Sell Myself Presentations - Discussion of Tolsto(r)y - Wishes for Happy Thanksgiving

Today students:

• Sold Themselves to Queen Jill and the Royal Court of Grade the Fourth
• Discussed Tolstoy's short story, "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" - 
• See students' discussion questions here, here, and here.
• See our riff on this here.
• Gave and received wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving!

Assignments: (See wishes above.)

Sell Myself Project - Tolsto(r)y - La Salle's La Belle Documentary

Today students:

• Got back their graded Quizzes over Chapter 4: Early Explorers - The celebration almost got out of hand! (j/k)
• Had the choice of working on their Sell Myself Project or reading the Tolstoy short story (or doing some of each); both are due tomorrow
• Shared their lists of "Wants" and "Needs" at their blogs. Click here, here, and here to view.
• Watched some of a documentary of the La Salle Shipwreck Project, embedded above:

Assignments: See instructions in yesterday's class blog post.

Flag Raising - Chapel - Fire Drill - Quiz over Ch. 4 Summary - Tolstoy

Fire drill cartoon here

Today students:

• Raised the flags and went to chapel
• Participated in a fire drill
• Did last-minute study for the Quiz
• Took the Quiz over the Ch. 4 Summary: Early Explorers
• Were emailed a link to a Tolstoy short story (See Assignments below.)

Assignments

For Thursday:

1. Continue working on your "Sell Myself" Project.
2. Make a table (chart) listing every thing you can think of that you WANT and everything you can think of that you NEED. Do this before beginning the Tolstoy story.
3. Optional: Begin reading Tolstoy's "How Much Land Does a Man Need?". If you'd rather begin tomorrow, that's fine, so long as you read the story and complete the assignment by Friday.

For Friday

1. Your "Sell Myself" Project will be presented to Queen Jill and Her Royal Order of Grade the Fourthers sometime between 8-8:30 A.M.
2. Tolstoy's "How Much Land Does a Man Need?
1. Have it read in full.
2. Write lots of discussion questions.
3. Post them to your blog, along with pictures & a link to something interesting relating to Tolstoy and/or the story.

Primary Sources of Spanish Explorers - La Salle, Fort St. Louis, & the French Challenge

Today students:

• Worked on their Sell Myself Projects
• Examined one another's blog posts on excerpts from 3 primary sources by Cabeza de Vaca, Coronado, and Moscoso
• Discussed the documents, into which students showed excellent insights
• See them here, here, and, hopefully soon, here.
• Reviewed the importance of the advent of the French presence in Texas, beginning with La Salle's establishment of Fort St. Louis, near Matagorda Bay, in 1685
• Noted on the Timeline of the Spanish Period that from the Spanish discovery of Texas in 1519  through 1682, the Spanish only established one settlement in Texas (Ysleta, near modern-day El Paso). Then, because of La Salle and the French, the Spanish began establishing missions in East Texas, along the Rio Grande River, and in-between, especially in San Antonio.
• Viewed, chortled over, and, yes, learned from the short video on La Salle and the French
• Speculated as to what is involved in marine archeology and what types of artifacts might have been found on La Salle's last ship, La Belle, which sank in Matagorda Bay. Check out the excellent audio-visual and textual information on the La Belle Project at the Texas State Historical Commission and the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.

• Looked at the Senex map of French claims in parts of North America, including Texas; the 1718 French version appears below.

Assignments: Quiz Wednesday over Ch. 4 Summary: Early Explorers - Learn everything in the handout!

Sell Myself Project - Ch. 4 Summary - LaSalle Video - Are You a Historian?

Today, students:

• Worked on their "Sell Myself" Projects
• Were going to discuss the 3 Primary Sources, but only one student had actually read them and followed instructions
• Were advised of a quiz Wednesday over the Chapter 4 Summary: Early Explorers 
• Viewed part of a short video on the French explorer LaSalle
• Got involved in an interesting discussion when a student asked the teacher, "Are you a historian?"

Assignments

1. For tomorrow: Do the 3 Primary Sources assignment you were supposed to do today. The student who had completed it will get full credit. The others will get partial credit but have a zero until this assignment is completed, as described in the class blog post of Friday, 11/14.
2. For Wednesday: Quiz over the Chapter 4 Summary: Early Explorers.

Former Texas State Historian - Short Film on Spanish Conquistadors - God, Gold, & Glory? - Primary Sources

Please notice the magnificent background!!!

Today, the 7th Grade Scholars:

• Wrote and discussed their responses to an inquiry-based unveiling of a former Texas State Historian; they wrote responses one entry at a time and were to post their responses at their blog.
• Viewed and critiqued a short video discussing the motives of the Spanish conquistadors
• Analyzed what different configurations of "God, Gold, and Glory" might show about the motives behind Spanish exploration and conquest
• Were told about 3 documents they need to read and analyze (See Assignments below.)

Assignments

1. Continue preparing your "Sell Myself" Project.
2. Read and analyze the 3 primary source documents by Cabeza de Vaca, Coronado, and Moscoso.

• As mentioned in class, you can come up with various ways of doing this, and I'd like you to come up with as many ideas on your own as possible.
• If you are drawing a blank, though, click here for sints and huggestions.
• When you finish, post your analysis at your blog.

Timeline of Spanish Period - Sell Myself Project - Chart of European Explorers - Discussion of "A Modest Proposal"

Today students:

• Examined not one but two Timelines of the Spanish Period
• Analyzed a map showing 3 possible routes of Cabeza de Vaca's travels across Texas
• Helped develop ideas for the Sell Myself Project, in which they sell themselves as most worthy to be sent on a Royal Expedition
• Read the Chart: Ch. 4: Early Explorers to get ideas they could use in the project
• Discussed Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" - See a few of their insights here.

Assignment for Friday - Continue working on the Sell Myself Project - It will be due Friday, 11/21/14.

Map Quiz on Spanish & French Explorers - Read Ch. 4

After chapel, the awards ceremony, and first aid after a fall, students spent a few minutes reviewing for the Map Quiz over Spanish and French Exploration of Texas and then took the quiz. Students knew so much that there was little time left in class after they finished. And that's a good thing!

Assignment for Thursday: Read Ch. 4 on Spanish and French Exploration, filling in mental details about Pineda, Cabeza de Vaca, Coronado, Moscoso, Onate, and LaSalle.

Map Analysis of Spanish & French Exploration - Brainstorming Presentation Projects - Opinions About Cannibalism - Swift's "A Modest Proposal"

With the blues still ringing in our ears, today we did the following:

• Used our animated PowerPoint maps and worked collaboratively on what we noticed about the Maps of Spanish & French Exploration of Texas.
• Students were asked to use the animated PowerPoint maps to prepare for a Map Quiz over Spanish and French Exploration of Texas---to be given tomorrow
• Brainstormed Possible Presentation Projects on the Spanish and French Explorers.
• Opined as to whether it was right for members of the Cabeza de Vaca Expedition to engage in cannibalism. Results are here.
• Were directed to Jonathan Swift's 18th-century essay, "A Modest Proposal" and asked to read it by tomorrow

Assignments - Due Wednesday

1. Map Quiz - Spanish & French Exploration of Texas - Use your animated maps to prepare.
2. Read and write multiple discussion questions over Swift's "A Modest Proposal."

Field Trip to CAC

We checked to see that students had embedded their PowerPoints showing Spanish and French Exploration of Texas. Click here, here, and here to see the excellent results.

We then attended a performance of the E-Flat Porch Band at the Cultural Activities Center.

No Assignments Due

Summaries of Summaries - Choosing Topics to Teach - Animated Maps of Spanish & French Exploration

Animated Map: Spanish & French Exploration of Texas

View more presentations or Upload your own.

Students:

• Wrote 15-minute summaries of the Chapter Summaries of the Spanish Period they read yesterday
• Chose the learning activity they would lead the class in while we study Spanish Texas
• Opened an animated PowerPoint of Spanish & French Exploration of Texas and were supposed to follow these instructions to learn how to make an animated slides of their own

Assignment Due Monday

1. Finish the animated PowerPoints as described in the instructions.
2. This assignment is due when you arrive to class on Monday, and no late credit will be given.
3. You wasted most of the class time given you to work on this, so I expect you to put in that time and more during the weekend, finishing and polishing your slides by 8 A.M. Monday. 
4. Save it to Slideboom and embed it in a blog post before you arrive in class. (Slideboom works better with animation than Slideshare.)

Relating Lord of the Flies to Our Previous Studies - Collaborative Planning for Spanish Period Unit

Pineda Expedition Map, 1519 

1. Today we first worked collaboratively to relate aspects of Lord of the Flies to stories and topics we've studied so far this school year. Check out the Google Doc by clicking "Google Doc."

2. Then we looked ahead toward our study of the Spanish Period of Texas history.

• Students read the three (3) chapter summaries on the Spanish Period: Ch. 4, Ch. 5, & Ch. 6.
• Each then chose a chapter and wrote down possible learning activities we could do while studying the Spanish Period. Click here to see what they've thought of so far.
• We also took a quick look at what Professor Donald E. Chipman calls "the oldest known document of Texas history," the Pineda expedition's map of the Texas coastline, drawn in 1519.

Assignments for Friday

1. Add to your LOTF/Previous Learning Activities GooDoc.
2. Add some more possible learning activities to the Brainstorming the Spanish Period GooDoc. Also, add to your classmates' ideas. Be sure to color code or use your initials or numbers (wink) to indicate who is making each suggestion.
3. Optional: I thought you tech-oriented scholars would find this article, "The Creepy New Wave of the Internet," interesting. I surely did and would enjoy discussing it with you.

Picture Day-No HistLitLogic Class

So look at yesterday's post: what was due today will be due Thursday. Smile. Click.

Indian Debate, Day 2

A. Students did an excellent job on Day 2 of the Indian Debate. They continued the cross examination of students who didn't get cross examined yesterday and even got in a few extra licks against tribes from yesterday. They then posted several debate items at their blogs:

1. Debate Planning Sheet (the multi-colored one) that was to be color coded by:
• Notes from the Chart-Indians of Texas (info from our textbook)
• Notes from HOTO - your tribe & each opponent
• Notes from Notes from Newcomb (Possibly Interesting Information) - your tribe & one opponent
2. Indian Debate PowerPoint
3. Notes During Indians Debate

B. We also discussed some possible ways to relate Lord of the Flies to various stories and topics we have studied thus far this year: SMERFCAPS, Texas Geography, Indians of Texas, Shipwrecked in Outer Space, "Harrison Bergeron," "The Lottery," and "The Most Dangerous Game." One student began working up a multi-part Venn Diagram as a possible approach, so we'll decide what and how to do this tomorrow.

Assignment for Wednesday: 

1. Be sure to have all three of the above debate-related items posted at your blog by tomorrow.
2. Be thinking of possible approaches to relating LOTF to previous studied stories and topics.

Indian Debate, Day 1

Excellent debating today, students. Look back over your notes and decide what you want to ask and might answer during tomorrow's cross examinations. And have a great Monday evening.