Presidential Parade

This week, as we juggled schedule changes, field trips, mock car crash and standardized testing, you also managed to finish your study of JFK and had your announced quiz.   

We also started our study of the Women’s Revolution by reading how women felt they were being treated as second class citizens and limited in their opportunities.  Even women who attended the best colleges could only find jobs as secretaries, teachers or nurses.  With the publication of “The FeminineMystique” by Betty Friedan, everything started to change very quickly.  New York Times columnist Gail Collins has written an exciting account of this revolution in the role of women called, appropriately, “When Everything Changed.”  Speak with women in your life who lived through this period.  Ask them how the change in attitudes towards women opened up job opportunities, changed fashion, and rearranged family structures.  But while women have made great strides, the work is not complete.  Next week we will look at the new book “Lean In,” which discusses barriers that still must be broken before women will have true equality, especially economic and political parity.   

You also presented your presidential power point projects this week.  This was a fun project as you got to work with a group, and along with policy issues we looked at popular culture.  It is always fun looking back on fashions, movies and songs to better understand previous eras. Working in a group allows you to use the strengths of each individual member.  You are masters at communicating, so sharing information and slides should come naturally to you.  After presenting to the class, you will complete a reflection sheet that asks you to think about the group process, your contribution and what you could do next time to improve the product. 

You will have a quiz on the presentations so let’s quickly review some of the key points:

Richard Nixon is our only president to resign, because of the Watergate scandal.  One of his positive accomplishments was establishing normal diplomatic relations with China.  Gerald Ford is our only president to serve who was never elected, and his popularity plummeted due to his pardon of Nixon and a poor economy. He was followed by Jimmy Carter, a former governor of Georgia, whose administration was hampered by high gas prices, inflation and unemployment, and by the taking of American hostages in Iran (Ben Affleck saw the drama in this situation and directed the award winning movie “Argo”…worth renting). 

After serving one term, Carter was defeated by Ronald Reagan, who served two terms.  Reagan, a former actor and governor of California, spoke as though every day was the Fourth of July.  Initially, his tough talk toward the Soviet Union led to some of the tensest months of the Cold War.  But after Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet leader, he and Reagan formed a solid working relationship that reduced tensions and allowed Gorbachev to pursue reforms that eventually transformed the Soviet Union and ended the Cold War.  At home, many Americans supported Reagan’s claim that government had become too large and backed his efforts to reduce spending and taxes, but he left a sizeable debt for the next president, George H. W. Bush.  Bush Senior (not his official name, but an easy way to distinguish him from his son, George W. Bush) ran on a platform of no new taxes, but after seeing the size of the debt he felt raising taxes was the only responsible move to make.  His popularity soared after the very short and successful Desert Storm operation that turned back the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, but he only served one term as many voters turned against him for breaking his tax pledge. 

Bush Senior was followed by Bill Clinton, a former governor of Arkansas.  Clinton was able to develop an economic plan that produced a robust economy.  People’s wages went up, unemployment went down and he was able to leave a sizeable surplus by the end of his second term.  But even though he received high marks for the economy, he was involved in a personal scandal that led to his impeachment.  Remember, the House impeaches (indicts) and the Senate then holds the trial to weigh the evidence.  The Senate heard the charges and decided Clinton’s misdeeds did not meet the “high crimes and misdemeanors” standard the Constitution requires to complete the removal process.  So Clinton goes down in history as the second president to be impeached, but he was not removed from office.

Clinton was followed by George W.Bush.  This is a president you remember, as he served during the tragedy of 9/11.  That terrorist attack eventually led us into wars with Iraq and Afghanistan.  While our leaders at the time predicted Iraq would be a brief conflict, our troops were not withdrawn until the end of 2011, and we are still fighting in Afghanistan.  Bush Junior will also be remembered for controversial tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that contributed to our massive deficit and failed to promote the economic growth he had promised, with high unemployment continuing to this day.  As future voters and taxpayers you will need to decide what course of action you want your country to take.  Even though most voters want a balanced approach, mixing spending cuts with modest tax increases for the wealthy, members of Congress have been pressured by lobbyists to take a no tax increase pledge.  If a member votes for a tax increase, enormous amounts of money are poured into his or her opponent’s campaign in the next election.  What would you do if you were an elected official?

World History

This week you had a map of Europe to complete.  Maps are a great way to earn points and to get a better understanding of how countries are affected by war.  You will have a map activity on your final exam so this assignment was good practice. We also finished taking notes on our reading as to how the Allies were able to land in France (D-Day) and recapture territory occupied by the Germans.  You were able to test your note taking skills by answering possible quiz questions using your notes.  This is a good way to see if you are finding the key information and to help you refine your note taking skills.  We can’t write everything down so you need to keep asking yourself…what is significant…what do I need to know?

We also watched video clips from The History Channel that told us some lesser known stories of the war.  One of my favorites is the clip on the “fake” army that was put together to make the Germans think the Allies would be landing in a location far from the actual landing for D-Day.  Rubber tanks, inflatable trucks and phony tracks were all part of an effort to fool the Germans…and it worked!

We also started on a partner project on a topic you are interested in from WW II.  You got to select your partner and your topic and we started our research in the computer lab.  You will be designing and presenting your power point to the class.  Our topics must demonstrate higher level thinking skills…we are not just describing an event or a topic, we are asking “how” questions or “compare and contrast” questions.  We will continue to work on the project next week.  You will get your rubric on Monday.

Extra Credit

Be the first in your class to email me the correct response to one of these questions using your MHS account and earn extra credit: 

What role did “Ultra” play in winning World War II?

OR

What is Reaganomics?