Andrew Jackson - What Kind of President Was he Really?

This week in class, we went over one of America's most notorious presidents, Andrew Jackson. We discussed three major topics that happened during his time served as president: The Bank War, The Indian Removal, and the Spoils System. My group was assigned the Bank War. During the Bank War, Jackson was outraged for several reasons at the Bank of the United States.

One of the many reasons that Jackson was angry at the government was because he felt that the bankers had too much power themselves. They were able to manipulate the government and the people according to how they wanted it, making them very selfish and a nuisance for the people. Jackson instead wanted several smaller banks as opposed to having one large bank, but the government opposed. Jackson insanely believed that destroying up the bank would be a good idea, but thankfully ruled that option out soon after. Near the end of Jackson's first term, the government passed a bill extending the banks charter. They calculated that Jackson would have to sign the bill, otherwise, he would be seen as an extremely irresponsible president. In the end, Jackson still rejected the bill. This instance gives Jackson the seemingly positive role of the people's president, pushing the boundaries in order to give the poor people and equal chance and redistributing money to several different banks to eliminate the imbalance of power.

In the two other instances of the Indian Removal and the Spoils system, Jackson felt he was doing the Native Americans a favor by essentially forcing them out of their homeland out west - where the environment was nothing like the environment they were once in - in order to protect them from being pushed out by the rising cities and towns in the east and northeast. This seemed like a genius plan to Jackson, but cost many Native Americans their life in the process. In the Spoils System situation, Jackson liked the idea of giving people jobs within the government to people who supported him and were loyal to him. So, Jackson, ignoring the warnings that he received from other people of authority, hired Samuel Swartwout as the Collector of the Port in New York. Swartwout, having past criminal tendencies, managed to steal exactly $1,222,705.09. Jackson's opponents doubled over laughing at the horrible yet ridiculously clumsy mistake Jackson had just made.

In conclusion, I feel that Jackson had good intentions, yet failed to recognize the massive potential for mistakes that each of his decisions held. I do not believe that Jackson deserves the title of people's president because of this.

Jackson's Spoils System Mistake
Jackson's Letter Regarding Indian Removal
Jackson's Bank War

Latin American Revolutions - Why Discriminate?

In our class this week, we discussed the Latin American revolutions, and our essential question asked "Why is it essential to acknowledge human value regardless of race?" I find this to be a great essential question, as the same question can still be asked today. It's a crucial idea to think about, as without the acceptance of other people's races and ethnicities, we can't come together to be the strongest nation possible. Race discrimination dates all the way back to the Latin American Revolution, with a myriad of different labels and tags that were produced and given out to those with parents of different racial background. Because of this, the social and economic structure of Latin America at the time was bound to be in ruins, due to it's lack of acceptance of race.

   Our group had the Brazilian Revolution between 1789 and 1831. During this revolution, John VI was elected as the leader of Brazil, but was reluctantly sent back to Portugal while his son took his place. His son, Pedro, proposed a constitution that the citizens did not approve of his constitution. Pedro eventually renewed the battles between Brazil and Argentina which evolved into the Cisplatine war. Because of the widespread disapproval of his rule, Pedro abdicated his throne and returned to Portugal. Race was a key part in this revolution, since both John VI and Pedro were from Portugal and their people were of Brazilian decent.

Many Judgements are based on race today, simply because of where someone comes from or what ethnicity they were born as. This has lead to many great conflicts of people in the past and has destroyed the morals of many others as well. Recently, there has been a massive case on the Ferguson shooting, with more information in the link below.
Michael Brown Shooting
I do not believe it is important to use race as a barrier between coming together and collaborating to making a better society for those around

us and the younger generation as well. Race only holds us back as a culture and without the indelible lines drawn between ethnicities, we would be much farther as a society today.

Louverture's Legacy

Today, a strong leader has traits that drive others to success. For example, Abraham Lincoln was a strong leader due to his eloquence, his honesty, and his political skill among a myriad of other talents essential to being a strong, inspiring leader. Similarly, Toussaint used his strong skills as a military leader to establish himself as the ruler of St. Domingue. Toussaint was known as a strong military leader, the liberator of slaves, and the ruler of St. Domingue.

Toussaint should be remembered mainly as a strong military leader. His passion, military strategies, and inspiration helped to drive his people to success. Using creative military tactics, Toussaint was able to win the majority of his battles. “Toussaint gained a reputation for running an orderly camp and for training his men in both guerrilla tactics and the European shoulder to shoulder style of war." [Doc A.]. In Haiti, the terrain is not even and in fact very mountainous. Because of this, Toussaint’s soldiers had the advantage when the European troops travelled to Haiti to raid and pillage their towns. Document F states that "Toussaint and his generals at once abandoned the towns, and took themselves to the mountains, those citadels of freedom in st. Domingo, where the blacks have always proved too many much for the whites." With the mountainous terrain providing much cover to duck in and out of, Toussaint's soldiers were very familiar in terms of knowing how to navigate through them. On the contrary, Napoleon's soldiers were only used to fighting in classic, European style shoulder to shoulder warfare. This unorthodox way of fighting led to the Haitians triumph over Napoleon's troops. Prior to the attempted raiding by Napoleon's soldiers, Toussaint presented a very passionate and inspiring speech to help motivate his troops to persevere through the upcoming 2 years of war they were about to encounter. After nearly 26,000 french deaths, Napoleon eventually withdrew his soldiers from Haiti. This proves Toussaint’s legacy and remembrance as a strong military leader.

Furthermore, Toussaint should be recognized secondly as the Liberator of slaves. His strong self-establishment as a leader in St. Domingue allowed him to issue the Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801 [Doc C]. In this constitution, Toussaint states “There cannot exist slaves in this territory, servitude is therein forever abolished. All men are born, live, and die free and French.” [Doc C]. This statement alone forever banishes the concept of slavery on the island of St. Domingue. Complimenting his title as a strong military leader, Toussaint’s letter to the French Directory further shows how fearless and passionate he is about maintaining and protecting his people’s rights as free men and women. “But today when they have left it, if they had a thousand lives, they would sacrifice them all rather than be subjected again to slavery…” [Doc B]. This quote is a perfect example of Toussaint’s passive aggressive protection for his freedom. This quote essentially says that his people would rather lose their own life rather than be chained up and labeled a slave once more.

As a final point, Toussaint should lastly be remembered as the ruler of Saint Domingue. Despite being such a prominent title, it was not his most memorable trait or legacy. However, Toussaint did manage to powerfully establish himself as the ruler of St. Domingue. As mentioned above, Toussaint was single handedly able to establish an entire constitution as well as laws to restrict certain articles from their full freedom. “After having taken knowledge of the Constitution, I give it my approval… I shall pass it to the French government in order to obtain its sanction.” [Doc C]. This quote shows his complete approval and consent of the Constitution made only for Saint Domingue. Despite the Constitution granting seemingly total freedom, Toussaint’s Proclamation in 1801 established rules on top of the Constitution in order to kick start his new land. For example, “As soon as a child can walk, he should be employed on the plantation according to his strength in some useful work” [Doc D]. This quote helps to establish the minimum requirement for a child to begin working on any sort of plantation. Despite Toussaint establishing many freedoms and many rules, this was not his most prominent trait yet one of the top ways to remember Toussaint Louverture.

Although there were many ways to remember Toussaint Louverture, remembering him as a strong military leader is the most important way to remember him. Being such an inspiration to his troops, being so eloquent and being a masterful military strategist, his title as a commander in chief is nothing less than well deserved. His final stand against Napoleon’s troops proved victorious, however, he was capture and left for dead in prison by Napoleon’s soldiers. Louverture was never able to see St. Domingue become the independent island of Haiti that it is today. Toussaint’s legacy is forever remembered by those who were passed down from the times of the Haitian Revolution.

Revolutions of 1830 and 1848 - Were they really complete failures?

In history class this week, we were discussing the true outcomes of the numerous revolutions that occurred between 1830 and 1848.  In groups, we were each assigned a revolution to research and find information on. Our group was assigned the Decembrists revolution, which was labeled as one of the few complete failures of the time. To learn more about the other revolutions, the groups were told to create online quizzes that helped us to uncover more information about the revolutions. During the quizzes, we were allowed to view the primary sources of the revolution that gave us crucial information to determine whether or not these revolutions were complete failures or not. 

Our group was assigned the Decembrist revolt. In this revolt, roughly 3000 people rose up against Tsar Nicholas I. Nicholas's views were not what the people he ruled wanted. After the predecessor Tsar Alexander I's death, the people expected his older brother, Constantine, to take his position. However, Constantine did not want the throne, Therefor putting Tsar Nicholas at the throne. To Tsar Nicholas's misfortune, the people revolted on the first day of his ruling. Seeing no other alternative to protect his throne, Nicholas I fired upon his people, killing a large majority of them. This yielded a brutal failure of a revolution.

Survey 1

Survey 2

In the end, not all of the revolutions were complete failures. On that list were the revolutions and revolts of 1848 in both Hungary and Frankfurt, and 1830 in France. In my opinion, there were very few complete failures that the Historians mentioned. Many of them were partial successes actually, with the people actually getting some things they wanted from the government. In conclusion, the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 were not all complete failures. 

Congress of Vienna

Today in history, our class began discussing the essential question "what should people in power do if their power is threatened?". This poses a very interesting situation as different people will inevitably choose different solutions to handle such a situation. We discussed the "congress of Vienna" in class which revolves around the essential question.

Once Napoleon was no longer a threat, there were several concepts as to how European powers reacted. One of the main concepts is the "balance of power", which is as simple as it sounds - one power shall not have all the power and a system of checks and balances will be run to make sure no one power gets greater control over the other. Metternich wanted to reverse the track of napoleon's conquest and restore all power to what it originally was. Napoleon’s surrendering brought an end to nearly 25 years of ongoing war. The discussions between these great powers were held in a very informal fashion, talking to each other face to face in a very casual manner. This is the first time in history in which ambassadors met face to face to make treaties as oppose only using messengers in the past.

In my opinion, the ambassadors made the right decision by evenly distributing the power and reverting back to how it originally was before napoleon made his conquests. I do not believe there was a better way to react. In the given situation, trying to restore equal balance throughout all powers comes first before accommodating the people. In certain circumstances, the powerful should be willing to make a sacrifice or two as long as it will benefit the power as a whole in the long run.

Congress of Vienna

Nationalism, Conservatism, and Liberalism

The major political ideologies of the 19th century were conservatism, liberalism, and nationalism. One of the ideologies assigned was nationalism, which is the belief system that a country should be run based purely off tradition. Reform and innovation was highly opposed due to fear of another revolution taking place

As said before, the concept of ideology is to rule the country based on tradition. Conservatives, or traditionalists, wanted to be ruled by this system as they were afraid of a revolution and a revolt taking place. The hierarchy was ruled by the aristocracy and the monarchy was supported by all conservatives. Conservatism dates back to the French Revolution. The effects of conservatism include the rejection of change throughout Europe due to the unwillingness to accept changes from people who wanted their own rights and a single religion that everyone must abide by.

Liberalism was the opposite of conservatism, which focused mainly on innovation and change of power and ruling. The liberals focused on equality and liberty. They supported the ideas of civil rights, fair voting, and many of the amendments that involve freedom of certain things. Liberalism was popular during the age of enlightenment. Nationalism is a slightly different concept compared to Liberalism and Conservatism. Nationalism involves having extreme pride in one’s nation, showing support and willingness to help. Flags and anthems are both a good representation of what nationalism is like. A synonym for nationalism would otherwise be known as Patriotism.

Napoleon: Ambitious Ruler or Destructive Tyrant?

Napoleon was a great historical figure in Europe and had many impacts on the economic, social, and political systems throughout Europe as well. However, was he really the successful leader that France thought he claimed himself to be?

Two different people, Madame de Stael and Marshal Michel Ney, give two polar opposite opinions on Napoleon, a leader to some and a tyrant to others. Madame de Stael wrote in disgust about how napoleons views on dignity and integrity and virtues were completely nonexistent in his eyes. She believed that he was clueless in his approach to becoming a ruler. Marshal, a soldier under command of Napoleon, worshiped him and thought of him as one of the greatest, most influential leaders Europe has had. He thoroughly believed in the liberty of the people in Europe and was heavily promoting the joining of Napoleon's dynasty. Despite these two Heavily biased opinions, from an outsider, Napoleon was considered extremely inconsistent in his ruling. Because of his inconsistency, if he were to die at different times during his ruling, he would be viewed as an entirely different man. Napoleon was a smart man indeed, yet his rush to turn into an absolute ruler eventually lead to his downfall. He pushed for the advancement of the race, yet near the end of his career, his ambitious and dominate side began to subside.

All in all, he was a genius of his time yet lacked the knowledge it took to know how to use his genius. He abused it, misused it, and it became his own destruction.

Lost Voices Article

Marxism vs. "The Invisible Hand" - Which Approach was Better?

Hi!

Over the past week in our honors History class, we were learning about the economic approaches of Communism, Capitalism, and Socialism. In order to grasp a better understanding of these approaches, our class conducted an experiment with hershey kiss chocolates. Our teacher showed us the general concept of each of the three economies and asked us which we thought was better or worse for the people. Every approach had some upsides and some downsides, for example, having the rich being taxed and having their money be redistributed to the poor so everyone gets an even amount. To the poor, this was a genius idea. However, the rich saw this idea as unfair and completely outrageous. This is an example of socialism, one of the three total approaches to the economy. This experiment was enjoyable and I thought it was a great way to see what the reactions were of the people who were given more or less chocolates.

Marx's idea of helping the poor was a mix between socialism and communism. He wanted the government to be heavily involved in taxing the rich and redistributing to the poor in a very "Robin Hood" style approach. He believed that this approach was the fairest of them all as there were no people that had certain advantages and everyone was given equal privileges. Smith's idea to helping the poor, however, was the polar opposite idea of Marx's. He believed a very "Hands Off" approach of the government was the best way for the poor to help themselves. With the market self-regulating itself, people could make their own money in the most efficient way possible. However, there were a few downsides to Smith's idea. If you were poor, you were left poor. There was no way to make or sell any profits. Also, it took a while for the economy to reach an "equilibrium" with this concept.

In my opinion, both of these ideas are equally mediocre and I believe that capitalism is the way to go. People are allowed the freedom to keep or bet their own money and none of it is controlled by the state. Overall, capitalism allows the right amount of freedom without government supervision.

The Invisible Hand
Karl Marx Mini Bio

Working Conditions During the Industrial Revolution - Who had it better?

Hi!

In today's blog post, I'll be talking about the difference between working conditions in the United States vs British factories. Overall, the US had a more efficient working system and better living conditions, and the British factories lacked in many areas. For example, the girls in Lowell had a much better schedule than those in Britain. They were allowed an hour for each meal, including a few hours at the end of the day to do whatever they please, be it attending shows, reading, or writing letters. The British girls, however, were stuck with a non-stop schedule that did not allow them time away from their machines and had no time at all at the end of the day to do whatever they want. Another huge upside for the American girls was the fact that they were payed more than the British girls. Because of that, they could freely go into town and buy whatever goods and articles of clothing they would like. Also, they could afford to pay for a living space that way. The British girls were not payed nearly enough, and couldn't afford to buy nice items purely for themselves. Most of the money was sent home to their families. In both factories, their work was temporary. They would work until they were old enough to move out and commit to marriage. However, just because the Lowell girls schedule was better than the British girls, did not mean their tasks were any easier. The work was just as strenuous and everyone faced the same dangers. All in all, The American girls lived a better lifestyle at the mills than the British girls.  (Doc 1, Labor in Lowell)

Document Resource

MOSI Google Hangout

Hi!

In our class, we are continuing to learn about the industrial revolution, a very intriguing time in history. To help us get more of an insight on what times were like for factory workers during the industrialization, our class decided to host a google hangout with Jamie, a museum curator at the museum of science and industry. In order to prepare for this meeting, We watched a brief previously recorded video of Jamie to get a quick look at what we would be seeing later. In that video, we witnessed all of the machines that factory workers had to use to make pieces of cloth. After the short video, we collaborated with our groups and came up with a few questions to ask Jamie regarding his job or any other questions about the MOSI.

This machine on the screen is the power loom, which was a mechanized loom used for spinning together separate pieces of fabric

Overall, I learned that the general textile manufacturing process was a very dangerous job that had many young children and women employed. It was the farthest thing from an ideal lifestyle, but since the children were orphans, they had no other option than to work in the dangerous factories. Over time, the machines began to develop into more mechanized and safe machines which granted fewer injuries in the work place. Prior to the safer machines, many men, women, and children would get caught in the rotating leather belts and were either mangled in a machine or had their arm torn off. There was a balance between positive and negative impacts the industrial revolution had on textile production for families. For one, the machines made the cloth making process much faster; what would've originally taken three weeks would now take around a day or so. During the time, the salary varied depending on how many pieces of cloth you produced. With the faster production, families were payed much more than they were previously.

This Google Hangout was one of the more interesting activities we had done in class and I enjoyed doing something outside of the box. Jamie was very friendly and insightful and helped me learn a lot more about the MOSI than I was expecting. I would enjoy hosting more hangouts with other experts on the topic! 

Broken Children - Life prior to the Industrial Revolution

The title "Broken Children" signifies the pain and struggle many young children had to persevere through before and during the Industrial Revolution. The problem represented is the child labor that was present during the Industrial Revolution. Many small children were used in the coal mines as adults were not small enough to fit in the shafts. Children were required to pull good sized carts full of coal and other heavy material which resulted in stunted growth and horrible back problems for the young children. They faced many dangers and many of them faced serious injuries and illnesses while working in the mines. To the misfortune of many, no one realized just how cruel and inhumane it was to send the young children into their mines, and sent many of them to their inevitable doom. Despite the Factory Act, child labor still persisted through the time, as it only put minimal restrictions on when the children could work. Eventually, child labor rates dropped, yet still remained.

Group C: Living in Filth
In this exhibit, I witnessed the extreme pollution levels that occurred during the Industrial Revolution. Even though Coal was a great source for power, it raised the pollution to an unimaginable level.

Group E: More Cotton, More Slaves, Less Freedom
The title that group E presented showed the oppression that many families faced. Children had little to no time with their family and were stuck in mills, mines, and factories. Cotton was so valuable yet so short in stock that as many children as possible had to be employed in order to increase production.

Group A: From Spinning Wheels to Power Looms
In exhibit A, the title showed just how powerful the inventions of the Spinning Wheels and Power Looms where. They helped make cotton making a much more efficient process for the workers and helped people more easily provide for their families

Group B: Thomas Takes Great Britain
The title that group B chose shows the great innovation of the steam engine and how it greatly benefited Great Britain. It could help people traverse easier and ship more items with ease across long spans of land.

DBQ America vs Great Britain - Which worked more efficiently?

Benjamin Lynch

Honors History 10

Mrs. Gallagher

A Block

History DBQ

Charles Dickens, a famous author in Great Britain and the United States, saw the terrible living conditions that many young children had to live through while working in the mills in England. The children had to work non-stop under the supervision of very abrasive overlookers. Seeing this, Dickens travelled to the United States in hopes to find a new system of work that could be implemented into the English system to relieve the children of their misery in the mills. During the February of 1842, Dickens visited Lowell as he had heard that there were ideal working conditions for the young children in the mills and factories. Compared to the English system, he loved what he saw as there were children that seemed content with what they were doing and not one face showed an expression of misery or freight. Lowell made a great impression on Dickens, and he knew immediately that there was a more efficient way of working in the factories

While at Lowell, Dickens visited multiple factories. Some of the factories included woolen, carpet, and cotton factories. He analyzed them in a very similar fashion compared the way he analyzed factories in England. As soon as he arrived, he knew he saw what he liked. “These girls we all well dressed. They had serviceable bonnets, good warm cloaks, and shawls” [Doc. A.] Compared to the english system, where the girls had poorly woven clothing and little to know wearable protection, the American system had a clear advantage. “They were healthy in appearance, many of them remarkably so, and had the manners of young women” [Doc A.] The young girls showed no signs of misery or despair. In England, many of the girls seemed very rude and had a lack of manners, mainly due to the poor conditions they were living in. Without sufficient living conditions, the young girls in england had little to no motivation to act properly in the factory. The rooms in which the young american girls were working in were in much better shape compared to those in England. There was circulating fresh air, natural lights, cleanliness, and overall comfort. All of the faces that Dickens saw were very happy with what they were doing, and felt very safe and cared for in the environment they were working in.

Mary Paul, one of the many workers in Lowell, wrote several letters going back and forth with her father about her content in the factories. She was extremely satisfied with her living quarters and pay, and guaranteed her father at least another year there if not more. “We found a place in a spinning room and the next morning I went to work. I like very well have 50 cts first payment increasing every payment as I get along in work have a first rate overseer and a very good boarding place.” [Doc C]  However, the next letter to her father expressed some concerns and dangers that she had witnessed in the factories. Many deaths and fatal accidents had occurred but did not change her perspective on how she saw lowell as a whole. “One girl fell down and broke her neck... the same day a man was killed by the cars… another was nearly killed by falling down and having a bale of cotton fall on him.” [Doc C.] In her final letter to her father, she confessed that she had been out of work for four days and insisted that her health was in good shape. In reality, she was not well at all. In 1849, she travelled back to Vermont where she worked as seamstress. Eventually, she returned to Lowell to commit to marriage. Despite some inevitable dangers in the Lowell factories, a life as a worker in America still tops a life as a worker in Great Britain.

Hannah Goode was a young girl working in the factories of England. At the age of sixteen, she was sent to the factories unwillingly by her parents in order for her to make a living. In her testimonial, she expressed nothing but discomfort and showed that she was far from content with her workplace. “It is about half past five by our clock at home when we go in...the youngest child is about seven...we never stop to take our meals, except at dinner. It has gone on this six years and more…” [Doc. D] In her letter, she also showed her freight of the overlooker in her room. “William Crookes is overlooker in our room; he is cross-tempered sometimes. He does not beat me; he beats the little children if they do not do their work right… I have sometimes seen the little children drop asleep or so, but not lately. If they are catched asleep, they get the strap.”[Doc. D] The quote shows that despite the efforts the young children put into their work, the overlooker does not tolerate exhaustion and sleep. In these working conditions, no child was satisfied and nearly all were living in misery and pain.

The days between a worker in Lowell and a worker in Great Britain varied greatly. Both started and ended at the same time, yet the American schedule was hundreds of times more efficient than the British schedule. For example, the American workers had an hour to eat their meals away from the machines and at least two hours at the end of the day to have time for themselves. For those in Great Britain, they worked non stop from 4 am in the morning, to 11pm at night. “One such girl sets these bobbins all in motion by turning a wheel at the end of the beam, a wire then catches up a flake of Wool, spins it, and gather it upon each bobbin...This is done every minute without intermission.” [Doc B.] This shows just how sharp and consistent a worker must be in England in order to keep up with the intensity of production. The British system was simply so far behind the American system that it seemed impossible to recover.

In conclusion, Dickens observed that the Americans had an exponentially greater system of work compared to England. In his writings, he took down a myriad of notes in order to show exactly how poor the English system was. Dickens was surprised to see how efficient and content the American workers were at the factories and knew that the system must be implemented immediately into Great Britain in order for the children to be happy with the work they were provided with.

How Industrialization Changed the World

Hi!

Our class assignment for this blog was to research and uncover ways that the industrial revolution changed the world. There were four "ingredients" that contributed to the revolution, those ingredients being:

• People
• Technology
• Resources 
• Transportation

We broke up into groups and took detailed notes on each of these ingredients. Today, I'll be breaking down two of the four ingredients into why they were important contributors to the industrial revolution.

I'll start with the ingredient that our group worked on, which was Technology. The main reason that technology was important to the revolution was due to the creation of the Steam Engine by James Watt. The steam engine was powered by coal, a mined mineral, and was used to pump water out of mines. Also, it helped power boats, trains, and other locomotives. Prior to the steam engine, people relied on raw man power with the addition of a few windmills and watermills for extra power. Darby was the first to come up with the idea to smelt iron with coal. Smelting is the process of melting iron away from it's ore. Using this iron, workers had cheaper, stronger, and more efficient railroad manufacturing. Some downsides to using this new technology would be having an increased risk of an accident or malfunctioning of the machines.

Transportation nicely complemented the use of technology with the addition of the steam locomotive to the world. The steam locomotive, powered by the steam engine, would help pull carriages along tracks and assist in moving goods across long stretches of land. The major benefit of the steam locomotive was the idea that the locomotive could quickly reach places on land that boats simply could not get to. Other benefits include faster shipping, allowance of people to have access to other goods unattainable from inside their region, and the providing of more jobs. However, some downsides include pollution from coal, and ruined habitats due to the increase of railroad production. 

 This is a sample picture of James Watt's steam engine 

http://270c81.medialib.glogster.com/media/a1/a1ff681343dccc27561004957199e469d408f443435dadef951e97909645a3b9/v310052-steam-engine-designed-by-james-watt-spl-jpg.jpg

BEST way to use Google

Hi! During our Honors History 10 Class today, we divided into groups and took on the task of using "A Google A Day". Using this tool, we learned as a class how to filter our google search results so we could find more authentic and reliable sources.

"A Google A Day" is a website which asks you to answer certain questions using the proper google functions as opposed to simply writing out the question in the Google search bar. Using these specific tools, we were able to narrow down our results into something more accurate and precise, rather than skimming through endless Google pages searching for something we weren't likely to find. I found this activity pretty amusing, as it challenged us and made us think outside of the box. We were so used to simply typing in the question to the Google search bar that we were shocked at how easy it was to slim down our question and find exactly what we were searching. It was a much more efficient way of using google! There was no real "frustrating" side to using this method, besides going out of our comfort zone using the proper Google search functions. In the end, this activity taught us a very efficient way of using Google to help us find our answers.

Accuracy, Authenticity, and Reliability. Those are the three standards our answer must live up to in order for it to be a trusted source! Accuracy is defined as precision and exactness. We want our answers to be on point, and more specifically, TO the point. If our answer contains more than a few topics outside of our desired search, then we most likely wouldn't use it as a source. Having an authentic source is extremely important, as if our source is not based on facts or is not accurate, why would we consider using it anyway? If there is no evidence to back up our answer, then it shouldn't be considered a source. Having a reliable, genuine, or trustworthy answer is just as important as the other words. If our answer sounds like pure fiction and has no evidence to back it up, it should not be considered a valid source. When looking up the Pacific Northeast Tree Octopus, the site definitely appeared authentic. It provided book names, images, videos, and sources that state the creature was real, and looked like a credible wiki page as well. However, the page was just used as an example of a seemingly reliable source which, in reality, was not reliable at all. The link to the site is attached below!

Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus Link

What Students Really Deserve

Hi, I'm Ben Lynch, and in this blog I'll be talking about what students deserve in a teacher to raise their level of academic success

I believe that the qualities of a great teacher include being understanding and willing to listen. When a student struggles to understand a certain topic, the teacher should be able to provide them with several other approaches to the topic in order to reach one of their strongest learning methods. In the past, many of my favorite teachers were student friendly and determined. The teachers never gave anything less than 100% into what they were doing, whether it was assigning a project, helping me understand a topic, or giving out homework. They made sure that every student in the classroom understood exactly what they were saying and answered every question to make sure they were confident in what they were doing as well. Over the course of the year, I would benefit from having extra help available through multiple forms - email, text, or before and after school assistance.

John Green’s opinion on education was on point for me, as I do believe that the soul purpose in receiving an education from school is to give something - anything - back to the world using what you’ve learned from your hours upon hours in the classroom. The purpose of school is to help you help the rest of the world. My academic goals for this year include making the honor role for all courses, and making the National Honors Society with a GPA higher than 3.5. My athletic goals include pursuing my love for basketball in hopes of getting more looks from desired college basketball teams. Artistically, I plan on giving 100% effort into art in order to raise my GPA. In terms of the social aspect of school, making new friends is always an awesome thing. I plan on doing my best to extend my boundaries and meet some new faces around the school in an attempt to make closer friends. In order to reach these goals, I have to reach out to make new friends and have a strong work ethic on and off the court.

John Green Video