President Obama's Jobs Speech

Welcome, CCAA History students!

Tonight, President Obama is giving a speech regarding the United States' high unemployment rate. Over 9% of Americans want to work but can't find a job. Obama will make suggestions about how to put people back to work.

The speech will be online at nytimes.com at 7 and on many TV stations. When I get home tonight, I'll write a few discussion questions. In the meantime, feel free to post with your opinions. Make sure to use proper grammar and to sign your name.

E-mail me if you have questions. See you tomorrow!

UPDATE (10:35 p.m.): Thanks to everyone who's already posted. Great comments! I promised discussion questions tonight, but instead I'm going to sleep. You can leave comments all weekend, so if you're reading this on Thursday night, you too should go to sleep so you're all ready for Day Two. Hasta mañana.

UPDATE (10:00 p.m. Friday): Great to see you at school today. 

Here is a link to the president's speech.  Take a look.  The speech begins shortly after the 4 minute mark.  Up until then, it's mainly applause and the president shaking hands.

Here are some discussion questions.  You may want to answer one, some, or all of them.

• Do you think President Obama's jobs plan will work?  Why or why not?
• Which parts of Obama's plan seem most likely to work?  Which parts might fail?  Why?
• Our country is in debt.  That means that our country spends more than the government earns in taxes, so our government needs to borrow money from other countries to make ends meet.  Is this a good idea?  Could it ever be a good idea?
• Do you think the president communicated his ideas well?  What did you think of the way he spoke?  Is he a good speaker?  Give examples to support your opinion.

8th Grade Test Tomorrow!

If you're looking for help with tomorrow's test, have a look here, 8th graders:

Some fine sample sentences brought to you by class 803:

Theodore Roosevelt encouraged the Panamanians to gain independence from Colombia, so he could build the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal was dug to shorten the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Yellow journalism caused the Americans to believe that the Spanish had destroyed the U.S.S. Maine.

The U.S. imperialized Mexico by fighting the Mexican War.

Here are your short answer questions:

1. Explain how the United States got involved in the Spanish-American War and explain how the United States benefited from the war.
2. Give TWO examples of how the United States practiced imperialism in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Mention TWO nations that the United States imperialized, explain how the U.S. gained control of each of these nations, and the effects of imperialism on these nations.
3. Explain the main causes of World War I and the immediate cause of World War I.
4. Describe the experiences of a soldier involved in trench warfare during World War I.

And some fine responses to some of them...

An answer to #1 from Robert of 801:
The U.S.S. Maine exploded in Cuba. In the papers, people started blaming Spain because they thought they were the ones who blew up the ship. This was an example of yellow journalism. At the same time, Cuba wanted freedom from Spain. After the Maine exploded, the United States got into the war and helped out Cuba. As a result of the war, when the U.S. won, the U.S. won some land. Two of those lands were Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

An answer to #2 from Jose of 804:
The United States practiced imperialism in many nations. Two imperialized nations were the Philippines and Hawaii. The U.S. imperialized Hawaii for its sugar plantations. They simply brought their battleships to Hawaii. Hawaii didn’t declare war since they thought it was hopeless. The U.S. also imperialized the Philippines for their land. They fought the Spanish-American War to get control of the Philippines. Then they fought in the Philippines to keep it.

An answer to #3 from Kimberllee and 803:
The main causes of World War I were militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. Militarism was the development of new weapons, imperialism encouraged countries to fight for distant lands, and nationalism made every country want to prove it was the best. These things caused Europe to be very tense. However, the immediate cause was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. As a result of alliances, many countries then started to attack each other. World War I was called the Great War.

Good luck! Study well!

Upcoming Eighth Grade Test

Eighth graders, you've got a test this week.  802's test is Wednesday, 803 and 804 have tests on Thursday, and 801's test is Friday.  Here are the words you need to know and questions you need to answer, just in case you don't have the test information paper I handed out yesterday.

You will need to know these 10 terms and be able to use each of them in a good sentence:
1. Corporation
2. Merger
3. Monopoly
4. Trust
5. Sherman Antitrust Act
6. Gilded Age
7. Captain of industry
8. Robber baron
9. Progressive Movement
10. Reform

You will also need to answer two short answer questions. The questions will be chosen from this list:
1. Choose either Andrew Carnegie or John D. Rockefeller. Describe the businessman, including reasons why he is admirable AND reasons why he should NOT be admired.
2. Describe how monopolies and trusts work. Explain why monopolies and trusts are unfair to consumers (the people who buy a product).
3. Why did so many people die in the fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory? What were the effects of the fire?
4. Choose one Progressive Era reformer. Describe the PROBLEMS he/she wanted to change, the ACTIONS he/she took to reform America, and the EFFECTS of his/her work on America.

If you have questions, you can e-mail me today or meet with me tomorrow after school.  Good luck!

A revolution in Egypt?

Hey everyone, I know it's been way, way, way too long, and you can feel free to use the comments section to lambast me for my lack of posts over the past few weeks.  Some exciting things have been going on in the world.  Time to talk about at least one of them...

Felix knew what was up when we were talking in 703's class today: the protests in Egypt are the biggest news story of the moment.  Here's the gist: Egypt has been ruled for over 30 years by a dictator, Hosni Mubarak.  He calls himself the president and he holds elections every few years.  But the elections are always rigged so that he remains in power.  Egypt's government is made up of his friends and allies.  His political opponents are often thrown in jail.  We've learned about corruption in the eighth grade, but the word "corruption" doesn't begin to describe the injustice of Mubarak's government.

Now, days after a similar uprising in an African country called Tunisia, Egyptians seem to have had enough of Mubarak.  Two weeks ago, Egyptian political activists called for protests on a Facebook page.  Since then, many Egyptians have protested--even rioted--in the streets.  The police couldn't control the crowds, so Mubarak called in the army.  But many people in the army seem to agree with the protesters, and the army has promised that they won't shoot at protesters.  It's hard to imagine that Mubarak will be president for much longer, but we don't know how long he'll try to stay in power.  And if he leaves, who knows what will happen next?  There might be fair elections, there might not be.  The country might become more chaotic, the country might become more peaceful.  The new government could be secular (not linked with a religious group) or it could be Islamic (linked to the Muslim faith).

Ready to add another layer of complexity onto this?  The U.S. government is allied with Mubarak.  Yes, Mubarak the corrupt dictator is friends with the United States.  In fact, the U.S. government sends millions of dollars of aid to Egypt each year.  Why?  For one thing, Egypt recognizes and keeps peace with Israel, the U.S.'s strongest ally in the Middle East.  The Egyptian government has not encouraged or sheltered terrorists that target the U.S.  The U.S. is also happy to have Egypt as an ally in an important, oil-rich part of the world.  American government officials would surely like to see a real democracy in Egypt, but they're also glad just to have an ally in the Middle East.

We're learning about the American Revolution in seventh grade.  Now, a revolution seems to be unfolding in Egypt.  A new government will take control, and it will probably promise more rights and more justice for the Egyptians.

What do you think?  Should we celebrate these protests?  Should we be happy that a dictator is falling?  Should we worry about whether Egypt will be safe and stable with a new government?  Should we worry about whether the new Egyptian government will be an American ally?

Here are some links:

• Here's a video from an American columnist reporting in Egypt.
• Here's the Facebook page where everything started.

An American downtown falls apart...

Detroit in 1907: Even in a black-and-white photo, you can tell the city was alive.

Happy Saturday!  Eighth graders, you know you'll be taking a test on urbanization on Tuesday.  The late 1800s and early 1900s were the time period when American cities grew the fastest.  Why did so many people move to cities?  Well, that's one of your test questions, and you'll need to know at least four different reasons, but the biggest reason was JOBS.  Inventors were creating new technology that needed to be produced in factories, and companies opened their factories in cities like New York...and Detroit.

Detroit is most famous for the automotive (car/truck) industry.  Back in 1903, Henry Ford started the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, and soon enough, Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors--America's Big 3 car companies--were all based in Detroit.  Detroit was big in the late 1800s and it was huge in the early 1900s.  At its largest, Detroit was home to 1.8 million people, enough to make it the fourth-biggest city in America.

That brings us today.  Most factories have moved out of American cities, either to the suburbs or--more often--to other countries.  Ford, Chrysler, and GM have faced serious competition from Toyota, Honda, and other foreign companies, and they've lost money and cut jobs over the past few years.

Long story short, Detroit has shrunk from 1.8 million to less than 1 million people.  Detroit's downtown has fallen into decay.  Take a look at this slideshow (and the accompanying article).  It shows how Detroit's majestic downtown has just fallen apart.  The European photographers who took these photos were shocked to see just how much of a mess Detroit is.  Gorgeous theaters, libraries, offices--all vacant and in disrepair.

Much of Detroit's downtown looks like this today.

What are your reactions to these photos?  Why do you think this has happened?  Why haven't people moved in to rebuild these buildings?  What could be done with them?  What would you need in order to fix them up?

My favorite blogs are about NYC schools and the Yankees. Surprised? Didn't think so.

Which blogs do I visit the most?  One is GothamSchools, a blog written by four people who work full-time to write news stories about New York City schools.  They also collect news stories from other sources and invite volunteers to write blog posts about the schools as well.  Students occasionally write in their Community section.  Here's a post that a high school student wrote last school year when the MTA threatened to take away student's free Metrocards.  Maybe they'd accept something that one of you writes!

My other favorite blog is--what else--a Yankees blog.  The Journal News of Westchester County produces the LoHud Yankees Blog, which is constantly being updated with news and analysis about our beloved Bronx Bombers.  They reported yesterday that the Yankees have released their spring training schedule.  Some highlights:
Sunday, February 13Manager Joe Girardi addresses the media...
Tuesday, February 15"First official workout for pitchers and catchers. If we’re lucky, there will be a bullpen session. Lots of questions about Joba Chamberlain as a reliever, Russell Martin as an everyday catcher and Jorge Posada as a DH."
Sunday, February 20"First full-squad workout. Lots of questions about how Alex Rodriguez’s hip is doing and what Curtis Granderson did to keep up the strides he made late last season."
Saturday, February 26First spring training game. The Yankees open the spring schedule at home against the Phillies.

It's the beginning of January.  I'm desperate for any sign of baseball.  At least we know that we only have to wait for a few more weeks until spring training.

Anyway, I check GothamSchools and the LoHud Yankees Blog several times a day--in the morning, at lunch, and when I'm taking a break from grading papers in the evening. 

Do you read other blogs?  Which ones?  Why do you like them?

Happy New Year!

Any New Year's resolutions, guys?  I resolve to make sure my students move on to the next grade having completed a high-quality in-depth research project.  You ready?

In the meantime, it's not too late to get your holiday project done.  Here's the PBS American Experience website, in case you've misplaced it.  Having watched about six of the films in the past week, my favorite is Roads to Memphis.  What can I say?  Dr. Martin Luther King was an incredible man, and the story of his assassination is incredible too.  I also liked The Polio Crusade.  Have you even heard of polio--the disease that paralyzed President Franklin D. Roosevelt and many children in the same era?  In the early 1950s, the only thing that Americans feared more than polio was nuclear war.  A Class Apart shines a light on the Hispanic civil rights movement, which all history students could stand to learn more about (myself included).

See you tomorrow!