ntrimble blog

Implementation Draft

2011-07-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

Examples from Teaching as Leadership Website:

http://www.teachingasleadership.org/sites/default/files/Tools/INV/I-1/Tools/Secondary_Investment_Strategies.pdf

Student Messaging:
1) Post Your Goals

2) Give Reasons for BIG GOALS

VALUE OF ACHIEVEMENT:

1) Using Role Models:

Du Bois:

Sojourner Truth

Krissy Wellington

Team Hoyt

BUILDING STUDENT EXPECTANCY

1) Malleable Intelligence

Use Malleable Intelligence Power Point to teach students about brain capacity.

2) Tracking Student Progress

Mastery Zone Folders

Academic	Behavioral	Individual	Whole-Class	Absolute	Relative	High-Prep	Low-Prep
X		X		X			X

What it is: Athena and I both used mastery zone folders as a way to invest our students in their progress toward big goals. Mastery zone folders held all of my students’ tests and quizzes (organized by unit), as well as a tracking sheet (see example 1 below). Athena also had her students graph their progress on unit tests and quizzes (see example 2 below). Mastery zone folders were actually “hanging files.” The files were housed in “milk crates.” Standard hanging files (which are usually kept in filing cabinets) fit perfectly into milk crates. I had about 50 students over 5 class periods, so I only needed 2 milk crates for my mastery zone. Athena needed one milk crate for each class period she taught. In my classroom, we went over our quizzes from Friday each Monday morning. We tracked our mastery for each standard at this time as well. Quizzes were then stored in the mastery zone folders for later studying. NOTE: On the following page, you’ll find a hard copy of the tracking sheet I used. You can also e-mail me for the soft copy!

EX -- Student Personal Tracking Sheet

Date:	Quick Quiz Number:	Standard:	Grade Try #1	Grade Try #2	Grade Try #3	Mastered YES or NO	Why?
EXAMPLE: 10-2	EXAMPLE: 1	EXAMPLE: Fact and Opinion	60	80		YES	I went to tutoring to get help.

Louisiana Purchase WEBQUEST

2011-06-23T07:41:00.000-07:00

Introduction

In the beginning of the 1800s, Napoleon Bonepart was fighting a war for France and quickly depleting the treasury of the French government. Furthermore, the United States was experiencing the struggle for true claims to the territory known as Louisiana.

Imagine that you are an advisor and friend to the President of the United States, President Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson knows about Napoleons desire for money and greed and will soon be sending James Monroe and Robert Livingston to France. It is your job to find all of the information you can about this territory and create a guestimate for how much Napoleon will want to get for this huge plot of land.

Task

The President told you that he wants to have a meeting with in two days. He wants to know your opinion about the Louisiana Territory and whether he should go ahead with his plans to buy it. As this will be a private meeting with the President, you may be able to influence his opinion.

It is your task to create a presentation for the President using a media of your choice (PPT, Prezi, Inspiration, or SmartBoard). Remember that this will be a private meeting, so you may want to find out what the president is interested in, what his views on expansion are, and how much the land may be worth to present it to him. In your presentation, you will need to address the advantages and disadvantages about purchasing this piece of property. Furthermore, feel free to touch on aspects about the presidents individual interests or information about Napoleon that may help the Presidents decisions.

Process/Resources

Manifest Destiny:

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h337.html

http://www.historyonthenet.com/American_West/manifest_destiny.htm

Louisiana Territory:

http://www.landandfreedom.org/ushistory/us6.htm

www.lewisandclarkheritagedays.com/LP%20HISTORY.html

http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US09-01.html

http://jtlawson.tripod.com/index.html

http://www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=332

http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/one/louispur.htm

http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/history/A0830420.html

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/mathline/concepts/president/activity1.shtm

http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/cabildo/cab4.htm

Thomas Jefferson:

http://www.presidentsusa.net/jefferson.html

http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ho-Jo/Jefferson-Thomas.html

http://gardenofpraise.com/ibdjeff.htm

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/jefflife.html

Napoleon:

http://www.pbs.org/empires/napoleon/

http://www.napoleonguide.com/

http://www.biography.com/articles/Napoleon-I-9420291

Evaluation/Rubric


Evaluation of Recommendation Categories	Exceeds Expectations	Meets Expectations	Towards Expectations	Not Yet Towards Expectations	Score
Recommendation and Support	Includes evidence that support the recommendation. The writer anticipates the Jefferson’s concerns, biases or arguments and has provided two or more counter-argument.	Includes evidence that supports the recommendation and provides at least one counter-argument.	Includes some evidence to support the recommendation but does provide counter-arguments.	Does not include any evidence to support the recommendation.
Accuracy	All supportive facts and statistics are reported accurately.	Almost all supportive facts and statistics are reported accurately.	Most supportive facts and statistics are reported accurately.	Most supportive facts and statistics were inaccurately reported.
Cooperation	The group worked well together with all members contributing significant amounts of quality work.	The group generally worked well together with all members contributing some quality work.	The group worked fairly well together with all members contributing some work.	The group often did not work well together and the game appeared to be the work of only 1-2 students in the group
Audience	Demonstrates a clear understanding of the material and uses appropriate vocabulary and arguments. Anticipates reader's questions and provides thorough answers appropriate for that audience.	Demonstrates a general understanding of the material and uses vocabulary and arguments appropriate for that audience.	Demonstrates some understanding of the material and uses arguments appropriate for that audience.	It is not clear who the audience is.

Generic Scoring Rubric

SCORE 5	SCORE 4	SCORE 3	SCORE 2	SCORE 1
The finished WebQuest Exceeds Expectations in all categories.	The finished WebQuest mostly Exceeded Expectations	The finished WebQuest mostly Meets Expectations	The finished WebQuest is Mostly Towards Expectations	The finished WebQuest is Not Yet Towards Expectations

Conclusion/Discussion/Reflection

What have we learned from this activity?

Why was the Louisiana Purchase important for the United States?

Who was Napoleon?

Thomas Jefferson considered the purchase of Louisiana to be his greatest achievement. He considered this to be his legacy. Furthermore, with the money given to Napoleon, he was able to fund his war for a longer time, which in all reality stimulated American economy because America was exporting goods to both sides of the war, so a longer war meant more money for America.

SEGREGATION

2011-06-23T07:38:00.001-07:00

It is rare for men to predict the future. It is also a rare occurrence when educated men are paying so close attention to social patterns that they can foresee social issues in the midst of their emergence. However, in 1898, W.E.B DuBois did just this. In his book, The Souls of Black Folk, DuBois claims that the issue of the twentieth century will be the “race line” and he was more than correct. DuBois predicted the importance of this issue in American culture to come. One of the predominant issues surrounding the race line was segregation. Segregation had a longstanding era in American culture and law, and its effects have tainted the American psyche and bruised the ideals for which American was founded. During the late 19^th century on through the mid 20^th century the tension between American idealistic law and American cultural practice came to a head, as segregation saw it’s peak with Jim Crow Laws, and saw it’s destruction with the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

During the late 1800s segregation was, for lack of better words, blossoming in American culture. The most segregated parts of the United States were concentrated in the American South, and the laws that directed this segregation were both cultural and governmental. The most severe of these laws were known as Jim Crow Laws. According to Tindall and Shi “violence accompanied the Jim Crow Laws” (536). During the end of the 19^th century, 82 percent of the average 188 lynchings per year happened in the South (Tindall 536). Brutal violence on blacks during this time was not uncommon, and many times went unpunished, as most lynchings were carried out by mobs.

The Jim Crow Laws highlight the most segregated era of American history. One of the Jim Crow laws included a Miscegenation law. In 1870, the Tennessee constitution prohibited intermarriage “between white persons and Negroes, or descendants of Negro ancestors to the third generation” (Jim Crow Laws, Blackpast.org). Furthermore, this specific Miscegenation law held for many years, prohibiting as late as 1955 the marriage and living together as man and wife for racially mixed couples (Blackpast.org). The Jim Crow Laws were certainly one of the most prosperous times of segregation in Southern law.

Segregation had a broader scope than simply the Jim Crow laws, however. In 1896, the Supreme Court heard the case Plessy v. Ferguson, in which it revealed by law, the constitutional interpretation of segregation and racial issues. The court stated during this case that there were constitutional justifications for segregation, or rather, that segregation was not unconstitutional. The court overturned the claim to the thirteenth amendment, stating that racially segregated railcars, “[do] not conflict with the thirteenth amendment” in that having rail cars separated by race has nothing to do with slavery (Plessy v. Ferguson, Blackpast.org). Furthermore, while there was more argument for Plessy under the 14^th Amendment, the Supreme Court stated that:

We think the enforced separation of the races, as applied to the internal commerce of the state, neither abridges the privileges or immunities of the colored man, deprives him of his property without due process of law, nor denies him the equal protection of the laws, within the meaning of the fourteenth amendment (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896).

Segregation was an issue whose veins ran deep in American culture and certainly started prior to Plessy v Ferguson. However, within this monumental court case, America saw segregation supported by the highest court in the land. This case established by law the “separate, but equal” clause, stating that blacks and whites can be segregated as long as the conditions were separate, but equal. The defeat of Plessy in this case could easily be seen as failure, however, this case did more than justify segregation. It also increased the passion and momentum for the desegregation movement.

While the movement for freeing blacks from social injustices started back as far as the Emancipation Proclamation, the movement for desegregation began in the late 19^th century. As with any productive social movement, the desegregation movement needed leaders. Prominent African American figures in America at the time, such as W.E.B Dubois and Fredrick Douglass served as these leaders, calling for social equality by the 1890s. Even though these two men were calling for completely different pathways for social justice, they both were calling for social change. Washington called for education first, and then social change – DuBois “demanded that disenfranchisement and legalized segregation cease” (Tindall 540). Nevertheless, both of these men certainly had visions and desires of racial equality.

The call for desegregation was founded upon many ethical and law based principles. While many social leaders were calling for desegregation through out the early 1900s, there was not much change until the WWI era. In 1917, during the height of The Great War, the Supreme Court heard the Buchanan v. Warley case. This case was a very influential case for blacks in America. Within the ruling of the case, the Supreme Court stated that no longer could states regulate residential segregation. As quoted by the court, this type of regulated segregation is a violation of the 14^th amendment, and also the inalienable rights of citizens to life, liberty and property. The Supreme Court dictated that while many people may want to preserve the “purity” of the races, however “in view of the rights secured by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution such legislation must have its limitations, and cannot be sustained where the exercise of authority exceeds the restraints of the Constitution. We think these limitations are exceeded in laws and ordinances of the character now before us” (Buchanan v. Warley 1917, Blackpast.org). As previously urged by W.E.B DuBois, African Americans were finally gaining social rights by law. This, however, is not to say that practices such as Red Lining did not occur, but by law, these practices were now illegal and could be punishable by law.

Notwithstanding the change of time, segregation was inevitably going to fail against the pressure of progress. This was evidenced further in the 1940s and 50s. After the Second World War, president Truman declared by Executive Order 9981, that the United States Armed Forces be desegregated (Blackpast.org). Just two years after this Executive Order, the Supreme Court took desegregation into the educational system.

In 1950, Sweatt v. Painter was brought before the Supreme Court. Within this case, Herman Sweatt applied for University of Texas Law School and was immediately denied admittance. After this, Sweatt took his case to the court system, and when the case reached the Supreme Court, it was ruled upon that “states must make equal educational facilities available to African American graduate and professional students” (Blackpast.org). This case was monumental in the desegregation movement in that equal access to higher education was now available to both blacks and whites. In addition to this case, another monumental case was decided upon in 1954. Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka reversed the ruling of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson and declared that the conditions under which “separate, but equal” was decided actually resulted in “separate, but unequal.” This reversal of Plessy v. Ferguson also called for integration of schools. With this, the movement for desegregation was almost complete.

The final step in the desegregation movement happened during 1964 after a long and sometimes violent struggle since 1890. In 1964, the Civil Rights Act was passed, which “bans discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin” (Blackpast.org). While the Civil Rights Act dealt more broadly than simply segregation it was aimed at providing equal rights for all. In essence, with the completion of desegregation after the passing of the Civil Rights Act, the American ideals of “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” were once again made possible.

While the United States still has a long way to go on complete racial equality, the era from 1890-1965 will forevermore live in American history as a tumultuous time of segregation, racial hatred and inequality. Segregation had an era in which it flourished, but thankfully, like any unjust cause, it could not withstand the pressure of progress and the necessity of equality. Without remorse or pain, the United States said goodbye to segregation forever, and hello to a new era of change and progress.