Agenda: Wednesday Dec 10

1. Classwork: Map - Louisiana Territory pg 316
Label: The states, the territories, Bodies of Water, the Key, include the title, use 8 colors

2. HW: Read 318-319 and examine the map and the time line of the Lewis and Clark expedition then answer the two questions below.

A. What obstacles do you think would have been the most difficult for the expedition?

B. Write a paragraph that describes the importance of teamwork in helping the Corps of Discovery reach its goals?

Note: Students, remember I do not accept "anonymous" posts. You must use your student number under "name" when posting homework answers.

Agenda: Tuesday Dec 9th

1. Classwork: Guided reading chap 6 section 1 and section 2
2. Period 5 Only: quiz over Friday's notes

Agenda: Mon 12/08

1. Read 312-317 do questions 1-4
2. HW: Read 320-329 do question 1-4

Agenda: Thursday Dec 4th

1. Extra Credit re-teaching activity

2. Notes: President Adams makes peace with France

3. HW See below A and B below:
A. study for possible pop quiz
B. Read pgs 307-309

Class Agenda for Dec 2nd, 3rd, 4th

Starting Tuesday students will be presenting their history power point presentations in class. See previous post below for details.

8th grade history technology project

Goal: Students will demonstrate their knowledge of Chapters 2 through 5
Standards Assessed: 8.1 through 8.4.2
Task: Pick 6 topics to use to create your power point presentation. You will present 3 of them to the class. The rest will be graded separately. Each topic below may only be picked by 3 different people in the class.
Due Date: December 1st /Dec 2nd for period 5

1. What is the Great Awakening and how did it influence the American War for Independence?
2. How did the Enlightenment influence the ideas of the Declaration of Independence and explain the significance of the Dec. of Ind.?
3. How did the War for Independence influenced France?
4. Another event that contributed to the founding of American Democracy (you pick)
5. How did the Magna Carta and Mayflower Compact influence the principles of the US Constitution?
6. What were the Weaknesses and Success of the Articles of Confederation?
7. How was the Constitution created? (the debates such as the Virginia Plan and Compromises)
8. What were the Federalist Papers authored by James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay?
9. How did Jefferson’s Statue for Religious Freedom influence on the 1st amendment?
10. What are the Bill of Rights? Explain the importance of them especially the 1st amendment
11. What are the principles of Federalism, separation of powers, check and balances?
12. Explain/describe the Northwest Ordinance of 1787
13. Describe/illustrate the conflict and disagreements between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton (foreign policy, National Bank, Assumption of state debt)
14. What was the significance of Shay’s Rebellion and Whiskey Rebellion?
15. What are the functions/responsibilities of free press?
16. What was the significance of Washington’s Farewell Address?
17. Describe/explain the XYZ Affair and the Alien and Sedition Act

Rubric

1. ___ Appropriate and powerful images are used to illustrate the topic
2. ___ All parts of the question/topic are addressed
3. ___ Animation is used that does not distract from the topic/lesson
4. ___ The use of any two of the following: video, sound, smart art, chart, word art, table
5. ___ Correct spelling and punctuation
6. ___ Information is accurate
7. ___ Formatting is clear and professional
8. ___ Originality (The majority of the content and the ideas are fresh, original, inventive, and based upon logical conclusions and sound research.)
9. ___ 20 words or less on each slide
10. ___ Submit a 1 page summary of your presentation

Total points possible: 150

Agenda: Friday Nov 21st

1. Begin work on Mid-term project: Powerpoint presentation of Chapters 2 - 5.

2. Click on the link below to get help on inserting pics, video, sound and everything else you may need to know about how to use Power Point.

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/on-line_powerpoint.htm

3. HW: Finish your Political Cartoon

Agenda: Thurs, Nov 20th

1. Design a political cartoon about 1 of two topics:
A. XYZ Affair
B. Alien and Sedition Acts

2. HW: Chap 5 Sec 3 Guided Reading Review worksheet

Agenda: Wed, Nov 19th

1. Notes on Power point: "XYZ Affair" and "Alien and Sedition Acts"

2. Class work: Political Cartoon - "XYZ Affair". Click on the link below to see the political cartoon used in today's classwork/homework assignment. Complete the questions on the back of the political cartoon handed out in class.

http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/america/unitedstates/1783/1789/1797/xyz.htm

3. HW: Finish the XYZ Political Cartoon

Agenda: Tuesday, Nov 18th

1. Reading Check pages 291-297

2. Notes: Pickney Treaty, Jay Treaty

3. Go over answers to Friday's quiz

4. HW: Read pg 852 "Washington's Farewell Address" then answer the questions below:

A. Focusing on the info you think is most important, summarize this text by G.W.

B. Given the content and the context of the speech what was G.W. trying to communicate to the people.

Agenda: Monday, Nov 17th

1. Define: Partisan and Bipartisan

2. Notes: Creation of the first political parties

3. Using pages 291-293 W/ a partner find the areas that Jefferson and Hamilton disagreed on and create a chart on your own paper to display those differences.

4. HW: Rd pages 291-297

Agenda: Friday the 14th of November

1. Quiz: The Federalist Era

2. Classwork: "Analyzing Primary Sources" worksheet and define the following terms from the excerpt on the worksheet: relinquish, acknowledge, disposed, dwelling, intrude.

3. Period 4 only: Complete Wednesday's HW after the quiz.

Agenda: Thursday the 13th of Nov.

1. Review for quiz

2. Classwork: W/ a Partner, using pgs 286-287 create 3 columns. Label the 1st one "Conflict" and the 2nd one "How it was handled". Research the Whiskey Rebellion and the Struggle in the Northwest and write a description of the conflict in the 1st column and how it was handled in the 2nd column.

3. HW: Study for quiz

Today's Class Agenda

1. Notes/Discussion: Hamilton's National Bank and the Whiskey Rebellion

2. Quiz Review

3. HW: 1. Study for Friday's quiz

2. Rd pgs 286-287 - Propose 1 solution for each of the two problems on these 2 pages(Whiskey Rebellion, Conflict with Native Americans) Write 1 paragraph explaining each solution. Optional: You may post your responses on here in the form of a comment.

Question: How do I post a response to the blog?
Answer:
first, At the bottom of the day's post click on "comments".
Second, type a reponse of comment in the box to the right.
Third, click on "name/URL". DO NOT post your name.
Fourth, type in your student number in place of your name.
5th, click "publish your comment"

Mock Election Results at Wallis Annenberg High School Los Angeles

On October 30th 750 students in grades 7th-12th participated in a Mock Election. This is the 3rd year in a row our students had the chance to participate in the election. It was interesting to me as a history teacher to have a peek into the minds of our country's future.

Barack Obama - 519 votes
John McCain - 29 votes

Controversial California proposition 8 "Ban on Same Sex Marriage" passed.
299 Yes
293 No

Summer Trip '08 July 27th-Aug 19th

I had the opportunity to travel to 3 separate countries this summer: Hong Kong, Macau, and the Philippines. Each place I saw was rich with culture and history. Here you see me standing in Luneta Park in Manila Philippines where a statue of Rizal, a filipino national hero stands, . The 2nd picture is me standing in the rain at the Chocolate Hills on the Island of Bohol Philippines. The hills are caused by movements in the earth such as earth quakes, etc. and the 3rd picture is me standing on the streets of Hong Kong.

Freiburg- Dresden Tues, June 24th

Our first full day in the Freiburg-Dresden area was a busy one. We spent the day in the city of Dresden. This city was 80% destroyed by Allied bombing during WWII, but many of the buildings have been rebuilt. We first meet with Mr. Buttolo, the minister of Interior Affairs for the Free State of Saxony (the state where the cities of Freiburg and Dresden are located). Next, we had a lunch meeting with Mr. Heinz Lehmann a member of the Free State of Saxony's parliament. The afternoon was filled with a tour of the "Residenzschloss-Neues Grunes Gewolbe" which was a museum dedicated to the history of Augustus the Strong well known ruler of this part of Germany. Last, we did a walking tour of the "Zwinger" and the city of Dresden. We ate at the "Kartoffelhaus" (potato) restaurant for dinner.

(1st picture and 2nd picture) We ate at restaurant "Chiaveri" with Mr. Lehmann which is a rooftop restaurant along the banks of the Elbe river in Dresden. Our lunch conversation revolved around a recent local politics, politics in the US, the changing German society and education system, etc. Mr. Lehmann is to the left in the 1st picture with two from my team, Scott and Nolan, sitting next to him.
(3rd and 4th pictures) Myself standing on the baloncy of the "Zwinger". The Zwinger was an entertainment complex of sorts used by Augustus the strong to entertain heads of state, weddings, etc. At one point in more recent times it was flooded and had to be extensively repaired. After we walked around the Zwinger we walked over toward the center of town. The 3rd picture is of me standing in front of the person who started the Protestant Refromation, and my distant relative, Martin Luther, which is located in the center of town. In the background is the Frauenkirche. The Frauenkirche is built in baroque style like much of the city of Dresden. It was built in the 18th century, and survived the bombing of city during WWII only to catch fire and burn to the ground the next day as a result of that bombing.

Final Day in Berlin (Sun June 22nd)

On our last day in Berlin we ate our last breakfast at the Albrechtshof hotel (where we stayed while in Berlin) and traveled by train outside Berlin to visit the Sachsenhausen Concentration camp. After World War II this same camp was used by the Communist East German government as a forced labor camp. We spent several hours here touring the grounds of this site. It was ironic to me as I walked around the camp that day on a Sunday that around the world many people were going to church to worship God. Yet, here I was seeing for the first time with my own eyes one location where thousands of people were killed simply because of who they were. It turned in to a sort of rememberance day for me as I thought about the atrocities that went on here.

After we left the concentration camp we took a train to the city of Dresden where we then tranferred by bus to our next stop, Freiburg Germany and surrounding area.

(picture 1 and 2) A picture of me standing outside the gate to the concentration camp. The second picture is of the gas chamber at the camp.

(picture 3) A few of the California teachers having a little crazy fun that evening in Freiburg at the Obermarkt in the center of town. This fountain is a monument to Otto the Strong, the founder of the city. He allowed citizens to mine in the silver mines in the community, but they had to pay a large portion of what they mined to him in taxes.

4th day in Berlin (Sat, June 21)

Ok so it seems I never finished updating my blog about Germany.

On the 4th day of our time in Berlin we had a tour of the Deutscher Bundestag (German federal parliament building) as well as visited the Holocaust memorial, and the Jewish museum. It was a day of mixed emotions for me as I thought about what happened to the Jewish people right here in the city I was visiting.

(1st Picture and 2nd picture) This is a picture from inside the Bundestag where the German federal parliament meets to govern the country. This building was practically burned to the ground in 1933. It was blamed on a communist who was beheaded for the crime. However, it is also is suggested that the Nazis's themselves burned it with the purpose of blaming the communists for the crime so that communism would be hated by the people. The Nazis party used the fire as an excuse to purge Germany of communists supporters.

(3rd picture and 4th picture) The holocaust memorial is a series of concreate slabs of varing sizes from the very small to the very large. Its hard to get the scope of how big of a memorial it is here, but below are 2 pictures from facing two different directions. You can see Ellen's head poking up above one of the slabs. Underneath the memorial is a museum honoring the lives of those killed by the Nazis party from 1930's-1945 for being a Jew, homosexual, Gypsy, or having a mental illness. It was a very through and thought provoking experience to say the least. Pictures were not permitted inside the museum.

(5th and 6th picture) Our last stop for the day was at the Jewish Museum. The purpose of this museum is to tell the story of the entire history (2,000 years) of the Jewish people from ancient times to modern times. It was opened in 1933 but closed by the Nazis party in 1938. The current museum was finally reopened in 1999. The architecture itself is intended to be symbolic of the history of the Jewish people, but was impossible for me to capture with my pathetic camera skills. The 6th picture is a few members of my team standing in a sort of memorial garden that is intended to be a smaller representation of the Holocaust memorial shown above.

Day 3 in Berlin, June 20th

The third day in Berlin was filled with a discussion with the "Federal Foreign Office" about German education in America, a discussion with the "Federal Ministry for Family..." about the German family policy, and a visit to the old STASI records building. The STASI was the East German verion of the KGB during the Cold War. Last, we went on a walking tour around Berlin with our Atlantik Brucke guide Jurgen Pinnow who is very helpful and knowledgeable about all the locations we visited.

(1st picture and 2nd picture) Kevin, Todd, and myself standing in the Gendarmenmarkt. A beautiful open area. The 2nd picture is in the same open area and is the location of the Nazis book burning. Under the glass covering you can just barely make out the rows of empty book shelves that symbolize the event.

(3rd Picture) The third picture is inside the old STASI records building. We were not allowed to take close up pictures of any of the materials inside the building. This is Mr. Blum, the coordinator of the Records of former German Democratic Republic (Communist East Germany), otherwise known as STASI. The communists used to keep detailed records of everything their citizens did. There was no privacy. They would hire neigbors, friends, family, to spy on a person's daily activities to make sure no one was plotting against the communist government. Mr. Blum is describing the process. You can see in the back ground some of the records kept here. Also in this picture you can see Scott, Mr. Blum's assistant, our guide Jurgon, and Kathleen our California Education Department Rep.

Back in Los Angeles!

I arrived home from Los Angeles a day later than originally planned. To make a long story short, our 11:20am flight from Frankfurt to Newark, NJ was cancelled due to technical difficulties with the plane. We had arrived at the airport so early (7:30am) that we ended up being at the airport for over 6 hours before they finally took all 300 passengers to a nearby hotel to feed us. Two hours later we were transported to a a Five star hotel "Frankfurter Hof" (Hof is the German word for hotel) where they put us up in the hotel overnight and fed us dinner and then breakfast the next morning. This is a picture of the hotel Continental Airlines put all 300 passengers up in overnight.

2nd Day in Berlin (Thurs June 19th)

The second day of our trip in Berlin was by far the busiest day of the entire trip. We had 6 different appointments. First, we meet with the director for Security and Arms Control, Dr. Geyr at the Federal Chancellery where we discussed the European Union and Germany's role in it. Next we meet with Dr. Klausa the director of the "German Resistance Memorial". I took a total of 4oo pictures on my trip to Germany, and so it is impossible to post them all to this blog.

(1st picture and 2nd picture) We took a guided tour of the German Resistance Memorial. This is the site of the famous assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20th, 1944. I am standing in the courtyard of the building where the assassination attempt took place. This building is now a memorial and museum to the small resistance movement against Hitler's reich.

Our third meeting was with Dr. Joachim Pfeiffer a discussion about Germany's energy policy which focused around Germany's two of Germany's political party's view of the topic. We meet at the Bundestag for this meeting. This would be equivalent to the capitol building in Washington DC where our Congress meets. Germany actually has 5 major political parties unlike the United States which has only 2.

(3rd picture and 4th picture) Each time we meet a German dignitary or tour guide we presented them with a gift. Dr. Pfeiffer is about to receive his gift from us in this picture. The 3rd picture is taken just after we are brought to the conference room for the meeting. On the left you see, Ellen, Nolan, Carrie, Mark, and Thais. On the right side you see Scott, Fern, Kathleen, and Bill. These are some of the California teachers that went on the trip with us. In the back of the room you can just make out Jurgen Pinnow, our tour guide and sponsor with Atlantik-Brucke.

(5th picture) Our last meeting of the day was a dinner meeting at 7:30pm with Sascha Steuer. He is a member of the Senate of Berlin and a member of the Christian Democratic Party. (This is the conservative party in Germany, but I would describe it as moderate.) We generally discussed the politics around the German education system and the major changes coming to their education system soon. This is a picture of us walking up to the restaurant where we were meet him. It was in a quiet little Berlin neighborhood. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of Mr. Steuer.

first day in Berlin

(First Pic) We took the SBahn from Hamburg to Berlin on the 18th. This is me central station in Hamburg waiting for the SBahn. The SBahn is a high speed train which travels at 200km hour (125 miles per hour).

(second pic) We meet with Jorg Schonbohm in our hotel in Berlin. He is the current ministry of the Interior for the state of Brandenburg Germany. He took over as commander in chief of the armed forces of the former Communist East Germany when the soviet union collapsed. He helped to plan Germany's reunification and its role in NATO. It was an honor to meet and sit right next to him while he talked to us about his experiences.

(3rd picture) Brandenburg Gates. Throughout the Cold War the Brandenburg gates were on the east side of Berlin (Communist Germany). They were built during the 1800's.

Durborg-Skolen in Flensburg, Germany and Denmark (June 17th)

The students that gave me a tour of their school.

(second picture and third picture) Our tour guide made a surprise detour to the country of Denmark after we visited this school. Denmark and Germany have an open border, meaning there is no border crossing and no check point to get into the country of Denmark. We stopped in Kollund Denmark just over the border and we got out to take pictures from the bank of the Baltic Sea. Looking across they bay we could see into Germany at the castle where the Nazis leaders hid after the defeat of Germany in 1945.

First stop - Keil Germany state of Schleswig-Holstein (June 14-17)

(first picture) We stayed here for the first 3 days of our trip learning about the German state government and education system of Schleswig-Holstein. We stayed in the dorms of this school while touring the state of Schleswig-Holstein. Germany has 16 states similar to the 50 US states.

(second picture) Downtown Kiel, Germany where we watched the

(3rd picture) This is me We visited a bilingual gynamsium (high school) composed mostly of the Danish Minority called the Duborn-Skolen. Its located just a couple of miles from the Denmark border. We had the chance to talk with the students about their treatment as minorities in the country of Germany, and they gave us a tour of the school. One of the teachers of the school gave us a history lesson about the Danish Minority in Germany.

Trip Itinerary

June 15th -June 17th I will be in Hamburg and Kiel

June 18th-June 22nd I will be in Berlin

June 23rd-June 24th I will be in Freiberg and Dresden

June 25th-June 27th I will be in Frankfurt

Atlantik-Bruecke Foundation

If you want to check out the foundation (along with the California Department of Education) that is sponsoring my trip check click on the link below.
http://www.atlantik-bruecke.org/

Germany or bust

On June 14th at 7am I will say goodbye to Wallis Annenberg High School for two weeks. I will fly from Los Angeles to Newark, NJ and then on to Hamburg, Germany to begin my two week tour of Germany. I will be studying their government, their education system, and generally learning about modern day German culture. I will be meeting German government leaders and educators and listening to special speakers talk about Germany's growth since the Berlin Wall was torn down. You, as my student, can follow me along on my tour of Germany as I post regular updates of my trip on this blog.