September 29

"We hold these truths to be self-evident" Six lines of the declaration beginning with that sentence, memorized in a few days, I'm pretty proud. I'm to the point where I could probably say it in my sleep, just kidding. But hopefully I didn't make any mistakes on my quiz today. Now I have to go add the documents into my timeline. So it will be ready for tomorrow.

Timeline

I couldn't figure out how to embed this. So the link is the best I could do, I'm sorry :\

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/76588

September 24

Today we had the debate that we were supposed to have yesterday. It was okay, I just got confused at one point but it ended up working out in the end. Walking out of class was a weird experience though.. I never thought I'd be one of the kids to do that. It got even better once Ms. Daw walked by... It was cool having a flash back to what was really happening in America over 200 years ago. Now we worry about helping others get their independence, and fighting against people that have hurt out country, instead of debating over if we want independence from England. The world truly has changed so much in such a short time. In what 4ish generations, America has gone from being colonized by the English, to gaining their own independence, to becoming known as the United States, to ending slavery, and women having equal rights, to fighting in two world wars,  and so much more besides just that, the list goes on and on. Todays class really got me thinking about the past, present, and future.

September 23

Soo we got to class, Mr. Boyle had to go to a meeting, we left class and went to a boring study.. Yup that's what happened C period today, well at least I got to study for my math test.

September 22

Today we started off having a calm group discussion, where everybody was supposed to have a turn, not anything like a debate. Within ten minutes the class was debating. I wasn't  really surprised, especially since I was involved. I love the debates though, I personally think they're wicked fun. Plus my favorite person to debate with is in that class, so its all good. Tomorrow I get to say no to signing the Declaration and walk out of class.. that should be interesting.

September 21st

Todays class was just an average history class, we learned about the battle of Fort Ticonderoga.. whenever i hear that name I automatically picture the pencils.. The battles of Bunker and Breed hills. And how certain people felt about the relationship between England and the colonists. Tomorrow in class we get to have a discussion about the opinions of the people living in those times; we were assigned in groups to read their opinions today. Tomorrow should be interesting, I see a debate coming on.

September 20th

Lexington and Concord... Honestly you think I would've know we failed at one of those battles, but until today I had no clue. I feel like I relearned a lot of information today in class, about things I already should've known. I guess you start to forget things when you don't learn anything about American History for a few years. The google earth thing today was pretty cool. I like how the whole route was drawn out, it made it easier to picture exactly what happened that day. Todays lesson also gave some foreshadowing for a future one, I'm guessing the Battle of Bunkerhill is going to be incorporated into class sometime soon. But thats just a guess.

Poem Edit

It was three, not one that rode that night,
Dawes, Prescott, AND Revere,
Three men to carry the secret told by the church house light,
All somewhat filled with fear.

Dawes and Prescott were the successful ones,
Both completing their midnight runs.
Revere however met a different fate,
Luckily not delivering his message too late.

All three of the men played a part,
and yet its only Revere's story we know by heart.
The other two should be recognized,
If not the midnight ride is just a historical lie.

50 words

I think the Boston Massacre was the point at which the Revolutionary War became inevitable. It angered the colonists and ignited their hatred for being repressed by England. After this event took place everything became more and more tense until the tension exploded and the war began, it was unstoppable.

September 15th

• Royal Proclamation - The colonists wanted to move West, but the British banned them for doing this by enforcing the Royal Proclomation. The colonist ignored the rules, and decided to move West anyways, this produced tension between the colonists and British.  This also unsettled the French and the Indians.
• Stamp Act - The British needed more money to pay off taxes, they put a tax on stamps, among other things. The Colonists demanded to have a representative in Parliament, the Bristih refused. The Colonists responded by boycotting all English goods, eventually England had to lower the taxes on the Colonists.
•  Boston Massacre - There had been a lot going on between Boston and England, and tensions had been high. American sailors had thrown snowballs at the British and after one guard had fallen off of his horse he shot into the crowd, 11 people were killed. Tensions became even higher than before, and British officers left Boston.
• Boston Tea Party - American Colonists threw 15,000 pounds of tea was thrown into Boston Harbor. This showed the Americans were ready to stand up to the British. Resistance acts became more common.
• Intolerable Acts - This was Englands way of punishing the Colonists for acting up. They used the Quebec Acts, closed Boston Harbor, The Boston Port Bill, basically the Colonists were on restriction. The goal of the Intolerable acts was to seperate the colonies, instead it seemed to unite them more so then they had been before.
• First Continetal Congress - Was formed by the greatest men of that time to talk about the British Parliaments influence on the colonies and how they would respond to what was happening. They originally tried to be calm and collected about he situation but after Parliament continued to pay them no repsect the Americans began to prepare for war.

Overall, I really enjoyed this project. It was pretty cool and unlike any other I had ever done  before. The only thing I wasn't a fan of was I wish we had just been able to do the whole project in school instead of outside of school. Maybe split it into two class days in the computer lab, it really didn't take that long to finish it up. It was creative and entertaining, which is pretty awesome cause most projects aren't. Also getting to hear my classmates voices recorded was a whole new experience. I liked this project a lot, and would definitely be okay with doing more like it.

September 14th

Presentation day; not as bad as I expected. My Benjamin Franklin actually came out alright, and presenting was really easy to do. The only annoying thing was having to hold him up the whole time. I think it would've been easier to hang him off of something then read off of a notecard/paper. But maybe thats just me. Now that the projects are over it'll be interesting to see how the rest of the year goes. Maybe we'll get another one assigned tomorrow, who knows.. Well actually, Mr. Boyle does, but the rest of us don't. Accomplishing these other projects has made me realize maybe this year won't be as difficult as I expected it to be. Hopefully I'm right.

September 13th

We spent another day in the computer lab area today. I actually like being able to do that, I never really got the chance to in any of my classes last year. Today was pretty cool though cause we got to record our voices. I don't know how my groups is going to come out, but hopefully well. I feel wicked bad about making a mistake and saying the wrong thing. Hopefully that won't be too noticable. I should probably record my voice using voice thread for my historical figure soon, I already have the script written for it. OH yeah, I hate to make that presentation tomorrow. I'm really hoping that goes smoothly.. I'll find out second period tomorrow, hopefully I'm completely awake by then.

September 9th

So everything started to make sense today. I'm pretty sure I know all the due dates/requirements for all the projects. At first I couldn't stop mixing them up. Class was good today, I need to remember to check nice net, I had totally forgotten about that. The worksheets we did today went pretty well, I finally felt like I knew something. It's a weird feeling to have had 10ish years of history class now, and not really know anything about American history. Hopefully that will all change soon. So yah, class was good today, everything was cleared up, and I felt like I knew a little bit about what we are going to be learning this year. That whole knowing something feeling may change tomorrow though... hopefully it wont. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Wednesday the 8th

Class was interesting today, I definitely didnt expect to be randomly put into groups right when we walked in. The google documents thing was pretty cool, and I know I'll definitely be using that in the future. I wish I had learned about it earlier, it would've made school related group projects so much easier to accomplish. Overall class went well, the notes my partners and I took were easy to understand, and hopefully they make it easy to talk about when putting together our presentation. Which reminds me I still have to draw Ben Franklin... well that should be interesting. Well I guess I'm out of things to say about todays class, I'm just going to have to wait and see whats instore for tomorrow.

Soo 3 goals..

We were assigned to post three goals and what we are willing/going to do to achieve them this year, not going to lie it took me a while to figure out what my goals should be. I think I've finally got some good ones though, so here we go..

1. Kill procrastination - I'm basically known for being a ridiculously bad procrastinator, so this year I want to kill that streak. I'm willing/going to do assignments (projects/homework) right away and not waiting until 10 or 11 at night to do my homework. And for projects that are assigned with a due date a week away or more, I won't wait until the day before they're due to finish them.

2. Honor Roll - This goal isn't just for this year, it's been a goal of mine since last year. Last year I accomplished it, so hopefully I'll be able to this year too. To accomplish this, I'm just going to have to study hard, ask for help when I need it (I tend to be bad about that...) and just try my best overall. I will do my best to achieve this goal, because it is important to me.

3. Balance is key - This goal kind of ties in with my first goal. I always seem to have a lot going on, between field hockey, tennis, school, friends, boyfriend, family... there is always something going on. I really don't plan things out, or organize anything, so I'm lacking a balance between all of these things, and it doesn't have the best effects on my life. To accomplish this goal I'm going to prioritize this year, I'm going to make sure I fit everything in, don't forget anything, and make sure everything gets done.

These are my goals, and I really hope I can accomplish them all. I will definitely be trying my hardest. And I guess that wraps up my first blog post.