December 20th

Today we talked about the stories we rread over the weekend. The woman I read about, Kate Rackleff, wasn't actually in the Trail of Tears, her mother was. Kate told the story of how terrible and dirty and depressing the Trail of Tears was. So many people died, but luckily all of Kate's mother's family survived the trip.

December 16th

Today we learned about the differences between voting now and voting in the 1800s. Also we looked at voting statistics for different 1800s elections, and it was interesting to see the trend. It was good not to have to take notes today, it gets kind of tedious.

December 8th

Today we did a few papers about national banks and whether they should be allowed or not. It was a very controversial topic in our class, and two papers ended up taking the whole period, not that I'm complaining.

Tuesday December 7th

Today went by so slowly, and history seemed especially long. I thought it was kind of interesting today, because we were talking about how the slaves escaped. In 6th grade, at 6th grade camp, we played a game called Underground Railroad, where we had to pretend to be runaway slaves. I remember it was super scary, because we never knew who to trust, so I can only imagine how the slaves felt when it was real. Also I  learned that Newburyport was a station for slaves to go and stay, and that chimneys on the houses indicated safe houses. I'll be on the lookout for the chimneys when I drive down that street from now on.

Monday..........

Today was like many other days, we took notes. This time, the notes were about the beginnings of the end of slavery. Then, we each got a number and found our group, and talked about the chapters we read. It was a handy way to "read" the whole book, while only actually reading three chapters. Reading wasnt too fun, obviously, but the fact that it was on the computer made it worse, in my opinion. After like an hour, my head hurt. But it's okay, I'll get used to it. Mr Boyle said that when we're in college, textbooks will be online, something to look forward to..

FRIDAY

On Friday, we didn't even talk about what we had to read or the factory assignment, we took notes about the Mason-Dixon line and plantations. It turns out plantation owners werent as bad as I thought, but of course, they're still horrible because they own other humans.

December 2nd

Today we had a substitute teacher, Mrs. Jones. We had to read an essay on plantations of the early 1800s and then write an essay about factories and plantations and which one we'd rather be in. I would personally rather be a factory worker, because while they did have tedious boring work, they at least had freedom. Humans arent goldfish or guinea pigs, animals kept in cages. So why should the slaves have been required to stay on a farm?

November 30th

Today we talked about the first factories in the US, they were mostly in the Northeast, powered by water mills. Mr. Boyle also told us how the managers of the factories benefitted so much more than the workers, which is obvious, but I didnt realize the extent. The fact that the factories were dangerous allowed the managers to benefit, because when a worker was injured by a machine, they'd leave work and someone else would be hired for less money.
After discussing this, we got a group assignment to develop our own "factory". We arent done, but we have to figure out the amount of machines needed, the workers, the income, etc. It's kind of difficult, but I think we'll end up learning a lot.

november 29th

Well today we took notes on the Mason-Dixon line, which I can vaguely remember learning in 5th grade. I definitely need to relearn it though.
Taking notes isnt that interesting, and soon I feel like I'm about to fall asleep. But I don't, don't even worry.

Project

This project was really challenging, surprisingly. My group didnt plan at all about who was going to do what, and deadlines, etc. However, though it was hard, I think we learned a lot. In trying to get all of the information, we learned not only the facts, but other skills, such as teamwork and planning. I think it would have been a lot easier, and probably just as effective to have taken notes on the subjects, but not as entertaining.

Project

On Tuesday we recorded the voice part of our newscast project. It wasnt hard, the hardest part was writing the script, and finding all the information and getting it sorted. My group worked well together, but we could have definitely planned it out a little better. We didnt assign jobs or anything, we just all randomly put info into the google docs shared document. It would have been a lot easier and probably more effective if we had assigned some people to finding pictures, some to writing the script, some to finding info, etc. If we ever have to do that again, I'll definitely know what to do differently to avoid confusion. Overall, I think it was a difficult project, but I feel that I learned a lot.

Tuesday November 16

Today we had an assembly halfway that lasted halfway through the period, so we only had like a half hour to look up pictures and facts for our projects. I get how to do the project now though. It seems like a lot of work and time, but at least we get to do it in school.
Yesterday we had a test, and after a lot of studying I thought it was pretty easy.

Friday

On Friday we took a lot of notes, there were so many slides. We learned about "Mr. Madison's War", where James Madison passed a law to forbid American ships from leaving their ports, for protection. This affected seacoast port towns, such as Salem and Newburyport, a great deal. It reduced their income and validity a lot. Also, we talked about the Hartford Convention a little bit, and I was super surprised that New England would try to seperate themselves from the rest of the United States. So much work was put into being a country, why would they ever want to seperate? New England was the heart of America too, where basically everything happened.

November 09

Today the seats were arranged in a circle, which made it a lot easier to have a class discussion. Normally, we all are facing away from one another  and it never works out well. We read a few documents and answered questions on them,  then talked about it. We took notes about Congress vs Constitution and things related to that.

november 4th

Today, like the past few days, we took notes and had discussions about the Consitution and government, today and in the past. I feel like having these discussions, though theyre sometimes kind of boring, is actually teaching me a lot. I've learned so much about our government in just the past few days.
We have a TV news report project due in a few weeks, which I'm confused about. I hope Mr.Boyle goes over it soon, because we never really talked about it.

November 3rd

Yesterday, like I said, I was absent from school. I didnt miss much in history, since I did the homework reading the night before. Today we talked about the election that happened yesterday, and about what might happen to the government now that it's mostly Republicans. We also discussed government and issues in the late 1700s. There's a lot more to government and the way it's run than I ever knew.

November 1st

Today we talked a lot about the election and things related to it, and on Friday we took a test, or "quest". I thought it was really hard, and I felt dumb when I didnt know the senators. I think I got one right. But overall it was difficult. Anyways, today we didnt really do much other than talk and analyze the government and voting. I wont be in school tomorrow, I have a doctor's appointment far away, but tomorrow in class we're supposed to discuss the homework reading from tonight.

tuesday

today we reviewed and took notes on federalists and anti federalists. i personally think the federalists were right, because they actually had plans and a leader and valid points. we didn't do much else, but i'd say it was still a very educational class.

october 25th

today we first hung up our storyboards, and i was the second one to have charles pinckney. i personally dont even think that i'm like him at all, but i guess i am! charles pinckney is supposed to have been outgoing, vain, and opinionated, and i'm neither of those things around people i dont know.
after, we talked about the articles, and saw a slideshow about them. this cleared up so much confusion that i had previously been trying to sort out.

Charles Pinckney

October 22

On Friday we worked with our partners again, and completed our homework on how United States presidents should be elected. I had always believed that they were chosen by the people, but it turns out that presidents are initially elected by the Electoral College. I'll admit that I'd never even heard of the Electoral College, but I'm happy that I know now. If it ever comes up in conversation, now I won't seem like an idiot!

10-20-10

Today we worked with partners to do some papers about the government. I had no idea that so much effort went into planning our government, but I guess it makes sense. We did a paper about how many leaders would be in office, 1 or 3, and I couldn't help but think how weird it would be to have 3 presidents. I feel like that would cause so much conflict, which is probably why we only have one today.
There's a project due on Friday, it seems really easy. I hope the VoiceThread embeds onto the blog this time...

10-18-10

Today we did a flow chart about what it takes for a bill to get passed and made into a law. There are a lot of steps, more than I ever would have thought. We also got our first tests back. I did okay, but next time I'll try to study harder.

OCTOBER 14TH 2010

STILL STUCK ON CAPS LOCK....
TODAY WE ALL LOOKED INTO THE CONSTITUTION A LITTLE MORE, AND TOOK THE QUIZ. WE WERE DIVIDED INTO THREE GROUPS, EACH INVESTIGATING A DIFFERENT TOPIC OF CONCERN THE FOUNDING FATHERS HAD OF THE CONSTITUTION. MY GROUP GOT THE CONCERN OF PROPORTIONAL OR EQUAL REPRESENTATIVES IN CONGRESS.

I JUST TOOK THE FOUNDING FATHERS QUIZ THAT MR. BOYLE TOLD US TO TAKE AND I GOT CHARLES PINCKNEY. HE DIDNT SOUND MUCH LIKE ME, BUT I GUESS HE IS IF THAT'S WHO I WAS MATCHED WITH.

OCTOBER 13TH 2010

MY LAPTOP IS STUCK IN CAPS LOCK, IT'S REALLY AWKWARD. ANYWAYS, TODAY IN HISTORY WE BASICALLY DID THE EXACT SAME THING AS YESTERDAY, ONLY WITH DIFFERENT TOPICS. WE FINISHED THE TIMELINE AND THEN TOOK NOTES. ALSO, BY TOMORROW WE HAVE TO HAVE MEMORIZED THE PREAMBLE THE THE CONSTITUTION. GOOD THING FOR MOST US, WE HAD TO LEARN THAT IN LIKE 6TH GRADE AND THERE'S A SONG ABOUT IT FROM SCHOOL HOUSE ROCK THAT WE'VE KNOWN BASICALLY OUR WHOLE LIVES.

oct 12th

Today I was really tired since I was up late with math homework, but I managed to follow and participate in the discussion. We talked about the issues of the Articles, a government system set up in the United States when it was newly independent. It brought to light that the colonists had to deal with problems that are nothing to us nowdays, such as trade. Also, Mr. Boyle said that the colonists didn't really think of themselves as Americans, but more as "New Yorkans" or "Virginians". I guess that's understandable, considering the colonies had always been mostly seperate and took care of themselves.

Test day

On Friday, we took our very first history test of our sophomore year. I was really nervous, because I had forgotten to take my history binder and textbook home so I couldn't study. Luckily, I looked a few things up on Google and studied briefly in art class with some other people, and it refreshed my memory. I feel like I probably did well on the test, it wasn't that hard, but I'll be sure to be super careful when going over things to bring home from now on. Next time, the test could be wicked hard and I could get a 15 or something and then I would be really disapointed, I'm just lucky this test happened to be on the easy side.

10-6-10

Whoops I forgot to blog yesterday, I'll try not to let it happen again. Well yesterday we just reviewed and everything, and today we got our Declaration quizzes back. We also got in our groups for the GoogleDocs activity, and spent the rest of the class reviewing. I enjoyed having a laidback and easy class. We don't have class tomorrow, and Friday there's a test. I'm nervous about the test because it'll be our first of the year in history, and though we got a paper with the info about it, it will still be new.

10-4-10

Today we went over the Battles of the South. I am all caught up from being absent on Friday, and I think I know all the information that was learned on Friday also. We learned a lot about different strategies and ideas of the generals in the Revolution, such as Cornwallis' idea of escape from the Chesapeake Bay. Unfortunately for him, the militia had the French on their side, and defeated him. But it was still a good strategy, and strategy seemed to be the way to win this war. Also, Mr. Boyle told us how the British were fighting because they had to, while the Continentals were fighting for a cause they believed strongly in. This affected the outcome of many battles because of the enthusiasm, and lack thereof.

9-30-10

Yesterday we watched a movie about the Revolutionary War, it was interesting to see reenactments of the battles.
Today went over the worksheets from last night, and basically reviewed all the major/important battles. I had no idea that so much work and effort was put into making our country independent, but I'm glad they did. Our lives would be so different if America was still ruled by England, we might even have English accents or something. Not that I would mind that, because when I was in England it was cool to be surrounded by English accents.

Timeline

The embed code wasn't working, and also it wouldn't directly embed onto my blog.I don't really know what to do, so here's the URL, it's the best I can do. Sorry!!

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/76557

9-23-10

I learned a lot today from the activity we did in history. Everyone in the class was assigned a character who was present at the 2nd Continental Congress and we pretended to be those characters in a meeting. It was really educational yet interesting at the same time, because it was like experiencing the event first-hand. After, we all had to sign the "Declaration of Independence". I hope we do more of these kind of things because it will be easy to refer to when taking the test. Although I don't like doing skits and acting and such, I have to say the activity today was really helpful.

9-22-10

Today in class we got back into our groups and reviewed what we learned yesterday. Then, we had to come up with 3 questions to debate the other groups about. Our group was hardly ever asked a question, and some of them were difficult to answer. But overall I think I learned a lot today and got a feel for how people of the 1770s thought.

9/21

Today in class we took a few notes from a powerpoint, which is always educational, then did an activity with our groups. I was in group number 3, and my group had the argument that the British should hold control of the colonies but let the colonies be more independent and promote peace between the two. If I were really put in the position of a British person in the 1770s, I like to think that I'd be understanding of the colonist's point of views, so I think it will be easy to debate this point of view.

9-20-10

Today we looked at the path of the British soldiers from Boston to Concord on GoogleEarth. It was actually sort of cool because we got to see where the soldiers marched, but in modern time. This demonstration emphasized the history of Massachusetts in a way that we all are familiar with. I didn't know that GoogleEarth could do a lot of the things we saw today, such as the info that was written and the direct pathway lines. I learned a lot today without the usual slideshows and lectures we get in other classes.

Revised Poem

Listen, everyone, and you shall hear
The tale of three men one fateful year

Revere, Prescott, and of course Dawes
Saving the colonies without pause

Alerting the towns, streets becoming crowded
"The Regulars are out!" is what Revere shouted

By 1 am they were squared away
But Redcoats made Revere pay

Prescott and Dawes had their own troubles
The fear of that night had nearly doubled

Dawes was thrown from his horse
Prescott continued to the militia force

It was not the famed Paul Revere
Saved the colonies without fear

Event That Started the Revolution Probably

While the American Revolution is obviously the effect of many things, I believe that after the Boston Massacre, it was enevitable.Tensions between the Americans and British soldiers had been rising for a while, and finally, the soldiers just snapped. The colonists were extremely angry, Britain had to assert themselves.

Event Info

After all the hard work and effort, today we finally did our "museum" history tour thing in class. It was really embarrassing for me, since I messed up so much in my part of the voiceclip. I couldn't say the word "intolerable" for some reason, so I was just like, "intobabable" and I paused a lot and even apologized for the mistakes. I wish nobody had to hear that, but it's okay. While it is very useful to always have the info on our iPods, it also was really hard to take notes since everyone talked so fast in their voiceclips. Next time, I think we can all agree to slow down a bit.

First Continental Congress- 55 delegates from 12 different states gathered to protest the Intolerable Acts, which were used to bring the colonists back under control of Britain. The Intolerable Acts greatly limited the colonist's freedom. So, the Sons of Liberty organized resistance agaist the Britsh Prime Minister.

Intolerable Acts- In 1774, Britain felt like the Americans should have to pay for the inconvinience they caused during the Boston Tea Party. Massachusetts was put under official British government watch, since that is where the Tea Party occured. Some colonists believed that it would be better just to conform to the British law being forced upon Americans (a.k.a Intolerable Acts), but some, mostly authorities such as John Hancock and John Adams, believed it better to stand up for the liberty and freedom of America.

Boston Tea Party- In 1773, Britain (in efforts to earn more money for their tea trade partners), developed a tax on the tea that was exported to America. The colonists were furious, and one day a group of angry Americans boarded a tea vessel and dumped 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. The colonists then started to produce their own tax-less tea.

Boston Massacre- Sam Adams wrote the Circular Letter telling the colonists to resist the Townshend Acts.
However, the actual massacre occured one winter day when the British soldiers patroling the area has finally had enough of the daily tormenting they recieved, and shot out into the crowd. Three civilians were killed.

Stamp Act-The Stamp Act occured during 1764-1765, when both Britain and France were fighting for control of America. The Act was developed to pay off about a third of military garrison. Americans clamied Britain has no right to tax them since no American was present in Parliament.

Royal Proclamation- In 1763, after the French and Indian War, colonists gained land in the west, which threatened the Indians. With the help of Pontiac and Ottawa, the Indians rose up in the Ohio Valley and took over several British posts. In response, Britain spread small pox through infected blankets throughout the tribes. The Royal Proclamation was developed in hopes of Britain settling new land in America and establishing good relations with the natives.

September 14th

Well today we presented our history replicas. I had Abigail Adams, and I learned a lot from the small amount of research that I did. I also learned from the other people's presentations and it was at least more interesting than watching PowerPoints and reading packets.
We got our textbooks today and those things are so heavy. Good thing America has the least amount of history of all the countries almost.

Recording the Event Profiles

Today in class we went to the computer lab. We got together with our groups and finalized our information, and then printed it out. We then recorded what we wrote onto Mr.Boyle's computer, and he's going to turn all the information we recorded into an MP3 download. We will then download the info onto our iPods and take a "tour" around the classroom while listening to the information, as we would in a museum. I think this is a really cool idea, and we'll always have the information to listen to when we have tests.

September 10th

Today we had an educational yet not very exciting class. We took notes on the colonies and the conflicts between France and Britain. I did learn a lot though, and it is helpful in the long run to have the notes. I know that they will help me a lot when it comes to take a test on the matter.
Also, today I got a clearer understanding on how to do Voicethread and what the requirements are. I wish we had a rubric or something, but I am confident that I understand the two projects. I think that the museum-like project is a cool idea, and plus we'll always have the information on our iPods for before tests.
Doing these blogs nightly are helping to get my ideas straight in history and what we learned, so far it is a positive thing.

September 9th, 2010

Today in History we reviewed on subject matter that we learned in 5th grade. Our table groups collaborated on the packet that Mr.Boyle gave to us, about the early colonies before the Revolution. It was surprisingly easy to remember what we learned in 5 years ago in 5th grade, so that helped a lot. I would also say that I leared some new facts, such as the ethnicities that made up the colonies.
We already have two projects to complete, and both were pretty confusing in the beginning. We have to use websites that most of us have never used or experienced, so I guess it might be challenging. I haven't tried it yet. I already started to work on my replica, and it's really easy. The other project I wasn't clear on for a while, and I'm still not really sure what it's supposed to look like, but I'll look on Mr.Boyle's blog to find out.

Goals for My Sophomore Year

Highschool, though it is only the beginning of my Sophomore year, is flying by. Everything seems to be occuring at once, which can make it very difficult to focus and really have a grip on my everyday life happenings. I've come to realize that it is extremely crucial to my personal success that I establish goals for myself, and agree to do whatever it realistically takes to accomplish them.

Goal number one: Prioritize.
As a teenager, it is hard not to view my friends as my top priority. But I am aware, in reality, that that is and should not be the case. In the real world, it is my education that will get me to the places I want to go and make me successful. So, this year I would like to start prioritizing my life with the effect of doing better in school. I am willing to decline my friend's invitations if I have a lot of schoolwork to do, or to catch up on. I will definitely try to study every night, so that information learned in class will stay in my memory.

Goal number two: Try to mainain an honor roll status.
Being on the honor roll each quarter is really important not only to my parents, but to me also. In middle school, I didn't put a great amount of effort into my schoolwork, and  I never studied, but I did pay very good attention in class. Strangely enough, I made High Honors each quarter. But in my Freshman year, it was suddenly extremely hard to stay on top of things. I wasn't used to all the studying I had to do, and I ended up not making the Honor Roll the fourth quarter. I was very disapointed in myself, and decided that day that I would try as hard as I could to make it every quarter of my Sophomore year. I am willing to go to study sessions, do all of my homework, and again, choose schoolwork over my friends. I will always ask the teachers for help in understanding material if I need it.

Goal number three: Make varsity again.
Last year, I joined the tennis team with some of my friends. I'd been playing tennis for a few years, but I wouldn't have said that I was good at it at all. The team needed 3 people from the JV team to try out for varsity, and since I had been playing, the coach told me to try out. I made the varsity team, but it was only because they were desperate for three more players. This year, I want to make varsity because I am actually a good tennis player, and I am willing to practice as many times a week as I can until the season starts, and I will definitely take lessons to improve.

I believe that setting goals in life is what makes people successful. And I hope that by setting these three simple goals for myself, that I am successful too.