Wednesday, November 26, 2014

I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday. Please remember that you need to complete your take home exam on The Declaration of Independence. If you lost your exam, you may access it by clicking on the link below!

https://docs.google.com/a/students.osd.wednet.edu/document/d/1SJN9kAETt0r0kH4GupTRj_mtyccY0whkorra7sJDtcA/edit?usp=sharing

Happy Thanksgiving!
-Mr. H

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Greetings wonderful students! 

This past week has been all about the Declaration of Independence. We have watched a video of a live reading of the Declaration by famous actors that includes a thoughtful and important introduction by Morgan Freeman. Mrs. Merrigan led us in an investigation of the painting by John Trumbull depicting the moment when the first draft of the Declaration of Independence was presented to the Second Continental Congress. We learned how to use ThingLink to annotate an historical document. Your annotations along with a brief reflection should have been submitted using the link tinyurl.com/turnindi - please make sure this is done. We also watched an excerpt from the movie John Adams which showed some of the debates and issues surrounding the creation and adoption of the Declaration, and now we are diving into the actual text.

Today we had a good discussion on thinking and reading like a historian. We then discussed the idea that historians have disagreed as to whether the colonial leaders were motivated by selfish or ideological reasons when they wrote and then adopted the Declaration of Independence. We looked at an excerpt from Bernard Bailyn's The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution and we looked at an excerpt from Howard Zinn's The People's History of the United States. Tomorrow we will examine the claims and evidence in both of these excerpts. 

 

- Mr. H.

Friday, November 7, 2014

I apologize for being an absentee poster of late - lots going on. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that final grades for the first quarter are in and I would invite you to check those out on skyward. I have also added comments to those grades, so be sure to search those out as well.

Now is the time for every student to reflect on their progress this past quarter and set some goals for next quarter. I see many opportunities for students to be more proactive in their approach to their own learning. The more you think about your learning and take pride in the work you are doing, the more you are going to get out of it. Focus, effort, and a desire to learn are so important to your achievement, and all of those qualities will help you with anything you come across is this great journey called life.

We have a lot to accomplish this year, and our success depends on everyone contributing to the learning environment. Spend time each and every night on your studies, read for large chunks of time, prepare for upcoming tests, and always know what is coming up and what you need to do to prepare for each and every day. We can move mountains this year. Let's make some magic happen!

Enjoy your weekend!
-Haws