A Time for R and R

The top headlines this week focused on the Icelandic volcanic ash which has shut down European air travel for the past three days and is beginning to have an enormous economic impact. This has been the worst disruption in air travel since 9/11/2001 when all air travel was halted for three days, and no one can predict how long the eruption of last or how far-reaching its effects may be. Government officials are concerned that this microscopic ash will also have a pronounced impact on the health of people if it starts falling from the upper atmosphere.

At home, much has been written about Goldman Sachs and the charges that the bank defrauded its customers who purchased investments tied to risky mortgages. It is the first major case brought against a bank. At the same time, Congress is in the process of rewriting legislation that will reign in banks’ efforts to trade in risky investments. While these investments were lucrative for the banks, it exposed their share holders to unneeded risk.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has set up shop at the Middletown police station. Any of you who were impacted by the flood waters should go to speak to the representatives of FEMA and learn about help that is available. Your tax dollars are coming back to help our community dry off and repair flooded basements.

World History

This week we continued our study of World War II. This war affected almost all nations and was the most costly ever in human lives and physical destruction. Using our packets to guide our reading, we spent time organizing information on the board. We looked at key areas of conflict and discussed how entire nations mobilized. We also asked how – or if – our nation today has mobilized for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As your culminating project for this unit you will be preparing and presenting a power point project on May 3. We spent one day in the lab where you activated your email accounts and signed up for Acrobat. This web site will be a useful tool as you work with your partner. Make sure to read the rubric carefully. You will have two more days in the lab (April 26 and April 28). Your project must be emailed to me at asullivan@mpsri.net by Sunday May 2 at 11:00 pm. This is a fun project…you picked the topic…you picked your partner…you have ample time at school and you need to put the finishing touches on it at home. We will do the presentations on May 3. Think of this as practice for Capstone in your Junior year.

CWI/Modern America

We continued with our study of the Civil Rights Movement as we prepare to take our final task on April 28-30. The task requires you to analyze documents (we have had lots of practice) and to respond to a prompt using documents and prior knowledge. All of our class work has focused on building prior knowledge that you can use for the task. You have a syllabus so the assignments are clearly outlined.

We supplemented out text reading with primary sources from Governor George Wallace (against integration) and an excerpt from Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas (for integration). Our video “A Time for Justice” gave us a good overview of the movement from the late 1950s up to the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. The photos and commentary allowed you to enter into the time period and think what it must have been like for the African Americans who were subjected to humiliations and for the white people who were not used to this new idea of equality and integration. Government officials struggled with how to keep peace while protecting the rights of the citizens.

We want to thank Mrs. O’Donnell for the moving power point on the Civil Rights Movement. The music along with the pictures gave us a sense of how over time Americans were able to change their attitudes and eventually elect Barrack Obama President in 2008. Progress and Hope!

Many of you were out as vacation time approached so make sure you check the syllabus for work you missed. On Friday we put our chart on the board and read aloud “The Lasting Impact of Nonviolent Confrontation” on page 808.
When you return from vacation, we will watch a portion of “Eyes on the Prize,” an award winning documentary on the Civil Rights Movement. We will also have a quiz on April 27 which will focus on key ideas from our readings. On April 28 and 29 we will do the document analysis portion of the task. Your analysis should take less than one class period so you will have time to outline your essay. You will have one day to write in the computer lab on April 30.

If you are looking for things to do over the break, I would recommend reading or watching “Roots” by Alex Hayley. The book was published in 1976 and the following year it was made into a miniseries. The story follows Kunta Kinte, an African who is captured in 1767 and brought to the colonies to be a slave. The story continues with the stories of the generations that followed. Hayley based his novel on his own family history.

If you are interested in a more modern rendering of the Civil Rights Movement you could pick up Kathryn Stockett’s book, “The Help.” It is a top seller and a captivating and engrossing tale of a young white woman who wants to become a writer and decides to tell the story of the African American women who acted as the help for white southern families in the early 1960s.

Our day of silence on Friday, sponsored by the Gay Straight Alliance, reminded us that not all people in our country have equal rights. This was a powerful statement of silence when we had so many students participating in this day of awareness. Thank you GSA for reminding us that civil rights have not yet been extended to all groups.

Congratulations Athlete of the Week

Great job JF...may I have your autograph?

Congratulations to the Woods Family

Dr. Gordon Wood from Brown University and his daughter Dr. Amy Wood, an assistant professor at Illinois State University, have both been nominated for the Los Angeles Times’ book prize in history. Dr. G. Wood’s book “Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic 1789-1815” has already won the American History Book Prize by the New York Historical Society. I was fortunate to have Dr. Gordon Wood as a professor for a Gilder-Lehrman Seminar in the summer of 2007. He is a great story teller of early American history and makes the struggles and people of the early formation of our country come alive. Dr. Amy Wood’s book “Lynching and Spectacle: Witnessing Racial Violence in America 1890-1940” is her first book. Dr. Amy Wood grew up in Barrington and did not set out to be an historian. The Providence Journal featured Gordon and Amy Wood in the Sunday Arts and Travel section.

Please note:
The next posting is scheduled for May 1.

Endings and Beginnings

As I look over our school calendar and review the events of this week, I see this as a time of endings and beginnings. We are ending our third quarter and our study of the Cold War in Modern America and the years between the wars in World History. As we enter the final quarter, we begin our study of the Civil Rights Movement and World War II.

In current news, Supreme Court Judge John Paul Stevens is ending his career of nearly 35 years as President Obama begins narrowing the choices for the candidate who will become his second nominee to the Court.

Two figures who played very different roles in history died this week. The passing of Morris Jeppson, an Army electronic specialist who flew on the Enola Gay, leaves one survivor from this history-making flight. When asked what he had done the day he dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, he is reported to have said “I think we ended the war today.” After the US dropped one more atomic bomb, on Nagasaki, the war did end. In Russia, they are mourning the passing of Anatoly Dobrynin, the Soviet Ambassador to Washington during the Cuban Missile Crisis and most of the remaining Cold War era. He is credited by many historians with helping end the crisis and easing tensions between the USSR and the USA.

Finally, this was a week when our President took major steps toward reducing the threat of nuclear weapons by signing a treaty with Russia to lower the number in each country’s arsenal and issuing a new doctrine that narrows the conditions under which the US would use such weapons. Both countries have huge nuclear stockpiles, and reducing their number and restricting the circumstances under which they might be used will mean a safer world for all.

Your study of history becomes more meaningful when you can make connections. Watching the news and talking with family members help you better understand events and their significance.

CWI/Modern America

This week we started by listening to two popular songs from 1965 and 1966: “On the Eve of Destruction” and “The Ballad of the Green Berets.” By listening to the music and reading the lyrics, you quickly noted that one was a protest song and one was a patriotic song. The country was deeply divided by the war in Vietnam and the music, documents, and photos you used in your group activity helped you understand the reasons for those divisions. As good historians, you sifted through the evidence and reached conclusions.

We concluded our study of the Cold War by looking at events during JFK’s administration, including the Alliance for Progress, the Bay of Pigs incident, the Berlin Crisis and finally the Cuban Missile Crisis. Each of these events showed the different strategies Kennedy used to contain communism. Our videos on the Cuban Missile Crisis gave you a sense of the tension the entire world felt during those 13 days as the two most powerful countries stood face to face. We are all thankful that cooler heads prevailed and a peaceful resolution was worked out to end the immediate threat of all-out war. If you are interested in knowing more about this event, I would urge you to watch “Thirteen Days in October,” a film starring Kevin Costner. It is a good depiction of what happened and the extras on the DVD include interviews with key players.

To help you get a better understanding of this time period, we listened to Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” accompanied by a video depicting events mentioned. Thanks to Mr. Scott Allsop, a history teacher from England who built the video around this song. For those who like to sing along he has recently updated the video to include a karaoke version.

At the end of the week you had your Cold War final assessment which included multiple choice questions and a writing piece. The writing focused on the use of the vocabulary we have been working on for the past few weeks. Many of you did a fine job on the writing...congratulations!

You also received your Civil Rights syllabus. This is an especially important unit for you as we are preparing for a portfolio task. You will be given a prompt and several documents. In order to be successful on this essay you will need to analyze the documents (April 27 or 28) and use your prior knowledge to respond to the prompt. Readers of essays are looking for an understanding of the documents AND your understanding of the time period based on your previous work. For homework you should identify and tell the significance of the people listed on your syllabus. This will prepare us to write the speech that is listed on your syllabus. We will do his next week.

World History

We finished our study of the world between the wars. One of the most useful assignments you had was your comparison sheet of fascism, socialism and democracy. A good understanding of these different forms of government will help you in your future study of historical time periods. Many high grades were earned on the end of unit assessment. Great job!

We have started our study of World War II and you have a packet that will help you understand the text and our discussions. We had some fun on Friday as we acted out the play with Chamberlin trying to appease Hitler. We also analyzed the two editorial cartoons. Cartoons are an amusing and sometimes forceful way of communicating difficult concepts. I hope you have taken the time to look at some of the cartoons in the UpFront magazine.

For homework you need to move on to section 2 on the syllabus. You should also be thinking about what type of power point project you would like to do for your final assessment. This coming Wednesday, April 14, we will discuss the due date. We will be going to the computer lab next week to look at sites and develop an open-ended question which will be the basis of your project. This will be great practice for the Capstone project you do as Juniors.

Extra Credit

Many of you have asked for an extra credit question so I am offering you the opportunity to earn extra credit by bringing in an editorial cartoon and sharing it with the class. It can be on any topic from any reputable source. Have fun!

Containment: Water and Communism

This week our state endured worse flooding than any previously recorded, perhaps the worst ever. Newscasters kept using the term “historic” to describe the devastation caused by over 15 inches of rain over a 2-week period. Janet Napolitano, Secretary for Homeland Security, toured the state via helicopter to assess the damage. The President issued a disaster declaration which provides money to families and businesses to start rebuilding. This is a good example of how the federal government steps in during times of crisis....which is one reason we pay taxes.

Aquidneck Island escaped much of the flooding because our open spaces and absence of inland rivers allowed much of the water to drain directly into the bay or the Sakonnet.

Along with the long-awaited return of sunny weather, the end of the week brought good news for the economy when the Department of Labor reported 162,000 jobs were created in March. While we still have 9.7% unemployment nationally and 13 % in Rhode Island, the new numbers show our economy is starting to recover. As President Obama stated, “we are beginning to turn the corner.”

A third major news item, the passage and signing of health care legislation, was the subject of our discussion last Monday. This law will affect all of us as it is phased in over the next few years. Many of you highlighted the section that allows young people to stay on their parent’s health insurance to the age of 26. This will help recent graduates who find it difficult to locate jobs offering health benefits . The law also includes a section modifying the federal financial aid program for college students, with the government now becoming the principal lender. You may ask what this provision has to do with health. Because legislation can only become law if the House and Senate pass identical versions, often the same bill number will be used for measures dealing with unrelated issues. This procedure expedites the passage of legislation, but it can lead to confusion as to what the final bill actually covers.

Portfolio Update

We are approaching our last week of third quarter. Your portfolio should be up to date, all work organized, and your status of assignment completed. We will have one more assessment and that will end our third quarter. The assessment will be on Thursday or Friday, depending on your class, and will focus on vocabulary. Keeping your folder up to date allows you to monitor your work and grade. It also ensures your past work is available when you need it to review for the final exam. Sometimes history does repeat itself, as I like to include a few past questions on the final.

Seniors

Every Senior has received a letter that includes their grade status and questions about their plans for ensuring success in the fourth quarter. These letters need to be signed and returned. We all want to be on the same page (and stage!)...no surprises.

CWI/Modern America

This week we continued our study of the Cold War by doing the containment worksheet which took you through the actions and reactions of both sides as the US sought to keep communism from spreading in Europe and even here at home. We also read excerpts from the Truman and Eisenhower Doctrines which offered economic and military aid to any country resisting communism. Our video clip on The Wall gave you a sense of what it was like to live during the time of the Berlin Wall. We continued to read what I believe is one of the most important sections in your text (Chapter 26 section 3) which explains how the US became involved in Korea, Vietnam, Latin America and the Middle East. As we go forward with our readings and our study of current events, you can refer to this section for an understanding of why these areas of the world drew our attention and are still of concern today.

As part of our study of the Korean War, you did an informal survey focused on the question: Is the Korean War the “forgotten” war? Polling and surveys are done by many groups to measure interest and to better understand the needs, wants or opinions of the public. Recently I was called by a pollster asking who I might support in the congressional race for the seat currently held by Patrick Kennedy. The pollster was trying to find out what issues were important to me so the candidate she was working for could focus on those issues. By pooling the information from many classmates, we were able to analyze our findings and make some generalizations. You then had the opportunity to write about these findings. Our video clip on Korea gave you a sense of what the conflict was like.

On page 730 in your text, there is a cameo picture of Ho Chi Minh, the leader of the Indochina Communist party. As your text indicates, Ho Chi Minh was a communist but he was foremost a Vietnamese nationalist. He wanted what all countries want: to be ruled by their own people. He wanted the French colonialists to leave and allow the Vietnamese to decide their own destiny. His plea to President Truman, using language from the Declaration of Independence, to help Vietnam in its struggle for freedom was turned down and instead Truman continued to support the French. Eventually the United States replaced France in Vietnam and fought what became the most divisive foreign war in our history. I can’t help but wonder how our history would be different if Truman had decided not to support the French and instead allowed the Vietnamese to decide their own future. Our video clip left us with the statement : “the US was deeply divided over the war.” Next week we will examine a variety of sources as we seek to understand why the war divided this country so badly. For homework you have background reading and a worksheet on the early years of the war.

We were also introduced to Fidel Castro this week as we read about his revolution in Cuba. Tensions were mounting as we realized the communists were now only 60 miles south of Florida. They were coming closer!

Connections

In today’s New York Times, Bob Herbert has a column “We still don’t hear him” which focuses on Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech on April 4, 1967 about the Vietnam War. Our next unit (and our last task) is on the Civil Rights Movement and here is a direct link between the efforts to gain civil rights for people in the US and the war in Vietnam, which was hurting this cause. The column goes on to discuss how King believed the Vietnamese government was corrupt and unworthy of US support , and Herbert then applies this reasoning to the war in Afghanistan. Today you will hear many commentators make links between Vietnam and the war in Afghanistan. Keeps these connections in mind as we continue our study of the war in Asia, and try to decide for yourselves whether or not they are valid.

World History

On Monday you had the opportunity to write about Gandhi and the principles of non-violence. You had a list of quotes and you could select the one that most interested you and respond to the guiding questions. As a teacher of history, I sometimes feel I am teaching about war, more war, and the possibility of war, so it is important to pause and think as well about the opportunities for peaceful resolution of our conflicts.

You received a packet on the years between the Wars (WW I and WW II) which focuses on what was happening in Germany, Italy and Japan. Our first reading was on the rise of Japan. After visiting that country I have a better understanding of how they became involved in this conflict. The Japanese worshipped their Emperor as a God and therefore would do everything they could to follow his orders. The Japanese also have great reverence for their families and believe that dying for your family and country is of the highest order. Finally, time and again historians speak of Japan’s lack of resources (it is an island country) and the need to import them. Once the US refused to sell Japan oil and other resources, the Japanese felt they had to resort to war. Other historians, prominently quoted in the Hiroshima Peace Museum, spoke about the disastrous decisions Japan made in the years leading up to World War II and then suffered the consequences. Historians interpret events differently and that is why students must look at multiple sources, think, ask questions and discuss events so you can form your own conclusions.

FROSTY FREEZE IS OPEN!!!