Map

https://www.sporcle.com/games/KBrickman/13_colonies_hawken?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Pinterest


If you lost your handout for your map of the colonies, follow this link and print out the image. Next, label the colonies. I'd suggest different colors for New England, Middle, and Southern. This will be helpful with our quizzes. :)

If you lost your handout on Arthur Miller, you will need to write up 10 facts about Arthur Miller to get credit for this assingment. These must be in complete sentences.

Here is the link to the current events article for the homework

https://www.newsweek.com/its-been-327-years-since-salem-witch-trials-fear-ruling-america-again-opinion-1445807


Writing Assignment: 

Choose ONEof these real incidents we discussed in class and use a historical fiction treatment to illustrate the idea of a modern witch hunt: 

• Holocaust/Search for Jews, homosexuals, disabled people, and dissenters of the Nazi regime 

• Treatment of Japanese Americans during WWII/Internment camps

•McCarthyism/Red Scare/Search for Communists in the U.S. during the Cold War 

• Treatment of Muslim Americans during post-9/11 climate of fear

Have a different or better idea? Talk to me and we’ll see if your story idea will work. 

                                                                      

 OR

Please write a one-page response to the article, “It’s been 327…” Do you agree with the writer or is he using hyperbole and history to persuade his readers?

History Videos

I'm a fan of the U.S. History Crash Course videos. You can find a few that go along with our era right now, at this site:

https://youtu.be/TTYOQ05oDOI


The above video lines up with our most recent history readings. See if these help break down some of the concepts better for you. You are welcome to watch the first two also, if you feel that a review is helpful.

August 16th

Just a few quick reminders about class today:

We are still getting our feet wet with discerning the complications of reading history and with some practice with reading literature. One of the projects I had you do today was to practice pulling out a detail in a story and illustrating it. I know this seems a bit odd, but trust me. Focusing on a particular detail in literature is the first step to close reading. For those of you struggling with this assignment, you have the option to write a two-page reflection on "Young Goodman Brown." You can respond in any way you like, as long as you keep the writing focused on the story. One easy way to do this is to consider, "What's most compelling about this story?" "What is most controversial?" or "What is most confusing?"

I also sent home a search on Arthur Miller for you to work on. I'd like you to gather a bit of biographical information on our first writer for the semester. Do the best you can. Most answers can be found on Wikipedia, and this assignment shouldn't conusme too much time. This practice will help with more detailed research projects later, when we are looking at literary analysis and seeing how or if biographical information on the writer is of any value to us. Some argue that it is helpful. And in some cases, I agree.

Please finish up your colonial map and place it into your binder. You will want to study this. You will also want to familiarize yourself with the notes I gave you on Puritan/Calvinism literature traits.

Finally, we had a good discussion about Roger Williams and the Separation of Church and State. Some of these lines are blurry, but absolutely necessary for consideration, especially as voting season starts to run back around. Keep an eye out for current events discussing these issues. Oh, and keep the number of Supreme Court Justices in mind. You might see that pop up on a quiz this next week. :)

Next up, we'll look again at another primary source document as we start looking at some testimonies from the Salem Witch Trials.

Your readings for history are posted on the syllabus, as are the first two acts in The Crucible. Keep reviewing the comma splice, fragments, and run-ons handout I went over in class today. I really want to make sure we get a strong foundation put down here, and most critical errors are at the sentence level. Let's make sure we nip those now.

If you find yourself overwhelmed or if you do not understand something from our readings, please reach out to me. You have all of my contact information, and I'm always happy to chat with you.

I'll find a video for this week's readings to post for my visual learners, which reminds me: Check out VARK learning styles and take the quiz. What kind of learner are you? Here's that link!

The Crucible and Salem Witch Trials

For this next week, you are going to be reading the first half of a play called The Crucible by Arthur Miller. There are some audiobook versions available online through Youtube or Audible if you are an auditory learner or just want some help following along as you read. Now, The Crucible takes quite a bit of testimony from our Salem Witch Trials, which we will examine in class next week, but it was written in a much more modern era. As you listen to this or read it, think about the greater symbolism this story and the historical event can have on other events in history. Do we have "witch hunts" in contemporary society? Do these "witch hunts" measure up to the catastrophe of the Salem witch hunts? In other words, where do we draw the line between symbolism or metaphor and hyperbole? Check the time frame of this play's publication and Miller's religious background and political views. What might he be pointing at as a witch hunt in his era?



One cool fact about Miller if you haven't found it during your own research: He was Marilyn Monroe's third husband. :)




One other fun fact: I once played Abigail Williams in this play in high school. I still remember most of my lines 20 something years later...

Major Points for Review on Early Colonial America

Between last week's lecture and this week's readings, I have prepared some main ideas for you as you begin to make progress with your own studies and note-taking. I won't always put these together, but as you begin this journey, I want to help you to see how I pull some main ideas over the readings and discussions.

Early Colonial America

·       Native Americans are often depicted in very striking and contrasting ways. Some portray them as savages, desperately needing colonial intervention, religion, and modernization. Others depict them as overtly docile, wise, and in tune with the natural order. Both are wrong because Native Americans, like the Europeans, were diverse, complicated, and more complex than either dichotomy.
·       Both destroyed nature when it served them well
·       Both engaged in brutal wars/savage behavior (Spanish Inquisition)
·       Some differences: Ideology. Native Americans did not have the ideological beliefs that sent them on a great commission.
·       They did not have boats that could navigate the deep seas. Canoes would not be successful.
 Some differences that led to the decimation of Native American peoples: In other words, if they defeated the Spanish and the French, why couldn’t they defeat the English?

·     Many became farmers, growing maize, squash, and beans. They kept few burdensome animals, namely the dog. This provided little protein and malnourishment. Farming also brought them closer together in smaller quarters, allowing microbes to spread more quickly. And since they did not keep a variety of animals, they had little exposure to more complex microbes and diseases, and also less immunity. Dirt and germs can protect you.
·      Frequent invasions brought more and more diseases. Old World humans brought useful things to the New World, like horses and wheat, but they also brought diseases that the natives of North and South America had no immunities to. Historians call this transfer the Columbian Exchange, and it radically altered human history. Scholars still debate how many American natives died from disease brought by the Colombian Exchange, but estimates range from two-thirds to nine-tenths of the population—somewhere between 45 and 90 million people.  ·      Historians estimate that 90 percent of the population from Connecticut to Maine was wiped out. Thomas Morton wrote of the area around Boston so many had died so suddenly, countless bodies were left unburied. The woods were so full of bones and skulls that it seemed to him “a newfound Golgotha.”  ·      The epidemic affected European colonization in three major ways. First, it changed the natives’ attitudes toward Europeans. Previously confident and slightly hostile, the native tribes were now terrified of the Europeans and their god, who could wreak such terrible vengeance. During the Pilgrims’ first winter in Plymouth, for example, half of the colony died; the survivors were weak from malnutrition, exhaustion, and exposure. Yet the remaining Wampanoags assisted the colonists, rather than attacking them. Like the Indians, the Puritans interpreted the epidemic in religious terms. John Winthrop later described the epidemics as “miraculous,” a sign that God looked on their colony with special favor. This sense of providence has pervaded Americans’ image of themselves to this day.  ·      Second, the epidemic (and many smaller ones that followed) also weakened the native population and removed a major obstacle to British colonization.  ·      About 50 years after the epidemic, during King Philip’s War (which we will discuss this week,) the Native Americans nearly drove the Europeans out of New England. Had the epidemic not thinned the native population, the British might not have prevailed.  ·      Finally, the British pursued colonization on the cheap; the Pilgrims and other waves of settlers were usually underfunded and unprepared for the conditions in the New World. In New England, the natives had done all the hard work of clearing land and establishing farms, then conveniently disappeared. All the Pilgrims had to do was cut down the weeds and start planting. Without this boon, colonization would have proceeded much more slowly, if at all.  ·      Eventually, as European Americans spread out across the American continent in the 1700s and 1800s, they carried biological devastation to unsuspecting Native Americans all the way to California, repeating the cycle. 

RENNSQQ: OR HOW TO WRITE A GREAT PAPER

Building credibility is essential in academic writing, even if most of the world often seems to operate without it. You need evidence in your writing, not just your opinions. When I'm writing research papers (and yes, I still write them), I follow a formula called RENSSQQ. I will discuss this in class, but it's helpful to put it here, too, for those that may have missed it. This is not limited to just my class. A good research paper will have these elements, no matter what your major is. 

Reasons (use solid reasons for your proposals or arguments, not "because I said so." So, let's look at my claim about Marvel. I can't just say Marvel is better without giving you a reason. Otherwise, it's vague and boring. Instead, I want to set up an argument with a reason. For example, I'd want to argue something like, "Marvel is better than DC Comics because they have more complex characters.")

Examples (Show concrete examples, and use transitions. For example, "Iron Man is a flawed character coming to grips with both his powers and his responsibilities." Next, I'd give you some prime examples from the film showing his character flaws and attributes to prove my claim above.)

Names Nothing disrupts good writing more than ambiguity. Instead of "A study shows" or, "one of the articles says," use their names. Be specific. I want to know who said this. Where's the data coming from? Is it a site like Onlymyviewmatters.com or Voguemagazine.com? 

Numbers  Data, data, data. Give me dates, specific numbers and percentages, statistics, etc. Instead of saying, "A lot of people prefer Marvel to DC Comics," prove it with a statistic from a reliable source, like "According to a recent study by Finder.com, Marvel beats DC Comics in most areas, including the commercial level, where Marvel has brought in $536.1 billion at the box office compared to DC's $104.5 billion." 

Sensory Words  Write in the language of your audience. Also, pick up a thesaurus and play around with your word choice. Good writing draws folks in, where boring, repetitive Tylenol instructions get tossed into the trash. 

Questions I start with questions when I'm researching, but I also might leave my reader with something bigger to ponder by the end. 

Quotations Again, I want to build up credibility. I'm going to find the biggest expert I can to back up my position to give my paper the authority I need to convince my audience. I'm not going to say, "Some folks at work are saying that vaping outside the building is getting on their nerves" because the boss doesn't likely care. However, if I can find an expert discussing the same thing, I will have better luck. I can say, "According to a recent study by The American Cancer Society, vaping is much more dangerous than previously realized, including its hazardous second-hand smoke." One sounds like a complaint. The other sounds like an initiative needs to be taken up. I prefer to cause my reader to respond rather than to react. That said, I have good quotes or paraphrases in EVERY SINGLE PARAGRAPH, except the conclusion. I like the last words to be mine. :)

Debates vs Arguments

Debates vs. Arguments

Debate or debating is a formal method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion. Though logical consistency, factual accuracy and some degree of emotional appeal to the audience are important elements of the art of persuasion, in debating, one side often prevails over the other side by presenting a superior "context" and/or framework of the issue, which is far more subtle and strategic.

In philosophy and logic, an argument is an attempt to persuade someone of something, by giving reasons or evidence for accepting a particular conclusion. The general structure of an argument in a natural language is that of premises (typically in the form of propositions, statements or sentences) in support of a claim: the conclusion. 

Thus, a debate is:

·       More formal

·       More intellectual

·       Normally concerns factual events, or theories

·      Concerned with persuading the opposing party to an alternate viewpoint

August 9th

We sure covered a lot of information in class today, but I promise it won't always be this much. There is quite a bit to cover to help us set up our discussion of American History and literature, and since this is an English course with writing, I must review the basic rhetorical appeals and academic paragraphs.  From now on, we will divide our class into two main sections: history and literature. We will take a couple of short breaks in between. I'm fine if you need to bring in something to eat or drink, as long as you clean up after yourself. That said, leave the phone in your bag, unless I have you looking up information.

I'm shortening your readings this week in literature to just the narrative of Mary Rowlandson. You will still need to read up on the history assigned on your syllabus.

Here's some main things I want you to take away from our class today:

• The differences between debates and arguments
• the three major rhetorical appeals
• primary versus secondary sources
• history cannot be recreated, therefore, there are some flaws in the interpretation

You will also want to keep good notes on the lectures in class. I will quiz you most weeks on the content covered, but I will allow you to use your own notes. If you take good notes, you'll do well. If you get all of the answers correct on a quiz, I sometimes offer homework passes on the shorter writing assignments. (Not on essays)

Here's the link to Mary Rowlandson's captivity. You will need to read the first 34 pages to the best of your ability. 

Welcome to U.S. History and American Literature

Class, I'm glad to have each of you join me for this journey into American history, literature, art, and music. Our goal this year is to gain a broader sense of our American culture, its major events and movements, our greatest artists and musicians, and the influences and shifts that have shaped our nation into what it is today. There is a great deal of information to cover, but I want to emphasize to you that we will not be experts by the end. In fact, learning is a lifelong pursuit. What I hope we can accomplish this year is to lay a healthy foundation, introducing you to the major players and events. We will break history down into units. Those units will have many sub-topics. Your task is to pick a couple of those sub-topics each week and research them more in-depth and prepare yourself for both class discussions and debates. You have some freedom here with your choices. If you are more interested in battles, then you can focus there. If you are more interested in the political changes, your focus will be there. If battles and politics bore you to tears, maybe you're more interested in researching biographies or stories or philosophical debates, or even the progression of fashion or the roles of women. I hope to have many of you looking into different areas within the same unit, helping to expand and inform our class discussions.

There are many pieces to this puzzle of history.  Do not look at our list and worry! Instead, try to see the subtopics as options for you to explore. We will put the pieces together in class. Our weekly readings will help you to pull the information together and the discussions in class will hopefully help it all to make sense. You will quickly understand how each topic helps us to gain a better picture of the whole scene. In addition to our readings, I will have several debates throughout the unit for you to research. Many of you have taken my English Composition class and have developed an understanding of rhetoric. If you are new, don't worry! We'll get you caught up quickly! We will take what we have learned about rhetoric and begin to expand our study into research, analysis, and debate. This is where the fun comes in.  I hope to take a more holistic approach to studying history. What happened? Why did this happen? What are the implications today? Or Why does it even matter? In this same manner, I do not give tests, per se, but I do use weekly quizzes to gauge comprehension and study habits. I believe you learn more through writing and discussion, so these will always be my greatest focus in class. Again, do not worry about your writing ability. This will get better with practice! And you will have plenty of practice in my class! :)

In addition to studying history, we will be reading American literature that follows the historical timeline. In the beginning, these texts will be difficult. It's okay if you are struggling. I do not expect you to understand everything written in these 17th-century documents. We will break them down in class. Also, some documents are longer than we will read. I will let you know how much I want you to read and I may even post some links during the week to websites that will help you to gain a better understanding. Wikipedia is our friend! As the class progresses to more modern literature, you will enjoy the readings much more. Just hang in there. We are going to familiarize ourselves with some of the original documents in American history, like the letter from John Smith concerning Pocahontas, powerful sermons that shaped the Puritan beliefs (and our country!), Native American mythology,  accounts of those captured during King Phillip's War and testimonies in the Salem Witch Trials. Some of our readings are disturbing and heartbreaking. History often is.

Our literature will also include fiction and poetry. For the first couple of months, I will primarily use documents, poetry, and short stories and a play. I will gradually increase your readings to novels beginning in November when we tackle The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

There will also be short writing assignments with our literature, usually an academic paragraph (I'll explain in another post), or a short response paper of 1-2 pages, double-spaced.

Finally, I will link our history and literature together with the study of music and art. These mediums are very powerful and have left their influence on our culture, politics, and ideologies. We cannot ignore their influence. We will study art as propaganda, landscape, protest music, and national identity through art and music. Think of Woodie Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, and many more.

Some of our debate topics will include gun control (historical to present), religious freedom, freedom of speech and the Sedition Acts,  comparisons between the North and South, the Civil War as an exercise in states' rights or abolishing slavery, the legacy of Andrew Jackson, and the effects/disadvantages of the Progressive Era.

Class participation will be critical for success. You will be broken into debate teams. Each person on the team plays an important part, either in the defense or argumentation, or research and data collection. This is your education. I can only facilitate and guide you in this journey. It is up to you to gain as much from this experience as you can.

I am available for questions and concerns both after class and throughout the week. I will give each of you my contact information on the first day of class. Feel free to email me or text me and I will get in touch with you as soon as I can. Parents are always welcome to check-in and ask questions.