Technology

I have to thank my insightful 7th grade students!  This is the first time that I have introduced "hands on" blogging to the class in three years with assignments.  I figured that it would save a lot of time/head aches if I posted current events instead of spending time writing them out in every class by hand.  I have to say that I love it.  The student feedback is awesome.  They are actually embrasing the technology and communicating with one another for the first time!  We actually had a few students absent today due to illness and they still submitted their responses!  After communicating with students about any frustrations with the new format...I have found that they love it!  So this is to you 7th grade!  Keep it up...proud of you all! 

12/10 Week's Current Event

CAIRO (AP) — Several hundred Egyptians marched toward the presidential palace in Cairo Sunday to protest the president's decision to keep the referendum on a disputed draft constitution scheduled for next week on time.

The protests were noticeably smaller than other rallies over the past week, possibly reflecting the opposition's bind in the face of the partial concession by President Mohammed Morsi, who agreed to annul his Nov. 22 decrees that gave him near unrestricted powers and immunity from judicial oversight.
Despite scrapping the earlier decree, Morsi stuck to the Dec. 15 referendum on a constitution hurriedly adopted by his Islamist allies during an all-night session late last month.
"This has confused many, who opted to stay home," said Tarek Shalaby, a protester and member of the leftist Revolutionary Socialist group, as he marched toward the palace. "But we should continue our pressure. We can't lose our momentum."
Shalaby said he has still not decided whether he will vote no or boycott the referendum.
The opposition National Salvation Front called on supporters to rally against the referendum. The group is holding a late night meeting Sunday to decide on their next move.
The opposition said Morsi's rescinding of his decrees was an empty gesture because the decrees had already achieved their main aim of ensuring the adoption of the draft constitution. The edicts had barred the courts from dissolving the Constituent Assembly that passed the charter and further neutered the judiciary by making Morsi immune from its oversight.
Still, the lifting of the decrees could persuade many judges to drop their two-week strike to protest what their leaders called Morsi's assault on the judiciary. An end to their strike means they would oversee the referendum as is customary in Egypt.
In his late night announcement, Morsi replaced the scrapped decrees with a new one that doesn't give him unrestricted powers, but allows him to give voters an option if they decide to vote "no" on the disputed draft charter.
In the new decree, if the constitution is rejected, Morsi would call for new elections to select 100-member panel to write a new charter within three months. The new panel would then have up to six months to complete its task, and the president calls for a new referendum with a month.
The process adds about 10 more months to Egypt's raucous transition, but could answer some of the opposition demands of a more representative panel to write the charter, if the elections are not swept by Islamists.
Members of a so-called Alliance of Islamists forces warned it will take all measures to protect "legitimacy" and the president — comments that signal further violence may lie ahead.

Responding to the Blog Current Event!

This is a picture of our World History students collaborative reading and learning how to blog!  The students are now responding to the current event on this page each week.  They are also posting responses on student projects and current events!  They are really bringing the class to life!

World History Current Event 12/4/12

 

(CNN) -- Enrique Pena Nieto was sworn in as Mexico's new president Saturday, returning his party to power and promising to change the country's fight against organized crime.

Pena Nieto belongs to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled Mexico for more than 70 years before losing the presidency in 2000.

"We are a nation that is going at two different speeds. There's a Mexico of progress and development. But there's another, too, that lives in the past and in poverty," he said during his inaugural address at the National Palace in Mexico City.

"Mexico has not achieved the advances its people demand and deserve," he said.

What Mexico can accomplish for U.S.

Pena Nieto, 46, promised to create economic opportunities and reduce violence. Peace, he said, would be his government's first goal.

More than 60,000 people lost their lives in drug-related violence during the six-year term of his predecessor, Felipe Calderon.

Without jobs and social programs, Pena Nieto has said, millions of people will turn to crime.

Pena Nieto said earlier this week that his security strategy will focus on reducing the drug-related violence, though he provided few specifics about how he would stem the violence or what aspects of Calderon's strategy he will change.

The two men took part in handover ceremonies.

Exactly as scheduled, at 12:01 a.m. local time, Calderon and Pena Nieto walked down the escalators to a patio in the National Palace.

In a ceremony lasting about five minutes, Calderon received the national flag from a military school cadet and immediately handed it to Pena Nieto. The act symbolized the transfer of command of the security forces.

Afterward, both men greeted members of the new Cabinet, then the outgoing Cabinet members.

Minutes later, in a separate ceremony, Pena Nieto conducted the oath of office of the new Security Cabinet, comprised of Miguel Angel Osorio Chong as the head of the Ministry of the Interior, Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda as head of the Ministry of National Defense and Vidal Soberon Sanz as Secretary of the Navy.

Pena Nieto said the new government had taken office "from the first minute of this day."

"A governmental transition has been completed in an orderly, legal and transparent fashion," he said.

"This process has helped to preserve the political stability, economic and social development of the nation. Mexico has shown democratic maturity and institutional strength," he said. "In accordance with Article 83 of the constitution, today I begin to exercise the honorable position of president of the United States of Mexico."

As Pena Nieto was being sworn in, his opponents clashed with police outside Congress. Video showed protesters hurling rocks at metal barriers, as police fired back with tear gas.

Pena Nieto won 38% of the vote in July, besting his closest competitor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who garnered some 32% of the vote and refused to accept the result.

Pena Nieto and Calderon took to social media to commemorate the transition.

"My term ends, but not my commitment to Mexico, which I will continue fighting until the last of my days," Calderon tweeted.

Another of his tweets read: "The handover of the national flag for the change of guard from the president to the president-elect symbolizes the transfer of command."

 

World History Presentation

http://prezi.com/zj6hhboktdo6/husted/?auth_key=a777316d678c015d5320cc02c4b9a4a0e4fa6b8fc

Here is a presentation by a collaborative group of 7th graders.  They compared Egypt, Mesopatamia, and the United States in a 3D presentation. 

8th Grade Field Trip to Courthouse!

These are pictures from our anual trip to the courthouse.  After student presentations, they were able to see our local government in action! 

Local Government Unit!

Today, the 8th grade students were working on technology Prezi's collaboratively in groups (while sitting separately).  Prezi's are a fairly new way to present information to groups.  Often this program is used in the business world and allows those designing it to be in different locations while collaborating on the same 3D presentation! 
The overall big idea of this unit for the students to learn their rights as citizens at the local level as well as the tools/services that the county government provides.  They are learning the roles of a productive citizen. 

Current Event Research for Government!

Students are beginning their government unit by finding local, state, and federal articles in local newspapers.  We are getting ready to begin group projects pertaining to our local government in Bloomfield.  Students will learn how the government impacts them as citizens! 

Egyptian Farming Steps (World History)

Had the class get into collaborative groups to study/create a diagram explaining how a teenager assisted their parents in farming during the ancient times in Egypt. 

Anti-Bullying Wall

Our 8th grade students created this anti-bullying wall to show their support for the cause.  Here at Davis County, we want our students to feel welcome in a learning environment! 

Egyptian Cartouches!

Student examples of cartouches.  Our students dyed these in tea to make them look authentic.  They then wrote their first and last names in hieroglyphics along with a design to represent ancient Egypt.  Fun!

World History Personal Timelines

Our World History classroom was learning how to make timelines with the BC/AD concept.  Our students created personal timelines where they used BMB/AMB (Before My Birth/After My Birth).  They brought family photos to school to create this project and then presented themselves to the classroom! 

Classroom Forts!

Our students researched the first permanent settlement in North America (Jamestown).  They learned how the colony narrowly became the first fort.  After learning about the settler hardships, they created forts of their own design using what they learned about Jamestown's geographical location. 

Local Courthouse

Hello! 

Today I took the kids on a short field trip the the courthouse to learn about our local government.  The kids began yesterday with exploring our county's government website.  They then saw the offices in action as they took a tour through the entire Davis County courthouse!  I'm glad that the weather held out...because we got our workout walking there from the middle school. This is a picture of our county supervisor, Dale Taylor as he speaks to our students in the courtroom.  I think that the kids really enjoyed it! 

Tomorrow, we have a guest speaked coming into our classroom to talk to the kids about local history! 

Student Teacher Assisting Collaborative Groups

We have a new student teacher.  This is a picture of Mrs. Sprouse answering questions in collaborative group work. 

Declaration Collaborative Projects

Giving everyone an update on the Social Studies classes at the high school.  We are in the middle of learning about the Declaration of Independence.  In this picture, our students got out of the classroom and were learning about their sections of the document through a summarization activity.  Each group had a "chairman" that rotated through the different collaborative subgroups...teaching what they had summarized in their portion of the document!  This was a great way to enable the students to teach what their knowledge was!