Therefore, this site will probably not be updated much for the rest of the year… you should instead check Engrade for assignments, materials, and notes.

Historical heads are note-taking devices that we will use a few times throughout the year.  They will help you organize your thoughts and check for comprehension about a person or group of people.

First, draw a blank head.  You can just draw a big oval if you aren’t artistic.  Then, inside the head, draw four illustrations that summarize key concepts about your person.  Finally, write a caption for each of these illustrations.

For today, you were supposed to create one historical head for Patriots and one historical head for Loyalists.

As an example, we said that you could illustrate the fact that loyalists did not support independence because they didn’t want to get punished and/or killed.  To illustrate this, we drew a dead person hanging.  Then, we wrote a short caption to explain.

On p131 of your textbook there is a “Document Based Assessment” about slavery. Read the introduction and the four documents. Then, answer the three multiple choice questions and respond to the writing prompt.

Your response to the writing prompt doesn’t need to be a full 5-paragraph essay, but it should be long enough to fully answer the question.  One sentence is definitely not enough.  A couple paragraphs should suffice.

This week, we will be taking an extended look at the Declaration of Independence – the document that lays out the argument and justification for the American Revolution.

We started by paraphrasing the first part of the Declaration of Independence.

• We believe that these things are obvious…
  • Everyone is equal.
  • They have certain rights that can’t be taken away.
  • These include the rights to life, liberty, and property.
  • Governments are created to protect these rights.
  • Governments get their authority from the permission/agreement of the people.
  • If governments don’t protect these rights, the people can change or destroy the old government and make a better one.

Then, we looked at the second part of the Declaration of Independence, and in their groups people paraphrased grievances or complaints that the colonists had against King George and the British government.

Finally, we had a short writing assignment at the end of class.  Was the American Revolution justified?  Did the colonists have good reasons for declaring their independence?  Think, specifically, about the argument that Jefferson makes in the Declaration of Independence and about the grievances that he listed in that same document.

This is a short writing assignment, one to two paragraphs should suffice to explain your initial ideas.

It means that one event causes or directly leads to the second event.

Classwork Assignment

• Skim through Chapter 4, Section 1 of your textbook.
• Create a timeline of events lead up to the American Revolution.
• Your first event should be the treaty ending the French + Indian War.  Your last event should be the battle at Lexington + Concord (1775).
• Finally, find two pairs of events and explain how they are causally related.

Also, make sure that you prepare for the essay.  The task is to compare and contrast the Northern and Southern British colonies.  The full prompt is in the review sheet.

If you prepare an outline for the essay, you may use that outline in class to write the essay.

These are three separate homework assignments, each worth 20 points.

First, take out your KWL chart that we began last week. In the “Want” column, write down 10 questions about slavery. These questions should be questions that you can research and answer. They should also be designed to help your story. They may be things you already know, in which case you need to learn more about the question.

Second, go on the Internet and research your questions. You will need to find multiple sources, but while doing this research you must identify two sources that you found particularly helpful. For each of these sources, type the title/URL of the source and a one paragraph summary of how that source was helpful to you. This is worth a total of 25 points for the project.

Finally, write your short story or poem. Be sure to use the information that you researched. Your story should be interesting and creative. Please don’t bore us. You will receive up to 50 points based on your use of historical information (your research) and up to 25 points based on the quality of your story/poem.

The final stories/projects are due on Monday, October 25.

Although it is not part of the project, you must also complete the KWL chart and hand that in as a separate classwork assignment by the time of the Chapter 3 quiz. Use your research to fill in the “Learned” column and answer the questions that you asked in the “Want” column.