Another week, another project

In order to better understand the build up to World War I, students were tasked with doing a brief (1 hour of research time) project on the history of one of the major powers in Europe on the eve of WWI, and then reporting back to their classmates through a multi-media project. You can view the projects below.

Austria- Hungry - Carly

England - Joseph

France - Pierre

Germany - Matthew

Italy - Jane

Russia - Adrian

Serbia - James

Spain - Angelina

World War I Begins (Sort of!)

Humanities has left the Civil War behind (mostly) and pressed forward into World War I (or at least the build up). We have begun by exploring the major countries in Europe on the eve of the war and their interconnections. Topics that we are pursing include Nationalism, Imperialism and Militarism.

We are also covering some geography by playing a video game regularly to build spatial awareness of Europe. You can try it here.

We also have continued our reading of The Secret River, with students taking more responsibility for unpacking the primary and secondary understandings, and occasionally lifting the corner on tertiary understanding.

In writing, we have been exploring the key components of an essay, primarily Claim, Evidence, Rational, and Explanation, through short paragraphs in order to hone our explanatory skills and not operate on the assumption that just because it makes sense in our head everyone else will see it the same way.

If you have any questions, or need to contact me, email is the best option. You can reach me at eamonn.obrien@asu.edu.

Effects of the Civil War Essay

This week, students have been hard at work researching and crafting a rough draft on the effects of the Civil War. I have specifically instructed students to work on the writing only while in class. This allows for sharing of ideas, as well as for me to provide direct instruction during the writing process, rather than waiting for students to turn in a poorly constructed piece of writing, and simply point out all of their mistakes and expect them to improve for next time. While this is a time consuming process, it is one that is well worth the expenditure of time to help students truly learn the skill of writing and communicating effectively.

In addition to writing, we have continued our reading of Kate Grenville's The Secret River, where students are practicing the skill of exploring beyond primary meaning of text into secondary meaning while reading, as well as being exposed to the tertiary meaning that exists. For some, this is a relatively new skill, while others are more comfortable with it.

We have also been viewing some of Ken Burn's "Civil War" documentary, in order to reinforce some of the ideas we have already explored about the causes of the civil war, provide contextual background for what life was actually like during the time period, as well fill in the gap between "causes of" and "effects of" that students have independently researched.

If you have any questions, or need to contact me, email is the best option. You can reach me at eamonn.obrien@asu.edu.

Causes of the Civil War Projects

Humanities students completed their "Causes of the Civil War" multi-media projects to help us learn and practice research skills, working in groups, analyzing and synthesizing information, and effectively presenting information. All projects were completed and viewed by the class prior to Camp Tontozona, and can be viewed by clicking the links below.

Currently, students are researching the effects that the Civil War caused, in order to write their first paper of the year. Simultaneously, we are reading The Secret River, by Kate Grenville, practicing slow reading and annotating, in order to learn/practice analysis of text.

Causes of the Civil War Multi-Media Projects

Adrian and James

Pierre and Angelina

Matthew and Joseph

Carly and Jane

If you have any questions, or need to contact me, email is the best option. You can reach me at eamonn.obrien@asu.edu