Greetings, Class!

With Learning Cycle 1 in the books, I wanted to take some time to get everyone up to date on where we are for the school year. With that in mind, I would like everyone in class to schedule a one to one conference. We will be discussing the following topics in our meetings:

1. Celebration of successes in LC1.
2. Discussion of Portfolio Progress
3. Explicit discussion of missing work and how to make it up.

Please click the link below to sign up for a time slot. Once I have confirmed it, it will turn green, and you will receive a notification in your Student e-mail with an appointment confirmation.

Conference Sign-Ups

We have looked at the perspectives of wealthy colonists, poor colonists, African Americans, women, and LGBTQ Groups. Now, we will be bringing the story of Native Peoples into our study of America’s History. Click on the link below to download the next Textbook for our class:

An Indigenous People’s History of the United States for Young People

For those of you who are taking the SAT’s on 14 October, I will be offering a special Office Hours session from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM. This is a one-time only deal for SAT’s. I will still be offering normal office hours from 9:00 AM to 9:40 AM if you are not going to the SAT’s.

Building 21 readers, my travels to 1676 have been enlightening. I have come back with some information on the conflict that we now call Bacon’s Rebellion. Having had an opportunity to investigate the conflict with some effort, I have come to report on my findings.

Bacon’s Rebellion has been billed historically as a conflict between wealthy and poor colonists. An examination of the events of the period shows us that wealthy colonists had actually been involved in the uprising. Nathaniel Bacon, for example was a wealthy colonist who had initiated the rebellion. He used his charisma to rally the poor farmers of western Virginia behind him. We recall from Zinn’s A Young People’s History of the United States that Bacon had organized a militia, or citizen soldiers, to help protect the western frontier from Native American attacks. This resulted in the governor, Sir William Berkley to have Bacon arrested as a rebel. Bacon had earned his freedom by writing a letter of apology:

“I Nath(aniel) Bacon, jr. of Henrico county, in Virginia, doe hereby most readily, freely and most humbly acknowledge that I am and have been guilty of diverse late unlawfull, mutinous and rebellious practices… …And I doe further acknowledge that the said honourable governour hath been very favourable to me, by his several reiterated gracious offers of pardon, thereby to reclaime me from the persecution of those my unjust proceedings… …I doe hereby, upon my knees, most humbly beg of Almighty God and of his majesties said governour, Bacon’s opposition that upon this my most harty and unfeigned acknowledgement of my said miscarriages and unwarrantable practices, he will please to grant me his gracious pardon…

Upon being released, he and his militia began the rebellion against the crown. He showed very little regard for the rule of law in the colony he served, and much less respect for the rules and decorum of the House of Burgesses, the governing body upon which he presided.

In support of the poor colonists, Bacon had used the threat of the Natives on the western frontiers as an excuse to mobilize the poor colonists behind him. Zinn’s book tells us that by fabricating the shared threat of Native American attacks, Bacon was able to motivate the colonists to protect themselves. He also mentions that he was able to unify black and white colonists against a common enemy.

The rebellion had ultimately failed, resulting in many of the men who joined Bacon’s militias to be tried for treason and executed. According to a book from the office of the general account of labels, deeds, and wills from 1670 to 1677, Sir William Berkeley, the governor of the colony had several of the conspirators in the rebellion “condemned to be hanged.” Seeing these capitol punishments levied upon the people of the colony no doubt had placed a fear of reprisal from the colonial government, bringing the rebellion to a swift and tragic end.

In summary, Bacon’s Rebellion was less a conflict of rich and poor, but rather a concerted effort by one man, Nathaniel Bacon to protect his own self interests. In doing so, he incited a failed rebellion, which resulted in the executions of countless poor colonists. Bacon cared little for the regards of his colonial governor, and instead chose to rebel against his government. He flouted the authority of the government, and took matters into his own hands.

This post is to direct you to the second textbook we will be using with this course. You are encouraged to read through the introduction of the text to give you an idea of what the book is about, and whose perspective(s) will be covered.

Bronski, Michael; A Queer History of the United States for Young People, Beacon Press, Boston, 2019

Click on the following link to access our first textbook - A Young People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn. Please save a copy of this to your device or to your Google Drive. Comment “Done” when you are finished.

Zinn, Howard, A Young People’s History of the United States: Columbus to the War on Terror, Harper and Row, New York, 1990, Print

Good afternoon, students!

I just wanted to take a few minutes to go over some housekeeping issues as we get ready to move into next week:

The first expectation that I want to set is that we are going to be cutting down our start-up delay to 5 minutes. If you are late beyond that delay, you will need to wait patiently for me to let you in. Once you are let in to class, you will need to wait until there is a moment where I am free to update you on the task we are doing at that time.

Second - Class participation. I’ve been seeing a number of kids who are checking out as soon as they are logged in. This is starting to reflect in task submission. Given that we are starting rated work next week, this practice will not be sustainable. You will now be required to periodically show active engagement. I will be implementing regular check-ins to verify that you are still at your computer. If you are not responding, you will be marked absent for the class.

Third - I cannot stress enough the importance of doing all assignments. While the Launch Activity was not rated, it was built to help me gauge where you are on the competencies that we will be rating in this project. Going forward, I will not be making accommodations on work after the date it was due.

To confirm that you have read and understand these expectations, please comment below.

Hello, Students!

I hope you had an awesome weekend. Please take a few minutes when you get the chance to fill out this Google Form. I want to know more about who my students are and what they enjoy.

Tell me about you!

Students,

After speaking with the administrators, I got clarification on Portfolio completion and contributions to the portfolios of the following year.

Your portfolio completion is still 100%. However, there is a small change to my Syllabus regarding a flipped portfolio. In order for assignments to contribute to the next year’s portfolio, you must meet the evidence requirements at the minimum passing level of mastery in order to flip your portfolio.

For example: John Doe is a Year 3 Social Studies student. He completes his portfolio, with 9’s, 10’s, and a couple of 11’s in his competency dashboard. His portfolio would flip to a Year 4, and any work he completes this year will go toward the Year 4 Portfolio.

Another Example: Jack Doe is a Year 3 Social Studies student. He completes his portfolio, but has some 8’s and 6’s. In order for his portfolio to flip, he will need to achieve the minimum level of 9 in order to complete that portfolio and have their work go toward the Year 4 Portfolio.

Final Clarification: The minimum passing requirement for Year 3 is 9. Your syllabus has been updated to reflect this information.

Here is the course syllabus for Social Studies 3. Please refer to it for information about the course, what our classroom expectations are, and importantly, my contact information to ensure you know how to reach me.

Syllabus