Thursday, May 9, 2013

The Ancient Maya... Online!

Part 1: A "Quiz" (50 points)
First, take the following quiz on Mayan civilization:
You might get stuck, use the following article to help guide your answers:
The "Quiz" is worth 50 points. In order to get the credit, you have to do your best to get the correct answers, then show me the screen with your score when you are finished. Describe the three most interesting things you learn on the handout provided.

Part 2: A Mayan Magazine (40 points, project grade)
Now that you've completed your research on the Maya, it's time to put it to use.

Follow the directions on the handout distributed in class to create your magazine cover.

Use the sources below to discover artifacts for your magazine.

Choose one topic from your assigned station to focus on with your magazine.

Be creative! Have fun with this!

Links:

Thursday, April 25, 2013

The Flags of Latin America

Today, as part of the introduction to our unit on Latin America, you will get to learn a little about one country and its flag.

Part 1: Country Research
Use the CIA World Factbook to find the facts about your country required by questions 1-13 on the handout.

Part 2: Flag Research
On your country's CIA World Factbook page, click on the flag at the top of the screen. Use the information it shows you to answer questions 14-18 on your handout.

Part 3: Draw Your Flag
Work with your partner to create a full-color, full-page version of your flag on the paper provided. 

Monday, April 22, 2013

Africa's Conflict Diamonds

If you missed today's class, check out the following video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaqQjIzIbiY

Use it to answer the following questions on loose leaf paper (30 points):
  1. List the city and country where the reporter began his story.
  2. Why were the diamonds so important to the rebels?
  3. What is the “symbol” of modern Sierra Leone?
  4. What was the estimated value of the 110 carat rough cut diamond?
  5. What percentage of Sierra Leone’s diamonds are smuggled out of the country?
  6. Why have many farmers in the countryside abandoned their fields?
  7. How much earth must be removed to find a pound of diamonds?
  8. The reporter watched a man digging and sifting for diamonds.  He found one!  How many days did that man dig to find that one diamond? What was the street value of it in U.S. Dollars?
  9. Approximately how many diamond miners work in Sierra Leone? How many of them have licenses to do so?
  10. Explain how the reporters were able to film the diamond transactions without being caught?
  11. List two of the three reasons why diamonds are the world’s perfect currency.
  12. Explain why the diamond divers do not work on Fridays.
  13. Besides being bought and sold, what happens to the diamonds when the reach Antwerp, Belgium?  They undergo two steps.  What are these two steps?
  14. According to the man at Rosy Blue, it is nearly impossible to know the origins of every diamond.  Explain why.  Hint:  It has something to do with the sorting process.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

We Are All African Under The Skin

A Masai tribesman from East Africa's Rift Valley.

Over the past several months, we have examined the historical importance of two African regions: the Nile River Valley and West Africa. Today we will take a look at the shared African ancestry of all humankind.

In parts 1 and 2 of this lesson, we discussed in general the genetic roots of humanity. In the remainder of our time today, you will look at one person's attempt to trace his ancestry and evaluate the results of his inquiry.

Part 3: "In the Footsteps of My Ancestors"
  1. Visit the photo gallery produced by American journalist Donovan Webster to discover the roots of one person. Use this information to complete "Part 3" on your worksheet.
  2. Use Google Maps to locate each of the countries Webster visits.
Want More Information?
Check out National Geographic's Genographic Project to learn more about how advanced DNA analysis is being used to answer questions about human history.

Monday, March 18, 2013

West African Empires - Songhai!


Over the past couple of days, we learned about two West African trading empires: Ghana and Mali. Today, you will have the opportunity to research the kingdom that conquered them all: Songhai.

The websites needed for each section are listed below.

Part 1: Landforms in West Africa (10 points)
    Part 2: Researching West Africa's Past: Songhai

      Wednesday, March 6, 2013

      Ancient Egypt Presentations

      Now that you've finished completing your research sheets using the British Museum website, it's time to put together the presentation you'll use to teach the class!

      First of all, you need to create a slide show using PowerPoint. This is what we'll work on during today's class. This will be a 100 point project grade.

      You must have at least 6 slides:
      1. Title slide (10 points)
        1. Your title should be the main idea of your project.
        2. Also include your group members' names on this slide.
        3. Include a picture that goes with your topic!
      2. 7 Elements of Culture slide (10 points)
        1. Include the two elements of culture you chose to relate to your topic.
        2. Include your explanation of how each element relates to your topic.
      3. "Introduction" slide (10 points)
        1. Put your summary of the introduction section of the website here.
        2. Include a picture that goes with your topic!
      4. "Vocabulary" slide (10 points)
        1. Include any vocabulary words and their definitions here.
      5. "Story" slide (10 points)
        1. Write the "story" you learned about in your research. Include your 5 facts in a bullet-point list.
        2. Include a picture that goes with your topic!
      6. "Explore" slide (10 points)
        1. Write the "explore" you learned about in your research. Include your 5 facts in a bullet-point list.
        2. Include a picture that goes with your topic!
      Your presentation must also be
      • Neat and organized (20 points)
      • Creative (20 points)

      Tuesday, February 19, 2013

      Freshman Project - Next Steps

      Primary Source Note Cards
      Remember - you must complete 5 draft note cards based on your primary sources TODAY. This way I can make edits and help you to fix them.

      The final drafts for your note cards are due THURSDAY, 2/21/13.

      If you need the citation information and websites for your sources, it can be found here.

      Periodical Note Cards
      The next step is to start working on the 10 note cards for your periodical. These are due in final draft form on Thursday, 2/28/13.

      Browse through the articles for your topics below. Choose at least 2 that you believe are important for your topic. If you would like a paper copy of the article, you can request one from me. I will bring these to class tomorrow, 2/20/13.

      You will start by creating handwritten note cards for your periodical(s), just like we did for your primary sources.

      Cell Phones:

      Gun Control:

      Tuesday, January 8, 2013

      Today's Objectives

      Today, complete the following activities:
      1. Finish making the final edits to your Gateway essay on Google Drive. Remember - if you don't make sure everything is totally right, you'll have to do it again (100 points, project grade)!
        • Make all the edits I marked on your paper
        • Make all the edits shown on the checklist
      2. Go to the website for the Tenement Museum. Use the interactive activity to complete the worksheet at the front of the classroom (20 points, quiz grade).
      3. Play the Immigration Nation game to find out which people are allowed to enter the U.S.

      Monday, January 7, 2013

      Gateway Documents

      In this post, you'll find all of the documents you used in your Gateway essay:



      Document A
      History of Work and Immigration in Chicago – 1240L
      The third-largest city in the United States, Chicago, Illinois, has a population of about 2.8 million, 22 percent of whom are foreign born. Situated on the southwest shore of Lake Michigan, the city has served as a major port and commercial center for the midwestern section of the United States since the 19th century.
      Chicago is called "The Windy City," not only because of the stiff winds off Lake Michigan but also because of its history as a town of political hustle, machine politics and labor organizing.
      Much of the city's political dynamic relates to its history as a magnet for immigrant laborers seeking work in the stockyards and factories of the city in the 1800s. With the arrival of the first railroad in 1848, farmers from surrounding states began sending their cattle to be slaughtered and their agricultural products to be processed in Chicago plants. This increase in production coincided with one of America's largest waves of European immigration. As a result, Chicago's population had tripled by the 1860s as an immigrant workforce flowed in to take advantage of the many available jobs.
      German and Irish immigrants arrived first, with Polish immigrants arriving soon after in the 1880s. By the end of the 19th century, Chicago's population had swelled to more than a million, making it one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. The city owed much of its success to the many immigrants, willing to work in exchange for the promise of a better life.
      However, these immigrants were often greeted with appalling and hazardous working conditions. Determined to realize the "American Dream," many were moved to action. Upton Sinclair's classic muckraking book, The Jungle, was written about Chicago's meatpacking industry. Famed labor activist Saul Alinsky, son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, organized workers in the city's stockyards.
      Perhaps Chicago's most momentous and controversial contribution to the American labor movement occurred in early May, 1886. On May 1, 80,000 workers marched through downtown Chicago, demanding an eight-hour workday. The number of protestors alarmed business leaders who demanded police crackdown on what they perceived to be anarchists.
      On May 3, unarmed striking workers at Chicago's McCormick Reaper Works factory clashed with police who ended up killing several workers. In response, workingmen met at the Haymarket Square on the evening of May 4. What began as a peaceful gathering ended in bloodshed when a bomb was thrown into the crowd as police attempted to disperse the meeting. One policeman died instantly; 11 other people were killed when police opened fire in response to the explosion. Eight anarchist and labor activists were eventually arrested for the policeman's death; five were hung publicly the following year.
      That march and the events of the following days are believed to be the origins of today's May Day observances.The series of events is known as the "Haymarket Affair," and because of suspicious and disputed elements surrounding the accused men's trial, many have come to refer to the eight as the "Haymarket Martyrs."
      Immigration in the United States peaked between 1890 and 1920, when the country took in more than 18 million new citizens. That explosion led the U.S. government to enact the Immigration Act of 1924, which set a quota for the number of immigrants entering the United States. Initially, immigration from within North America was exempt from this act, but measures were quickly taken to deny legal entry to Mexican workers.
      New arrivals to Chicago at this time were native-born rural-to-urban migrants, mostly African Americans from the southern states. Although other northern cities also expanded during this period of south-to-north migration (known as the Great Migration), Chicago was the primary destination for many blacks. With churches assisting the new residents with housing and employment, Chicago offered a more hospitable environment for migrants.
      Mexicans began settling in Chicago around the turn of the 20th century, many driven north by the Mexican Revolution. They took advantage of both war-time and labor-dispute opportunities to enter the workforce. The first wave of Mexican immigrants came during World War I to work in the steel mills and established a viable community, primarily on Chicago's South Side. Both Mexicans and African Americans were hired to break strikes in the steel and packinghouse industries in 1918 and 1919.
      But the Great Depression of the 1930s sent many immigrants home, including Mexicans. With a scarcity of jobs around the country, immigrants faced the same question that is raised, and remains unanswered, today: Should foreigners take jobs away from U.S. citizens? By the end of that decade, Chicago's Mexican community had shrunk by nearly 30 percent.
      World War II brought a reversal in the repatriation trend. The country experienced a major labor shortage as the American workforce was drafted to serve in the war. The United States entered into an agreement with Mexico to allow temporary workers into the country. The government's bracero, or guest worker, program saw thousands of Mexicans arrive in Chicago to work on the railroad and in the garment industries. But while the United States expected those workers to return to Mexico at the end of the war, many did not.
      The community continued to grow at a rapid pace. By the 1960s, Chicago was the third-largest Mexican city in the United States, behind Los Angeles, California, and San Antonio, Texas. Today, Mexican immigrants have established themselves as an integral part of the social, political and economic fabric of the city. The 2000 census showed that half a million Mexicans live in Chicago, with another 1.1 million in the greater metropolitan area. They remain the city's largest ethnic community.
      Sources: U.S. Almanac; USA Today; Chicago Public Library; WTTW Chicago; Encyclopedia of Chicago; The Washington Post; Center for Immigration Studies; The Metro Chicago Immigration Fact Book; The Globalist; the Library of Congress.


      Document B: Migrant Workers
      Eduardo Ruelas, Mexican day-worker. “I came to the United States from Mexico more than four years ago. I crossed the border into Arizona and then spent a month and a half making my way to New York, where I had friends and family who were already living in Farmingville. Although I had a job in Mexico, it wasn’t enough to support my wife and my 2-year-old son . . . When I get work, I make about $60 to $120 a day . . . Before [my wife and son] arrived, I lived in a house with about 10 or 12 other men. In the beginning, I didn’t like my living arrangements because I had to share everything – at times, even my bed. But it had its benefits; if I wasn’t able to work, the others would help me out with food and rent. I did the same for them. It’s not a lot of fun for me to have to get up at every morning at 5, stand on the street corner hoping to be offered a job, and worry that if I do get work it might be dangerous. Although I’ve been lucky, I’ve had friends who have broken their arms and legs and even lost fingers while on the job. None of us has medical coverage. But the hardest part about waiting for work is hearing the insults that are yelled at us by Farmingville residents. The fact that I stand on a corner for work doesn’t make me less human or less worthy of respect. Everyone from the business owners and contractors to the residents with beautifully landscaped yards benefits from Mexican laborers. We do the jobs nobody else will do.”
      Source: Hofstra University Immigration project

      Document C
      Chicago – With a booming business preparing and selling food products, Mexican immigrant David Martínez practices just the kind of entrepreneurship the Chicago municipality seeks to promote among immigrants.



      Document D: Emigration from El Salvador
      The destruction caused by the Civil War [in El Salvador] was a tremendous push factor causing Salvadorans to emigrate. Half of the refugees ended up in camps in nearby countries, while the other half, usually illegally, made their way to the United States. Because nearly all Salvadorans who entered the U.S. arrived without documentation, there is no way to know the exact number of people who settled here People have continued to leave Salvador en masse despite the peace accords. One of the primary push factors is the economy of El Salvador, which is still largely agrarian. Although some land was turned over to the peasants after the peace accords and is farmed collectively, these collectives, while sustainable, are largely unprofitable. There is little industry and few alternative ways for people to make a living. Without industry, El Salvador has failed to develop a working urban section or middle class and most of the population remains outside of its cities. Estimates range from 500,000 to one million people. Some immigrants did receive exile status in the early 1990s after Congress finally acknowledged the danger they faced if they were to return in El Salvador.

      Source: Chrichton, Matthew. Migration from El Salvador to the United States.


      Document E: Education and Violence

      Nearly all of the Salvadoran immigrants I have spoken with have cited another reason for leaving their home, they want “a good education for my children.” Their children are also at risk in El Salvador because of the rise of gangs and gang violence. The gangs now terrorizing El Salvador originated in Los Angeles during the 1980s when young immigrants banded together in an effort to survive in their new homes. Many of the gang members were arrested for violent crimes and the United States deported them back to El Salvador shortly after the UN negotiated peace accords ended the fighting. The deported gang members brought the L.A. gang culture to El Salvador and have grown at an alarming rate.

      Source: Chrichton, Matthew. Migration from El Salvador to the United States.


      Document F
      …These Pocket Parks are built on empty lots in Chicago with permission of the property owners and are a temporary solution to the problem of urban blight. The Pocket Park I visited today is next to a foreclosed home and in the "yard" of a shuttered cookie factory that in a few years will become home to a green build immigrant resource center that will serve the community.
      Today, the vacant lot is home to a small ornamental garden and a vegetable garden in raised beds and acts as an open air-classroom where these Chicago teens learn about gardening, urban gardening and the environment…
      … I was impressed by how genuinely interested the kids were in what we were talking about and just how much they already knew about gardening, plants and the possibility of green collar jobs in their future…


      Document G: Massacre of Hundreds Reported in El Salvador Village

      “‘It was a great massacre,’ 38-year-old Rufina Amaya told a visitor who traveled through the area with those who are fighting against the junta that now rules El Salvador. “They left nothing.” Somewhere amid the carnage were Mrs. Amaya’s husband, who was blind, her 9-year-old son and three daughters, ages 5 years, 3 years and 8 months . . . According to Salvadoran newspapers, soldiers from Atlacatl Battalion took part in a sweep through Mozote and the surrounding mountain villages as part of one of the largest search and destroy operations of the war against the leftist guerillas who are fighting to overthrow the United States-supported junta . . . Many of the peasants were shot while in their homes, but the soldiers dragged others from their houses and the church and put them in lines, women in one and men in another, Mrs. Amaya said. It was during this confusion that she managed to escape.”

      Source: New York Times, January 27, 1982


      Document H Moving from Guatemala to the United States

      In 1956, [my father’s] employer sent [him] “temporarily” to the United States because they needed a Spanish speaking foreman for their factory in Jamaica, Queens. My father loved the United States because of all the opportunities he saw for advancement. The company sponsored him for his Green Card and he began taking lessons in English at the Jamaica High School annex to prepare for his citizenship examination and to find a better job. He was interested in real estate and wanted to obtain a license to become a real estate agent. He achieved both goals, and over the years earned a good living renting apartments to immigrants arriving in Queens. Once in a while he would sell a house, and that meant toys or special treats for my brothers and me. He always kept two cars, a jalopy for everyday use, and a new car that he used only on Sundays to go to church. He has always been a strict Catholic and attends Sunday mass without fail.

      Source: Palomo, William. Oscar Palomo: From Guatemala to the United States


      Document I: Why People Left Their Homelands

      In Ireland a terrible disease in the mid-1800s destroyed potatoes, the main farm crop, for several years in a row. Because of famine, nearly 2 million people died of starvation and almost as many people left for America. When there was a famine in Sweden in the 1860s, whole villages packed up and came to America. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, thousand of Russian Jews were killed in terrible pogroms, which were massacres often organized by
      the government and sometimes even by churches. More than 2 million Jews left Russia and Eastern Europe because of these pogroms and other kinds of religious persecution.

      Source: Immigration: Stories of Yesterday and Today


      Document J: Reasons Immigrants Migrated to the United States

      Many immigrants from the Scandinavian countries of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway were farmers in their native land. They heard there was plenty of fresh air and sunshine on the western prairies and the opportunity to own their own land. The United States government provided 160 acres, or one quarter of a square mile, to any head of a family who would live on the land and farm it for five years. Work in America was hard and wages were small. Still, with enough hard work and a little luck, a person could buy his own home and send his children to school. A home of one’s own! An education for the children! Alexis de Tocqueville, an early French traveler in the United States, wrote: “No wonder that so many Europeans, who have never been able to say that such a portion of land was theirs, cross the Atlantic to realize that happiness.”

      Source: Immigration: Stories of Yesterday and Today


      Document K: Recent Immigrants

      Quynh (Vietnam): When my parents decided that we would come to America, they had to give up their businesses, money, and house. For me, I had to say goodbye to my friends, relatives, and most of all, my grandmother. She’s the one that helped me grow up. She made food for us when my parents were at work. She walked to school with us every morning. Now I had to say good-bye to her.

      Kauthar (Kenya): We had to leave our friends and family and start all over again. This was difficult at first but got much better as time went on.

      Source: Immigration: Stories of Yesterday and Today