We watched "Bowling for Columbine" on this glorious finals day.

We had two presentations: one on Hunter S. Thompson and one on John Lennon.

We watched a video about the 1970s: Vietnam, Nixon & Watergate, liberation movements.

I read the Harper's Weekly Review.

We talked about the 1960s and 1970s.

I assigned the final. Susan Sontag wrote an essay in 1966 called "What's Wrong in America" that I think is insightful into today as much as it was to 1966. Respond to the essay utilizing what we have learned throughout this whole year. (1-10 pages)

I gave an in class assignment to write 5 Nothings & Somethings. A Nothing is question in which the answer is exact and closed. A Something is a related question which is open for many answers and is open.
We talked about the 1960s.

We talked about current events and the Cold War.

We talked a bit about the New Deal and labor unions. We talked about World War II. Isis & Jessica gave a presentation about Charlie Chaplin.

We watched a bit of a Charlie Chaplin movie in preparation for a presentation on Tuesday. I talked about the New Deal and FDR. Hilary (our only senior--her last day!!) gave her presentation on Stanley Kubrick.

Today and yesterday we talked about the Great Depression.

Assignment: Handout--answer question #7, at least.

I gave a lecture about the 1920s.

We spoke of the connections between all of the things we've been learning recently. Look at the assignment below. I read another chapter from Ill Nature by Joy Williams, an extraordinary writer and thinker. We finished "Faces of the Enemy" and discussed it briefly.

Assignment: write a (minimum 1 page) paper integrating industrialism (robber barons, Ford, Taylorism), urbanization, immigration (nativism), imperialism (closing of the frontier/genocide of Native Americans), manifest destiny, social Darwinism.

I read the Harper's Weekly Review. We finished "Matewan." We discussed it briefly.

Eric Schlosser is speaking for free tonight at 7.30pm at the First Congregational Church tonite. A marvelous opportunity for all.

Assignment: do the essay about "Matewan" detailed on the notetaking character sheet.

We watched another segment of "Matewan."

I read the Harper's Weekly Review. We watched the first part of "Matewan."

We talked about several current events, especially Iraq happenings. I gave a brief lecture about the nature of repetitive, brutal, dangerous work during the industrial revolution. We talked some about the connections between the frontier closing (Native American's being kicked out of their homes), imperialism, urbanization, industrialization, immigration, and the attitudes of social Darwinism, manifest destiny, and the idea of "progress."

Assignment: be prepared to write about those ^ connections.

Laura gave her presentation about Joni Mitchell then she sang (& played) a couple of wonderful songs. We talked about current events.

I gave a lecture about immigration around the turn of the 19th century. A fairly apathetic class today.

We talked about urbanization and the massive changes that took place around the turn of the 19th century. Many tangents, fairly good class.

We went through the Harper's Weekly Review with many tangents. We discussed current events including Starbucks expansion.

We went to the downtown library and continued researching the "biography as history" projects.

We came to the computer lab and began researching the "biography as history" projects.

We discussed current events related to the Harpers Index.
We talked a bit about the biography projects we'll begin researching tomorrow.

We had a discussion of several things and two students presented their current events articles.

I read the Harper's Weekly Review. We briefly discussed current events.

I told the class that I was reminded yesterday about how "naturally" we learn, when I visited two preschools yesterday. How children learn to walk and talk. Yet, at some point during schooling, we lose that desire for learning in schooling. I want to recapture that. I gave the option--again--of students designing their own learning, choosig to do something more valuable for their learning than what we are doing in class.

I gave a lecture about World War I, "The Great War."

We watched another segment of "Faces of the Enemy".

Assignment: find a current event article, post, videoclip, etc. that relates to something we've learned in class this year. Be prepared to present it to class. (due Friday)

We did a bit of review of the semester.

We had some discussion (input for me) about "advise to future teachers" and "what teachers need to know about youth and their culture and their world in order to be effective teachers." I got many great ideas, my favorite was from Hilary: "In order to be a good teacher, be a good human."

We listened to a presentation about music from.

Harper's Weekly Review.

We watched the first part of "Faces of the Enemy", an excellent video by Sam Keen about the process of making enemies out of people before we ever do violence against them. Propaganda, etc.

Assignment: "Faces of the Enemy" sheet
Assignment: (due no later than noon this Friday) write "what I learned" this quarter, give yourself the grade you think you deserve based upon your learning, justify that grade, evaluate my (Matt's) teaching this quarter.

We listened to two brief segments from last weeks "This American Life",an NPR show. The first was Anthony Swofford sharing his reactions to TV coverage of the current Gulf War. The second was Sarah Vowell reporting on parallels between the current war and the Spanish-American War. I was disappointed that most of the class seemed to lack the knowlege and sophistication to really understand either of these stories. My own shortcoming in teaching, I suppose. But also, this against the backdrop of a television education.

We discussed how I should grade students at the end of the week (end of quarter).

Assignment: write an extended "What I Learned" to cover the whole quarter. Synthesize, synthesize.
Assignment (extra credit): do any of the "case studies" from the American Odyssey textbook.

I read A Fine, Fine School to the class, which is a wonderful childrens book.

I finished a lecture on Plains Indians.

I read the Harper's Weekly Review. We discussed Thunderheart, "The Indian Question", "Rabbit-Proof Fence", etc. We also discussed the war with Iraq and the assignment that I gave yesterday.

Assignments: go to matthewpliesusdiscuss.blogspot.com and follow the instructions posted Monday.

We talked about current events. I gave a short lecture about Plains Native Americans and buffalo and Wounded Knee, etc.

We discussed the war on Iraq, media, Michael Moore, and other related topics. As far as our discussions go, a decent start.

We finished "Thunderheart" and had a brief discussion about it. We'll talk further on Friday. I expect everybody to have completely read the "Indian Question" by Friday.

We attempted a discussion about the chapter "The Indian Question". Most of the class was less than prepared. We watched another portion of "Thunderheart."

Assignment: read the whole "Indian Question" chapter. Be prepared for discussion tomorrow.

We talked a bit about current events. We began viewing "Thunderheart".

We discussed current events

We discussed current events based upon the Harper's Weekly Review.

We had some current events then review of imperialism.

A bit of current events. A presentation about fast food.

Current events and some random learning. Economic continuum. Editorial page layout. Other topics.

I enjoyed class today, and many others did also. We learned a lot of different things. The cigarette advertising folks finished their presentations. It's a valuable case study in advertising and propaganda. Then we had a music presentation focusing on popular music of the 1920s, 1960s, and 2000s. Jazz, activist music, and commercial crap. The contrast between the music of last century and the music of this century is extraordinary. It's a sad testimony to the power of money and commercialism.

Current events and a presentation about the history of cigarette advertising.

Assignment: read handout and answer questions about the "Spanish American War" and handout and questions about the "Philippine War"
bigger assignment: read "The Indian Question" handout and answer three questions on final page.

We discussed a variety of current events surrounding the pending US war against the people and government of Iraq.

Adam, from Lewis & Clark asked for students opinions about nontraditional teachers at Lincoln. We had a presentation on Martin King & Malcolm X. We celebrated Jessica's birthday.

In my opinion, class was excellent today. Several excellent show&tell books: Martin & Malcolm & America and Wounded Knee and American Empire. Several class members were gone finishing a project that was due last week. Those who were left were more focused. We had two great presentations. One about the history of women's rights. One about the history of television. Then I did a presentation about the Spanish-American War. I gave a handout which has questions and a back page about yellow journalism with questions.

Assignment: read the handout and do the questions.

Current events: Harper's weekly review. Lysistrada Project is performing Lysistrada locally. New book called Prison Nation: the warehousing of America's Poor. Full page ad in Oregonian by local business people advocating to let inspections work.

Oregonian propaganda and distortion: Saturday headline story: "The United States and Britain are tryint to focus the world's attention on illegal Iraqui weapons activities..." The Oregonian is also trying ot focus Oregonians' attention on the same. Blatantly. Sunday headine: "PERS perk: One job, two checks" sort of ignores the fact that retirement income is an earned right. Employees and their employers pay into a retirement system. We could just as easily make a headline with "Plder people collecting retirement also have part time jobs." Such terrible journalism.

We heard a presentation about some of the US history of marijuana.

Current events.
Quiz on imperialism: 1) what is imperialism? 2) why did the US become an imperial power (2 reasons)? 3) name 5 countries affected by US imperialism. 4) anything else about imperialism.

Some current events, some review of imperialism, some new imperialism, one student presentation.

A bit of current events. A bit of book show & tell. A bit about imperialism. Then we went to the library to continue working on topical projects.

I shared several current events, we had some discussion.

I handed out an article called "Beyond Black History" written by Cecil Prescod in the February Portland Alliance which I consider to be an excellent piece of writing. I gave an assignment related to it.

We watched another 15 minutes of the Hawaii video up to the point where Queen Lilioukalani is pressured to abdicate the throne.

Assignment: read "Beyond Black History" and write reasons why Matt would be proud for his students to write like this.
Assignment: notes on Hawaii video

We talked a bit more about imperialism. The reasons for imperialism: racist "White Man's Burden", expanding markets, closing of frontier, competition with Europe, patriotism, etc. I showed a couple of maps of European imperialism in Africa and Asia.

For all of you TV watchers: "60 Minutes" is devoting an entire segment to Michael Moore this Sunday, Feb. 16, on CBS, 7pm ET/PT
CBSNEWS link

We went to the Multnomah County Library downtown today to research projects/themes. Most groups at least got some ideas. Some groups made a lot of progress.

Current events today. I had hoped to finish the Hawaii video, but there were many relevant events to talk about and questions to deal with regarding our school year.

I handed out an amazing essay by David James Duncan and an interview with Kurt Vonnegut which I highly recommend. I only gave it to interested students, it's not required.

I read an excellent speech given by Arundhati Roy at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil a couple of weeks ago. She spoke passionately about corporate globalization, more properly called Empire and how we must unite and lay seige to it in the name of justice. Roy won the Booker Prize for an amazing novel called The God of Small Things and has been extremely active in writing and speaking against corporate globalization and for grassroots movements, particularly regarding hydroelectric dams in the southwest of India. I have great respect for as well as amazement at her writing.

I encourage everyone to read it (again), print it, distribute it, talk about it, do something about it. Here's a link: Arundhati Roy's written speech

We spent a while talking about what a budget is, from personal to national. We looked at the White House proposed budget which can be found in full at the Office of Management and Budget

Assignment: define these words--discretionary spending/budget, regressive tax (& example), progressive tax (& example), deficit, balanced budget, unearned income.
Read the Robert Landauer column on the back side of the discretionary budget sheet I passed out. If you didn't get it, here it is: Landauer's column

We came to the computer lab and did research on topical projects.

We had a rambling semi-discussion today about some current events.

I gave the paper that gives guidance for groups doing thematic projects. I gave brief admonition about doing research in a creative way. Make phone calls, do interviews, send emails, find the right people to talk to. Especially since this project is thematic, the "answers" are not found readily in books. The connections are personal.

Groups spend part of the period talking together about their projects and how they will approach it.

Assignment: work on project which is due February 21st.

We learned some about "manifest destiny" and its predominance in America's history since the early 1500s.

Some current events discussion, some Hawaii video.

A lot of general discussion about a cut in school days and all that is happening with us in schools. Media accuracy/inaccuracy, strike possibilities, district actions, legislative inactions, implications, cuts to state police, prisons, and those who cannot care for themselves (mentally ill), et cetera. There is so much going on and so much to try to understand. We are trying to gain an integrated understanding of it all.

A bit of talk about textbooks being misleading and biased was inspired by Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen. Texas is the center of the social studies textbook world. We discussed the value of remaining open and learning from each other. I told the story of the blind men and the elephant which illustrates how our truths are partial truths and we greatly benefit by learning from each other. We get a fuller picture. That's the best of what education can be. Here is the story of "The Blind Men and the Elephant"

We spent the last ten minutes of class reviewing what we learned this week. A bit about imperialism and Hawaii, a lot about the things of our daily school lives.

Assignment: "What I learned this week" (.5-2 pages)

We began class with a bit about imperialism, in the context of expanding industrialism. We watched a few minutes of video about the Kingdom of Hawaii and the American influences. People took notes on three areas of influence: political, economic, cultural. I gave a bit of context about Hawaiians and Polynesia.

We spent the next hour discussing Measure 28's failure and the consequences. So much complexity involving mental health services, state police, teachers and striking, responsibility of people to the greater good which in turn benefits individuals, et cetera. James Williams joined us for the last 20 minutes to give us perspective as a former PPS school board member, student, activist, and extremely informed citizen. Mr Kolinsky, whose room we borrow, gave us a few words also. I felt like the discussion was active, and I'd like to do more of that with more people interacting and more people fully involved.

Assignment: notes on video.

Some current events, some general discussion. Some discussion about advertising and the glut of products that envelop our lives. A brief lecture on "methods of subsistence": hunting/gathering, pastoralism, horticulture, industry, information?.

Assignment: write about industrialism and it's effects on our world. Look around you and see what you see and relate it to the beginnings of industrialism.
define three words given yesterday

It's second semester. We watched "Walker" on our finals day which shows some early American imperialism. The finals were mostly excellent. Many of you are beginning to use your brains in a way that connects to American history.

Current Events.
Today I reviewed a bit of industrialism and the enormous industrial growth in the second half of the 19th century. (note-taking)

Assignments:
-take notes on industrialism
-define in a personal & opinionated way: corporation, capitalism, subsidy (give an example)

Today was sort of review day and sort of random day. I told the story of Quaker Oats. I read the Harper's Weekly Review. We talked about a few other current events. We talked about the the sleep in.

I had students write a Matt evaluation. I asked them to critique my teaching. I also asked them to tell me about their learning this quarter/semester and tell me what grade they would give themselves a grade based upon their learning (not based upon their assignment-doing).

We discussed the final paper.

We discussed a few current events. We talked about the final. I shows a few overheads concerning industrialism, robber barons, vertical integration, and horizontal integration.

American History final

I hope that all of you have learned a lot this semester. You’ve probably noticed that my style of teaching is fairly informal and the content of what we’ve learned can seem random. This is my design. I believe that most learning happens informally and randomly, so I’ve tried to create as many opportunities for true learning (inside and outside the classroom) to take place as possible. My most important goal for this semester has been that you begin to form a worldview concerning all things historically American. There are a lot of details to learn, and many forget them readily, but we can find them in our sources/readings/videos/etc. On the other hand the worldview never fades from memory; it evolves into more mature versions of itself. What you begin to learn in this class can become a framework of your future worldview about all things American.

My goals for you according to the syllabus are: think more critically and creatively; sense and feel historical underpinnings to life in 2003; recognize perspective and bias; evaluate events and movements based upon our values; and live life more fully. I think we’ve gotten a good start on these, but we have a fair distance to go. Feel free to prompt me back on track.

What I want from you in this final is proof that you have begun to form that worldview. Some of you already began to do this with your slavery papers. In light of what I’ve just written, here is your final, due on Tuesday, January 21nd:
________________________________________________________________________
Describe American history from 1600 to 1900. What significant movements occurred? What happened that matters today? State your opinions. Back them up with facts. Write fluently. I expect somewhere between 2 and 20 pages of writing. If you choose to demonstrate your understanding in another way (artistically, with a presentation, et cetera), be sure to provide some written documentation of what you are trying to do.

For those of you concerned about grades:
This final can contribute as much as 50% of your grade if you demonstrate to me that you have a clear understanding of what we’ve learned so far. For those of you who have already shown a clear understanding of what we’ve learned so far (with your assigned work), this final can be a smaller part of your grade. Let me restate: If you have been a slacker regarding assignments, this final is your chance to catch up by proving to me that you have learned a lot this quarter and done some synthesis (putting it together). However, if you are a diligent student, this final can be a less important part of your semester grade.

Some of the things we’ve covered inside and outside of class (in reverse order of study):
Lots and lots of current events
"registration" of visitors & immigrants from certain countries
US News & World Report (distort) which contains blatant lies in it's article about American empire/imperialism
John D. Rockefeller & the rise of the Standard Oil Company in PBS’s "The Prize"
economies of scale, competetive advantage, vertical integration
robber barons
industrialism and the Civil War many robber barons began to make their fortunes during the Civil War. (Many of them were in their 20s and hired substitutes to go to war for them when their were drafted)
Michael Moore reading about “Welfare Mamas” (corporate welfare recipients).
Kurds
"Social Darwinism"
The school walkout, school funding, sports funding
Trent Lott, southern racism, racism
Reconstruction
3 minute "Bowling for Columbine" segment concerning fear in America and the violence that comes from that.
Glory"
westward expansion
pre-Civil War political conflicts: unifying and disunifying events between north & south previous to the Civil War
"No Child Left Behind Act" which forces school districts to offer transfers to students in "failing" schools.
What is the importance of the Amistad case in US history?
How did race slavery develop in Virginia & why?
importance of Bacon's Rebellion by talking about how blacks & whites mingled more freely before it happened. Afterwards many laws were passed which revented blacks & whites from working together.
US alliance with Saudi Arabia
Homeland Security Act that passed Monday
Walmart court case
“Amistad”
“Amistad moral/practical question concerning ends and means. Tappan says, wouldn't they "have been more valuable in death than in life" by making the Amistad captives martyrs. Joadson disagrees, affirming the dignity of the individuals involved. This ends/means question is continually relevant.
modern indentured servitude of Asian refugees being imported to southern California illegally to work in sweatshops.
“Amistad”
-“Amistad” inaccuracies
-“Bowling for Columbine”
-SLAVERY: (an extremely important part of this nation's history)
-At first African and European indentured servants were treated as equals.
-three time periods in the development of race slavery
-Bacon's Rebellion (1676) was an important symbolic event
-Native American slave trade
-Slaves traded/smuggled illegally, especially after slavetrading banned in the US/Britain
-The proslave/antislave debate was not a clear South/North division
-Abolitionists were a minority
-British culture contained racist attitudes before race slavery developed

I presented some current events and read the December 24th Harper's Weekly Review. Then we talked about FISA.


This American Life had a show about FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which is two decades old and authorizes wiretaps on suspected "spies". For the first time in their history, they refused a request for a wiretap warrant. The Ashcroft Justice Department has challenged their refusal. I read the
From www.thisamericanlife.com "Most people don't know there's a secret court in the United States. Perhaps even more surprising, it's been around for over two decades. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court authorizes wiretaps on people the FBI and other intelligence agencies suspect of being spies. It meets in secret, and all its proceedings are sealed. Recently, a big battle you probably heard nothing about broke out between the court and the Ashcroft Justice Department. For what may have been the first time in its history, the court turned down a department surveillance application, and for what is certainly the first time in history, the department fought the court's decision. The document you see above, (note the filing number 02-001) is the first public document ever produced by the The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, the super-secret body convened to solve this super-secret dispute. This and other stories about government secrecy from what many people call the most secretive Presidential administration in history." from This American Life's website

We talked about social Darwinism and the place it occupies in our social consciousness, the power of that mythology. We hold on to stories about people working their way up the social class ladder, yet these stories are rare exceptions. This country has the least class mobility in its history now. When polled, 20% of Americans believe that they are in the top 1% of wealthy Americans. Another 19% believe they will be. This distortion (38% of Americans deluded about their wealth) is partly because of social Darwinism.

I read a bit from Ill Nature by Joy Williams, an amazing book subtitled Rants & Reflections on Humanity and Other Animals.

We discussed some current events including the "registration" of visitors & immigrants from certain countries and today's deadline. I read the Harper's Weekly Review. I showed the current issue of US News & World Report (distort) which contains blatant lies in it's article about American Empire.

I asked for feedback concerning a final exam. I offered a couple of questions that I'll ask for a takehome final that will be due finals day. On finals day we will watch the movie "Walker" which concerns US imperialism in Nicaragua.

We watched the rest of the John D. Rockefeller video. I interrupted it at several points to clarif the concepts of economies of scale, competetive advantage, vertical integration. I tried to solicit some opinions and some wrestling with the material we were viewing. I got small response.

Assignment: respond to the movie. Tell me what you think of Rockefeller and his business practices. Tell me what you think of his donations to charity and his Sunday school teaching. I want to hear your opinion.

I passed back papers. We discussed current events a bit. I handed out four papers. The first is about the robber barons. Another concerns industrialism and the Civil War and also has a chapter by Michael Moore about Welfare Mamas (corporate welfare recipients). I introduced the video from "The Prize" (about oil) which PBS aired a few years ago. We are watching the first segment which is about John D. Rockefeller and the rise of the Standard Oil Company. We'll continue tomorrow.

We discussed a variety of current events including the Kurds. I encourage everybody to come to Hot Topics on Wednesday at lunch in room 169 concerning the Kurds. I talked a bit about how the robber barons began to make their fortunes during the Civil War. (Many of them were in their 20s and hired substitutes to go to war for them when their were drafted). I handed out a page describing the concept of "Social Darwinism" and we talked about it briefly. I handed back papers that I had graded during the break.

Assignment: read "Social Darwinism" handout and be prepared to discuss

We went to the "party" that Mr. Millar invited us to. We conversed with our peers about what we're learning in our classes. A great way to spend the final day of class before break.

We had an extended discussion about current events. We touched on the walk out, school funding, sports funding, Trent Lott, southern racism, racism.

This helped us to segue into a lecture of Reconstruction.

We viewed a 3 minute segment from "Bowling for Columbine" which talked about fear in America and the violence that comes from that.

On Friday we will go to a "Party" in Mr. Millar's room. You are required to have ten conversations with others about what we've learned in our class. Hopefully there will be great intermingling between various classes.

We finished reading the Cartoon History of the US version of the Civil War.

We began talking about Reconstruction by reading a portion of Who Built America? edited by Herbert Gutman. Reconstruction was an important 12 year period following the Civil War when the formerly Confederate states rejoined the Union. Black civic participation bloomed to an extent unequaled even to the present in this country. We'll discuss Reconstruction further tomorrow.

Assignments:
Read the rest of the Reconstruction packet. Answer questions.
"Glory" letter or review due Friday.

We finished "Glory" today and talked about it briefly.

Assignment: as with Amistad, write a letter from one of the main characters to home or write a movie review. (due this Friday)
Note: Friday is the last day I will accept work assigned to this point.

We skipped current events today. I showed the class the cartoon history of the US version of the Civil War from the election of 1860 through the beginning of the war.

We watched the middle portion of "Glory" which we'll finish on Monday.

I finally handed out a syllabus. We discussed some current events. I told the class that most of them would be recieving D & F progress reports, mostly because they have not completed their "Giddy Multitude" slavery project which is significant gradewise. I'll accept any late work until the Friday before winter break.

We watched the first segment of "Glory."

We talked about current events, particularly two events in Portland yesterday. First, the state issued its revised economic forecast which means that PPS will lose an additional $4.5 million. In response, the Portland School Board almost decided to cut spring athletics and Outdoor School. Almost...because the school board left before they voted. Portland also hosted an economic summit which talked about options for the future of this state's economy.

Then we moved on to review of westward expansion and pre-Civil War politics. Here's the outline I put on the overhead:

Westward Expansion
-manifest destiny: US has right & duty to invade and occupy all of North America
-Monroe Doctrine: Europe out of Western Hemisphere, except colonies, no new colonies
-Louisana, Florida, Texas, Oregon, Mexican Cession(NM/UT/CA), Gadsden, Alaska
-Lewis & Clark, Robert Gray
-Mormon Trail, Oregon Trail, Santa Fe Trail
-Gold Rush, pelt trappers, ranchers
-buffalo, salmon
-Republic of Texas
-Mexican-American War

Pre-Civil War (pp 95-98 in Nash)
-Cotton gin/new variety of cotton, growth of cotton, growth of slavery
-Missouri Compromise
-Abolitionism (Frederick Douglass, The Liberator, Liberia, Grimke Sisters)
-Gag Rule
-Compromise of 1850 / Fugitive Slave Law
-Uncle Tom’s Cabin
-Kansas-Nebraska Act
-Dred Scott
-Lincoln-Douglas debates
-John Brown & raid on Harper’s Ferry

Assignment: I handed out a paper about the Mexican-American war which you must read tonite.

We did a bit of what was 8th grade review for many people: the expansion of US territory via the Louisana Purchase, war acquisition from Mexico, etc. Trappers, Native Americans, salmon, buffalo, Mormons. We'll talk more tomorrow about these things and more.

I recommended relevant two books: Lost Nation by Jeffrey Lent and Salmon Without Rivers by Jim Lichatowich.

We discussed several current events and issues and spent the remainder of the period going over the corrected quizzes.

Today we discussed some current events.

I told students my plan for spending a few days with pre-Civil War political conflicts, a few days with the Civil War (we'll watch the movie "Glory"), and a few days with Reconstruction. Then we'll move onto a complex mix of industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and major social changes. Students expressed approval.

Then I told them that their were both unifying and disunifying events between north & south previous to the Civil War. I assigned groups to briefly research seven of them on the internet. We went to the computer lab and spent a few minutes researching then sharing the fruits of our research.

Assignment: take notes on the seven events. (due 12/4)

After discussing some current events and reading a couple of Billy Collins poems and sharing what I learned from freewrites, I gave a quiz. The quiz summarized what we've learned about slavery so far. We will be moving on tomorrow to pre Civil War politics.

Slavery projects/papers were due last week. Many still have not done them. They are worth a lot of points. I'll accept them late, up to an undetermined point.
Amistad papers were due today. Many still have not done them. They are also worth a fair amount of points. Turn them in!

I read the Harper's Weekly Update and we talked about a few current events including the US Department of Education's interpretation of the "No Child Left Behind Act" which forces school districts to offer transfers to students in "failing" schools.

Today we did a bit of catching up.
I reminded people that their slavery project/paper was due last week and if they want credit, they must turn them in ASAP.
I warned of a quiz tomorrow which will closely resemble the pop quiz a couple of weeks ago.
I said that I was contemplating two questions for the final. 1)What is the importance of the Amistad case in US history?, and 2)How did race slavery develop in Virginia & why?

We discussed the importance of Bacon's Rebellion by talking about how blacks & whites mingled more freely before it happened. Afterwards many laws were passed which prevented blacks & whites from working together.

I reviewed the many activities and things we have learned in the past 4 weeks. I had students freewrite about what was most valuable for them, what they remember, and what worked the best in terms of their learning.

I had students freewrite for the last 6 minutes of class about what's working for them and why. The feedback is helpful for me and will shape how we do thing in this class.

I reminded people that their Amistad papers are due tomorrow (12/3)

I'm always willing to accept papers via email. matthewplies@hotmail.com

Each day we begin class with announcements, show&tell of books/periodicals/articles that I think are interesting and relevant, a reading from a short story or poetry book, and current events.

We discussed the US alliance with Saudi Arabia, the new Homeland Security Act that passed Monday, and the Walmart court case which went into high gear this week.

We spent some time discussing Amistad. We asked moral/practical question concerning ends and means. Tappan says, wouldn't they "have been more valuable in death than in life" by making the Amistad captives martyrs. Joadson disagrees, affirming the dignity of the individuals involved. This ends/means question is continually relevant.

We briefly read about modern indentured servitude of Asian refugees being imported to southern California illegally to work in sweatshops.

Assignment: Amistad paper (due 12/3)
I encourage everybody to look at yesterday's posting concerning slavery.

We discussed Amistad inaccuracies as well as the movie in general.

In groups, then as a class, we chose the most important aspects of slavery learning:
-At first African and European indentured servants were treated as equals.
-three time periods in the development of race slavery (1619-1640 indentured servitude, 1640-1660 de facto slavery, 1660 de jure slavery)
-Bacon's Rebellion (1676) was an important symbolic event that convinced elites in Virginia and elsewhere to more actively separate workers (black/white) so that they would not rise up together.
-There was Native American slave trade where Native Americans were traded for Carribbean Africans.
-Slaves were traded/smuggled illegally, especially after slave trading had been banned in the US and Britain.
-The proslave/antislave debate was not a clear South/North division.
-Abolitionists were a minority.
-slavery is an extremely important part of this nation's history.
-British culture contained racist attitudes before the development of slavery and they actively promoted as race slavery was being developed as an economic & cultural institution.
Assignment:
1-2 page Amistad paper (choices on handout)

Today the slavery projects/papers were due and very few students turned them in. Pitiful.
We finished watching Amistad.
Tomorrow we will discuss Amistad and start to wrap up our slavery learnings.

assignment: Amistad paper & notes on characters (due Dec 2)

After talking about current events, we watched another section of "Amistad".

assignments:
--slavery project (due 11/25)
--letter to senator/representative & response
--writeup on Bowling for Columbine
--Amistad assignment (notes on characters & 1-2 page writing: instructions in 3 page handout) (due Monday after Thanksgiving break)

We discussed current events, particularly the Homeland Security Bill which the Senate just passed.

We spend the remainder of the period watching Amistad, which hopefully we will finish on Friday.

possible assignments:
--slavery project (due 11/25)
--letter to senator/representative & response
--writeup on Bowling for Columbine
--Amistad assignment (notes on characters & 1-2 page writing: instructions in 3 page handout)

Today we began watching Amistad, which will take three days (probably). There is a writing assignment based upon the movie. I handed that out today.

possible assignments:
--slavery project (due 11/25)
--letter to senator/representative & response
--writeup on Bowling for Columbine

Today we discussed our finishing talking about slavery this week. We went over the quizzes which I corrected. We'll be watching Amistad for part of Tuesday, Wednesday, & Friday.

Remember that projects are due on Monday. We'll have a few presentations in the days before Thanksgiving break.