Dec. 20

Continued the lengthy film Far and Away. Essay due tomorrow.

Dec. 19

We continued Far and Away. Essay due on Friday.

Dec. 18

Today we began the film Far and Away. The film will take most the week. On Friday the following is due:

In an essay of least 300 words (a page and a half typed) comment on the following:

1. How does director Ron Howard illustrate the immigrant experience to America during the late 1800s? Consider the following: immigrant motives for leaving, their arrival in America, immigrant neighborhoods, political machines in cities, opportunities in America, racism and prejudice.

2. Did you like the film? Why or why not? Do you think Howard did a good job illustrating this time? What did he leave out? What, if anything, did he get wrong?

The essay is due Friday, Dec. 21. No late work will be accepted.

Dec. 13, 14 and 17

Dec. 13: Students read from the Jungle and answered questions that went with the famous muckraking novel.

Dec. 14: After the basketball rally students were eager to get to some school work! Students viewed and analyzed some of Jacob Riis's famous photos of the tenement district in N.Y. 

Dec. 17: I collected the latest packet of in-class work (14 assignments). I provided class time for students to finish the Jungle assignment and any other work that was incomplete. 

Dec. 7 and Dec. 10

In class both Friday and Monday students worked on completing the Labor v. Capital assignment. Presentations will begin on Tuesday. 

Dec. 5

Students worked on the two-part Labor v. Capital project.

Dec. 3 and 4

Monday: I lectured about America in the late 1800s with a focus on Robber Barons. I also assigned a worksheet about the problems of Urbanization. Due Tuesday.

Tuesday: I finished the lecture about late 1800s America with focus on the responses of politicians and workers to the excesses of the Gilded Age. In 3rd period we began a new 2 part assignment about a specific conflict between labor and capital from that period, or about a person pertinent to that time.