Recently in Unit #5 Category

It is a pretty straight-forward plan for today. You'll take the objective portion of the Unit #5 Exam. It has 60 multiple choice questions. (I should have those graded and back to you tomorrow.)

Remember that your Unit #5 Essay is due. Please print them out. (Double-sided is fine, and I prefer at least 1 and 1/2 or double spacing.)

If you need to finish up the DBQs, you can also do that after.

"70% Second Chance" Policy - Ms. Murr and I have decided to experiment with a new policy in World 9/10. There's no doubt that these multiple choice questions can be challenging. If the exam does not go well for you, we're offering you a second chance to get your score up to 70%. (That would be 42 out of 60.)

If you score below 42, you are allowed to come in and make corrections to your exam. (These may be done open book and open notes.) You will receive the average of your "original" score and your "second chance" score, with a maximum of 42 possible.

For example, let's say you scored 36. You then corrected your exam to a 58.
 (36 + 58 = 94. 94/2 = 47, but you would receive the maximum of 42.)

You are expected to do this relatively soon after the exam, and you should also attempt to correct all of the exam, even if that would put you above the maximum.

HOMEWORK for tomorrow: Tuesday, December 6th

Ms. Murr would tell you that only a real meanie assigns homework the night of the exam. I guess that makes me a meanie...  Please read Section 1 in Chapter 25, "The Beginnings of Industrialization." (pp. 717- 722) This is a relatively short quarter, so we need to keep going. (We may again need to double up once on the reading.)  I will give you the quiz today and you can complete it as a take-home activity. (That does NOT mean you should simply copy someone else's answers. If I see anyone doing that, it is "0" for both people. I am fine with you working together in study hall or elsewhere, but not simply copying.)

If you plan to word-process, you can download a copy of the
Unit #5 Identifications answer sheet.

REMINDER: You must finish the identifications before you leave class. Start with those. You do NOT need to be done with the DBQs.

Unit #5 Identifications: You'll receive (or download) a handout from which you will write on your choice of 5 of the 8 identifications that appear. You may have 10 words of "notes" for each of the 15 possible identifications to the exam. You will need to turn in these notes, and I reserve the right to count symbols, acronyms, etc. as one or more words. Each of the five identifications is worth 5 points.

A good identification is typically in the range of 4 to 6 sentences in length. (You do need to write in complete sentences.) You should demonstrate both an understanding of just who / what the ID "is" and place it in the appropriate historical context. In addition, you need to explain the significance of the ID. In other words, answer the "So what?" question.

Unit #5 Essay Exam - Questions and Format - Your essays are due at your arrival to class on Monday. Please have them printed out. Double-sided is fine. Please use something other than single spacing.

You should prepare for a five (or six)-paragraph essay. That means that you should include an introduction (with a clear thesis statement), three body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. (Note that the questions lend themselves to such a format. That is on purpose.)

Remember that the questions are not designed for you to tell us everything you have learned. Focus on what the question is requiring you to do.

1. We considered the reigns of a number of absolute monarchs. Choose THREE specific monarchs and evaluate the impact of their reigns. Overall, was absolutism a positive or negative force in the Europe of the time?

2. The Enlightenment was a time of significant changes in thinking and values. Identify and evaluate the significance of what you consider to be the THREE most significant contributions of the Enlightenment. Which specific figure do you believe best embodied the spirit of the Enlightenment? Why?

3. We studied the causes of political revolution in places such as England, the American colonies, France, Haiti and Mexico. Choose THREE of these revolutions and evaluate whether each was justified. Which of the revolutions that you discuss do you believe was ultimately the most successful? Why?

HOMEWORK for next session - Monday, December 5th

You have the Unit #5 Objective Exam Monday. There are 60 multiple choice questions.

Your Unit #5 Essay is due upon your arrival to class on Monday.

We'll spend today doing our review activity. We'll get started right away so that we can get through this all.

Here's a copy of the Unit #5 Review and Study Guide.review.docx. (You received a paper copy on the second day of class. This is the same as that one.)

Here's a copy of the Unit #5 "Two-Minute" Review template that I use to take notes on the projector.


UNIT 5: Absolutism to Revolution (1500 - 1900)

Chapter 21: Absolute Monarchs in Europe (1500 - 1800)

You'll take the Unit #5 Exam at the end of next week and the beginning of the following week. Thursday, December 1st's portion of the exam will consist of identifications and five "document-based" questions. The Monday, December 5th portion of the exam will consist of 60 multiple choice questions. Your essay is due no later than Monday, December 5th, but I will gladly accept them before that date.

Unit #5 Identifications: On Thursday, December 1st, you will write on your choice of 5 of the 8 identifications that appear on the Unit #5 exam chosen from the list below. You may bring 10 words of "notes" for each of the 15 possible identifications to the exam. (Printed out; not on your computer.) You will need to turn in these notes, and I reserve the right to count symbols, acronyms, etc. as one or more words. Each of the five identifications is worth 5 points.

A good identification is typically in the range of 4 to 6 sentences in length. (You do need to write in complete sentences.) You should demonstrate both an understanding of just who / what the ID "is" and place it in the appropriate historical context. In addition, you need to explain the significance of the ID. In other words, answer the "So what?" question.

Philip II
divine right
Louis XIV
Thirty Years' War
Oliver Cromwell
Galileo Galilei
social contract
John Locke
philosophe
enlightened despot
Reign of Terror
Napoleon Bonaparte
creoles
nationalism
Otto von Bismarck

You will also write on five "document-based" questions as part of Thursday's exam.

Unit #5 Essay Exam - Questions and Format - You'll write an essay as part of the Unit #5 Exam. This essay will be due no later than your arrival at class on Monday, December 5th. Below you can find both the questions from which you will choose and the format for the essay portion on the Unit #5 Exam. The essay is worth 30 points, and that score is weighted double to match the multiple choice portion.

Format: The actual essay will be written, by hand or word-processed. You should prepare for a five-paragraph essay. That means that you should include an introduction (with a clear thesis statement), three body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. (Note that the questions lend themselves to such a format. That is on purpose.)

Remember that the questions are not designed for you to tell us everything you have learned. Focus on what the question is requiring you to do. 

1. We considered the reigns of a number of absolute monarchs. Choose THREE specific absolute monarchs and evaluate the impact of their reigns. Overall, was absolutism a positive or negative force in the Europe of the time?

2. The Enlightenment was a time of significant changes in thinking and values. Identify and evaluate the significance of what you consider to be the THREE most significant contributions of the Enlightenment. Which specific figure do you believe best embodied the spirit of the Enlightenment? Why?

3. We studied examples of political revolution in places such as England, the American colonies, France, Haiti and Mexico. Choose THREE of these revolutions and evaluate whether each was justified. Which of the revolutions that you discuss do you believe was ultimately the most successful? Why?

Here's a good example of the difference between a "Western Civilization" perspective and a "World History" perspective. Often, the American and French Revolutions are taught as the "culmination" of the Enlightenment. Here, however, we'll also be looking at a variety of revolutions throughout the "Atlantic World" during this time period. In particular, we'll add the Caribbean and Latin America to our attention today.
After the Revolution - Now what?: It seems fair to evaluate whether the "revolutionaries" lived up to the promises of liberty they once called for once they have assumed power. It might be helpful to think of liberty both in terms of "political independence" and "personal freedom." Let's consider these questions:

• Will the leaders want to restrict liberty for groups they view as threatening their own economic or political liberty: women, people of African descent, slaves, native peoples, some minority religious groups?
• What would the leaders gain by restricting liberty?
• What might they lose?

I'll provide you with some documents from each of the revolutions we have been considering. As you look at the documents, consider these questions.

1. How does each new government in the Atlantic world define citizenship?

2. What rights were guaranteed by the government and to which groups of people?

3. Which documents mention liberty?

4. How is slavery changed or maintained?

5. What kinds of powers does each new government assume? How are those powers divided among branches of government?

Revolutionary Rhetoric - Did it spread?: You'll get a copy of some texts produced by the leaders of two later revolutionary groups of the early twentieth century: the Young Turks and the Chinese revolutionaries. Your job is to read your set for tomorrow's class and be prepared to discuss these questions.

• How does each document define liberty?
• How does each document define citizenship?
• What do the constitutions say about education?

HOMEWORK for tomorrow - Tuesday, November 22nd

Please continue reading in Chapter 24 with Section 2, "Europe Faces Revolutions." (pp. 687 - 691)

Your Napoleon Acrostic should be posted as a comment on Lesson #14 before the start of tomorrow's class.

You should have read your excerpt (Turkey or China) for the "Revolutionary Rhetoric" exercise described above.

You have your first set of Current Events due on Tuesday, November 29th. The format is explained above.

We'll wrap up our look at the French Revolution and Napoleon today. Next week, our attention will turn to the waves of revolutions and nationalism that sweep the west, or the Atlantic world.

French Revolution - Cast of Characters

You were asked to "cast" the characters below using figures from a particular genre, profession, group or whatever. Ideally, your choices will help reveal your understanding of the roles these figures played in the French Revolution. Let's hear from some of you...

• member of the First Estate
• member of the Second Estate
• member of the Third Estate
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• King Louis XVI
• Marie Antoinette
• Parisian woman rioting over bread prices
• radical member of Legislative Assembly
• moderate member of Legislative Assembly
• conservative member of Legislative Assembly
• Jean-Paul Marat
• Charlotte Corday
• Jacobin
• Georges Danton
• Maximilien Robespierre
• Napoleon Bonaparte
  
  

The Political Spectrum - From Left to Right and In-Between Remember that the terms "left" and "right" to describe political views dates back to factions that sat together in the Legislative Assembly hall. Then, the "radicals" sat on the left, a term used today for those who typically are more in favor of change, the liberals. On the right were the "conservatives," the term we still use today for those more likely to want fewer changes. In the center were the moderates.

Let's take a minute to see where you fall. First, I'll show you a political spectrum and invite you to guess where you will end up. Then, you can take a quiz and see where your answers place you.  There are many versions on-line, but we'll take the "World's Smallest Political Quiz." (Note that the survey is hosted on a libertarian political site. The survey itself, however, is developed to be non-partisan and has been taken more than 15 million times.) We'll walk through the questions together to make sure everyone understands them.

Napoleon: PBS Video - I've mentioned it before, but PBS really does an excellent job with their websites that accompany shows they produce. Here are some of the features from their series on Napoleon that you should check out.

Introduction: This is worth watching. It will get you to a menu when it ends.

Timeline: Key events with links to additional information.

Campaigns and Battles

Weapons and Units of the Grand Armee

Interactive Battlefield Simulator: Try to win the Battle of Waterloo. You can be either Napoleon or Wellington.

Perspectives on Napoleon: You can read what some people have to say about Napoleon.

Watch Napoleon Video Clips: You can pick from several scenes here.

Send a Napoleon Postcard: Who wouldn't want to receive one of these?

 

Napoleon's Russia Campaign: As you read, Napoleon's invasion of Russia was perhaps his greatest military error. It took a tremendous toll, both actual and psychological, on his Grand Army. Fewer than 1 in 40 soldiers returned to France. The Russians, of course, also suffered great damage, both from the French forces and their own strategy of scorching the earth.

We're going to take a look at the invasion by considering a single "information graphic," or chart, produced by Charles Minard in 1869. Edward Tufte of Yale University, perhaps the world's expert in information design, considers it "the best statistical graphic ever drawn."

Image of Napoleon's Russia Campaign: Yes, this is in French. However, you should still be able to figure some things out from looking at this version.  

Here's Tufte's description of what is happening.

"Beginning at the left on the Polish-Russian border near the Niemen River, the thick band shows the size of the army (422,000 men) as it invaded Russia in June 1812. The width of the band indicates the size of the army at each place on the map. In September, the army reached Moscow, which was by then sacked and deserted, with 100,000 men. The path of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow is depicted by the darker, lower band, which is linked to a temperature scale and dates at the bottom of the chart. It was a bitterly cold winter, and many froze on the march out of Russia. As the graphic shows, the crossing of the Berezina River was a disaster, and the army finally struggled back into Poland with only 10,000 men remaining. Also shown are the movements of auxiliary troops, as they sought to protect the rear and the flank of the advancing army. Minard's graphic tells a rich, coherent story with its multivariate data, far more enlightening than just a single number bouncing along over time. Six variables are plotted: the size of the army, its location on a two-dimensional surface, direction of the army's movement, and temperature on various dates during the retreat from Moscow" (p. 40).

Here are some "revisions" done to the graphic to try and show additional information or to clarify the information already there.

• An English version with temperature clarified
• Clarification of place names
• Animated GIF image - repeats 10 times
• Animated GIF placed over a map of Russia
  

Napoleon in Acrostic: An acrostic is a poem or other writing where the first letters of each line (or paragraph, etc. in some cases) spell out another message. For example:

Kind-hearted ninth-grade teacher of many of you

Always trying to make everyone happy

Teaching speech and debate

Interesting and amusing conversationalist

Excellent teacher and friend

Might be reading the blog, so I can make fun of her

Unique and one-of-a-kind

Really enjoys running and camping
Raising (with her husband) two young sons

Your job: As you've probably guessed, you'll do one for Napoleon Bonaparte. Here's the wrinkle. "Napoleon" should all be about his background and/or rise to power. "Bonaparte" should all be about his decline and fall from power and/or his historical impact. You should post your acrostic as a comment on this entry.  You also get to pick two additional historical figures and complete acrostics for them as well. Post all three as a single blog entry. They are due to be posted by class time on Tuesday.

HOMEWORK for next session - Monday, November 21st

Please begin your reading in Chapter 24, "Nationalist Revolutions Sweep the West," with Section 1, "Latin American Peoples Win Independence." (pp. 681 -  686)

Your Napoleon Bonaparte acrostic (as well as the other two) should be posted before class time on Tuesday. Post as a comment to this entry. 

We're still looking at the Unit #5 Exam the week after next. I'll have more information about the format during Monday's class.

Go ahead, do all your complaining about having TWO reading quizzes today. (All I can say is, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but your names will never hurt me...) We'll start with those two Napoleon quizzes.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way . . ."

Speeches

• Edmund Burke, "The Death of Marie Antoinette"
• Maximilien Robespierre, "The Cult of the Supreme Being"
• Maximilien Robespierre, "Justification of the Use of Terror"

Contemporary Analysis

• Edmund Burke was a British politician who severely criticized the revolution as early as 1790. Here's an excerpt. Skip down to the last paragraph.
• American Thomas Paine responded with a defense of the French Revolution that he called, "The Rights of Man."

French Revolution - Cast of Characters

From Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities to Les Miserables, the years surrounding the French Revolution and Napoleon have been frequently depicted in literature, film and on stage. Here's your chance to cast your own production. Below is a list of "characters" from this time period. Your job is to cast these parts by naming "actors" to play each role. The idea is that you'll make appropriate choices that show your understanding of these figures. You can select from history, literature, politics, film, music, television, mythology, MPA or whatever makes sense to you. "Bonus points" for casting with some sort of theme in mind. We'll have you share these cast lists and your rationale for them tomorrow. (If you need some examples to spark your thinking, all of these have been done. "The Office," modern politicians, "Glee," superheroes, Disney, sports figures, etc.)

• member of the First Estate
• member of the Second Estate
• member of the Third Estate
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• King Louis XVI
• Marie Antoinette
• Parisian woman rioting over bread prices
• radical member of Legislative Assembly
• moderate member of Legislative Assembly
• conservative member of Legislative Assembly
• Jean-Paul Marat
• Charlotte Corday
• Jacobin
• Georges Danton
• Maximilien Robespierre
• Napoleon Bonaparte

HOMEWORK for tomorrow - Friday, November 18th 

Please finish your reading in Chapter 23 with Section 5, "The Congress of Vienna," (pp. 672 -  675)  for tomorrow.