Homework for Over Winter Break

Over break...

Interview two or three family members or friends of the family (not from your generation) about why history matters. Use imovie to record you interview.

You can ask other questions but make sure you ask the following three questions:
1) Is it important we study History? (Why?/Why not?)
2) Does history have value? (How?/Why?)
3) What is history?

Create a blog post titled "Does History Matter- Family interviews". Reflect on the interview and what you heard.

In spring we'll be using these clips, and others we collect, for a video project.

 Reminder: The google earth mapping of the crusades is due by the end of school Friday. If you're running into issues the sooner you talk to me the better.

Load up your google earth and be ready for some hands on instruction on how to put your research into your map.

Remember no quiz this week. You'll get about 30 minutes to put the finishing touches on your projects tomorrow.

Statue of Saladin in Damascus 

The plan today is to finish the video on the crusades (so take out those notes) & work on our projects. Tomorrow you'll get the entire day to work on the project.

Your ticket out of the room today is showing me that you have the project due date, this Thursday (Friday for Core 5), written down either in google task, stickies, or a planner.

*If I didn't check in with you yesterday about your grades and/or the project my goal is to finish that today. If you have pressing questions/issues and want to jump to the head of the line just ask.

Blogosphere

Write this down... the Mapping the Crusades project is due this Thursday (Friday for Core 5). We will be doing something else this week instead of our weekly quiz. 

Two quick to-do items before we start class. First off Create a draft post in blogger labeled, "The Blogosphere". Secondly, download the "Qs a moment in time- Crusades". Today in class we'll spent about 20 minutes looking for inspiration from award winning blogs. Afterwards will watch the first part of a video on the crusades. During that time I'll be checking in with students about their grades and progress on the project.

[links]
Blogs on Media Arts: DesignSponge, Pink Shirts and Car Wrecks,  Carrot Revolution, The Best Part, KissMyBlackAds, JeannieJeannie
Blogs on Music and Movies:Pitchfork, Music Blog, Roger Ebert's Journal,
Blogs on Fashion and photography: The Satorialist, Lens,
Gentle Men Standard. Black Girl Long Hair, & afrobella.
Travel Blogs: World Class
Other Blogs Blogs: Arts Cetera, State of Arts, DivasCanCook, Global Voices
Blogs from News Organizations: Star Tribune Blogs, NY Times Blogs (both have a large selection of blogs including sports blogs)

For you "Blogosphere post" make sure to include the following (rewrite the questions as part of your answers):
-What were the two or three most interesting blogs you found today? (You could take a screen shot of them and use the images in your post.)
-What did you notice about these award winning blogs?
-How can you incorporate what you saw into your own world history blog?

End of the week quiz.

Today we'll be taking our weekly quiz, this week on chapters 9 & 10. If you have a moment before the quizzes are handed out login to school view and check your grades. The final day for makeup work from the first half of this quarter is December 14th. If you are missing anything, make sure you look make a plan for getting it in.

Once we finish with the quiz you'll have time to work on your mapping of the crusades with Google Earth assignment.

Mapping the Middle Ages day 1

First things first turn in your answers to the crusades Star Tribune article to my dropbox. Secondly download the "google earth crusade" file from my dropbox.

Be ready for your quiz tomorrow.

Today we'll start with some announcements & google tasks. Later today you'll be starting a Google Earth assignment on the crusades.

Student Spotlight: A Collection of Great Student Work

*If you are looking for today's directions page down to the other post from December 5th.

About once a week I'll be highlighting some of the great work the students at FAIR School Downtown are doing in our world history class. Normally the post this highlight will focus on one particle student and how they have been contributing to class. 

This week we have a collage of excellent posts on our newly minted student blogs. Many of these posts are from first time bloggers but they all effectually communicate not only what is going on but also the bloggers personality.

Welcome Posts:

Outline why the blog exists, add your personality, and a youtube video and you have a great first post.

Short but sweet the writer's personality come through both through the words and the design of the webpage.

Pretty fun post that makes me want to keep reading more.

It has personality, explains the author, and  what to expect on the blog.

Q2 Goals:

A very honest reflection on school and what needs to be done to be/stay successful.

Feudalism:

Great explanation of feudalism based on our simulation.

I loved the touch of changing font for the keywords.

Very funny I cannot wait to hear how this blogger continues to leave a record for the robots after the humans are dead.

Why the crusades and its legacy still matter today.

Today in class we'll be reading an article from the Star Tribune on how even many centuries later, the word "Crusade" still resonate powerfully in the world. Download the article from my shared folder. We'll be reading the first section together and you are to finish the rest of it. There are questions at the end that mirror the kind of questions the MCA reading test asks (which you'll all be taking this spring). Anything not completed in class is due Wednesday (Thursday for Core 5).

Also as a part of class we'll learn how to stay on-top of our tasks better with google tasks. Lastly, if you skipped the student spotlight page up and look at it now.

Before the quiz you can work on your feudalism blog post and study for the quiz.

Feudalism the Game

If you happened bring your computer out before class put it away. We'll taking the whole hour playing the feudalism simulation.

Below is you 4th blog entire (and homework for tonight). Reflect on the game we played today. You don't have to answer every question but your post should address the majority of them.
-How did the game work/what was the game (since most of your audience was not in our class today)?
-What must you have in feudalism to survive?
-Who has the most to gain when making an agreement, knights or kings?
-Who has more control, knights or kings? Why?
-What were the keys to success in the game? What strategies worked and what didn’t?
-How does a king gain power? Is it guaranteed to work?
-How were the early rounds different from the later rounds?
-What do you think the end result of the game would be if we kept playing?
-How does this game accurately simulate lord-vassal relationships in feudal times? (See Chapter 9 Section 2)
-How is the game inaccurate? What gets missed in this game? Would you change anything? (See Chapter 9 Section 2)

After the Fall

Drop your Mad Libs assignment from yesterday if you completed the corrections. It needs to be in my dropbox by 9:41 or you will not be able to get full credit. Whether you finished it or not open it up. We are going to correct the assignment as a class to start today.

During class today I'll be lecturing about what happened to Europe after Rome fell and setting up for our a class game tomorrow Feudalism the Game. You'll need a notes document labeled Middle Ages.

Thus unit is Chapters 9 & 10. The unit quiz will be Friday, December 9th (Thursday, December 8th for core 1) but there still will be a short 5 question quiz this Friday, December 2nd (Thursday, December 8th for core 1).

You are responsible for reading both chapters for the quiz and you'll need to turn in your notes.

If you have time post your funniest line from the Mad Libs (as long as it is school appropriate).

Thanksgiving

Welcome back. I hope everyone had a restful and enjoyable Thanksgiving break. Most of the grading is up-to-date with the exception of a couple RAFT assignments (they are marked as just turned in but no grade yet). I could only look at a handful of blogs because almost nobody posted his/her URL last week. I'll be starting to look at them in earnest tonight.

Post a comment on the bottom of the page with two things: your blog's URL (the website) and one thing you are thankful for.

Today we'll be looking at the decline and final collapse of the Roman Empire. Go into my shared folder and download Decline and Fall of Rome MadLibs.

Class of 2014

Turn in your Final RAFT assignment, peer-review draft, and notes with the scored rubric (which is at the very end of the original document. They are due by the end of today (3:30 pm).
WH1.Williams.RAFT Final
WH5.Anderson.RAFT Draft.
WH4.Hannan.RAFT rubric

Today in class Ms. Valek will be explaining some college ideas and how to use our college connection technology Naviance. You won't need the link yet but here it is http://connection.naviance.com/fair.

Lastly, also post a comment with you blog's URL (the website).


Goals for Naviance today. See  the handout to see directions for each goal.

1) Log in
2) Update about me
3) Update careers

Gone & not...

This post is actually from Friday because the other class was a day ahead of Core 1. Still follow the instructions but I'll be here to help.

Today's work, even though it's textbook notes, will be graded because we are taking class time to complete it. Read Chapter 5.4 on the development of Christianity and use the graphically organized template to take notes. I'd suggest you mirror the image above as how you should structure your notes (6 sections with one note per paragraph). You can work with a partner but each student must complete his/her own notes. Drop your notes by the end of the day core#.lastname. notes 5-4 . If you feel like trying a different way to take notes you can try bubbl.us but since I am not there to help today just be aware you won't get any technical support. Export as a jpg & save the same way as the rest of the class.


Be great for the sub.

Quiz on the Rise of Islamic Empires

Before you read anything else on this page post a comment on the bottom of the page with one thing you are looking forward to this weekend. The time of your post is important. I want to see how long it takes each of you to get into class & check out the blog (you won't see your comment until I review and ok the post). 


Your first quiz of the quarter is today. Core 5 will take the quiz at 10:45, Core 1 will take the quiz at 11:45. With the eight or so minutes before the quiz make sure to drop your notes for each of the four sections of chapter 6 (6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4) & . Remember these notes as pure homework don't count for points but do help you do better on the quiz. Also you must have all the notes turned in before you can retake any quizzes.

After you finish work quietly on finishing your first three blog posts and putting the finishing touches on your RAFT assignment. I am going to be grading both over Thanksgiving break. Based on what I've see of the first people first blog posts many of you could benefit from a google search of "first blog post tips".

Looking at Islamic Art while collaborating with google docs

Log in to google docs with your .wmep.k12.mn.us accout (see directions below). You'll be using it with the class today. If you get to class early work on your first three blog posts until class starts.

The Rise of Islamic Empires

Yeni Cami in Istanbul
If you didn't turn in the textbook notes 6.1 & 6.4 yet drop them in my dropbox now (I'll be looking at them during lunch today).

Open a new pages document using the cornell notes template. Title the document Rise of the Islamic Empires and save it as WH(yourcore#).(yourlastname).rise of islam notes [core#.lastname.assignmentname].

If you don't know when the RAFT is due, what to read for the quiz Thursday, or what are your first three post in blogger (you'll get more time for that after the quiz) go back to older posts and find out.

Blogger!

Setup your blogger.


General set-up:
Login:      Firstname_Lastname@wmep.k12.mn.us
Password:     first initial last initial ID

Posts:
1) Welcome post- introduce yourself to your audience
2) Q2 Reflection- looking back at Q1 to set goals for Q2
3) Animoto- Embed you pillars of Islam video and write a review of the program/website.

Reminders/Announcements:
-Turn in your 6.1 & 6.4 notes to my dropbox. 
-This week read 6.2 & 6.3, the notes are due right before our weekly quiz the last day of the week. 
-The RAFT assignment is next Monday (November 21).

In progress...

Blogger should be good to go by the time class starts today. Load up your animoto to start until Mr. Hannan explains today's plan.