The US as a World Power

Today's Agenda:

Complete: the Summative assessment on this Unit
Optional (Time Permitting): The Lost Battalion (2001)

The US as a World Power

Today's Agenda:

• Complete: the Anthem Chapter 18 Review
• Continue: reading Hemingway
• Summative Assessment is on Thursday

World War I

Disillusionment (n); a freeing or a being freed from illusion or conviction; disenchantment.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY

Hemingway's style

Biography of Hemingway here.

In Another Country 

World War I was the largest, international conflict people had ever seen, and it caused people to change their view of the world. People became full of despair, delusional, horrified that everything would fall apart, and it made them lose faith. In Hemingway’s "In Another Country," there is one character in the story who is known as Major. He is a smaller part of the story, but a perfect example of the kind of “loss of faith” that people were beginning to experience because of the war. .

Soldier's Home 

This story is very ironic in its title and storyline. Hemingway doesn’t bother to tell people why Krebs is the last to return home or what happened in the meantime, but Harold simply comes back late and cannot find his place when everyone else is already settled. It is a great tale that speaks to “fitting in” as well as being “left behind.”

Here's a chart for both stories to track as you read.

A central part of understanding the characters of Hemingway’s stories about World War I is understanding what is meant by the Lost Generation.

• World War I was supposedly fought to save Western Civilization, but the terrible human costs of The Great War and the materialism of the 1920s caused much disillusionment among writers, artists and people at large.
• One result of the war was a pervasive feeling of doubt and cynicism in all that once was valued by society. It was this that caused fellow writer Gertrude Stein to comment to Hemingway that those who survived the war were, “a Lost Generation.”
• In A Farewell to Arms(1929) Frederic Henry says in Hemingway’s novel, “I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice and the expression in vain. We had heard them…and read them…and I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stockyards in Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it.”
• The following fictional letter from the novel Company K, by William March of Alabama also captures the feelings of the Lost Generation. “Dear Madam”, it begins, “your son, Francis died needlessly in Belleau Wood,” and “at the time of his death he was crawling with vermin,” his “feet stank,” and he was living “like a frightened animal, cold and hungry,” until “a piece of shrapnel hit him and he died in agony, slowly,” suffering for “three full hours screaming and cursing by turns,” with “nothing to hold on to,” since he had already learned that everything you “taught him to believe…under the meaningless names of honor, courage and patriotism, were all lies.”
• To understand the characters of these stories you must understand that the war had made these people without an ethical and/or moral foundation that still had meaning. Did Christmas change for you when you found out there was no Santa? Imagine if all of the values you believed in were like Santa. How would your motivations and purposes in life change?

Propaganda!

PROPAGANDA: The organized dissemination of information to influence thoughts, beliefs, feelings, and actions.
Propaganda Group Activity

Go to Google Classroom, open a document...

• Go to this website
• Copy and paste your assigned poster into your document
• As a group, analyze the poster, answering these questions:
• Describe the image and text. 
• What is the overall message? 
• What emotions does it play on? 
• What effect would the poster most likely have on American citizens of the time? 
• What is pointed out that YOU can do directly to help the war effort? 
• How are the symbols, images, and words arranged to convey a message?

The US as a World Power

Today's Agenda:

Complete: The Empire and the People reading and the Questions
Discuss: the Spanish-American War
View: The Century: Shell  Shock

The US as a World Power

Today's Agenda:

• Continue: Reading The Empire and the People
• Answer Questions 6-12 on the reading
• View: the Spanish-American War

New Unit: The United States as a World Power

Today's Agenda:

• US Foreign Policy
• Introduce: Author/Historian Howard Zinn: A Peoples History of the United States
• Read/Answer the Questions: "The Empire and the People" 

The Gilded Age

Today's Agenda:

Complete: Open Response Questions for the Gilded Age and The Jungle
Next Unit-The United States as a World Power

Gilded Age Speeches

• Character Analysis
• Speech Rubric
• Rhetorical Devices
• Becoming more articulate
• Getting over stage fright with charisma: converting those nerves into a magnetic stage presence (video from a TED Talk featuring Deborah Frances-White)

The Gilded Age

Today's Agenda:

• Finish: American Anthem Chapter 16 "The Progressives
• Introduce: The Character Speech Assignment
• Begin: Researching your Person

The Gilded Age

Today's Agenda:

Continue: reading the Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Complete: American Anthem Chapter 16 "The Progressive Movement"
View: Jacob Riis Exhibit at the Museum of New York City
Analyze: "How the Other Half Lives"

Gilded Age

Today's Agenda:

• Review: the 6 political cartoons and answer the questions
• Read: The Jungle chapter 3
• Jungle chapter 5 and chapter 14 and questions

Gilded Age

Today's Agenda:

Ellis Island 1905

Literature Analysis:

• The Jungle: Pre-reading discussion
• Chapter 2 and questions

Historical Analysis:

• Immigration, Arriving in America and 
• Immigration and Urbanization

New Unit-The Gilded Age

Today's Agenda:

• Finish: viewing Smoke Signals and Answering the Questions
• Intro. the New Unit: The Gilded Age
• Immigration
• Industrialization
• The Progressive Movement

Immigration in the United States (Past and Present)

• Opening Activity: Family Heritage Brainstorm and Discussion
• Actual immigration numbers for 2018

The Native American Experience

Today's Agenda:

• Summative essays are due
• View: Smoke Signals/Answer the questions

Native American Experience Summative

Your assessment of understanding the Native American Experience is a thesis-driven essay.

We have explored what it means to be a Native American through excerpts, videos, short stories, articles, and primary texts. Using these sources, compose an essay of at least five paragraphs that essentially answers this question:

• How and why have Native Americans struggled with their cultural identity?

The Native American Experience

Today's Agenda:

• Finish: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
• Complete: the questions that go along
• Optional: Historical Accuracy of the film

Native American Experience

• Handback/Review Article Summaries
• Issues
• Handback/Review the Impact of the Dawes Act
• Begin: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
• Here are the questions for the film

The Native American Experience

Today's Agenda:

• Review: Indian Education
• Analyze  the Impact of the Dawes Act
• View: Current Event

Bill Left Hand photo from ABC News

Native American Experience

• Let's talk about those "Traffic Signal" quotes...
• Read "Indian Education" and complete the questions (on your own)
• OPEN NOTE QUIZ TOMORROW
• Analyze: the Impact of the Dawes Act

Native American Experience

Agenda:
Finish Custer's Last Stand
"The Only Traffic Signal on the Reservation Doesn't Flash Red Anymore"

The Native American Experience

Today's Agenda:

• Our first story that we will read is "Every Little Hurricane," (check out the notes and quotes) followed by "A Drug Called Tradition." (notes and quotes) Keep in mind where we are headed--how do Native Americans wrestle with their identity, and why?
• Answer the questions for both stories

• Battlefield Detectives: Custer's Last Stand  

The Native American Experience

Today's Agenda:

• Review: the Questions for "Every Little Hurricane"--Notes & Quotes
• Discuss: the Native American Vision Quest
• View: Video on a Vision Quest
• "Drug Called Tradition"

The Native American Experience

Today's Agenda:

• Debrief: What articles did you choose yesterday? What did you learn?
• Lincoln's execution of 38 Sioux
• "Another Proclamation" by Sherman Alexie
• We will be reading short stories from Sherman Alexie's The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. Our first story is "Every Little Hurricane"

Native American Articles

Today, we'll look at some articles concerning contemporary Native American life.

Here is the assigment, complete with an exemplar. This is on our Google Classroom. Please submit through that.

Go to our article resource page.

• Read two articles
• Summarize (paragraph for each), integrating at least ONE quote in your summary, citing correctly
• Do a Works Cited right after your paragraphs
• Submit through Classroom.

Native American Identity

• Our next unit explores the Native American Identity. Some questions to guide us through the unit: Who are they as people? How has their identity been formed? What was it in the past and what is it now?
• We will read some contemporary fiction from Sherman Alexie, a humorous, poetic writer, and these stories from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven all revolve around one reservation, and the way of life there.
• As for history, well, essentially our mistreatment and near eradication of Native Americans will be looked at, and how that has also formed the Native American Identity.
• A nice introduction to contemporary reservation life is a 20/20 special, "Children of the Plains."
• Sherman Alexie is charming on the Colbert Report...And again.
• From the Atlantic: How the Legacy of Native American's Force assimilation Lingers Today

Reconstruction

Today's Agenda:

Review: Chapter 12 Attack 
Analyze: Reconstruction (Slide Share)
View: The Rise of Jim Crow

New Unit-Reconstruction

Today's Agenda:

• 10 Takeaways from the Civil War
• View: 3 Major problems post-Civil War
• Review: the assassination of Lincoln/President Johnson
• Intro: Huck Finn by Mark Twain
• Notes on Twain
• Full Text of Huck Finn...We will only read chapters 15-16
• Questions for the chapters

The Civil War

Today's Agenda:

The End of the Civil War:

General Sherman's March to the Sea was one of the most brutal campaigns of the war.

• Bio on General Sherman
• Scorched Earth
• Video on Sherman's March

Southern General Robert E Lee could have kept fighting but ultimately decided to surrender to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse.

• Appomattox Campaign
• The Surrender Video
• General Lee's letter to President Jefferson Davis

POW camps were horrible place to live during the Civil War

• Civil War Prison Camps
• Andersonville Prison Video

As a result of the fighting, the South suffered more than the North during and after the war.

• Civil War Casualties
• Heal the Wounds
• Rebuilding the South
• Costs of the War Infographic

The Civil War

Today's Agenda:

The End of the Civil War:

Civil War #4 is posted on Google classroom. We have technology today to research the last 4 statements.

Atlanta GA after Sherman's March

Civil War

The War Itself: Summative Paragraph: 

• What were some of the strategies used and hardships faced for both the North and the South?

Some issues with those initial paragraphs: mostly citations and numerous details.

• In-Text Citations

The Civil War

Today's Agenda:

Civil War Statements #3:

The Battle of Gettysburg was a pivotal event in the Civil War.

• Gettysburg Animated Map
• The Gettysburg Address

The Union Army had the advantage of enlisting different minority groups for its army.

• Ethnicity, Race, and the Military
• Black Soldiers in the Military
• Glory

The Civil War is considered a modern war because of the improved weapons, communication, and transportation.

• The 5 Most Lethal Weapons of the Civil War
• Key technological Developments 
• The IronClads

Women served in various roles on both sides both at home and on the battlefield.

• Women soldiers
• Women's Civil War Journals
• Clara Barton

Civil War: Antietam, Emancipation, and Photography

Today we will tackle Antietam and the Emancipation Proclamation.

Civil War Statement:
The Battle of Antietam gave Lincoln the motivation to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

• Why was the Battle of Antietam significant?
• How was the northern army able to be successful in this battle?
• What was the Emancipation Proclamation, and what impact did it have on the war?

After that, we will be Analyzing Civil War Photography!

Unit 2-The Civil War

Today's Agenda:

The War Itself: Yesterday we were in the library looking at the next 4 True statements about the Civil War. Let's review these as a group.

Virginia was the most important state geographically during the Civil War.Civil War Map

• Where are the capitals of both the United States and the Confederacy? How far apart are they?
• How many battles were fought in VA, and which ones were the most important?
• Why would the focus of the war be in Virginia?
• Animated Maps of Major Battles

The average soldier faced many hardships other than being killed in battle.

• What were some of the hardships that soldiers faced in the armies? 
• What was the deadliest aspect of fighting in the Civil War?
• Civil War 150

Many Northerners did not want to be drafted and fight in the Civil War.(Harvard Lecture)

• How many men volunteered for the war, and how many were drafted?
• How were wealthy men able to buy their way out of service?
• How many draft riots occurred in northern cities during the war?

The Battle of Antietam gave Lincoln the motivation to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

• Why was the Battle of Antietam significant?
• How was the northern army able to be successful in this battle?
• What was the Emancipation Proclamation, and what impact did it have on the war?

The Civil War

Today's Agenda:

Today is a shortened Block due to Class Wars.

Library/Technology scheduled to finish the 1st four statements about the Civil War.

Don't forget to submit your work on Google classroom by the end of the Block today.

Civil War: Walt Whitman

• Walt Whitman--Why is he important?
• Whitman Poetry
• How to analyze poetry
• Create: "Tale of the Tape" chart of the North vs. the South

The Civil War

Today's Agenda:

The Beginning of the War:

•  Join Google Classroom for the assignment: 3vwvaj8
• We are in the Library today using our Research skills

Next Unit: The Civil War

Today's Agenda:

Brainstorm:

• The Civil War occurred between 1861-1865. Why should we still study it today? Does it have any modern relevance?
• Are we still a divided country today? How so?
• Lets look at America today. Here are some examples:
• View: Video on Charlottesville VA
• The Second Civil War?
• Stop Making Second American Civil War clickbait

CIVIL WAR:
Evaluating Primary Documents:

• The Secession of South Carolina
• President Lincoln's First Inaugural Address

Pre-Civil War America Assessment

2018 NH Primary Election Results



Remember our prompt? Using specific historical and literary examples, explain how America struggled politically, economically, socially, and morally with the issue of slavery.

Today is some review; try to find at least one quote from every source we have studied, and peg it into one of those categories (political, economic, social, and moral). HERE is a handy dandy chart!

Pre-Civil War America

Today's Agenda:

• The Rise of Lincoln and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates 
• Election of 1860 and the Start of the Civil War!
• Continue: Slave Girl

Lincoln-Douglas Debates in 2018
And That's How You Debate!

Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas

Pre-Civil War America

Today's Agenda:

• Review: Weekend Newsworthy?
• Continue reading Slave Girl
• Linda struggles against Flint’s overtures for several years. He pressures and threatens her, and she defies and outwits him. Knowing that Flint will eventually get his way, Linda consents to a love affair with a white neighbor, Mr. Sands, saying that she is ashamed of this illicit relationship but finds it preferable to being raped by the loathsome Dr. Flint. With Mr. Sands, she has two children, Benny and Ellen. Linda argues that a powerless slave girl cannot be held to the same standards of morality as a free woman. She also has practical reasons for agreeing to the affair: she hopes that when Flint finds out about it, he will sell her to Sands in disgust. Instead, the vengeful Flint sends Linda to his plantation to be broken in as a field hand. When she discovers that Benny and Ellen are to receive similar treatment, Linda hatches a desperate plan. Escaping to the North with two small children would be impossible. Unwilling to submit to Dr. Flint’s abuse, but equally unwilling to abandon her family, she hides in the attic crawl space in the house of her grandmother
• Discuss: John Brown, Madman or Martyr? 
• Read: John Brown's Death Sentence Speech
• Bigger Issue: Is Radicalism ever justified?

Pre Civil War America

Today's Agenda:

• Read: Slave Girl Chapters 5 and 6
• Dred Scott Decision: How did this Supreme Court ruling affect slavery and the abolition movement?
• Video and Dred Scott Questions
• 10 Supreme Court Decisions that Shaped Civil Rights
• Taney and Scott families reconcile 160 years later
• Continue reading Slave Girl

Unit 1-PreCivil War America

Today's Agenda:

• Review: Slave Girl Chapters 1 and 2
• Discuss: Drifting Towards War
• Kansas-Nebraska Act: 2 Opposing Viewpoints
• John Greenleaf Whittiers' Poem
• Pro-Slavery Circular
• Read and Answer Questions: Slave Girl Chapters 5 and 6

Unit 1-Pre-Civil War America

Essential Question (Assessment):
Using specific historical examples, as well as the literature we have studied in this unit, explain how America struggled politically, economically, socially, and morally with the issue of slavery.
Today's Agenda:

Intro: Major Problems in 19th Century America (Review of AS1)
Analyze: The Compromise of 1850
Read Primary Sources:

• The Abolitionist Crusade
• Reactions to the Fugitive Slave Law

Introduce: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (Reading Questions)

Welcome!

This blog was created by Mr. Jolicoeur and Mr. Bujold to help communicate more effectively with students and parents this year in Comprehensive American Studies II. We will be blogging daily with the class agenda, links to assignments, and links to interesting and informative topics that we see on the internet. You will notice there are two additional tabs: "Unit Handouts" and "Resources." These will provide ample support as we journey through the year.

1. Here is our class expectations sheet.

2. While You were away: Summer 2018 News Quiz

3. What does it mean to be an "American"?

The answer to this question is not simple, and has many layers. This is our "Essential Question" for the entire year.

Let's brainstorm!

• What makes up the American Identity? 
• What defines American? 
• What do Americans want? 
• What words, thoughts, opinions, or even images that come to mind when we think of the “American Identity”?

Modern American history

This Weeks Agenda:

• View: The 1990s/Wake UP!
• Discuss the events and images from the presentation
• View : 9/11 As We Watched

Modern American History

Today's Agenda:

Finish: Short Story #3
Begin: the 1980s Pop Culture Project

Modern American history

Today's Agenda:

• Read/Analyze: Short Story #3
• Finish: the film Argo and the viewing questions
• Intro: The 1980s

Modern American History

Today's Agenda:

• Read: Short Story #2 and answer the questions
• Begin: the film Argo
• Look at the handouts for the film

The 1970s/Short Story Lit. circles

Today's Agenda:

• Finish: America's Time "Starting Over"
• Discuss: The Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979-1980
• Continue: Short Stories

Contemporary Short Stories

As we end the year, we will wrap up with some literature circles. In groups of FOUR, choose THREE contemporary (post 1975) short stories and create a binder that features your discussion and work related to the stories.

Each story gets its own section, highlighting the following (each task is assigned to a different group member—No one should have the same role twice, meaning for each story you take on a different role--see handout for details): 

• Setting/Plot
• Characters
• Line Illuminator
• Discussion Points

Each story should be from a different decade. We will spend time in the library to find short stories (here's a guide you can use). Once you have found your stories, find a teacher or a librarian to help you photocopy--there is a fast and efficient way to do it.

On our assigned discussion days, follow the protocol:
The person assigned to “discussion points” will act as facilitator

1. Go around the circle, each person sharing their assigned work, without any comment from other members. If you have a response to what someone says, write it down.
2. After everyone has shared their initial thoughts, any member can comment further on what has been stated.
3. After that has played out, facilitator shares their first “discussion point.” Once again, go around the circle to get everyone’s initial thoughts.
4. Then free-form discussion.
5. Second “discussion point.” Repeat steps 3 & 4.
6. Third “discussion point.” Repeat steps 3 & 4.
7. Final thoughts

The 1970s

Today's Agenda:

• Discuss: the Watergate Scandal
• Pass Back: Vietnam Summatives assessments
• 9:45-Junior Class Elections
• Current connection: Watergate is being compared to today's "Spygate" in the New York Times

Tell a True War Story

A true war story is not about the “happening truth” but the “emotional truth.” Sometimes fiction can actually feel more true to life than an account of the simple facts. Consider a strong emotion that you have felt about something in your life. Write a fictionalized personal narrative essay using a powerful image or event that possibly never happened, but represents or expresses the emotions you felt in the real moment. In some ways, this is like a tall tale, where you exaggerate or alter the truth to help your reader understand what it really felt like, since they weren’t there and can’t understand the truth.

• Personal Narrative Assignment
• Exemplars

Vietnam

Today's Agenda:

Finish: Vietnam in HD Episode 6 (Peace with Honor)
Review: Vietnam, The Final Analysis
The Legacy of Vietnam

Time Permitting: Protest Songs of the 21st Century

Vietnam Protests

Choose a song (every pair will have a different song)
See this website for songs. Each song has a Youtube link that can be use for your presentation
http://peacehistory-usfp.org/protest-music-vietnam-war/. Don’t simply choose the first song you come across, listen to a few and do some preliminary research.

You will present the following:

• The background of the song (what is the context of the song? Who is the songwriter? Why did he/she write the song? Was there any specific event that caused them to write the song?)
• Analysis of the lyrics (what is the meaning of the words/phrases? What is/are the message(s) of the song?)
• What is most effective about this song? (words, phrases, music)
• A Google Slide presentation with effective images (at least 7-10 images); add the song to the presentation. Play this slide show during the presentation.
• Once you create your presentation, you can add images
• Go to Image Quest (SHS Library)
• Use key words such as “Vietnam War”, “Vietam Protest” to search
• Choose images and download them to your Google Drive
• The citation is under the image and can be copy and pasted into your Works Cited page (can be a document or a slide)
• You can also access images from Wikimedia Commons and Creative Commons
• Be creative: use animation techniques that will enhance the presentation
• When you have completed the presentation, publish it to the Web (under the File tab) so that you can have the slide show present automatically (you can choose how many seconds between images).
• Use the links to Youtube(website above) to play the song in the background.

Vietnam

Today's Agenda:

American POW Experience
Muhammad Ali's reaction to being drafted in Vietnam
My lai Massacre: Survivors recall the atrocities

Recent history: Mitt Romney in NH (2011)

Vietnam

Today's Agenda:

• Review: Chapter 29 in American Anthem
• Continue: reading Things They Carried
• View: Vietnam in HD, the Tet Offensive (Episode 3)

Vietnam

Today's Agenda:

Watch: Vietnam in HD Episode 1
Complete: the Chapter Attack for Vietnam (29)
Continue: reading Things They Carried

Vietnam

Today's Agenda:

Complete: the 2 maps of Vietnam and Southeast Asia
Here is a short interview that Tim O'Brien did on "War Stories."
Finish: On The Rainy River

Unit-Vietnam

Today's Agenda:

Introduce: the Vietnam War (What do we know? What do we need to know?)
Introduce: Tim O'Brien and Things They Carried
Vietnam War Statistics

From the Atlantic: How young millennial Vietnamese view the war today.

Civil Rights

MLK--March on Washington (speech video) and "I Have a Dream"

"I Have a Dream" analysis

Other ways of protest: Same goal, different approach--Black Panthers

Malcolm X and "The Ballot or the Bullet"

Comparing the speeches