10. According to Mary Tillman what are the reasons the Tillman family didn't sue the U.S. Government? Due Dec. 17th

Listen to the speech at the link below. I suggest you download it to your MP3 player, phone or ipod. If you cannot, listen to the speech on-line and if all else fails come to me after school I can help you.

http://wordforword.publicradio.org/programs/2008/06/13/

According to Mary Tillman what are the reasons the Tillman family didn't sue the U.S. Government? To sue or not to sue, what do you think would be the right decision?

9. Questions for the letters Due Fri. Dec 6th

For this week's question cycle you may read letters from any of the blogs. Be sure to include the class along with the name of the author you are questioning. Ask tough questions of the letters, they're going to the President and they are about your financial future therefor they have to be sharp.

http://727msfrederick.blogspot.com/
http://723msfrederick.blogspot.com/
http://724msfrederick.blogspot.com/
http://702msfrederick.blogspot.com/
http://703msfrederick.blogspot.com/

8. What will President Obama do about the economy? Due Dec 1st

In the last two web logs many students have written about greed, in class Yanek asked, "How much is enough?" This week we are going to take a jump from American History back into current events, you may find a connection.

In class you have been given two readings about Obama's proposals, which proposals do you think are most important and why. Do you have any other proposals for easing the economic crisis?

Your task for this web log is to draft a letter to the president-elect on the proposal that you favor (either Obama's, your own, or another student's).

After next week's revisions you are invited to prepare a final copy for mailing to president-elect Obama.

7. Questions for 6. Due Friday Nov. 6

Step 1- Read all the comments from the previous assignment.

Step 2- Choose one comment which is thoughtful.

Step 3-

First, paraphrase the comment you are responding to: For example: “Mr. Bello thinks that…”

Then, write a question about the chosen comment. The question must be: clear, sincere, useful and be the sort of question which leads to more questions. The question you write must complicate the comment’s argument, make the reader of the comment you are questioning think deeper. Stir up some intellectual trouble

6. Raymond Chen wrote, "Why didn't they [Natives and Europeans] share the land with each other?" Due Friday

Every civilization has at least one story of their creation. Read the following two creation stories.

From the University of Washington library the Iroquois' Story of Creation

From the University of Virginia library the Bible's Story of Creation

Read deeper: What is the greatest similarity between the texts? What is the most significant contrast? (I suggest taking notes in a venn diagram, think carefully about what your think is significant and why)

Question: From Thanksgiving in 1620 to King Philip's War in 1670, Why the slip from collaboration to conflict? Support your theory with specific quotes from the primary source links and the textbook.

5. Questioning, Due Friday

Step 1- Read all the comments from the previous assignment.

Step 2- Choose one comment which is thoughtful.

Step 3-

First, paraphrase the comment you are responding to: For example: “Mr. Baalbaki thinks that…”

Then, write a question about the chosen comment. The question must be: clear, sincere, useful and be the sort of question which leads to more questions. The question you write must complicate the comment’s argument, make the reader of the comment you are questioning think deeper. Stir up some intellectual trouble

4. Economic Inequality

Rubiyath wrote about the cycle of poverty, "If all the classes are equal. My question to Tara Mango is: how can families from middle and lower classes pay for all [these programs] expenses...huge amount of taxes...?" Rubiyath is smart to look at economic inequalities, all good historians do.

In 1492, why did the Western Europeans set sail to conquer the world and not the Native Americans, Asians or Africans? The Answer is not that Europeans were smarter, better looking or that God loved them more. The answer is in economic inequalities.

Your assignment is to focus on one of the advantages Europe had in 1492 or on one of the disadvantages facing Native Americans or African. Write about this single advantage or disadvantage: the how and why it lead to European ascendancy. Refer to your class notes, the textbook may or may not be useful I suggest pages 22 - 65, and the videos below are for college level but you may get much out of it. Comment Due Tuesday October 7th.


If you cannot watch this video you may read about it on http://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/index.html

3. Questioning, Due Thursday

Step 1- Read all the comments from the previous assignment.

Step 2- Choose one comment which is thoughtful.

Step 3-

First, paraphrase the comment you are responding to: For example: “Mr. Baalbaki thinks that…”

Then, write a question about the chosen comment. The question must be: clear, sincere, useful and be the sort of question which leads to more questions. The question you write must complicate the comment’s argument, make the reader of the comment you are questioning think deeper. Stir up some intellectual trouble.

2. Presidential Election 2008: Misleading Facts & Vague Opinions Due: Sep. 12th

Candidates use facts selectively and at times misleadingly in print and TV ads. Just before the Iowa caucus, Barack Obama's campaign ran an ad quoting the Washington Post as declaring that Obama's health plan would save families $2,500. The ad asserted that "experts" say his plan is "the best" and "guarantees coverage for all Americans."

FactCheck pointed out that the Post was citing an Obama campaign statement about saving families money and did not analyze it independently. The "experts" were the editorial writers at the Iowa City Press-Citizen. The guarantee of "coverage for all Americans" was asserted in the St. Paul Pioneer Press and, like the ad, omitted mention that while the Clinton and Edwards health plans require coverage for all Americans, the Obama plan allows individuals to buy into coverage if they want to. (www.factcheck.org)

This examples demonstrate, among other things, that a factual statement can be accurate--if cherry-picked--but may come from a tree of sour cherries.

Presidential candidates must answer many questions daily. Usually, and even in debates, they don't have enough time to discuss them in detail--assuming they could if they had the time. One result is a swift recitation of unsupported opinions from "talking points"--that is, a collection of brief statements of views on many issues they know they will be asked about. Because some of these issues are complicated, candidates often make fuzzy utterances.

In developing your own opinion about a candidate's remark, consider its factuality. Several websites offer help. FactCheck Org describes itself as "a nonpartisan, nonprofit 'consumer advocate' for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases." The website is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania

Other, similar efforts include a project of the St. Petersburg Times and the Congressional Quarterly (www.politifact.com) and a Washington Post blog (http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/). All three sites are updated regularly.

Consider also the candidates' opinions. How clearly does a candidate state his or her opinion? Is the opinion supported with facts-at least on the candidate's websites, if not in brief public remarks? Does the candidate present facts selectively, omitting those that are inconvenient?

Assignment:

Select a presidential campaign issue of particular interest to you, investigate how, in terms of factual and opinion statements, one candidate discusses this issue, and susenctly post your findings. I suggest you use one of the resources for young voters on my web site. Young Voters (http://teacherweb.com/NY/Cunningham/Frederick/links2.stm)

1. Begin with your own family. Myth or History, what's the difference?

Your first homework assignment is to make dinner for your family, or whatever it takes to get your elders to sit down for a spell because you will have to ask them questions. First, what it the difference between a myth and a history, explain to them what we learned in class about how history is proven with primary sources etc. Then ask your elders (it's really up to you to define who your elders are: big sisters, guardians, parents, long time friend of the family, grandparents...) to tell you a family "myth"
and then tell you a family "history." Lastly ask your elders, How do these stories help our family, what do they do for us? Your assignment it to listen. Do not post the answers. Do not tell me or your classmates your family's business; Do come to school knowing the difference between a myth and a history and how they can both be useful to knowing how the past lives in the present.

Your Invitation

Why: To be engaged in a cycle of questions–answers–questions. See your sample rubric.

What: The Seventh grade Social Studies curriculum and current events, most often juxtaposed, shall be our material.

When: Your web log entries will be due one or twice a month. Responses to your entries will be due with in a week of the group postings.

Where: You must receive permission to post to the web blog. You must:

1. Give Ms. Frederick your e-mail address. She will send you an invitation to the site.
2. You'll need to open a Google Account when you confirm the invitation and start posting to this web log.
3. You must use your first and last name separated by an underscore as your web log tag, ex. George_Washington, James_Brown. I will reject your request to join unless you follow this direction. "Sexy_Lexy" and I will call your parents on the double.

How: This is formal writing, this is not your Facebook page. I will reject your post unless you follow the writing process:

First, type a rough draft of your comment in a word processing program and spell check it.

Second, print it out as a rough draft so that you can mark it up with a red pen; proof read it before you go back into the computer to write the final draft.

When you are finished in the word processing program and have a final draft, cut and paste it into the comment box and preview your comment before you post them.

Who: Ms. Frederick is the administrator of the Web Log. She approves your posts before they are posted and reserves the right to remove any or all of your comments. If you are disrespectful of the site you will be removed from the site and are still expected to answer the question on loose leaf and turn them in as old school homework assignments.