more focussed on the completion of our notebooks and Integrated English and History assignment with a couple days of midterm reveiw. I feel as though these notebooks have been the hardest to complete ytet not only because i have procratinated quite a bit, but because we were assigned a lot of long writing excercises in this notebook that require us to look at the novel in depth and explain and locate many quotes from the book. I found the questions of this notebook quite easy however, because I did do all of the required Huckleberry Finn reading so I knew the answers at once. For my Integreated English and History Assignment I have partenered with Shannnon as usual and we are creating a song to the tune of Ludacris's hit single "Runaway Love". For our project we are going to title it "Runaway Huck" because we will be writing the song about the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and telling the story of Huck and Jim running away on the raft. We plan to include how they run away and meet on Jackson Island and everntually meet the duke and king, and then how the duke and king sell Jim to the Farmer Silas and he is stuck by himself in a shed, with nothing left to do but wait for his good friend Huck and accomplice Tom Sawer to take the heroic measures to save him. Our song will be mostly rapping with a short singing postion in between the different verses. We will also be recording our song project using an app on my iphone called "I am T-Pain" which autotunes your voice and makes it sound slightly robotic and just generally better that it normally would. We also received a study guide in english and will be having our midterm shortly.

1/6/12

Today in History we annalyzed a painting called "Lee and Grant Appomattox." which showed lee surrendering to Grant and his many men at the appotamotx courtmhouse.

today we dropped inglais so we were not permitted to see proffessor druin 2day.

 no connection bcause i dropped english today

1/4/12

Today in History we annalysed the Robert Gould Shaw Memorial and then talked about the work as a class.

Today in English we were given this lengthy class period to work on our choice of either our notebooks or our integrated history/english class assignments. Me and shannimal chose to work on our assignment which was our version of Ludacris's hit song"runaway love" which we gave the totally catchy title of runaway huck! so far our project is mind blowing and shows that me and shan know TONS about huck finn and have been reading very carefully every night we have been assigned to read.

The character Jim could have been in the 54th mass regiment because he is a perservering african american man who would just love to fight for the end of slavery, especially if it meant freeing his chi'lin.

1/3/12

Unfortunatley, on this bright shining first day back to school of the new year I was sick. so sad

12/22/11

Today I dropped History and only worked on my eassay in English.

No Connection for molly!

12/21/11

Today in History we went to the computer lab to work on our battle projects and use google docs in order to keep track of all the new information we are obtaining about our chosen battles.

Today in englsih we only worked on our essays.

I was unable to connect these two marvoulous classes today because in each we did not learn new information that I could meh together into a connection.

12/20/11

Today in History we took notes on the battle of gettysburg ( which is my groups battle for the voice recording battle project). In this battle, the unioon won by keeping their brilliant location.

Today I dropped Englich

I was unable to create a brilliant connection between my two authentic classes today because of the lack of my englsih class.

12/19/11

Today in History when I walked in I received a question sheet from a packet of papers from last week titled "'The Union of these States is Perpetual': Lincoln's View of the American Union." whcih was all about how lincoln thought of the metaphors of an apple of gold and frame of silver of picture of silver
.
Today in English we worked on the posters for Huck Finn. My poster is on life in the town, which is hectic and dangerous compared to the easy life on the river.

A connection I made betweeen my two classes is that lincoln used symbols to represent the constitution and his principal of liberty to all and the river and town are also symbols of freedom and slavery.,

Dec 16th 11

today in Histpry we discussed some battles in the Civil War, including the Peninsula Campaign and the battle at Yorktown. We also learned about stonewall Jackson and his great acheivements before his death.

dropped english

I could not connect today because one of my classes dropped ( inglais)

12/15/11

Today in history we got a paper called "Background Information on the Eve of the Civil War. We started class by reading this lengthy poaper and then discussing and answering the questions that followed the worksheet.
In english today we statrted the class with our usual grammar workshhett which was quite easy and then continued on to an interesting discussion on the book we are currently reading which is Huckleberry finn.

A connection i made is that ms watson would be a confederate because she is all for slavery and wants to sell jim into a different slave plantation.

12/14/11

Today in History we answered questions on a paper titled "'on the execution of his office'. We started by reading a worksheet and then answered questions about it and then discussed them.

Today in English we started with grammar, then contiued on to having a quiz to chack our redaing from last night of Huckleberry Finn, and then discussed what happened in the book.

In both classes we did a lot of discussing, which i think is very useful to our learning because it forces us to participate and to understand the lessons to a further extent.

timelinnnnnneeee