Week 26 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

Well, we made it through the Daylight Savings Time change and Parent-Teacher Conferences. Thank you to all who came to support your students through the Spring Student-Led Conference. We know that, for some, the conversation you had in this format is much like you already do at home. To that I offer my sincerest "kudos" to you. For many, the demands of schedule and daily activities that occur after school related to work or extra-curriculars often prohibits us from the slow, deliberate, and intentional discussions about school and academic growth in ways that lift up and, if necessary, allow students to reflect on their efforts in a constructive and corrective way. We feel that this Spring Conference format allowed for that for all students. It is powerful. And we thank you for what you do to support your student's education.

As far as what we accomplished in class, well, I've got some examples below (bottom of post). This week we learned about the birth of "AMERICANISM". Dozens of times, I stated "There's nothing more American than ________." filling in the blank with things like Uncle Sam, "The Star-Spangled Banner", Rip Van Winkle, capitalism, technological innovation, pushing the frontier, etc... All these things were born in the two decades after the War of 1812 and created, for the time, a truly unique American identity. The posters we created are intended to showcase the leaders, art, music, literature, and geographic obstacles that defined this identity. I think they did a great job! What do you think? Ask your student questions about their poster: What did they study? How does that (or he) express what America was in the 1820s?

Our efforts this week pave the way for a unit next week as we begin looking at the attempts made to combat the moral and social problems that emerged during this same time and the role of Christianity and the "Second Great Awakening" in leading the charge against "intemperance" and slavery. This will allow us to dig into some primary sources, compare perspectives, and understand the decision making of leaders as they tried to keep America growing in ways they thought best in the face of irreconcilable differences of opinion.

A light way to end the week - yet still community-minded - was our trip to the Humane Society of Branch County (A No-Kill Shelter). Each marking period a different group (arranged by 5th hour classes) of 8th grade students have been spending 1.5 hours out there helping out in ways that 24 laborers can make an impact: cleaning gutters, picking up the yard, going for walks. In the end, it's hard not to fall in love with some. In particular, Brandi, Cooper, and Tiana certainly pushed their way into the hearts of a few of us. You can see these three in our group photo below. There are many more who certainly would love to be in your home, or in the home of someone you know.

It was a chilly day, but we kept warm with our new friends.

Photos from Posters Made This Week

Week 24 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

Welcome to March! Today, March 4, 2016 is the 215th Anniversary of Jefferson's inauguration as president. We used this day to spend an extra class period on Jefferson's presidency and his legacy as he left us constantly confused about what he really believed in. This is what makes Jefferson's presidency and his record as a leader difficult, interesting, and important for us to study it today.

All week, we have been exploring the nature of foreign policy as it affected the decisions made by our first presidents. We began by making it clear, using Washington's Farewell Address (video assignment pt. 2 last weekend) that our first president challenged his successors to remain neutral and isolated. Unfortunately, the dirty love triangle between U.S., France, and Britain (our top two trading partners) made this very difficult as the latter two continued to declare war on each other. Adams, Jefferson, and (as we will see Monday) Madison all had to address the dilemma of how to protect American ships engaged in overseas trade.

Adams used a bit of force (Quasi-War) and military build-up to create a firm ground upon which we could negotiate with the French. This resulted in a peace that (kind-of) lasted a few years but it cost us more in the end than we received from the deal (see Notes for Tuesday's Lesson: Adams' Foreign Policy and the Election of 1800 - Web view). As we learned, Adams chose the right thing to do, keeping us out of war and without any permanent alliances. However, as we also learned, it also cost him the Election of 1800.

We took the time to study Jefferson's goals as president to reduce the size of the national government. We had learned about his beliefs of Government last week as we contrasted the Hamiltonian Federalists with the Jeffersonian Republicans. These ideals and goals when he becomes president would definitely bite him as he, too, had to address the same dilemma as Jefferson: how to keep American shipping safe from attack. Whereas Adams had to deal with the French, Jefferson faced more enemies on the seas. He uses the navy to challenge the Barbary Pirates, leading to an end to paying them tribute for our safety (eventually). But his troubles with French are amplified by increased conflict between them and Britain. He works with Congress to pass the Embargo act of 1807, cutting off all trade with Britain and France, intended to punish them. This results in a disastrous effect on our economy and boosted American manufacturing, which Republicans desired less of. In the end, he kicks the problem down the road to the next guy, Madison. We'll learn how his strategy is what the others avoided...

Lastly, as we re-capped and came full-circle of Jefferson's presidency, we learned about Marbury v. Madison. As  most important Supreme Court decision that served as the only battle of the "Revolution of 1800." Feel free to view the notes from today (Friday 3.4.16 - Web view) and the videos we used today.

Looking forward to next week. Until then, I remain

Yours,
Mr. Bruce

Week 23 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

I went to start writing this, titling it Week 22, when I realized that this is actually week 23 and I missed getting last week's out. Bad, bad, bad. Sorry for not keeping you all in the loop with a regular email. I'll make it my goal to keep up for the rest of the school year.

We had a great week, in spite of the day off yesterday. When the reports came on Monday of a likely snow storm, I started planning for a day off. While today was a little crazy, we certainly accomplished enough this week to feel good about it. I'd like to make sure here that you know about/remember the video assignment: Washington's Foreign Policy (mrbruceshistory.wikispaces.com for videos and handouts).

The biggest thing I want you all to quiz your son/daughter about is our first real political parties. We spent the bulk of our time learning about how the Federalists and Republicans emerged as a result of early challenges to the new nation. As Washington struggled to keep us out of foreign conflict (at the same time Europe ignites as a result of the French Revolution), opinions about economy, government, how to interpret the Constitution, and whether or not we should support France all worked to divide leaders into these two distinct political divisions. Good questions to ask your students are:

• Why did more southerners align with the Republican Party?
• Why did Hamilton's plan for a National Bank upset Republicans?
• What do you think Jefferson's vision for America was? How did this differ than Hamilton's?

This period in our history, while probably as critical and fragile as (or more than) any other, gets far too little attention. Our political history begins here with the beginning of a two-party system. It also gives us a chance to explore the beginning of our nation's foreign policy. Washington's plan for isolation in foreign conflict will set a foundation for over 100 years. 

Monday, we will explore the Election of 1800 as it exposes a huge flaw in our Constitution and how it sets a standard for a peaceful transition of power from one group to another. From there, we will explore that idea of isolation as a new nation with no navy and no desire to get dragged into a war in Europe. We'll also learn how America deals with pirates.

Until next week I remain yours,

Mr. Bruce