Week 15 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! As of clicking "Publish", I am headed to the gym for a "12 Days of Christmas" WOD and then home for a needed break. A special thanks to those of you who offered gifts - a very kind and thoughtful gesture. I have many ornaments and decorations at home that carry the signature of these little rewards of teaching, though the "consumable" gifts are appreciated all the same :)

Our week was spent debating the key issues that arose out of the Convention in Philadelphia as our Founding Fathers drafted the new Constitution for the new nation. Please ask your son/daughter about our debates in class. For a recap, what we did was research one of the delegates to assume their identity as a contributing member of the debates that fateful Summer in 1787. I prepared lessons where we unpacked a key issue in the form of a question:

1. How should States be represented in the new government?
2. How should slaves be counted?
3. How should the Chief Executive be elected?

These questions were debated using some of the same arguments used by Madison (VA), Hamilton (NY), Sherman (CT), Gerry (MA), Wilson (PA), and others. When in doubt, or for guidance, we leaned on Madison's own notes from the convention. As you ask your son/daughter about OUR version of the debates, feel free to reference the "official" minutes of our proceedings. Once we came to a conclusion, we compared and contrasted our results to the real delegates. Some times we were real close, and other times, we were way off. Of course, it's not right to compare, but it involved us in the process to think critically about why the compromises fell as they did, both for better and for worse.

Finally, we completed our unit on Creating and Debating the Constitution. We wrapped that up today as we participated in an interactive quiz/test using Plickers. I asked them some tough questions and they got to see immediate feedback and immediate reflection on their answers.

As we look forward to the new year, we are going to begin January with a critical look at the Bill of Rights by probing the question that emerged from an article I shared with all students and now you as well. The question challenges us to assess our deeply-held views in the Bill of Rights, primarily freedom of religion. We must consider what is required of us as citizens if we expect to uphold the freedoms and liberties we hold so dear. The question is this: "Did the Founding Fathers envision/discuss the possibility of a Muslim president?"

I am looking forward to this lesson because I wonder about the contemporary challenge facing our nation as we become increasingly antagonistic toward a worldview, belief system, and civic order that we resist understanding. Please take time during these next few weeks and read the article together, keeping an open mind to what I challenged above. This is not required, but may provide for a richer experience in the classroom.

In the meantime, I wish you and your family a Very MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! As well as a Happy New Year.

If we don't bump into each other until then, I remain yours,
Mr. Bruce

5th Hour Delegates from the various states meeting and
greeting as we open the Philadelphia Convention.

Week 14 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

We can begin counting on one hand the number of days left before a needed two-week break for one of the best times of the year - CHRISTMAS! I am looking forward to time with family, working on a few small projects, but most of all the celebration of the meaning of the holiday.

This week in class we finished some really awesome online timelines. Monday and Tuesday were devoted to the completion of a project that covered the bulk of all conversations that led to and through the creation of the Constitution. I explained more about this project in last week's email and asked that if you wanted to know more that you visit the Creating the Constitution page on the class website. These turned out really awesome and was a great use of a very neat web tool (though, some did not finish...). Please ask your students to see them!

Before we left the computer lab all students in each class selected (or was assigned) one of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention. According to the instructions on the Debating the Constitution page on the class website, we researched our chosen delegate with the intent of taking his place as we debate the merits of our Constitution the way they did 228 years ago. Over the weekend, you would to well to ask your student about their delegate. Particularly, you could ask:

• How do you feel about a strong national (central) government?
• What are your thoughts about how States should be represented in Congress?
• What are your beliefs about whether or not southern states should be allowed to count slaves as part of the overall population?
• How should the chief executive be elected?

These questions and more will be decided next week in class debates. I am considering recording some debates that I know will be "hot" and so if there is any opposition, please inform me via email. The intent is to have something to share for next year as a standard of expectation, but also to give you all a window into the classroom. 

Next week is devoted to concluding debates on the key issues from the Constitutional Convention. It will allow for a nice break before we come back in January to complete a short lesson on the ratification of this document by the people in State Conventions. 

Until then, I am yours,

Mr. Bruce

Week 13 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

I am sitting in the computer lab watching your kid work to complete a very cool timeline. It is so awesome how they take to new tools for creating and curating content as they learn. We finished this week leaving this project unfinished. I don't like doing that, but I apparently overloaded them with their "Creating the Constitution" project. Take a look at the Creating the Constitution page for details. Monday and Tuesday I hope to finish this project and usher in a new one, which I'll explain below.

Looking back at what we have done this week, it began with a video from PBS that explored the concept of federalism. We hear this word, or at least its commonly used relative, very frequently when we refer to our "federal" government. However, too few of us really understand the system that divides, separates, and distinguishes our federal system. We explored the typical and often used definition of federalism as a system of shared (or divided) power between a central government and several sub-units of government. If you were a good student, you would remember that from school. But our American system of federalism is little different in that it doesn't allow for a clear division of power or authority or explicitly define what or how much is shared. The result is a muddy debate or conflict between the States and the National Government that has shifted and twisted over the 227 years since the Constitution was written. This video did a great job connecting the views and desires of the Founding Fathers with the debate that still goes on today. I encourage you to view that this weekend.

This led to the transition and prep timeline project of "Creating the Constitution". It will set us up to debate the Constitution in a simulated format. The classroom will transform into the East Room of the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall). I may be asking your students to bring in things to help decorate this room to fit the mood such as candles, green cloth/sheets, etc. (see images below). We need to start by taking on the identity of one of the delegates and study his background and understand his views on the issues faced at the convention. Then we will debate the issues according to the delegates' historic positions and attitudes. As we debate, we will learn how compromise filled the air and how the Constitution we know today was formed by this group of extraordinary men we know today as the Founding Fathers.

Until then,
Mr. Bruce

Week 12 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and Students,

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I took the chance for Bell Work today to ask students what they were thankful for. The reflection was worthwhile and I think, at least for those who shared whole class, certainly recognize the things in their lives that lift them up. Family, far and away, topped the list. This means that we are thankful for you, parents, for the ways in which you lay down and set aside your lives and desires for the benefit of your students.

As a recap of this week I turn your attention to the details that we gleaned from our final look at the correspondence between George Washington and Henry Knox from February, 1787. Ask you son/daughter how their letters helped us understand the difference between the government that the States created and wanted and the one that the States needed by the end of the 1780s. Also, be sure to ask them what was different about the United States before 1787 as compared to now. For those of us that weren't in Youth in Government, I kept things light as we did a lesson/activity that connected some ideas and linked cause with effect from British rule, to the Articles of Confederation, to the Constitution. I've attached that here for you. Also see This Day in History for Nov. 23.

I wanted to also throw at you an update I made to my use of mrbruceshistory.wikispaces.com. On the home page of my site you can find the daily work embedded front and center. This means if your son/daughter is home sick, they can know what we are doing in Mr. Bruce's History by visiting the home page of the class website. These are all accessible via the "This Day in History" calendar which is linked on the left navigation (see image below).

I encourage you (particularly students) to increase your awareness and comfort with the class website. Next week, I am planning on some time in the computer lab for you to become contributors of the site, making a few pages of your own and creating an interactive timeline of this Constitutional period.

But that's next week. Again, have a great Thanksgiving!

Yours,
Mr. Bruce

Week 11 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and students,

Last winter's project - Olaf
melted in the rain the very
next day...

What a weekend that we have ahead of us! If you don't already know, winter storm Bella is bearing down on us. I'm just hoping the Winter Storm Watch doesn't fall flat. I'm a fan of snow, especially the kind that allows for snowmen.

As far as our week in class, we have devoted ourselves to understanding the reasons for why States sent delegates to Philadelphia in  May of 1787. History textbooks settle on the conclusion that it was to write a Constitution. But we can't do that without acknowledging the constitution that was already in place - The Articles of Confederation. For the purposes of summary and review, I have prepared a set of video lectures for you (parents and students) to use to cover the basics:

• Articles of Confederation Pt. 1
• Articles of Confederation Pt. 2
• Articles of Confederation Pt. 3

The question we have been pursuing through this week is "How was the government the states needed different than the government that they wanted?" What we closed in on today in class, was that Washington felt that the national government needed to be stronger and that the states needed to be weaker. 

Our work was difficult, but student leadership pulled us through as we dug into a letter from George Washington written on February 3, 1787 to Henry Knox. This letter was just days of after Shays' Rebellion and three months before the Philadelphia Convention would begin. Surely, this letter contains clues to the government the states wanted versus the government they needed - at least according to Washington. His letter contains nuggets for why and how it was going to be difficult to get the States to give up their "darling Sovereignties." I've included a few pics of students leading the class through a close read of this letter. It was great to see them engaged in a document as difficult as this one was.

As we head into next week, I will be honest in my intention to be kind to those going to Youth in Government. As a former advisor, I know they follow an extremely challenging schedule and have no time for school work while there. As it is a three day week, we will solidify what we have learned in one form or another, but I will not add anything for YIG students to do. Next Wednesday, when our YIG classmates return, we are going to make sure we are ready open the Philadelphia Convention, with our clear understanding of the challenge and purpose that the delegates were faced with.

If you are in YIG, please just be sure to complete the Washington to Knox Letter/Worksheet before Wednesday - work together on it.

Have a great weekend! Let the white stuff fall :)

Yours,
Mr. Bruce

6th Hour: Brody and Noah

2nd Hour: Keegan and Abby

3rd Hour: Kristina and Taylor

4th Hour: Luke and Makinzie

Week 10 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and students,

What a week! Fresh into a new marking period are we. With a short week behind us, I am going to keep this note short and sweet.

I am going to start with sweet... Thanks to all you who came to meet with us at Conferences. It was a pleasure to sit and chat with you about your great kids! The foundations you have created allows us to extend their learning in ways that are fit for a growing mind. Thank you also for your feedback regarding our setting for Conferences. There are a variety of ways we could go about inviting you in, and I think I have done them all in my 11 years of teaching. But this setting works the best for parents and teachers when you factor in all the variables and account for the negatives. The reality behind conferences is that there is no such thing as perfect and where benefits exist, there may be a few things that are sacrificed to achieve that. Our reflection on conferences is that our structure maximizes benefits while minimizes costs.

I want to take a moment here to thank all you parents who are Veterans. We spent some time this week to look presently and historically at the necessity of taking a day to recognize and honor those that have given a part of their life, as well as those who have given much, much more, to provide for us a way of living that is too easy to take for granted. God has blessed us through those who have answered the call of duty. May God continue to bless them for their sacrifice for our benefit.

Lastly, I want to point us all to the next week. Our focus is on the Philadelphia Convention -

• Why did delegates meet? 
• What was their purpose? 
• Who attended? 
• And what was the result of the meeting?

Most of us know the Constitution as the guide for our government, but few recognize the historical necessity behind its creation and the problems it was set out to fix. We will dive into those questions and more as we reconvene Monday.

Until then, I am yours,

Mr. Bruce

Week 9 in Mr. Bruce's History

Parents and students,

In a flash, the week is over and so is our first marking period. Next week we hold Parent-Teacher Conferences. Our conferences will be panel style where you will have the opportunity to sit with all of your core teachers (History, Science, Math, English, and Spanish) in a single setting. Please email Mrs. Dean with questions or to schedule a session.

We ended the marking period in a perfect position to step forward into Unit 3 - The Constitution. However, when preparing to study the Constitution, we must pause to learn of its need. Often, people learned to forget or ignore the critical years between the end of the American Revolution and the creation of the Constitution. From 1781 until 1788, the United States were not united and was not a single nation. Rather it was a loose association of independent nations (states) organized under a confederation. They agreed to be unified for common defense and welfare according to The Articles of Confederation (a.k.a. Constitution 1.0). The reason why the Constitution we know and love was created was because the first one failed...

So we spent time this week looking at that failure and the nature of 13 free sovereign and independent nations figuring things out. One question we wondered about and explored was "Could Washington have become king?" We read in a letter an offer made to Washington by many of his Army officers. It was a proposition formed from significant grievances about Congress and the "weakness of republicks". It offered Washington the title of King if he agreed to lead the army to take over Congress. Washington, of course, sternly put that idea down. His choice of words is worth asking your son or daughter about. Read more about this as the beginnings of what would later develop into the Newburgh Conspiracy.

Finally we learned today about the one successful and lasting accomplishment of the Confederation Congress under the Articles of Confederation. Do you know why Branch County is made up of townships with 36 square miles each? Do you know why county roads are generally east/west and north/south and are spaced at mile intervals? Ask your son/daughter. Because they learned about the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and how these two laws created a revenue stream for Congress and territories for the addition of future states.

Big week. Lots to talk about this weekend.

Next week we focus on a near-second revolution that began with some justifiably angry farmers in Massachusetts.

See you at conferences!
Mr. Bruce