Thursday, October 25, 2012

Thursday, October 25th

Yesterday in history we watched an extremely lengthy power-point presentation about artwork during the time of the Revolution. I found it to be rather interesting but after a few paintings I started to space out. I took notes as best I could but it was very fast paced. I understand why because there was quite a lot of information to be put in it. I think if you were to do something like this again having a sort of subtitle to go along with it would be extremely helpful. But in the end it was cool to see how you can really dissect different artworks and see what thought was actually put into them

Today in history we took our Declaration Of Independence memorization quiz. The night before i found myself to struggle greatly with memorizing because I tried to do it in sections and once I had one section down and would do the next I would forget the section before and have to start all over. But then come the morning I seemed to have remembered it all so I did fine and got a 9.5/10. I used one incorrect word and that was it so I was rather proud of myself. Then we had the rest of the class to begin studying for tomorrows test which i am not too worried about. I understand the material and knowing that the questions are either 2/3 or 7/10 is comforting so I know I can have a couple to blow off. We'll see how it goes tomorrow!

American Revolution Timeline

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Tuesday, October 23

Yesterday in class we talked more about the ending of the battles of the revolution with Mr. Boyles snazzy presentation. I think I mentioned this in my last post but I liked the use of the PowerPoint in a sense that you can see the strategy instead of just saying who fought who and where. It makes it seem real. At the end of class we talked about the essay and wether or not 2012 is a time that tries men's souls. My favorite part about history class is the discussions and debates. That's why I can't wait to take polisci my senior year.

Today in history we did a QR code scavenger hunt. I worked with nick delay and we went around and found then all and scanned them and took screen shots of what came up. Then we went back to the class and wrote then down and answered the questions with the help of the Internet and nicks notes. Then mr Boyle summed up the rest of the week for us. I can't wait for it to be over.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Thursday, October 8th

Yesterday in class we talked about what we learned the day before about the Declaration of Independence  We grouped up and shared our findings with the rest of the group. Sometimes sharing this way frustrates me because people talk so fast and you cant write down everything they're saying. I guess i should learn to write faster. After that we discussed what our word is worth. This was interesting to me. I often found myself wondering what is more effective. a signature? or a handshake? If you have a signature you have proof, but it could be forged. If you handshake you have verbal agreement with the person, but they can go back on their word. I enjoyed being able to have a class discussion and voice your opinion.

Today in class Mr.Boyle was not there which made me very sad. I am not a fan of substitutes because they don't know what they're talking about and never give us the right information. The assignment was on the board so I was expecting her to give brief instructions, hand out the document and let us have the period to do the essay. However, that did not happen. She spent the first 30 minutes talking about what we were supposed to do and telling us how much she loved the document and that if we are true Americans we will love it too. While I appreciated her thorough instructions there was not nearly enough time to get anything done. We got going but every 10 minutes or so would chime in with something else. I am the type of person that needs to focus on what I'm doing and not stop or I lose my train of thought. Before I knew it I had ten minutes left and had just finished reading and analyzing the document. I wrote down what I could but I really did not have any sort of essay so I am praying those aren't being graded. Everyone else got it done so fast and I simply don't know how. I think I'm just slow. I'm not sure. Well atleast it was last period so we went home after.

My apologies for the vent. have a nice day!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Tuesday, October 16th

Yesterday in class we presented our projects on the people from the american revolution we were assigned. i did not mind the information part of the project like the voice thread and the presentations and actually quite enjoyed listening to some of the presentations and different people i did not know about. However, i personally think having to draw a person was completely unnecessary  I am in no way an artistic person. i never will be and that's just the facts. i spent more time drawing the person then on the factual part of the project. but in the end, everyone had to do it. Students do as teachers say, and that's how to cookie crumbles.

Today in class we were paired by the definitions we were handed upon entering the class and learned about the Declaration of Independence. Each group got a section to summarize and then create a fake twitter post. after you made the twitter post you then had to take everyone else and put them into a single website to make one url for 6 websites. there was so much room for technical error in today's lesson that I feel as though we spend much more time dealing with technology than the actual project. I didn't mind it since it was last period and I was much looking forward to going home, but it was cool to see the different ways you can use technology. I wonder where Mr.Boyle finds all of his websites. does he make them? who knows. hes just to tech savvy for all of us.

Fake Twitter

http://krunchd.com/3ab8d

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Samuel Adams Voice Thread

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Friday, October 12th

Thursday during class we learned about the battles of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill. Mr.Boyle used an animated slideshow to show the movements of the events that took place. I thought it was very interesting to see it visually rather than in a textbook. You also got to see the strategies and advantages the colonists had like knowing the land and things like that. I like that Mr. Boyle doesnt teach out of the text book. the textbooks are very wordy and a lot of the information you dont even need.

Friday in class we were handed documents and grouped into people with the same document. we analyzed them to see which side they were taking. whether they supported the British or the colonies. My group had "Common Sense" which was basically saying that America would be better off without Britain. Then we grouped with people with different documents and shared our information with the group. While we were sharing i figured out that my document was different from everyones in that mine was directly quoting and everyone elses summarized and analyzed it for them which made mine more difficult. but in the end we figured it out and had a good Friday class.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Tuesday, October 9th

Last class (friday), we went over the events that we were supposed to have learned about the class before during the Ed cafe but that didn't go so well so mr. Boyle went over them for us which was very helpful. Then mr. Boyle read us the Paul Revere poem and assigned us the revolutionary replica assignment which I can already tell I am going to have the most difficult time drawing because I can't draw. At all. 

Today in class we walked in and as usual we got handed a piece if paper with a document and we grouped up using that. Then we watched a video of a guy talking about how witnesses aren't always right. Then we filled out a grid using our documents talking about things like if they were American or British, how long ago it was, and whether or not it is a reliable account. Then we were assigned another writing assignment that we have to choose a side as to who fired the first shot of the revolution that's due on the 19th. 

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Thursday, October 4th

Well, we've made it through the first months of Mr.Boyles history class! :)

Yesterday in class we went to the media lab. We split up into our groups for the Ed Cafe and made a presentation on Google Docs. Our group was working on the Continental Congress. I thought it was really cool that you could all work on a presentation together. That's definitely going to help in other classes with projects and other things. That's what I like about this class. Yes, the projects can be a pain but the tools we're learning to use are going to be very helpful. The only thing that was a problem with our presentation was the constant refreshing of the page. we had to type everything in Word and then paste it into the presentation.

Today in class we did another Ed cafe. I didn't like this one quite as much as the other. Since everyone didn't have as much knowledge about the subjects that were being discussed it was hard to keep a conversation of argument going. I liked the other ed cafe better because you were allowed to be much more opinionated instead of fact based. There was a lot to write down with this one too which was hard depending on how fast the person was talking. But i liked it better than being lectured. Overall, decent class!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Tuesday, October 2nd 2012

Yesterday (Monday), in history we looked at the original 13 colonies of the United States.  We looked at the packet that had been assigned over the weekend with some multiple choice questions about traits of the three different sections if the colonies. The three different sections are New England, the middle colonies and the south. We talked about their characteristics like how New England has a lot of cities such as Boston, MA. Then we took some time to make a voice recording summarizing the colonies. Then mr Boyle explained to us that you are supposed to fight at 2:15 at the  flagpole. Quality advice mr b.

Today in class we looked at a picture of a "mysterious" character. In my opinion it was quite obvious that it was George Washington but Caleb insisted he was some other nationality. Then mr. Boyle helped us summarize the reading that was quite confusing and I think gave everyone a headache considering the extremely small font and the amount of content on each page. But once Mr.Boyle explained it it made a lot of sense which was good. I liked the class. I felt like I got a lot out of it.