Dangerous Rhetoric

Let’s start with the good news…Frostee Freeze is open, the Boston Red Sox beat the Yankees twice, and the MHS sports teams are off to a great start! And rumor has it that Spring is actually going to arrive on Aquidneck Island – sometime.

Now for some of the worries around the world:  North Korea continues to threaten us by moving missiles onto a launching site and talking about a “light” nuclear attack.  Most analysts dismiss these threats as the blustering of a young leader, Kim Jong-un, who wants to demonstrate how tough he is.  However, we all need to pause and learn from history that heated talk can lead to unintended consequences.  President Obama has been in contact with China’s new president, Xi Jinping, in an effort to have him act as a mediator to defuse the rising tensions.  Meanwhile, the US has shown off its superior military strength with flyovers of B2 stealth bombers as it participates in regularly scheduled military exercises with South Korea.   

Next week we will look at the Korean War, sometimes known as the Forgotten War, and see the historical roots of today’s conflict. 

Cold War Wrap Up

This week we finished our study of the Cold War by watching “Duck and Cover” and going over our timelines.  The Cuban Missile Crisis is probably the closest we ever came to nuclear war.  If you are interested in learning more about this event, I urge you to watch “Thirteen Days in October,” starring Kevin Costner.  It is a very accurate rendition of the tense weeks as President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev faced off over the Soviet missiles in Cuba.  

I urge you to talk with family members about this time period and the unique role Newport played during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the city was still home port for the Atlantic Fleet.  Oral history makes our past come alive and gives major events a more personal meaning.  As we enter our last quarter, you will be interviewing someone who lived through events we are talking about so you can get a better understanding of how they affect all of us.  I can guarantee you that in years to come, when your own children are taking American History, they will ask you what it was like during the economic slowdown of 2010 or when President Obama was elected.  You are living history and you will be the primary sources of the future.  Stay alert!

On Friday you had your announced final assessment on the Cold War.  Prior to your writing assignment you were told that vocabulary was a key to being successful.  When you came in to take the assessment you should have felt confident in your ability to do well IF you had prepared the vocabulary sheets we did in class.  As Juniors you should be responsible for taking time to prepare.

 

Civil Rights Unit

Our next unit of study will be the Civil RightsMovement.  While most historians focus on events that deal with African American efforts to gain political and economic rights long denied them, our concept of civil rights for all groups is constantly expanding. We will start with the efforts by such key leaders as Martin Luther King, the Little Rock Nine, Malcolm X and others to bring African Americans into parity with whites.  But the success of their efforts also led women and other minority groups to fight for equal rights.  There was an interesting news report recently on California’s efforts to include the study of Gay History in the high school curriculum as a way to further broaden the idea of civil rights for all Americans.

If you are looking for a good book about this time period, I would recommend the best seller “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett.  It tells the story of several black maids and their relationship with their white employers in Mississippi in the 1960’s.  It is a moving and sometimes disturbing account of how racial divides were viewed very differently by whites and blacks. This book has become so popular it has appeared on the best seller list for hardbacks for over 100 weeks and is now on the ebook best seller list. The book has also been turned into a movie starring Rhode Island’s own Viola Davis.

Status of Assignment Sheets; Importance of Deadlines

This week we once again updated our sheets.  Work for the quarter was due on Friday. While there seems to be a trend in some quarters toward relaxing the emphasis on submitting school work on time, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman recently wrote about the importance of “soft skills” if young Americans are to compete successfully in an increasingly challenging global economy.  Students in other nations – China, India, Japan – grow up learning the importance of punctuality, persistence, and determination.  The habits you are forming now will make the difference between success and failure when you move on to your next level of education or work.

World History

This week we continued our study of World War I. You had a worksheet on the terms and some key questions as to why the world went to war and how the new technology of warfare caused massive casualties.  If you did not finish the worksheet in class, you were supposed to complete it for homework.  You may not like homework, but it is essential to do it so you can be prepared for the next class.  Just as sports teams must practice before a game, students need to read and think about the topics they will be required to discuss in the next class.

Poster Task

On Friday you had the entire period to do your poster analysis.  You were able to select a World War I poster or cartoon to analyze using your guiding questions.  You had to email the poster or cartoon to Ms. Averil who posted it on Voice Thread, a web site that allows all of us to view your work and gives you the ability to comment on your fellow students’ analysis.  This project required you to complete multiple steps.  One of the major sticking points was the use of email.  As indicated in your room management plan, you need an MHS email account.  If you were a student at Gaudet you already had one.  Using the MHS account allowed you to quickly send the image to Ms. Averil.   Some had to use private email accounts but our servers sometimes do not recognize accounts and it slows down the process. If your account was not working, take the time to check in the Main Office or with Ms. Gill or Mr. Dumais to get your account in good shape as you will be using it for the next three years.