Draft due Monday!

Have a great weekend!

Have a complete draft for peer critique on Monday October 3!

Modified Due Dates!

Based on overall class progress, I am pushing the dates back a little on the Revolution Inquiry.
New dates:
Thursday 9-29:  SID Questions due
Friday 9-30:  SID
Monday 10-3:  Draft of Synthesis due for Peer Critique
Wednesday 10-5:  Final Draft of Synthesis posted to blog (email me the link!)

A Declaration...

Declaration Group Work

1.  Clarifying questions?  Help each other make sense of any confusion.

2.  Probing questions?  Pose and answer questions on your list that are designed to provoke thought.

3.  Did you see any changes having been made for political reasons?  Discuss with your group why you think such changes were made.

4.  Discuss Jefferson's rhetoric.  What is his purpose?  His audience?  Is his argument effective?  What is effective about it?  Why does it persuade?

5. Do you see any connections to the present?  What American principles are laid out in this document?  Does anything in this declaration remind you of anything that you hear politicians speak of nowadays?

Homework?

Take a look at your progress on the Revolution Inquiry.  Be honest with yourself.  Are you ahead or behind? Looking at the due dates for next week, decide for yourself if you have homework.

Reminder:  Activity on the Declaration of Independence should be done before class on Monday September 26!!

You Say You Want A Revolution?

Reading/Activity List and Synthesis Description

Revolution Inquiry Checklist and Rubrics

Links to electronic copies of some readings:

Patrick Henry's Speech to the Virginia Convention

Thomas Paine's "The Crisis No. 1"

The Declaration of Independence:  Jefferson's 1st Draft

Ray Raphael, "Re-examining the Revolution"

Howard Zinn, A People's History Chapters 4 and 5

Synthesis (60 points)

·         The synthesis should  be 4-6 paragraphs. 

·         It should contain a main claim (thesis statement) near the beginning (unless you are confident that your command of writing warrants breaking this norm).

·         It should be organized into cohesive paragraphs that contain evidence and analysis that builds upon your main claim.

·         It should be revised and proofread before posting it to your blog.

·         Turn in your synthesis by sending me a link to your blog to jessicaahs11@gmail.com.  Your email should have a subject that tells me what the assignment is.

Possible Synthesis Questions (choose one): 

1.  Why did the colonies fight a revolution against Britain?  (Don’t just give an account of the events-make an interesting claim and support it.)

2.  What did the American Revolution mean for the different groups that lived in America at the time?  Consider focusing on one of these perspectives:  rich white males, poor whites, black slaves, Indians, women.

3.  What were the economic underpinnings of the American Revolution?

4.  How did the rhetoric (persuasive language) of the American Revolution affect the political and/or cultural ideology that was to evolve in this nation?

5.  Deconstruct the traditional narrative about the American Revolution.  Examine the way that it is generally taught in school.  What purpose does it serve to mythologize our move toward independence?

6.  Your own idea?

Due Dates:

Monday, September 26:  Please complete Declaration of Independence activity by this date.

Thursday, September 29:   Ungraded seminar on the American Revolution.   Come with your seminar questions on this date.

Friday, September 30:  Come to class with a draft of your synthesis for peer critique.

Monday October 3:  Turn in folder with all assignments, annotations, and research notes.  Send me a link to your blog by email before the beginning of class.

QUIZ: How did race-based slavery become an institution in America?

Turn in your image analysis!

When you finish with the quiz, please work on the assignment for tomorrow.

Howard Zinn, Chapter 3:  Read, annotate and answer questions below.

Questions for Chapter 3 (Due Wednesday)

1)  Describe the conditions in the Virginia colony that led to Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676.

2)  Compare the social class hierarchy that emerged in the 18^th century to what we have today.  What is the same?  What is different?

Quiz tomorrow!

Starter: Galeano selections
1)  What is Eduardo Galeano's approach to telling history?
2)  What do you think about it?
3)  What is valuable about it?  What might be its flaws?
4)  What would you call this genre?


QUIZ REVIEW!!



If you feel ready for the quiz, you may begin to read and annotate Howard Zinn, Chapter 3:  “Persons of Mean and Vile Condition” or “Who Were the Colonists?”  Answer the questions below.

Questions for Chapter 3 (Due Wednesday)

1)  Describe the conditions in the Virginia colony that led to Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676.

2)  Compare the social class hierarchy that emerged in the 18^th century to what we have today.  What is the same?  What is different?

Watch the PBS video:   Africans in America: The Terrible Transformation

How did race-based slavery become an institution in America?

In groups,

1.  Discuss Zinn’s claim about racism.

2.  What is a historical force?  

3.  What were the historical forces that caused white plantation owners to choose black slaves as their labor source?

4.  What seems to be Zinn’s perspective on history?  

Vocabulary

Define:

·         institution

·         indentured

·         providence

·         avarice

Required Readings

Secondary Sources:

1.  Zinn, A People’s History of the United States Chapter 2

2  Africans in America, Part 1 The Terrible Transformation (pbs.org)

Primary Sources: 

1. Olaudah Equiano’s Biography, Chapter 2

2.  William Byrd’s Journal

3. Honors: Look at colonial laws regarding slavery.

Extension

1. Do additional background research on colonial slavery, either through primary or secondary sources.  Document your findings.

Image Analysis:

Choose two of the paintings or engravings from the Africans in America website to analyze.

1. What is the name of the painting and artist?

2. What seems to be occurring in the image?

3. What is the tone of the image?

4. What is the artist’s perspective on slavery?

Study Guide Q’s

1. How did the African slave-trade get started?

2. What was the economic necessity for labor in the new British colonies?

3. What is the difference between indentured servitude and slavery?

4. Why did the planters in the colonies transition into the latter?

5. Why did they choose to enslave Africans?

6. How were slaves obtained in Africa?

7. Describe the conditions of “The Middle Passage.”

8. What measures were taken by slaveholders to keep slaves from rebelling?

9. What were the economic reasons for the expansion of slavery in North America?

10. Honors: Explain how the economic conditions in the Virginia colony were ripe for slavery.  

11. Honors: How does the case of Antonio Johnson lend evidence to Howard Zinn’s view that racism was not built into the ideology of the early colonies?

12. Honors:  Explain how colonial laws led to the institutionalization of racism.  Give examples.

Seminar: Crash

Seminar Post-write

After the seminar, write a blog entry that synthesizes your ideas about the film and/or racism in America.  You may do one or more of the following:

1.  React to the film Crash.  What new insights about America or about human beings do you have after watching this film?

2.  Choose one of the pre-write questions to elaborate on.  Use the film as evidence. (see my DP from Monday if you forgot what these questions are)

3.  Make an interpretive claim about the film and elaborate on it.

4.  Your own idea?

Send me a link to your blog by Friday!

For tomorrow:

Finish Zinn, Chapter 2.  Identify the claim he makes near the end of the chapter about racism.  Do you agree with the claim?  Why or why not?

Next...How did race-based slavery become an institution in America?
If you are finished with everything, please preview this website (Read Part 1 narrative):
Africans in America, Part 1: The Terrible Transformation

Film screening: Crash

1.  What are some of the racial stereotypes that you see highlighted in this movie?

2.  Racist and un-racist are not absolute binaries.  Where does this binary get complicated in this movie?

3.  Choose a character and discuss what he or she learns.

4.  Choose one of the questions from the pre-write.  How did viewing this film change, expand, or support your answer to the question.  Re-write your answer to the question using the film as evidence.               

Columbus Wrap-up

Historical Inquiry Feedback:

1.  What did you like about this research assignment?

2.  What was difficult about it?

3.  What was rewarding about it?

4.  What would have helped you have more success on this assignment?  What changes would be beneficial for next time?

Columbus Inquiry group discussion:

1.  Share your claims with each other.   What did you conclude about Columbus?

2.  Which sources were the most illuminating/interesting/shocking?  Why?

3.  What do you still want to know?  What are you confused about?

Post your claim to Edmodo!  Click here to see the participation rubric.

Racism Prewrite (due Tuesday)

1.  What is your perception of the current state of racism in the United States?

2.  Is racism natural? 

3.  What would it take to end racism in our culture?

For Wednesday:

Read A People's History, Chapter 2 ("Black and White" OR "Drawing the Color Line")

Identify the main claim that Howard Zinn makes near the end of the chapter.  Do you agree with the claim?  Why or why not?

Homework:  Please remember to get the movie permission signed!!

Click here to view the images we looked at in class!

Columbus: Hero or Villain?

Week of Sept 6-9 

Readings/Activities:

Read, Annotate, Research Notes

Required

1.  Zinn, A People’s History of the United States Chapter 1

2.  “Columbus”  The Lincoln Reader:  Book 4, p. 43-47 (search Google books p.65-69)

3.  Hero history: Christopher Columbus

4.  Selections from Eduardo Galeano, Genesis

5. An article on the origins of Columbus day  

Primary Source Documents (required everyone)

6. Bartolomé de las Casas, Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies. (1542)

7. Columbus’ Journal  (1492)

Optional (Honors required)

8. Find Washington Irving’s biography of Columbus online.  It is available on Google books.  You do not have to read the whole thing, but rather skim for information and tone.  Address in your notes how Washington Irving’s biography may have influenced our collective historical memory of Columbus.

-AND/OR-

9. Read/Skim Chapter 1:  The American Tradition. How does the spin of the textbook compare to Howard Zinn’s?

10. Vocabulary Extraction

Make a list of 3-5 vocabulary words you extracted from the readings. (See formatting on my DP)

Extension

11. Independent Background Research

Find your own sources to analyze, primary or secondary.  Take good research notes!

12 . Watch more youtube cartoons about Columbus: are there any out there that diverge from the main myth?

 

Blog Synthesis (due Monday September 12)

Make a CLAIM and support it with evidence from your research.

a. Deconstruct our conception of Columbus:  Hero or Villain?

b.  Should Columbus Day be celebrated?

c.  Was conquest a necessary part of human progress?

d. Pose your own question and answer it. 

Write a reaction to the film/readings.
What did you find the most interesting/shocking about the historical events contained in the film and readings?
What new perspectives have you gained on the American West and/or American history?

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

Work time:
Seminar Reflection/Synthesis
Post your claim to Edmodo
Read excerpts from Galeano
Read "The Ghost Dance War" (Ohiyesa)--optional except for Honors

Film:  Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee