blogging 2

i agree with the blogging assesment system in this class to an extent(sorry to take the middle position) i believe that the blogs were a good way to review the things we have learned over that week and you probbly gained knowledge by doing them but i dont think they should count so much to your grade i just went on the school website to check the grade and i counted 17/22 grades for this class were blog post so only 5 things that were graded we did in class and 2 of those were test so it seems like in this class you are either going to do really well or bad if you dont do blog post your going to have a very bad grade but even if you did all your blogs and did bad on the 2 test they kind of cancel each other out. this grading system will most likely be the reason for me getting 6 A's and a B on this marking periods report card and that B being in history. im not saying its all the grading systems fault because thats not true at all i still could have done better on the other assignments but thats besides the point. overall what im trying to say is that the blogs were a good idea and different but it should be balanced with the work we do in class to make it fully effective. i do think the blogs were a good way to learn things though instead of just hearing a teacher tell you all the answers

blogging

blogging was no dought a lot different then just pen and paper but it was deffinetly a lot more work. its almost like we had history twice , one during the school day and one at home while writing the blogs because with some blogs i had to do some research in order to give correct information. but also with the blogs i think it helped understand the topics better because i really had to think hard sometimes and i was thinking of things that i forgot i even knew sounds kind of crazy but its true. and while reading these blogs i was reviewing everything i had learned in class that weak and to things i have learned in previous social studies classes. so overall the blogs were more work but i got more knowledge by doing them

favorite

my favorite blog toppic this marking period was the post about amnesty because its such a crazy concept but its not talked about to much. the civil war was one of the biggest events in american history and i learn about it every year in social studies but ive never even heard of this. also amnesty seems to have been the perfect ending to the war. it was an absolutely brilliant idea by abraham lincoln

ellis island

Thier were definetly mixed emoitions on the journey over here to america. mostly they would have been excited for a new life and opportunities in america and leaving troubled Europe. but they also had to have been nervous. there were lots of risk involved like the journey over here was very risky because the boat was packed of different people who possibly could have diseases and it was a long boat ride over here and it would have been very unconfortable. seconed they dont know too much about america besides what they have heard from other people and theres no security that when you get over here youll be able to get a good enough job to support you and your family.

but they probably werent thinking about this too much they were thinking america is this incredible new land and europe has famines, high taxes, wars, and disease, so we should go over there. They were often preceded by family members who wrote letters saying how much better things were here. Some may have had unrealistic expectations like the streets were paved with gold, and others may have been discriminated against because of their nationality, but most still found it much better than their home countries. Arriving at Ellis Island would have been an exciting time for the immigrants starting a new life.

protest in song

well obviously working in a factory in this time was noo good for the workers. in the song of the shirt he described all the bad stuff he goes through at work. he repeats the phrase "ork, work , work" a couple of times meaning all he does is work and through the song he goes through all the things he expierences while at work like he says work work work till his brain begins to swim and with fingers weary and worn, with eye lids heavy and red . like this is crazy stuff. all this "technology" was new too them so they didnt really know how to handle all of it. they had no labor laws or no safety codes soo not a good time. he wrote it in a form of protest which i think is interesting but it wont do anything unless he gets a bunch of his friends to protest with him and with these working conditions it probably wouldnt be too hard to get people to protest with you. i also think its interesting because people still protest in thier lyrics like in the 80's and 90's rap groups lie N.W.A. made a career by writing songs about protest about how blacks are treated and how they feel about the police and the greatest rap song of all time Fight The Power by Public Enemy is about how they arent happy with america but a lot of famous songs through out history were about how the artist wasnt happy about something. but people have been doing this forever, before recording studios and record deals.

hollywood cowboys

I dont know too much about John Wayne and his western movies but i know that hollywood doesnt care all that much about historical history. There main goal is to make money and to do that they need to make the best possible movies. so if they think in a movie, twisting the facts around would make it more interesting and enjoyable then why not but they cant twist the facts around too much then it will become unrealistic and unenjoyable so they have to meet somewhere halfway. sometimes a movie will make a side story around the historical event like in Titanic, the ship really exsisted and stuff but they made up this plot to go along with it ,as in there wasnt really a Jack and Rose they just add it make the story more interesting. i bet most if not all movies about historical events (besides documentaries) add hollywood elements to it like dramatize it or add more action/comedy to the event to make it better. this almost ties in with stereotypes that people think of cowboys as being a heroic figure when in reality there just cattlemen but the idea of a hero is a lot greater snd everyone goes a long with it like kids are cowboys for halloween but they dont know they dressed as person not to different from a farmer.

that picture up there is of an actuall cowboy. in the picture he is doing his actuall job. yeah it looks a lot better in the moview where he has wearing an awesome cowboy hat and a gun in his hand and instead of hurding cows he's chasing after indians or other rival cowboys. cowboys were just normal people living in a crazy time in america where their wasnt much law and everyone was homesteading. some cowboys were like how they are in the movies though some were gunmen or lawmen and some were outlaws but i guarantee every other race or culture also had people that were gunmen lawmen and outlaws. its just something about the cowboys that makes them more interesting then everyone else but i cant tell what but i get it though for some reason the cowboys do seam more awesome then everyone else and that why they have this heroic figure to them in the movies.

learning in gaming

i think learning and gaming can connect i actually think gaming can be a great way of learning some games are more information then others like the oregan trail was informational you were playing a game based off a true event i actually learned facts while playing that game. with other games like video games for the xbox or playstation i bet everyone learns something from every game they play weather they realize it or not. for example i.e the game madden a football game while your playing that your learning all the players names on all the teams and also learning football plays and terms another example would be a millitary game while playing it your learning about THE MILLITARY like the guns they use or some tactics some millitary games are based around historical wars like world war 2 and while playing the game your also learning some facts which could be useful at some point. so overall gaming can be a great way to learn its different and most high schoolers like to play games so theyll haave fun while learning which i believe will be very effective and maybe even learn better that way instead of learning everything from reading and listening. these blogs are a different way of learning aswell - just thought i would add that