Today we'll begin by responding to the excerpts from Frederick Douglass' "Narrative..." that you read over the weekend. After sharing our reactions and questions, each member of your group will be assigned one category of Douglass' experience to explore further.
Part I:
We'll start by considering the decisions and choices that enslaved people had to make by using this Decisions Slaves Made activity.
With your group discuss the options for each and choose which choice you think the person made. After clicking on the outcome, if you discover that your choice was the actual outcome, consider going back and making an alternate choice. See what the consequences to that choice may have been.
Take notes in your notebook as you consider each scenario. What are you noticing about the choices? What seems to be guiding the decisions? How do these scenarios relate or connect to the ideas of Emerson or Thoreau?
Next, divide the topics between your group members.
After the topics have been divided, each group member should spend some time exploring the site. Begin by skimming the Historical Overview and then browse around the other categories. As you read, identify important elements to add to your row in the chart (notice the required link to Douglass). After spending time with each part of your topic, make a conclusion about it in the last column.
Finally, write a response to this question on your document: How does this information as well as the "Decisions" activity, help to describe the institution of slavery in the United States?
Part III:
Each person in the group will then read one document from this set of documents that provide justification for the institution of slavery in America (also in your binder):
When finished reading, each person will list the main idea and key quotation from it into the Google Doc you are using today.
Also, please be sure to buy a copy of our next book - The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - to have in class with you on Tuesday / Wednesday of next week.
After submitting your paragraphs, you can begin work on the following:
In the chapter on slavery in his book, A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn writes, "How can slavery be described? Perhaps not at all by those who have not experienced it." Today, we'll start to do our best to describe the system of slavery that existed in the United States from its founding (and prior).
First, explore this timeline (you can stop when you get to the Missouri Compromise in 1820).
As you scroll through the different events, make some notes in your journal about the following:
What you notice about enslaved people's experiences.
What you notice about how governments (state or national) institutionalize slavery. In other words, what are the mechanisms that allow slavery to expand or grow.
What you notice about actions taken in response to or against slavery.
Next, as a class, we'll take notes as we watch an excerpt from Ken Burns' documentary, The Civil War called "All Night Forever" (the link is a partial excerpt).
As you read, write out your answers to the guided reading questions on the worksheet you printed out (electronically typed responses will NOT receive credit).
You'll start the day working individually to gather your thoughts about Emerson. We will explain the steps you will take in preparation for our card discussion. Then, we'll have a whole-class discussion. You'll each have four cards:
After watching Into the Wild together, it was off to an afternoon outdoors at the Heller Nature Center.
Here is a copy of the packet you completed. Please make sure you hold on to your writing - you'll be using it again this weekend.
For tomorrow, please be sure to complete the assigned reading and bring copies of both Walden and Self-Reliance to class.
Today we'll use this handout to guide our first look at Henry David Thoreau's Walden. We'll read parts of the book together and you'll work through some of it on your own. Keep track of your responses in your journal. We will continue to explore Thoreau's ideas throughout this unit and the year.
The new calendar is posted to the right - be sure to check there for your homework.
Tomorrow is our field trip! Please meet in E116 at 8:10. We'll watch a movie, have lunch, and then head to the Heller Nature Center. Be sure to keep an eye on the weather and wear comfortable but sturdy shoes - we will be outside for the afternoon, walking through the woods. See you then!
We will start our next unit on Friday. You should already own a copy of Self-Reliance and Other Essays, which you will need for the weekend. In addition, you should purchase these two other books:
Walden by Henry David Thoreau ($4 in the bookstore)
Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau ($3 in the bookstore)
We will continue to collect field trip forms.
We'll answer questions about the Bill of Rights and Illinois Constitution worksheets.
OPTIONAL: Take a deeper look at the Bill of Rights by exploring this activity You Be the Judge. Here are the answers: Key
Today you will work with a small group to create your very own "Schoolhouse Rock" song to share with the class!
Say what?
Indeed! Just like the Preamble song we all know and love, there are others. We'll watch "I'm Just A Bill" in class as a model. Here are links to the lyrics for these songs:
Note how there are verses and a chorus, although they are in different formats. For your song today, you will need to either use the melody from an existing song or write your own. It must include a chorus - this is your way of highlighting the key parts of your assigned section of the Constitution. It must also include either two verses or a skit, similar to the formats shown above.
Please type out your lyrics in a Google doc and one person from your group will submit them.
Start by reviewing your assigned section and determining which part(s) of it will be the focus of your song.
Greetings! We hope you had a great Labor Day weekend!
We'll start today with a creative writing exercise looking at the Preamble to the Constitution. We'll start by asking you to imagine creating a new government - what would you want to make sure that government did? What would you want to be sure it did not do? We'll then take a closer look at the Preamble to determine if those goals match up with yours.
Next, we'll introduce the United States' first attempt to create a government using the Articles of Confederation. John Green's Crash Course in U.S. History will give us a brief look.
Then we will turn our attention to Article 1 and the worksheets you completed. Be sure to ask any questions you have!
The last half hour will be dedicated to completing the posters we started last Friday.
Tonight you will be completing the worksheet for Article 1.
You'll sit with your partner for the first part of class today.
We'll start today by reviewing the quiz you took yesterday about the Declaration of Independence.
Then, we'll turn our attention to the events at Vally Forge during the start of the Revolutionary War. We'll look at Emanuel Leutze's "Washington Crossing the Delaware" painting:
For the second part of class you'll be with your groups. We'll review the essays by Zinn and McCullough. We'll finish with a poster-making activity - you can find the directions here.
We'll work in our groups today.
Start by sharing your responses to the "current connections" you read last night.
Then, we'll hear three more voices expressing thoughts about liberty:
Phillis Wheatley
Chief Logan
Abigail and John Adams
You'll fill in section 4 of your chart and then write a final personal response in your journal.
For the second half of class, we'll start with two videos. They are excerpts from the television series about John Adams and they show opposing voices to the question of declaring independence: John Dickinson opposed to it and John Adams in favor of it.
We'll then turn our attention to the Declaration of Independence itself. We'll hear it out loud and then take a short quiz about the details of the document.
Reminder about homework for tonight - you are finishing the Zinn article and reading a short new article by David McCullough. Both are linked in the assignment sheet.
We'll begin class today with some journal writing about concepts of knowledge and liberty. Next, with partners, we'll discuss our responses to the questions about the document you read for homework. After answering any issues or struggles you may have had, we'll work to make some conclusions about the document by answering these questions:
What connection does Adams see between liberty and knowledge?
What “values” is he adding to our conversation about what it means to be an American?
During the 2nd part of class, we'll return to our groups and continue to look at some roots of American ideas on liberty by reading three additional documents. In your groups each person will be assigned one of the following documents. You should annotate the document as you read. Consider the kind of close reading that you had to do for Adams to understand it as you annotate.
Defense of Freedom of the Press by Andrew Hamilton
A Demand to Limit Search and Seizure by James Otis
A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom by Thomas Jefferson
Next, you'll share what you learned from the document that you read in the chart in Part 1. If two people from your group read the same document, then they should work together to identify their quotes/interpretations/implications from that document to place in that column.
Each person should then make a conclusion in the box for Part 2.
For Part 3, each person will read the linked current events article that corresponds to the document that you read (one person should shift back to the John Adams document) and then summarize the article and connect it to the document. You should discuss your conclusions. If completing for homework, both people who read the current event should respond in the box.
We are going to take the STAR reading test today. Please do your best on this reading comprehension test. Again, this is so I can understand how you read and learn, then offer you specific help. Do your best.
For your username, use the same name you are logging into the Chromebooks and computers with.
Your password is your student ID number - but ONLY the number - i.e. 211XXXX - if you are unable to gain access after TWO tries, please ask for help before trying a third time.
You will be presented with two choices - select STAR Reading
Sometimes, the system will request a “Monitor Password.” If this happens to you, the password is “admin”
If you are presented with a list of teachers, please select “Rigler”
Take the test! Do the best you can!
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For the next part of class, we will review the essays you read for today.
Share your journal response with someone in your group who read the same essay from round 1
Go back to your original group. Now you will hear a little bit about each of the six essays. The goal here is for you to choose one additional essay to read. Select one that feels interesting and potentially engaging to you. Go around your group and discuss the essays in order (see above) with one person talking about each essay. Be sure to name: who is the author and what is their background? what event(s) do they discuss? what point(s) are they making?
Read the new essay. Write a short journal response.
Lastly, we'll turn our attention to preparation for Monday's in-class essay. You'll have the rest of class today and the weekend to complete these prep sheets. You'll submit your completed prep sheets on Monday at the start of class and then use them to guide your work on the in-class essay.
Today we'll start by sharing our songs with our groups. One person (the first name on the group list) will type everyone's name, song title, and artist into the appropriate document:
We'll have a short discussion about the article we read yesterday - Howard Zinn's "American Ideology."
Next, you'll read your journal entries to each other. Based on what we hear, we will create a list of potential elements to include in a great journal entry.
With the second half of class, we'll focus on Meacham's article. Your group will create a small poster about the essay, featuring:
Main ideas
A central shape or image
A quotation
For the last part of class, you'll read one of the essays listed on the assignment sheet, based on your number in your group.
Today we shared our artifacts and then wrote about the collection of items in our journals, responding to the following prompts:
1) Based on the collection of items, what conclusions can we make about the group of people that are represented by the objects that were brought in? Work to reference specific objects in your conclusion. 2) If our collection represents "America", what is missing? Is there a category that is not represented, if so what is it? What object would you put there to represent that missing category? ----------------------------------------------------
During the 2nd part of class, we read Howard Zinn's American Ideology together. When finished, we found key quotes and worked to define his important and interesting contentions in our notebooks and through discussion.
Greetings American Studies Scholars, Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year. We look forward to joining you on a productive and intellectually challenging journey. Today, we'll explore our hopes and concerns about this year as well as identify issues facing the United States today. We'll also examine two songs that are representative of American ideals and values. Here is a link to the lyrics for "Made in America" and "American Idiot." Your first homework due at your next class period is:
Read through the American Studies Guidelines. Pay careful attention to the sections on Grades and Expected Behavior.
Bring in an artifact that represents something important about you or things that are important to you. In your notebook write a response that describes what you brought and why you brought it.
Identify a song that represents something about America (it does not necessarily need to use the word "America"). Copy the lyrics into a google doc and then in your notebook write a response that states what song you chose, identifies the key lines, and describes what the song is saying about America.
Bring the class binder with you to class.
Additionally, you will need to bring a notebook, pen, binder, and your charged chromebook everyday.
