September 28

Social 20-1

I finished off the lecture on "Contending Loyalties". You had the remainder of the class time to work on your Chapter 4 Key Terms and Questions, which are due tomorrow. Your French Revolution DBA Assignment is also due tomorrow. I'm going to be teaching you how to write a WRA I (three source analysis) tomorrow. This Friday (September 30th), you'll be writing your Unit 1 WRA I. One week from tomorrow you'll be writing your Chapter 3-4 Test and I'll be posting the study guide her tomorrow.

IB 20 HOTA

We spent the entire class looking at the Articles of Confederation. I gave each of you a copy of the U.S. Constitution graphic novel, start reading them! Please remember that your IA research question and preliminary bibliography is due on Friday, September 30th.

October 7

Social 30-1

I finished off "The Evolution of Modern Liberalism" PowerPoint lecture that I started yesterday. You will be writing your Ideological Reaction to Industrialization Test tomorrow, please see the study guide below.

Ideological Reaction to Industrialization Test Study Guide:

This test is multiple choice format. This test is on Wednesday, October 8th.

1. Please review material from these PowerPoint presentations:

• "The Development of Classical Liberalism"
• "Responding to Classical Liberalism"

2. Be familiar with key concepts introduced in Chapters 3 and 4.
3. The Industrial Revolution:

• understand fundamental economic, social and political changes that were caused by the Industrial Revolution
• understand the connection between the Agricultural Revolution and the Enclosure Acts and the Industrial Revolution
• understand the differences, advantages and disadvantages of the cottage system and the factory system

4. Review material in the "Philosophies of Industrialism" section of your blue study booklet
5. Key beliefs of the various ideologies (review the spectrums briefly); also review this material from the "Responding to Classical Liberalism" PowerPoint presentation:

• Adam Smith
• laissez faire economics/capitalism (key ideas)
• John Stuart Mill
• Karl Marx (key ideas and beliefs associated with Marx, Das Kapital, The Communist Manifesto, withering away of the state, dictatorship of the proletariat, view of history, etc. ) and Friedrich Engels (see "Philosophies of Industrialism" booklet)
• Edmund Burke and classical conservatism

6. Some questions may require you to make connections between this year's material and what you learned in 10-1 and 20-1 as well.

IB 20 HOTA

Today was the first day of our constitutional convention. We'll be continue discussing the powers of government after discarding the Articles of Confederation.

October 3

Social 30-1

You watched a couple of videos from 60 Minutes, "Dutch Treat" and "Welfare a la carte". While you watched these segments you should have taken notes on the advantages and disadvantages of mixed economies. I gave you the remainder of class time to work on your Chapter 6 Key Terms and Questions, which are due on Monday. You have your Ideological Reaction to Industrialization Test (Chapter 3-4 Test). It's a 55 multiple choice question test, please see the study guide below.

Ideological Reaction to Industrialization Test Study Guide (Chapters 3-4):

This test is multiple choice format. This test is on Wednesday, October 8th.

1. Please review material from these PowerPoint presentations:

• "The Development of Classical Liberalism"
• "Responding to Classical Liberalism"

2. Be familiar with key concepts introduced in Chapters 3 and 4.
3. The Industrial Revolution:

• understand fundamental economic, social and political changes that were caused by the Industrial Revolution
• understand the connection between the Agricultural Revolution and the Enclosure Acts and the Industrial Revolution
• understand the differences, advantages and disadvantages of the cottage system and the factory system

4. Review material in the "Philosophies of Industrialism" section of your blue study booklet
5. Key beliefs of the various ideologies (review the spectrums briefly); also review this material from the "Responding to Classical Liberalism" PowerPoint presentation:

• Adam Smith
• laissez faire economics/capitalism (key ideas)
• John Stuart Mill
• Karl Marx (key ideas and beliefs associated with Marx, Das Kapital, The Communist Manifesto, withering away of the state, dictatorship of the proletariat, view of history, etc. ) and Friedrich Engels (see "Philosophies of Industrialism" booklet)
• Edmund Burke and classical conservatism

6. Some questions may require you to make connections between this year's material and what you learned in 10-1 and 20-1 as well.

IB 20 HOTA

We had a quick discussion about the international response to ISIS, and then we started looking at the Articles of Confederation. We will continue talking about the Articles on Monday.

October 2

Social 30-1

You had wrote an analysis of a political cartoon for part of today's class. You had the remainder of the class to work on your Chapter 6 Key Terms and Questions, which are due on Monday, October 6th. Please remember that you are writing your Chapter 3-4 Test on Wednesday, October 8th, please see the study guide below.

Ideological Reaction to Industrialization Test Study Guide (Chapters 3-4):

This test is multiple choice format. This test is on Wednesday, October 8th.

1. Please review material from these PowerPoint presentations:

• "The Development of Classical Liberalism"
• "Responding to Classical Liberalism"

2. Be familiar with key concepts introduced in Chapters 3 and 4.
3. The Industrial Revolution:

• understand fundamental economic, social and political changes that were caused by the Industrial Revolution
• understand the connection between the Agricultural Revolution and the Enclosure Acts and the Industrial Revolution
• understand the differences, advantages and disadvantages of the cottage system and the factory system

4. Review material in the "Philosophies of Industrialism" section of your blue study booklet
5. Key beliefs of the various ideologies (review the spectrums briefly); also review this material from the "Responding to Classical Liberalism" PowerPoint presentation:

• Adam Smith
• laissez faire economics/capitalism (key ideas)
• John Stuart Mill
• Karl Marx (key ideas and beliefs associated with Marx, Das Kapital, The Communist Manifesto, withering away of the state, dictatorship of the proletariat, view of history, etc. ) and Friedrich Engels (see "Philosophies of Industrialism" booklet)
• Edmund Burke and classical conservatism

6. Some questions may require you to make connections between this year's material and what you learned in 10-1 and 20-1 as well.

IB 20 HOTA

We talked a little bit about OPVL for Thomas Paine's Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence. I took your textbook work in for a homework check, just as I will for tomorrow's homework assignment on the Declaration of Independence. Please remember that we will be discussing developments with ISIS tomorrow, so bring an article, political cartoon or newspaper, website clipping. We'll also be talking about the Articles of Confederation tomorrow.

March 13

IB 20 HOTA

I did a homework check on your study guide for the Declaration of Independence at the beginning of class today. Most of today's class was spent examining the Articles of Confederation. I split you into groups, and each group had to read a section or sections of the Articles of Confederation and try to summarize their assigned section for the class. Hopefully by the end of the exercise you have a good idea of the historical context for the creation of the Articles of Confederation, and some its key characteristics, such as the following:

• “firm league of friendship”
• no national executive
• no national judiciary
• unicameral congress (like Continental Congress)
• 2-7 delegates per state (one vote per delegation in Congress)
• Powers of Congress – foreign policy, coin money, Indian affairs, settle state disputes, requisition troops and taxes (based on state property value)
• legislators selected by state legislatures (3 year / 6 year term limit)
• routine votes required simple majority / critical decisions (declaring war)– unanimity 
• amendment of the Articles (unanimous consent of delegates to Congress and of state legislatures)

As we'll see, the Articles of Confederation led to some political problems for the United States, so it only lasts as the first constitution of the USA from 1781 to 1789. In 1789, a constitutional convention is called, and delegates from the 13 states all meet to draft a new U.S. Constitution. Tomorrow will be a busy day because I will lecture on the U.S. Constitution, I will assign you roles for the constitutional convention that we'll be doing on Monday and Tuesday next week, I will teach you some Model UN parliamentary procedure, and assign you a copy of the United States Constitution graphic novel.

Social 10-1

We had a very spirited debate on the following topic: "BIRT globalization is beneficial to the world's cultures". I found it interesting that many of you focused in language so much during the course of the debate. I then did a little exercise after concluded the debate on argumentation and evidence, in which you had to brainstorm arguments to convince a friend to attend Churchill. We'll talk more about essay writing tomorrow, and you will get the Unit 1 WRA II Essay question sheet tomorrow. Please remember that you're writing your Unit 1 WRA II Essay over the course of two days next week: on Monday, you will write your 1st paragraph, save it to your H-drive and print off a hard copy. We'll then come back to the class, do some peer editing of the essay. On Tuesday, you will have the entire period to finish off your Unit 1 WRA II Essay.

IB 30/35

We watched another video from the CNN Cold War series today called "Conclusions". I also showed you some photos from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and I put some notes up on the board of the overlapping Soviet and American leaders during the Cold War. Please remember that you have your Social 30-1 Cold War Exam on Tuesday, March 18th. Please see the study guide below.

Social 30-1 Cold War Unit Final Study Guide:

Make sure that you know all the Cold War concepts:

• deterrence
• disarmament
• isolationism
• appeasement
• collective security
• direct confrontation
• brinkmanship
• containment
• detente
• collective intervention

Be able to define the following key concepts:

• superpower
• sphere of influence
• arms race
• Suez Canal War 1956
• brinkmanship
• Korean War
• Cold War
• decolonization
• Cuban Missile Crisis
• detente
• NATO
• collective security
• know the chronology of events of the Cold War (study timelines. Please check under Social 30-1 Links on the blog for links to the Cold War timelines)
• know key events that we've emphasized in class (for example: Berlin Airlift, Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War, Afghanistan) plus other key events from the timeline
• know major arms reduction agreements (bilateral agreements and multilateral agreements), please study the notes that I gave you on this (detailed notes and the chart)
• know about the formation of alliances (NATO, Warsaw Pact, SEATO, etc.) and the formation of "spheres of influence"
• know examples of American intervention in their "backyard" (Western Hemisphere, notes package plus notes from the CNN video useful here)
• anything that I gave you as a handout/notes on the wiki is testable material and should be reviewed!!
• know how the Cold War ends and its results/consequences

March 11

IB 30/35

I showed you a couple of videos today, one was called "Escape from Berlin" which discussed the construction and changes that were made to the Berlin Wall over time, and the second video was from the CNN Cold War series called "The Wall Comes Down (1989)". While you were watching the second video you were to have been taking copious notes. Most of the focus on this episode was on the breakdown of Eastern European governments in 1989, with the greatest emphasis on East Germany and Erich Honecker's government. On October 17, 1989 Honecker was voted out of the Politburo. The original crisis in East Germany had been caused in part over restrictions on travel. Egon Krenz's government started to make reforms for free travel for East Germans. Street demonstrations demanded more and more from Krenz's government. Many of the East German opposition members wanted Gorbachev-era inspired reforms such as glasnost and perestroika. In the end, a bureaucratic mistake led to East Berliners to mass outside of the gates to West Berlin because the East German government had said that travel restrictions had been lifted. East German border guards then allowed people to pass over to the West. The episode also touched on Poland's Solidarity movement under Lech Walesa, too.

I have noticed recently while I have showing these videos that some of you aren't paying attention as closely as you should be. I really hope that it is all sinking in and that you have been paying attention. Otherwise, there will be a reckoning very soon. Very soon.

Please remember that there's no school tomorrow due to Parent Student Teacher interviews. I will see you all again on Thursday. One week from today you will be writing a Social 30-1 Cold War Exam. Please see the study guide below for this exam.

Cold War Exam Study Guide:

On Tuesday, March 18th you will have a Cold War Unit Exam. Please see the study guide below. This test will be a Social 30-1 test and it will be all multiple choice test format.

Social 30-1 Cold War Unit Final Study Guide:

Make sure that you know all the Cold War concepts:

• deterrence
• disarmament
• isolationism
• appeasement
• collective security
• direct confrontation
• brinkmanship
• containment
• detente
• collective intervention

Be able to define the following key concepts:

• superpower
• sphere of influence
• arms race
• Suez Canal War 1956
• brinkmanship
• Korean War
• Cold War
• decolonization
• Cuban Missile Crisis
• detente
• NATO
• collective security
• know the chronology of events of the Cold War (study timelines. Please check under Social 30-1 Links on the blog for links to the Cold War timelines)
• know key events that we've emphasized in class (for example: Berlin Airlift, Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War, Afghanistan) plus other key events from the timeline
• know major arms reduction agreements (bilateral agreements and multilateral agreements), please study the notes that I gave you on this (detailed notes and the chart)
• know about the formation of alliances (NATO, Warsaw Pact, SEATO, etc.) and the formation of "spheres of influence"
• know examples of American intervention in their "backyard" (Western Hemisphere, notes package plus notes from the CNN video useful here)
• anything that I gave you as a handout/notes on the wiki is testable material and should be reviewed!!
• know how the Cold War ends and its results/consequences

IB 20 HOTA

We finally finished watching "The Patriot" today. I told you to go on to the wiki under Collaborative Notes to find the Causes, Courses/Practices, Events and Results chart for the Revolutionary War. Please modify this page on the wiki, and make sure that you have a hard copy of the chart in your notes. We also talked a little bit about the Common Sense and Declaration of Independence assignments that you had to complete previously. When I see you again on Thursday, we'll be looking at the Articles of Confederation, America's first constitution. You have some homework due on Thursday as well, please complete the Declaration of Independence study guide sheet that you can find in Unit 4: Independence Movements section. Also, please adding events to the current events section for this week.

October 9

IB 30/35

We briefly assessed Lincoln's time as President, and the differing perspectives on his abilities as leader of the nation. As I said in class, C-SPAN does a survey every so often that ranks the U.S. Presidents. If you're interested, here is a link to their 2009 Presidential survey.
I also started a lecture on the Reconstruction Era. I have made some changes to the PowerPoint, so I will post the new version on the wiki tomorrow. Please remember to study for your Civil War Test (on Friday and Monday), please see the study guide on the wiki in the U.S. Civil War section.

IB 20

You wrote "The Patriot" quiz at the start of class. I then had you move back into your Articles of Confederation groups  to continue the activity that we started on Friday. You have to understand a few things about the Articles of Confederation, for one, it was a product of its time, so it's important to bear in mind the historical context in which this document was created. The United States had just successfully defeated the British in the Revolutionary War and there was a feeling among many Americans that they had just overthrown tyranny in their everyday lives. They didn't want a strong central government that they feared could grow just as powerful as the tyrannical government that had rid themselves of. That's why you see certain measures in the Articles of Confederation such as no executive branch. There are several conditions that led to the creation of the U.S. Constitution. There is a document on the IB 20 wiki under the Independence Movements section that is entitled Conditions in the USA 1781-1787 that should help you understand the motivations behind wanting to re-write the constitution. I started to deliver a lecture on the U.S. Constitution today, which I should be able to finish tomorrow. On Thursday, we will be having a constitutional convention simulation and you have all be assigned an actual delegate to that convention. Please follow the delegate research guide that I put up on the wiki. Check your e-mail for the link to the page on the wiki. I tried to include a mix of delegates who actually signed the Constitution, and those that did not.

Social 10-1

You wrote your Unit 1 WRA II Essay today in class. This took all the period.

March 13

IB 30/35

We watched a video today from the CNN Cold War series on Vietnam. This video provided you with a lot of details on increasing American involvement in Southeast Asia, starting in the 1950s and into the late 1960s. Make sure that you have read the Vietnam War notes that are posted on the wiki in the Cold War section. I am assigning a Vietnam War Assignment for Thursday. You are responsible for the researching the following: (please see below)

Vietnam War Assignment

A. PEOPLE
Identify and explain the role each played in the Vietnam War
1. Ho Chi Minh
2. Ngo Dinh Diem
3. Lyndon B. Johnson
4. Richard M. Nixon
5. Viet Minh
6. Viet Cong
7. Le Duc Tho
8. Henry Kissinger
9. William Westmoreland
10. "Draft Dodger"

B. CONCEPTS/TERMS
Explain the significance of the following with regards to the Vietnam War (identify participants or individuals if appropriate)
1. Ho Chi Minh Trail
2. defoliation
3. "search and destroy" mission
4. "Vietnamization of the war"
5. Gulf of Tonkin Incident
6. My Lai Massacre
7. domino theory
8. Kent State University protest (May 4, 1970)
9. Tet Offensive (January 1968)
10. Geneva Agreement (1954)

C. ISSUES
Provide the information requested
1. The predominant religion of Vietnam
2. The battle which marked the end of French colonial rule in Indo-China
3. The scandal which led to the only resignation of an American President
4. The Vice President who replaced the President after his resignation
5. Why was November 1963 a "bad month" for the governments of South Vietnam and the United States?

IB 20

We started looking at the Articles of Confederation today. If you missed class today you missed guidance coming into the class to confirm your course selections for next year. You also missed some notes on the Articles of Confederation and the Second Continental Congress, so you should get these from a classmate. I have posted some notes on the wiki in Unit 4. I put up some Harvard style notes on the Articles of Confederation and summaries of the various articles that are in the Articles of Confederation. Please remember that the Articles of Confederation serve as the first constitution of the United States, and that they will be replaced rather quickly by the U.S. Constitution in 1789, and even the Constitution will be modified with the inclusion of ten amendments, which we refer to as the U.S. Bill of Rights today. Here is your homework assignment for tonight: create a four column chart similar to the one on page 70 of your History of the Americas textbook), with some modifications. The first column should be labelled as "Characteristics" (use the ones listed off in the first column from the chart on page 70), the next column should be labelled "Articles of Confederation" (include specifics from the articles themselves), the third column should be labelled "Problems that the Articles of Confederation Created" , and the fourth column should be labelled as "How the U.S. Constitution Addressed These Issues" (include specific details). I posted the full text of the Articles of Confederation on the wiki, but you can also find them here. You might want to check out the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. You can also find the full U.S. Constitution here. I also gave you a copy of the U.S. Constitution graphic novel today as well for your reading pleasure and for reference. I think one of the strengths of the book is that it provides some historical context and background for why certain items are included or not included in the Constitution. You have these books until Thursday.