History Class

Today in history class, we studied for the quest that's tomorrow. I'm pretty sure that I know everything, except for I'm kind of not sure about how the cotton gin affected the US.

in class today

Today in class, we talked about how far the government should go to protect us. I think we have to keep in our mind that America is known for the freedom of it's citizens, and since that freedom is so glorified, I think people get hyped up when someone asks them to do something, even if it is for their own safety. Mr. Boyle thinks that we shouldn't have to go to security to go on airplanes. I disagree with him, because in the past, we have had hijacking of planes, the most obvious one, 9/11. We shouldn't oppose to security in airports because it's not only for the airline's safety, it's mostly for our own safety. Shouldn't we be thankful that they care enough to get everyone x-rayed so that we can almost ensure that we'll have a safe flight? And I definitely don't think we should have the option of not going through security. If airports have the option of either going through security or not going through security, then it's obvious that a potentially dangerous person would choose to not go through security. I don't think that you can compare the potential danger that a person might present from their past. Even the person with the best, cleanest background can cause harm to other people. Danger can be anywhere, so I think it's obvious that airports are going to check every single one of the passengers to ensure that we're going to be safe. People over react to security in airports. Honestly, it's not to target anyone. It's to keep every passenger on that place safe and I think people have to realize that. Who cares if the airport have an x-ray of your body. They're going to delete it obviously. It's not even a big deal, what could they possibly do with it...

In class today

I think that we should get rid of the parties because no matter how much each party campaigns, everyones going to have their own independent thoughts and opinions on the government and how it should be run. If there were no parties, then the president would be able to actually try out some of his ideas and people could have a pure idea about him. Instead, getting caught up in all the hype, the opposing party in Congress will block the proposals of the President to make him look bad. I would never in a million years want to be in the government.

in class today

we learned about the monroe doctrine and i think that it seems like we're not actually going to help the newly independent western nations and i think in the end, we'll regret not telling the truth because if these new countries find out that we're not actually helping them, then they're going to get angry, go back to their european overlords who will fight us for them. i'm not sure but this might be a cause for world war 2. maybe not, i really don't have a good sense of time in history so I'm probably completely wrong. Whatever though, because we'll learn about it in class soon hopefully.

today in class

today we did an activity about reserved, emmunated (sp?) and concurrent powers. I got most of the venn diagram correct, except for the school standards one, I thought that only states could establish school standards, but today I learned that even though Massachusetts is the best in the nation, the national government decided to take that matter into their own hands. We're learning about the case of the national bank or state bank and I said we should have one national bank, so we don't have to worry about fees that come with using a different bank then your own. And if the bank was for the entire country, then there wouldn't be worries that the bank would go bankrupt because all the banks would be the same and there wouldn't be much competition. I guess that's how I think of it, I'm not quite sure if these are valid reasons, I guess I don't really understand it.

40th Blog Post WOOOOOO

Today we took notes about the Underground Railroad and it turns out that it's not actually underground, or a railroad. I live next to the Abraham Adam House, and I think it was built in the 1700's, but maybe it had something to do with the Underground railroad. I think it was kind of obvious that the houses with the white and black chimneys were the railroad "Conductors", like wouldn't the slave catchers notice a pattern? I would think so. It really surprised me that only 1 or 2% of the slave population escaped successfully. I know it must be quite difficult to travel on foot from the south to the Ohio river, but isn't there another way to do it? I think that a good tactic would be to get a boat, and obviously don't go to a popular port, but maybe anchor the ship off shore, then have slaves come in boats there, and just stay out of the way of other boats, and follow the coast up to the north, to freedom. I'm also surprised that slavery even was a problem for a long time, because isn't America about sticking up for your individual opinions, and what you believe in, what you believe is right. How could so many American's be so cruel, that they all think owning another person is good? Why didn't more people rebel against slavery. It was really different back then then it is now, because now, almost everyone knows it's bad to discriminate against blacks, gays, Jews, other religions or races, even social classes. And if someone sees something they don't believe in, usually it will start a rebellion against it, whether it be talking to Congress, or making a group on Facebook. I think as a nation, we've definitely progressed in that area.

Today

Okay since I didn't get to contradict Matt in class today, I'm going to right now. He's so intent on saying that factory workers have it easier then slaves. You can't compare the labor at all.... One job is industrial and in a factory full of machines. The other industry is outside picking cotton. It's a personal choice, and every person has their own preferences.

Kim and Khloe are in a fight and it's getting so ridiculous. Even though I like Kim more, she hit her sister with a Louis Vuitton, crazy girl. That must've hurt. And then they went on a skiing vacation with the whole family and Kim ran away, but there was no bus so she went back home. That sounds awk and really embarassing.

Today

Today Mrs Jones was our sub.....
The assignment that we had due was really straightforward. I chose the factory because at least if you work at the factory, you still own your own body. Slaves are owned by their masters, and they are discriminated against because they're African and it started to spread racism.

Factory Workers

I don't think that factory owners had their workers in their best interest, because the original purpose of having a factory, is to have worker's be paid little, and get as many products produced as possible. If this is their main goal, then I don't think they really care about the workers. Obviously they think lowly of their employees, because it is said that factory workers don't have skill because they're just doing the same thing, repeatedly, and that one thing is very simple and easy. As the document said, they used the women when they're young because of their small hands, then rely on them to quit so they can have babies, honestly I think that's crazy, how they use young girls then the girls money goes back home to the men's education to become factory owners. The document mentions that the women stay in like, grouped housing or something? If you look at all the details of factory workers, it compares to slavery. Owners assume that if catastrophe struck, the workers can support themselves and solve their own problems. They live in certain housing, which the factory workers had to leave because it was proven to be illegal to do that. I would've thought that people wouldn't think that that was suspicious, but instead, more people kept moving into the city. I don't think factories were a brilliant idea. Yes, it does make for good production, but it can make peoples lives miserable, and sometimes can take the lives of the workers. Personally, I would never want to work in a factory, that'd be really boring and I wouldn't get paid much, it's kind of a shameful job, but whatever.

Sarah Palin's Alaska is literally the best show. I think she'd be a cool president. She's funny, has good values (like sticking with family) and she's been through more tough times then any of us so obviously she's strong. Get over it. I'm not saying she's the brightest bulb in the pack

The Project

I think the project was pretty easy. I really didn't have much prior knowledge of the Erie Canal's construction, but it wasn't hard to find information on it. Once we found out that the Erie Canal was made for transportation for the towns around it, it was easy to predict the results. Obviously it made shipping cost less, and also made things go a lot quicker. I guessed that it would make the towns around it more popular, which I found that that was true. Our group worked really well together, despite the fact that Hunter's job was to get pictures and he didn't. In my opinion, the challenging part of the project is making the script really creative. We didn't pretty good though, we have an interview with the creator of the Erie Canal, and we sang the Erie Canal song at the end of it. Pretty sweet.

Well today....

I don't have much to say about today's class. We went to the computer lab and worked on our scripts. I was hoping we could record, but Hunter's flash drive didn't work (of course) so we couldn't, and by the time he found the pictures on the internet, we only had 5 minutes left of class. The mindset of my group was that the script was literally due at the beginning of today's class, so we literally did everything and perfected everything, so while everyone was finishing their scripts, we didn't have much to do except for look for pictures, but Hunter knew what pictures would go with what, and even though Caroline, Elise and I did all the writing, and it was Hunters job to find the pictures, we still helped to speed up the process by looking up pictures. So basically Hunter owes us, but overall, I think our project is really good. We added some humor into it, (comic relief?) and a song at the end, that I thought was just a random song a random person wrote, but when Elise and I were singing it to our friends at a party on Sunday, one of our friends parents knew the song...? Is The Erie Canal song really known? Weird... heres the song, check it out?

Lab Day

We went to the computer lab today and my group and I are having some trouble trying to make it so our script sounds like a news report and that the construction of the Erie Canal is happening at the time. I think it's because we have to talk about the proposal, which was about 5 years prior to the construction, the passing of the bill to get funding and how the president vetoed it, and the actual building of the canal. If anything, I think it would be easiest to do a historical report on it, because it's hard to pick an event time period to "report" in. We can't do the proposal, because then we'd know everything that's happening in the future, so basically we have to go as recent as possible, I'm thinking that it would make the most sense to report during the ending of the project, and kind of review what happened for the last 10 years or so.

The quest

I thought the quest today was really easy. The only question I wasn't 100% on was the election of 1800 and how it changed future. I know that vice presidents and presidents are voted for o separate ballots But I'm not quite understanding how that resulted from the election of 1800. In my head, I feel like the election and the separate ballots for presidents don't have a lot in common. Everything else on the quest I understood and I know it's from some serious studying. I used an online flash card generator that Ive used since middle school and it's just like flash cards without the paper,You don't have to download anything either and it's really easy. Personally, flash cards are the most effective for me. The website is www.flashcardmachine.com You should check it out!

War of 1812

I think that patriotism in America is so stereotypical because of the War of 1812, I think that's where it all started. I can imagine that fighting Britain while you're still a newish country could be really scary and stressful, seeing as America broke away from Britain and started it's own country. After the bombardment that Britain started, I'm sure a lot of hope was lost. For some reason we couldn't do anything to stop Britain from burning Washington DC to the ground? I don't understand why we couldn't fight back or get to them before they burned down our capital. But it was probably a sign that when the American flag was still waving over the fort that morning after the fight, it gave us hope that we could overcome the British attacking us, and I think that was the turning point that kind of united us as one nation, because we were represented by the flag still waving, and unity makes a country stronger. I think we've kept the patriotism and it's why we're not so separated, even though we're the most diverse country because we're literally just a bunch of people from around the world, but I think America as a nation is pretty tightly knit.

Louisiana

I don't think it was the Louisiana purchase was a good idea at the time. For a new country, we were pretty cocky I think. Obviously it was a good decision to stay out of France's whole revolution situation and making the country twice as big as it already is, it kind of is a big risk, because the government just made a system that works...for the small country that America was before. We had a hard time figuring everything out for just the few states that we owned before the Louisiana Purchase. Although obviously this was a good deal, 15$ million for everything up to the Rocky Mountains, but we aren't ready to govern a country thats 100% larger then what we're used to. I guess at the end of the day though, we knew that this opportunity wouldn't come again, so we have to take a chance and just do it, also it's better to know you're neighbors, in case they're planning on attacking you. So in this case, we were buying our neighbors land. It would get us more respect too, among the rest of the world, who sees us as a small country that has no support and is kind of poor, land=power, but money=power too, if you use the transitive property, does land=money? Because we definitely needed money.

Help the french?

Although in almost any other case I would say we should've helped the French, in this case, I think that we had a good excuse. As I think maybe it was Joe saying, that in 2003 and 2001, we had been a stable country for a long time, so we had a lot of experience under our belts, and we could afford to take time and help Afghanistan and rid them of the Taliban with Operation Desert Storm. I think that because we've all lived through that experience, people get a strong opinion in their heads that that's what America's about, helping people and getting favors in return, so when people are asked if they think we should help France, they automatically assume we should because we're known to be kind people with good morals. Despite America's reputation, we have to remember that like all countries, we went through a beginning phase too. It's completely illogical to stop in the middle of creating the American government and working out all the kinks in the system to make everyone happy, and leave it all behind to go help France. Don't get me wrong, I think we owe something to France for helping us in our revolution, but right then was not the right time, sometimes we have to focus on getting our act together before we can help someone else. I think that leaving the country kind of idle could cause impatience with the people. If something goes wrong, if they start to rebel a tax or get angry, then we'll have to force ourselves to leave in the middle of helping the french and that could cause french resentment, especially if the revolution gets out of hand because everyone knows france has america on their side, they might raise the severity of the rebellions and if we left, it would leave the French to a worse fight that they'd be by themselves on. Also, I think we shouldn't help France right now because no doubt would we make enemies. A new country has enough problems to fix, they don't need enemies on top of that. We were already disliked by all the world's monarchs. If we gain respect from countries, then when the French need us, we can help them and we won't bring in more enemies into the French's problem, because more countries will respect and like us, and maybe can make an alliance in the future, which obviously happens. No doubt do we owe France something, at the very least, some support, but it just wasn't the right time to do that.

Today in class.

Today in class, we took notes and I'm not really 100% with what we're learning right now, mainly because I think personally, I'm not the kind of person that is interested in politics. I'm not interested in what goes on in the government, which is probably a bad thing because basically we're learning about how the government was created, and the decisions they had to make, and the problems the government has faced and how they fix those problems. We're learning about how the government is managing their flow of money, they're taxing whiskey and I think it's kind of mean that they put tax on whiskey because the farmers that can't afford much use whiskey as currency, so their "money" is being taxed. I don't think this was what the government should be all about, it should be about helping the people of the country and making the country stronger and having the people be more patriotic, and united. If anything, the government could try helping the farmers pay for what they need, or at least leave them alone, this makes the whole country look nicer in general and more inviting. They're trying to get away from the cruel monarchy that they call England, but it just makes the government look more selfish I think. They should rely on the people that can afford taxes and the people that can afford taxes should be willing to help the people that can't afford taxes, because I think that's just the way life should be. We're one country and we should strive to be good, well-rounded people.

Passing in storyboards

I got William Paterson on the founding fathers quiz and I didn't know who he was before, and in my VoiceThread, I said it like Pay-Ter-Sin, because there's only one "t" which implies the "a" is pronounced like "a", not "ah". So please if my VoiceThread sounds dumb because of the pronounciation, I am sorry.

VoiceThread

Friday's Class

I think I already made a post for this, but whatever I'll do it again. In class we talked about who should elect the president I think, if I remember correctly. I think there was a little dispute about those games Mr. Boyle told us about. If the band t-shirt was speech or not. And I was thinking, it doesn't matter if it's speech or not... the school can ban whatever it wants. If shirts like that cause problems in a learning environment, I think the school should be able to ban it. I think the problem we were looking at was whether or not the punishment was too harsh. Even though I'm student, I still think that the school can ban clothes in school. We're lucky to not have a dress code, so honestly I think people need to calm down and just get over it when they get in trouble for wearing strapless shirts and tiny skirts. It's not appropriate in school, you're supposed to be learning, I don't think it's necessary to look really formal, but be respectful at least. I know I'm getting off topic but I can't stop. I know a lot of people were saying he should be allowed to wear it in school, but why fight the school? It's a school... you're not going to win, schools have so many priviledges, as Mr. Boyle said, the second we cross that threshold, we have little to no rights. And as long as we're in school, (until we're 18, adults) I think we should just live with the fact that if a teacher tells you that you can't wear a mini skirt, (which is just as expressive as a band shirt would be) then spare us all the drama and wear pants, honestly it's not a big deal. I think the only thing that's worth debating, is the punishment the student recieved. Personally, I thought expulsion was going a little overboard, but that's just me.

Due Dates Pushed Back

Today Mr. Boyle gave us the weekend for extra time on our storyboard and voicethreads. I've already finished everything, but I haven't embedded the voicethread because I'm waiting to go to my friends house so I can use his computer because he can embed stuff onto his blog really easy, and my computer doesn't. Also, I found out that we have a quest on thursday about the constitution. I'm pretty confident about the material that I expect to be on the quest. Today a lot of my confusion about the electoral colleges was cleared up. I understood the gist of what it was, but I wasn't really sure why it was considered the best system for electing the executive. Now it makes a lot of sense, the people get an indirect vote, so technically the people choose the president, but it's through their election of the electoral colleges, and not the state legislature. I think this evens out power more too.

and also, was that guy the french principal?

James Madison Partners

I thought that the homework we did last night was actually kind of confusing, but when we went into class and Mr. Boyle explained the spaces they left in the documents, it made a lot more sense, and I felt like an idiot, not figuring that out last night. Also, I have to redo my storyboard because it says my complete script, not a summary of what you'll hear in my voicethread... Unless I reword and add details to the script thats on my storyboard, and use that as a script and make a new voicethread, which might be easier because I wouldn't have to draw my storyboard all over again.

French Kids and History Don't Mix

Well first off, a lot of my confusion was cleared up today, because I really didn't know what a "storyboard" was, but now that Mr. Boyle expained to us about it, it sounds fairly easy. I'm planning on working on it after blogging, but I'm not sure, because it's kind of late, and I've been doing homework for the past three hours. Also, the french exchange kids came into our class. All three of them sat at my group and the two boys were sitting across from me. I felt bad for them because it must of been really boring, since they most likely haven't learned many words about politics, like state legistature, they probably don't even really know how the American government system is run. I could tell they were getting bored because the two boys just got up and started walking around and talking while Mr. Boyle was talking, but hey, it's okay, they're french.

About Friday

Friday we went back into our groups and all three groups summarized what their documents said, and we took notes about it. My mom said that Mr. Boyle was the teacher that impressed her the most because of all the technology and other cool stuff he's teaching us. No one else incorporates the internet into class, so we're ahead of the game.

Groups

Today we got into 3 groups of 6, and each group got a different document. Ours was about how the legistatures should be voted. It was agreed that one branch should be voted by the people and the other branches should be voted by state. Personally, I think that its good that we have the state choose the majority of the government, because no matter what we do, there will always be that group of people who aren't informed about government issues, while it's basically the job of the state to know what's going on in the government today, what needs to be fixed. Their jobs are to protect the state and make sure that the government isn't screwing us over, and even though it's kind of hard to accept the fact that the state is more knowledgable and they actually care about the state as a whole, I think it's smart that we trust them to make the decisions and not leave an unfortunatly large uninformed part of the population to vote on government.

Today in class

Today in class we did the documents and me and Sammi were the people with group 9. Not much happened at the actual meeting because the just voted president and started to think of the new laws and orders for the document. It's interesting how James Madison knew to take down extensive notes, thanks to him we have a ton of resources to use and basically we know exactly what happened during the journey to gaining independence. It makes me want to take more notes. Just in case.

Groups

Today we made groups and we decided that I would be the one who makes the google doc and it sounds pretty easy. I have Group 9, and I don't know what it's about yet, but after this I'm just going to get it over with and make the document and invite everyone so we can get it out of the way and all printed by Tuesday. I hope everyone in my group is responsible enough to remember to add their posts, because if not, we'll be in trouble on Tuesday. I like working on the internet, but some people aren't so tech savvy and can't figure things out, so it holds us back, but I'm glad we have the oppurtunity to explore the web and what it offers.

Today in class

Today in class we went over what the most important battles were in the south. I like using the interactive maps because they help me remember what order the battles were in, because it's a really good visual. Also, Mr. Boyle explained a lot and cleared up a lot of my confusion about some battles, like I didn't really connect two and two together, and it forces me to actually engage my brain in it...

Grading cleared up

Going off track was a common happening in class today, and mr. Boyle cleared up a lot of the questions I had about grading. I like the way he calculates our grades, because in reality , getting an a really is just being good at following directions... And learning is more important then worrying about how well we follow directions and grading us on our obedience... Usually for any othe class I've taken, I wouldn't think twice about getting progress reports and also, I'm really thankful that he's teaching us about technology because whether we like it or not, everyone has to be able to use the Internet as their resource, it's not a matter of being social, it's the matter of succeeding in college and life.

We hold these truths...

I loved the quiz he gave us today because memorization is kind of easy. On Sunday I found a song by the 5th Dimension called the declaration, and it's essentially the declaration of independence made into a song. Also I tried to comprehend the text more because if you comprehend the sentence, because once Mrs. Norton told me that it's proven that you can memorize easier then if it was a bunch of random words. So basically this weekend I listened to that son g over and over. Hopefully I got an a?

Battles

It won't embed for some reason, so this is the best I can do!
http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/76118

I forgot to post this for yesterday.

Today we were supposed to do our speech things and I honestly don’t know what to do for the adjective, I’m like, having a brain block or something. Good thing Boyle had a meeting during C because I would’ve had to say something stupid like “the beautiful colony or Georgia” and honestly do you know how many people have probably already used that adjective? Yeah, like 99% of the class. So now I’m at work and I’m thinking of adjectives to use.
Ps. Having a study in not-Scott but the other Dube was not fun at all. I didn’t have any homework with me and all the desks were taken up so I had to sit on the floor in the back with Hunter and we played Indian Chief with Justin and Leah and Katie, but then we got in trouble so we just sat there. For 58 minutes. Just kidding probably more like 48. Gotta go restock ice cream now.

Speeches

Wellllllllll, today we did our speeches for signing the Declaration. It was kind of confusing how to know when to say something, because the text isn't in order, or it wasn't in order on mine. It was interesting to see how Sammi voted nea, and I never knew that there was an opposing colony, I don't remember who it was, but I know it was Sammi, and she had to walk out of the room, haha. It was hard to keep track of what everyone said but it's okay. And now we have to memorize part of the declaration and I forgot my textbook at school so now I have to go look it up. COOL. KAYTHANKSSEEYOUMONDAYBYE.

Note Takers

Today we took notes and once again, I'm finding myself not writing down whats on the slideshow, but just listening to Mr. Boyle talk. I'm not sure if there's anything really different on the slideshow then what he's talking about, but I hope listening to him is a better resource... Also we got into groups and of course I went to the wrong group, kind of embarassing. But hey, it's okay. I'm not sure what I really got out of the packet he gave us. I know that one of the leaders in the First and Second Continental Congress wanted peace, but not independence, but I'm not completely sure why. I read the document one and a half, but I'm still not completely sure why so I'm going to go read it again. And again.

Google Maps Lesson

I thought that using Google Maps in our lesson today was good, but I found that I didn't really use the small typed summary that was on the webpage, as I just listened by ear to what Mr. Boyle was telling us and taking notes, because I couldn't read what it said. I liked seeing where these events that we're talking about are today and what it currently looks like. In no other classes, have I had the oppurtunity to see the places we've talked about in class, in the present. Obviously we don't usually get the chance to see the places in real life, so Google Maps is the next best thing. I thought it was interesting to see the exact route the soldiers marched, and it's really weird to think that we live so close to it, we're actually really lucky to be surrounded by so much history.

Better Late Then Never?

It was a dark, quiet night,
April 18th, 1775,
Paul and I jumped on our horses,
And we started to ride.

Other men accompanied us,
We made a bee line through Mass,
All afternoon to warn people,
We were assigned this task.

On the lookout for our two men,
Hancock and Adams, we had a message to send.
Warning everyone of the the regs,
Tired were the horses legs.
Dawes was somewhere, letting people know,
This midnight ride was quite the show.

Tired and sore, we kept our word,
So I flew past houses, fast as a bird.
A tough journey, spent together,
Thank god for the beautiful weather.

When we got to Lexington, I jumped off my horse,
Ready for the fight, we've finished our course.
Dawes showed up and told us of his journey,
Almost had a heart attack, I needed a gurney.
But he reassured us that no one believed.
They thought he was drunk, so they made him leave.

After the stories, I hopped on my pony,
With Prescott, I was not lonely.
Off to Concord we were headed,
Stopped by the British, that's what I dreaded.
They took me, but left Prescott,
He made it to Concord, he was well-taught.
Corcord's men all ready for war,
So my story in comparison is quite the bore.

50 words. Exactly.

When Britain ordered a crazy amount of taxes from American Colonists through the Stamp Act, that event spiraled into the Boston Tea Party, as America was not represented in the British Parliament. Obviously this made the American Revolution inevitable because American colonists would rebel even more, fighting for more representation.

Events

I thought the iPod idea Mr. Boyle had was a pretty good one, I'm sure that this project will get easier after the next couple years because more and more people are getting iPods, it was probably a bummer for the kids that didn't own iPods because they have to depend on someone else, but obviously Apple is becoming exponentially more popular everyday, so it can only get easier from here. Here are some notes I took while listening to the sound clips:

Royal Proclamation- Indians felt threatened when colonists started taking over the west. There was even more tension when the Indians fought back for the land and we retaliated with disease-spreading. To calm everyone down and still gain land in the Appalachians, the British made the Royal Proclamation.

Stamp Act- Americans thought it was unfair when they weren't represented in the Parliament and they were expected to pay crazy taxes to pay off the countries debt, rebellion was becoming a popular issue among colonists.

The Boston Massacre- Colonists wanted to resist the Acts that British Parliament were passing. They attacked a guard, who shot into the crowd and killed 11.

The Boston Tea Party- British Parliament made Americans pay more taxes on tea to pay off debt. A group of colonists dressed as Indians dumped 150 lbs of tea into Boston Harbor, wasting a lot of England's money. They began farming tea.

Intolerable Acts- The British kept an eye on Massachusetts and was very firm with their governing of the state because it was the location of teh Boston Tea Party. The Sons of Liberty told people to stand up for freedom, this started many revolts.

The First Continental Congress- a group of colonists started meetings to reflect of their views of the Intolerable Acts and how to stop the british stranglehold and to obtain their freedom once again.

There you have it, no plagarism please.

iJohnAdams

Today we did the presentations for the historical figures we've researched. I actually had some fun making the life size figure, it reminded me a project we did in 7th grade, only this year, we incorporated technology and more research into the project. Last night, I spent about 3 hours trying to turn off the voice changer on my laptop integrated camera. Everytime I went to the webcam console and clicked disable voice effects, I recorded my voice, and then when I was listening to it online, it came out really squeaky and obnoxious, but don't worry everyone, I fixed it and finally am all set for tomorrow. Hopefully when I get home I won't have trouble getting the sound clips from the google group to my iTunes library. I thought it was interesting learning about other people, because I already know about most historical figures, I didn't know that there were so many. I knew a lot about Sam Adams, not so much about John Adams, so I thought it was cool to research him and learn his life story. I wish I took notes because there was so much information to remember, hopefully there won't be a test on it... (hint for Mr. Boyle), that's basically all I have to say for now, but no promises, I might be back on tonight... KAYTHANKSBYE

John Adams

Today

Obviously the new bus company doesn't understand the importance of me getting me to school before 7:42 because my bus driver forgot that she's a bus driver and didn't pick us up until 7:40, and Triton is 10 minutes away from school, so I was late for history today. But it's okay because Mr. Boyle didn't care. Anywho, we recorded our group presentations today. Good thing Mr. Boyle is tech savvy because I messed up a lot. I think it's not only beneficial for him that we do the voicethreads, but also for us, because we're learning about technology more and what we're capable of, if we own a computer. I'm glad we're learning a lot about computers this year as well as the obvious gaining of knowledge of US history. Now making posters and games in other classes seems really bland and old-fashioned, I wish more of my teachers incorporated the internet into their everyday teaching, because it's a change of pace and I think it could possibly aid us in learning more, as my math teacher was saying, if you switch around the way and resources you use to learn, your brain is more likely to pay more attention because it keeps your mind alert and "flowing". Well that's all for today, and I'm out.

That paper about the colonies

Well since history isn't my strongest point, and I haven't learned US history since fifth grade, that multiple choice packet Boyle gave us was mostly just the case of guesstimating on my part. I really had no clue as to what states were in each colony, but it obviously wasn't very bad because the maps were there. I think I need to brush up on my fifth grade history just a bit because I might need some of that knowledge to succeed this year. I guess in a minor way it was a little bit of a reality check, seeing as a lot of people knew the answers already.

Google Docs

This was the first time I've ever used Google Docs and although I've found many faults in it, the idea of it is actually really cool. When the various people in my group were editing the document, upon opening the document, not all the editing was saved, which is kind of a hassle and frustrating, but if you get past that, Google Docs is really useful. I think that it's a good way to see how other groups are doing their projects, which can also be a bad thing because it can promote plagarism. I'm glad that we're getting the chance to explore new technology and discover new online tools.

Goals For The Year

As I’ve come upon my sophomore year of high school, I have realized that making goals are surprisingly helpful and can motivate you to reach destinations you’ve only dreamed of meeting. Analyzing your past, present and future can truly aid you in creating or modifying your goals for the year. Encountering these realizations facilitated the making my three goals for my sophomore year.



1. Planning the future. As a teen, I try as much as possible to deny the fact that college is just around the corner. Currently with not much of an idea for a career path in mind, parents and teachers vex my mind with college information. Since I only have three more years until I move out for college, I really need to start finalizing what I’d like to be when I grow up. There are so many questions to ask, such as; although I love photography, will be get me anywhere in life? And what classes should I take if I want to major is Architecture? Collecting information about plans for the future is a big priority for this year, and I intend on paying attention in guidance seminars because I know how helpful they are to students.


2. Balance my life. As many times as I’ve been told how important it is to find a balance in your life, I have never understood that more than I do right now. With a part time job scooping ice cream, tennis lessons three days a week and no studies due to photography class, I need to find time to do homework, study, and also I believe it’s important to have a social life on top of that as well. To do so, I'm going to attempt to plan out my time better, determining how much time should be spent working, studying and socializing. Also, priotizing will help me specify what the most important element in my life is.

3. Avoid stress. As you know, I have a job, tennis lessons, no studies in school, and homework. My situation can actually be very stressful. To keep from being stressed out, I'm going to prioritize and put everything in order, from most to least important, and when there is too much on my plate, I'll cut back on the less important things in my life so that I can relax, but still focus on the important things.

If I start trying to slowly map out my future, balance my life, and avoid stress, I should be on track to have a successful sophomore year.