Getting Heard

Let's talk history!

First, I like to say that you made some interesting introductions and you all have some great comments on your blogs! I'd say you were "getting heard". I also want to complement you on how dilligently you worked last session. Everyone was on task and really focused. Blogs do that to you, right?

I'm sorry I didn't get to see your teacher. I understand she had a special meeting that the administration asked her to attend. She will be proud of all of you! Every teacher loves to hear how well her class did when they have to be out. So I'm thinking she will be "tickled pink"! I love to use idioms. Do you? Maybe we will have occasion to use them during our U.S. history studies. We can have some fun while we learn!

Your teacher told me that you will be studying about the Civil War and will be discussing the causes. I know the Civil War was caused by a mixture of conflicting pressures, prejudices and sectional differences in our countries. There is still lots of disagreement on the exact causes.

The main problem was the institution of slavery. Did you know that slavery was introduced into North America in early colonial times? I have always found it strange that the American Revolution was fought to validate the principal that all men were created equal. At this same time though slavery was legal in all of the thirteen colonies. That doesn't add up, does it?

Then the Constitutional Convention brought about many arguments over slavery. Northern states said Southern slaves were mere property and should not be counted toward voting representation in Congress. Southerners tried to say that , at least in this case, slaves were human beings. (Another strange dichotomy.) Yes, I am using these big words to pique your interest! I'm sure you will let me know if it is working.

So the compromise that came was that five slaves counted as three free men toward the representation. With this in place by the end of the convention the institution of slavery was well protected within the body of the Constitution.

In the deep South slave labor became a profitable business. It became an economic issue and southerners wanted it kept in place.

In 1800 half of the population of the Untied States  lived in the South. But by 1850 only a third lived there. The South found that its representatives in the House had been overwhelmed by the North's explosive growth. To make a long story short, they did not feel adequately represented.

Other events happened that led to the civil war. I'm sure we will be discussing that or other issues related to this time in history.

I'm looking forward to meeting with you soon and collaborating with you and your teacher on what direction we will be headed for our U.S. studies!

First session of the new year

It was so nice to see a couple of familiar faces in our nice new group. Welcome back Timothy and Amon! And it was so nice to meet Valerie, Chris, Justin, Eric, Wesley, Jonathan T., and Jonathan L.! We had a good session and it was fun to introduce blogging to all of you. You viewed this class blog, some of you commented on A School of Voices, and we talked about possibilities for classwork. Plus, having seasoned bloggers like Timothy and Amon was such a help! Both of you guys gave good descriptions. I know we are going to have fun learning U.S. history!

I finished the session by playing Zachary's podcast when he was interviewed by me at the legislative sesson at Georgia State. Zachary's comments about  hearing a comment from these high school students was a moment that touched all of our hearts!

I want to thank all of you for your attention and your hard work today. Then to learn that we have an artist, Valerie, in our midst! How cool! I look forward to seeing her work. We'll post it on our blogs.

Next week we will have your blogs ready and we will begin! Meanwhile, check out these outstanding pictures!

                              

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to all! It's been a while since we met. I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday break! It was so nice to have time to spend with our family and friends. I really enjoyed the vacation but it is nice to get back with you, too!

This week we are going to tackle United States History. Hmmmm, what will be the best way to share our leaning on our blogs? I have some other web tools to discuss with you. Your teacher and I met before the holiday. We shared ideas and plans and we both look forward to doing that with you.

I have been looking through your textbook - lots of interesting information there. It's going to be an interesting journey!

I was looking through the "How-to-Use this Book: A Study Guide. I'm really curious as to how you learn best. I think we can develop some good strategies together.

Let's talk about how to begin each unit or section. So let's think about learning techniques and which ones you use a lot and why. I bet we can help each other with various strategies. Everyone has different ways to approach learning and if we put our heads together we could be awesome! So check these out and think about which ones you find helpful and get ready to add to the list.
Here we go!

• Studying the pictures
• Reading quotations to connect the ideas to the pictures.
• Reading the titles of the chapters and thinking about what they mean.
• Checking out headings of sections and paragraphs to locate main ideas.
• Reading chapter and unit summaries to identify key ideas.
• Using timelines to make connections and think about when things happened.
• What about maps or graphs? Do they help?
• What's the best way, in your opinion, to learn new vocabulary?

I know you will be able to add to this list as we begin to think about how we can use some of these new web tools to make learning more relevant and fun! See you Friday!