Capstone is History

Congratulations to all our Seniors and Juniors who presented their Capstone projects this week. The excitement and anticipation could be felt by the entire school as presentation day approached. To meet standard on your projects, you had a long road to travel...core questions....I Search papers...building power points...and finally the presentation. You should take great pride in your accomplishment and know that next time (yes...you will have other presentations to make at school and in the world of work) you will know how to manage your time and be successful. If you did not meet standard, you have the opportunity to revise and re-present. Thomas Jefferson revised the Declaration of Independence over 20 times, so you can revise your Capstone. Capstone is also a learning process for teachers as we evaluate core questions, apply the rubric, and try to develop a better timetable of due dates for next year’s Juniors. Learning, growing, and adapting...a lifelong journey!

The New Frontier

This week we completed our study of the 1000 days of the Kennedy administration. Your worksheet guided you through our brief chapter that highlighted JFK’s efforts to improve the economy, give aid to the poor, and to put a man on the moon within the decade. Many classes read about the impact of the Kennedy-Nixon presidential debates. Today all of our candidates participate in many debates but the debate between Kennedy and Nixon was the first debate televised for all to see. A candidate’s physical appearance takes on a new significance as voters decide who to support in November. People who watched the debate said Kennedy won but people who listened to the debate said Nixon had won. Finally, we read an excerpt from “The Death of a President” by William Manchester. This 700 page book became a best seller as the American public clamored for information about those 5 fateful days in November 1963. We also looked at some of the famous photos that came from the assassination and the funeral. After all of this background reading and discussion, you took the quiz on the New Frontier.

1968: A Turning Point in History

Our text continues with a section devoted to one year: 1968. As we read the section and looked at the photos you could quickly see that this year was dominated by violence…the assassination of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. Both of these assassinations triggered violence in many of our major urban areas. 1968 was also a presidential election year and the republican nominee Richard Nixon was able to capitalize on the violence in the streets and the population’s disagreement over the Vietnam War. He was able to win the presidency by a slim margin and ushered in a time of law and order as well as major foreign policy initiatives including a trip to China and the Soviet Union.

Study Guide

By now, all seniors should have a copy of the study guide as you prepare for finals starting on Thursday. If you do not have a guide, please stop by any time to pick up a copy. You should also take your portfolio home so you can review past work and of course you have the trusty blog.