So... Yeah!  Weather, man!  We will NOT be in school tomorrow, so please stay safe in the mean time!!!

Today we discussed the Revolution, looking at the participation of various subgroups and what were the outcomes for those groups following the Revolution.  We kicked this off with a DocBlock HAPP analysis of the memoirs of Joseph Plumb Martin, a soldier in the Revolutionary War.  

Whatever day we return, you will be responsible for the material in Chapter 7.  We will shift the future assignments on the class calendar as necessary once we see how long this plays out!  

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So, first off, I guess most of you have gotten the call about the district plans related to the upcoming hurricane threat.  If not, we will dismiss 2 1/2 hours early on Thursday and school is cancelled for Friday.

Chapter 7 material will be covered in class tomorrow, HOWEVER, you have been swamped with chapters over the last few days, so we will not check the chapter 7 notes or have a quiz over the material until Thursday (Florence permitting).  Look over the thesis peer revision comments you have received and we will provide feedback as necessary over the next few days.

This is covering things out of our usual order, but here's the usual summary of today's activities:

​Today we discussed the issues leading to conflict between the American Colonies and England in the years prior to the Revolution.  We examined an excerpt from Thomas Paine's Common Sense for our DocBlock Recitation (HAPP), then explored the differences in understanding between the English and Colonists related to the Stamp Act (including walking you through a hypothetical situation where social media and emails would filter through government central servers to be read and taxed, which seemed to horrify most of you).  We ended class with a discussion over the unknowns related to the Battle of Lexington and Concord and finally with time for you to peer critique you revised thesis statements.

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We started off today with the Chapter 5 quiz.  We followed this up with a breakdown of thesis writing using the comments I made on your posts over the weekend.  We finished up the day by examining four different historian's views on the American Revolution as they each spoke to the question of just how revolutionary was the Revolution.  We will spend a significant amount of time in this class deconstructing arguments made by historians an a variety of topics, so this was your first real taste.

Chapter 6 is due tomorrow and Chapter 7 on Wednesday!  Remember to post your thesis revisions to the discussion board tonight!  Mr. Greenblatt's classes:  I will post feedback before 4th period tomorrow so that you can make any necessary additional revisions.  I will pop in to see if you have questions as well.

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Today we discussed the French and Indian War and focused on how history is personal and individual by relating the experiences of George Washington.  We also discussed other points of view from the war using three primary sources.  

The last activity was a discussion over historical writing, specifically the thesis statement style for this class.  You can find the PowerPoint example we used in class under "Writing Tips" on this site.  You need to write and post a rough draft thesis statement tonight or before noon tomorrow.  Naviagate to the main page of this site, scroll down, and click/tap the tile for "Discussion Boards."  Find the thesis board for your class and open it.  You will see the question to which you are responding and a few other notes.  Post your thesis as a comment and we will give you feedback starting Noon on Saturday!  (NOTE:  I will be commenting on Mr. Greenblatt's classes for him).

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Today's conversations centered around the effects of the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening in the American Colonies.  We also examined areas of similarity and difference between the movements and how they affected each other.  As part of this process we debriefed our textbook reading and homework over Jonathan Edwards which were due today and added other voices from historical documents.  One of those documents was our DocBlock Recitation for the day, taken from the unpublished manuscript of the Autobiography of Nathan Cole, a Connecticut farmer who documented his experiences with the revivalism of the Great Awakening.

Tonight you should look over the Colonies map and map directions under Period 2 on the website.  We are not requiring or collecting this map, but you should spend some time becoming familiar with it.  If you have any of the first few quizzes to make up or the Summer Assignment for those of you that joined the class after transferring late in the summer, tomorrow's lunch tutorial is the time to get those taken care of!  Also, Chapter 5 is due on Monday, so keep that in mind!

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Today we discussed the importance of historical situation by re-contextualizing the Salem Witch trials within cultural trends. By considering contemporaneous events and gender, class, and race, we came to a greater understanding of the phenomenon.  With this exercise, we introduced the idea of Essential Historical Questions, the format we will use in this class to limit the range of inquiry to a manageable size and to give it focus and direction in much the same way that historians do. 

We then analyzed colonial society with respect to income inequality, connecting that to modern and global patterns.  We also examined data represented in map form to interpret colonial lifeways and regional similarities and differences.

Finally, we discussed historical writing, which you will develop over the coming weeks.  

For tonight, Read Jonathan Edward's Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God under Period 2 and answer the questions.  Also, Don't forget that Chapter 4 is due tomorrow!

Mr. Richardson's class: be prepared to discuss the following questions regarding the American ideals of democracy, equality, rights, liberty, and opportunity.
1.Which one of America’s founding ideals was most strongly nurtured during the colonial period?
2.Based on the Colonial Period, which of the founding ideals will be a part of future conflicts?
3.Which event from the Colonial Period had the greatest affect on American life today?  What founding ideals did this help shape?

So after a short, long break over the Labor Day weekend, we dove right in today with a debrief and discussion arising from the 99%Invisible podcast you listened to as homework.  We continued our examination of Early Colonial slavery with a Document Recitation over our first secondary source, a selection from the book Black Cargoes by Mannix and Cowley titled The Middle Passage.  After discussing our take-away's from the document, we spent the rest of class in a deep dive exercise using Colonial newspaper wanted advertisements for runaway slaves.  We took the raw historical information in these documents to build inferential knowledge of many aspects of unfree labor in the Colonies.

Tonight, you need to craft a one to two paragraph argument supported by evidence from the documents in responses to the following question:

     Using what you have learned from these advertisements, compare the institutions
     of servitude and slavery in colonial America.  In what ways were these worlds
     similar? What were the most significant differences?

These responses are due tomorrow and don't forget that Chapter 4 is due Thursday!

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