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.

After chapel, students:

• Read one another's blog posts on the relationship between the geography of Texas and the Indians of Texas
• Augmented their blog posts with the information from their classmates' posts

Prepared for tomorrow's Map Quiz over the Indians of Texas by:

• Glancing (very briefly but probably not long enough to suit them) at a page of the actual quiz
• Analyzing the two maps on Texas Indians in 1600 & 1800
• Looking at an excellent study guide a classmate voluntarily made (see above) - OUTSTANDING! And MANY THANKS!

Assignments for Thursday

• Read Ch. 7 in Lord of the Flies and write as many questions as you can, following the Questions Formulation Technique previously referenced
• Quiz over Indians of Texas - See study tips at previous post.

Lord of the Flies, Day 6 - Texas Indians/Texas Geography

On this good Friday, HistLitLog students did the following.

Lord of the Flies

• Discussed the GooDoc they collaborated on tracing the relationship between Ralph and Jack in Chapters 1-3 of Lord of the Flies
• Read and analyzed student responses to a British teacher's essay assignment over the RalphnJack relationship
• Pretended they were teachers and wrote a response to one British student's essay
• Discussed last night's reading assignment of Chapter 4: "Painted Faces and Long Hair"

Click pic for larger view.

Geography & the Indians of Texas

• Summarized their Predictions About Indians of Texas Based on Geography
• Compared their findings with a two-map juxtaposition of the Regions of Texas and the 4 Native Texas Culture Groups
• Chose a tribe to defend in next week's Indian Debate - Surprisingly (or not) each student chose a tribe from his Regions Debate region. Wow!

Assignment for Monday
Lord of the Flies

• Read Ch. 5 in LOTF. 
• Write and post at your blog 5 good discussion questions from the reading.
• Continue noting developments in the relationship between RalphnJack.

Chart: Indians of Texas (clicky clicky)

• Read the column on the tribe you will be defending in next week's debate.
• Color code the STRONG POINTS & WEAK POINTS of your tribe.
• If you have time, do the same for the 3 opposing tribes.
• Reminder: the tribes in the debate will be:
• Jumanos
• Comanches
• Wichitas
• Caddoes

Thinglink Followup - Interesting/Important Time Periods - "The Lottery"

Today students:

• Discussed any problems associated with widgeting their Thinglinks from yesterday
• Wrote a blog post listing and explaining the 3 time periods of Texas history in which they are most interested and what they consider to be the 3 most important time periods of Texas history, with reasons why.
• Did Pre-Viewing activities over Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery"
• Brainstormed what is meant by a lottery, pre-viewing activities we could do, etc.
• Held a lottery involving the disbursement of cash rewards to the winners and condolences to the person who drew the big black dot
• Viewed the 1969 video version of "The Lottery," periodically stopping it to see what students were absorbing as they watched and making hypotheses as to what might lie ahead as it progressed. Part 1 - Part 2 - Here are the Student Comments While Watching "The Lottery."

Assignment for Wednesday

• Watch the video version again and do a VideNot.es as you watch.
• Now that you know what happens, pay particular attention to details that set up and drive the story.

Welcome to Day 1: Introduction to History & Blogging

Welcome, students, to our first day together in Grade 7 History, Literature, and Logic. I'm eagerly looking forward to learning with you and from you during this school year.

Today we will begin a general introduction to history and Texas, set up your student blogs, begin to use various creative online tools, and, as time allows, do some pre-reading activities leading up to reading a Time magazine story, the cover of which you see to the left.

We will be using the inquiry approach, which means I won't be telling you a bunch of facts and information but will set before you various activities that prompt you to think for and express yourself.

The first thing I'd like to do is to get an idea of what kinds of history interest you the most. Please click the title of the Google Doc, Student Survey: What Topics of History Interest You Most?, and follow the directions provided. We will then examine and discuss what you've written.

Next we will set up your student blogs. I'll walk you through this.

I'm sometimes not sure how long activities will take, so I'll be adding instructions and links here as needed.

Wrapping Up: Okay, we got as far as showing your historical preferences, setting up your student blogs, doing your first post, and learning how to insert images and links. Thank you very much for your concentration and cooperation.

Assignment For Tomorrow:

1. Finish your first post on what kinds of history interest you most.
2. Practice blogging: experiment, play around with various fonts, colors, etc. Use the Menu Bar in the post editor to experiment with different colors, text sizes, and other available features.