Hello readers!
In class earlier this week we did a live Google hangout, a video chat, with an "Explainer" from MOSI, Museum of Science and Industry, in England! I was sadly not able to attend it as I was sick but I have learned a lot from the videos of the Google hangout. To prepare for the chat we did a few things the day before. We first looked at the MOSI website and read a few articles on the machines used in the cotton mills as well as learning a bit more on the life of someone working in a cotton mill. We also watched a video our "Explainer", Jaime, had sent to us the took us on a tour of some of the machines they had a the museum. This allowed us to see what they really looked like. While we watched the video we wrote down some vocab on the machines, like names and tools. It was very interesting to hear how they were pronounced, although with his thick British accent it was a bit hard to understand what he really said. After we wrote down the words we researched them using Google to see what they meant. Many of them were just the names of mechanisms and when we researched the words we were able to learn even more about how they worked. We then all tried to come up with some questions to ask Jaime during the Google hangout. This allowed us to prepare for the chat so we knew we would always have a question and a topic to talk about!
Watching the videos from the Google hangout on Edline, provided by my teacher, I learned a lot about how hard the working conditions were for the factory workers. The machines were very loud at the time and many of the workers would go deaf especially because there were so many machines in the factories. This was a big problem and hardship faced by the workers. In the clips I also learned about some of the protesters called the Luddites. They were protesting because the increase in cotton factories made them lose their jobs. They were also violent protesters that participated in burning houses down and other violent rituals. In another clip I learned about how many of the very dangerous jobs were given to orphans the factory owners had "adopted". The owners would go to orphanages and tell the people that they were going to take orphans for an apprenticeship till they were 18. The orphanage workers of course agreed because the orphans got free food and board. Sadly, many of the orphans died or got permanent injuries because of the dangerous job. By watching the clips I learned even more about how dangerous and horrendous a place the factories were.
As I was not there for the live event I of course would like to do another one so I could experience it first hand. I think it is a very interesting way to learn things and it allows not to listen to a teacher or the people in our class for yet another class period, not that we don't love learning from teachers and students! I think it is a great way to get some more information on a topic we know a bit about. It is also very interesting to be able to see the objects we were learning about right there. It is a great new way of learning things!
Thanks for reading!
Julianna
Sunday, September 28, 2014
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Creating Our Own Museums on the Industrial Revolution Cotton Industry
For this project each group learned about one part of the Industrial Revolution and the cotton industry. Here is an imagine of my groups project.
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The title of our project helps us understand the impact that cotton had on slavery during the time. The cotton industry made slavery very popular at the time. They needed labor in the mills and they used slavery to get the labor. I thought it was very surprising to see how popular it was in the north sense most people think that slavery really only took place in the south. One of the charts states that there were more slaves in the north than there were in North Carolina. I believe that the most important thing you can take away from our project is that slavery is everywhere and can happen at any time. With new, great things comes old, terrible things. In 1820 the United States slave population greatly increased because of the industrial revolution. In the south there was a need for slaves to grow and harvest cotton for the factories in the north to spin the cotton.
Another groups project was titled Condemning the Innocent: child labor during the industrial revolution. During the Industrial Revolution there was need for more labor and children were the best option when it came to the hard jobs. The children worked in textile mills and in mines pulling loads to get money for their family.
Pollution of the Revolution was the title of another project. The pollution caused by the revolution was terrible, rivers were low with bad smells and disgusting colors such as muddy browns. The revolution was not good for the environment surrounding it; town streets were being flooded with polluted water and waste.
Steam Powered Transportation: Now we're getting somewhere was the title of another group's project. The title explains it all. When the steam engine was invented transportation speed and ability increased. The railroad was invented and boats ran faster and more efficiently.
The final group created a project called Spinning a City. The revolution in spinning looms created jobs for men and woman. The Spinning Jenny allowed rates to increase by allowing more thread to be spun at oonce. This was then put to use in textile mills everywhere.
The title of our project helps us understand the impact that cotton had on slavery during the time. The cotton industry made slavery very popular at the time. They needed labor in the mills and they used slavery to get the labor. I thought it was very surprising to see how popular it was in the north sense most people think that slavery really only took place in the south. One of the charts states that there were more slaves in the north than there were in North Carolina. I believe that the most important thing you can take away from our project is that slavery is everywhere and can happen at any time. With new, great things comes old, terrible things. In 1820 the United States slave population greatly increased because of the industrial revolution. In the south there was a need for slaves to grow and harvest cotton for the factories in the north to spin the cotton.
Another groups project was titled Condemning the Innocent: child labor during the industrial revolution. During the Industrial Revolution there was need for more labor and children were the best option when it came to the hard jobs. The children worked in textile mills and in mines pulling loads to get money for their family.
Pollution of the Revolution was the title of another project. The pollution caused by the revolution was terrible, rivers were low with bad smells and disgusting colors such as muddy browns. The revolution was not good for the environment surrounding it; town streets were being flooded with polluted water and waste.
Steam Powered Transportation: Now we're getting somewhere was the title of another group's project. The title explains it all. When the steam engine was invented transportation speed and ability increased. The railroad was invented and boats ran faster and more efficiently.
The final group created a project called Spinning a City. The revolution in spinning looms created jobs for men and woman. The Spinning Jenny allowed rates to increase by allowing more thread to be spun at oonce. This was then put to use in textile mills everywhere.
Thursday, September 11, 2014
The Industrial Revolution: What was really revolutionary?
Hello,
In class a few days ago we started to learn about the Industrial Revolution. We used articles to take notes on specific parts of the Industrial Revolution, the revolutionary aspects. These aspects are technology, people, resources, and transportation. Each group took notes on each aspect and then we shared what we learned with each other group.
People. They are the start of everything. We humans start everything. In the Industrial Revolution they improved farming, started to improve the use of land, and the death rate started to decline. To improve farming they built dikes to shelter the land from the sea and water sources. They also made the soil better by fertilizing it with livestock manure, mixed the soil with other soil, and rotated their crop to let the soil rejuvenate. They also used the land more efficiently by planting the seeds in rows instead of randomly. They started to create pastures for livestock by gaining more land from peasant farmers and putting it use for their farms. The peasant farmers are then forced to work in the city so the people in the city can get laborers. By increasing farming rates and producing better and more food the death rate then decreases. Without any of these improvements we wouldn't be able to produce any of the food we produce now.
Transportation isn't something we think about everyday now. We just hop in our cars and go where we need to go. But before the Industrial Revolution they had almost no means of transportation. During the revolution the steam engine was invented. The steam engine allowed people to not depend on only water transportation. The steam engine was faster than any other transportation machine at the time so they were able to move more items faster. By laying down tracks they didn't have to rely on water anymore and the steam powered boats made it so they wouldn't have to worry about the weather conditions as much as they did before. The steam engine is the basis of every single vehicle we have today, especially today's train.
Thank you for reading!
Julianna
In class a few days ago we started to learn about the Industrial Revolution. We used articles to take notes on specific parts of the Industrial Revolution, the revolutionary aspects. These aspects are technology, people, resources, and transportation. Each group took notes on each aspect and then we shared what we learned with each other group.
People. They are the start of everything. We humans start everything. In the Industrial Revolution they improved farming, started to improve the use of land, and the death rate started to decline. To improve farming they built dikes to shelter the land from the sea and water sources. They also made the soil better by fertilizing it with livestock manure, mixed the soil with other soil, and rotated their crop to let the soil rejuvenate. They also used the land more efficiently by planting the seeds in rows instead of randomly. They started to create pastures for livestock by gaining more land from peasant farmers and putting it use for their farms. The peasant farmers are then forced to work in the city so the people in the city can get laborers. By increasing farming rates and producing better and more food the death rate then decreases. Without any of these improvements we wouldn't be able to produce any of the food we produce now.
 |
| Extension Master Gardener http://blogs.extension.org/mastergardener/2013/04/23/exploring-our-roots-a-short-history-of-extension-and-the-master-gardener-program/ |
Transportation isn't something we think about everyday now. We just hop in our cars and go where we need to go. But before the Industrial Revolution they had almost no means of transportation. During the revolution the steam engine was invented. The steam engine allowed people to not depend on only water transportation. The steam engine was faster than any other transportation machine at the time so they were able to move more items faster. By laying down tracks they didn't have to rely on water anymore and the steam powered boats made it so they wouldn't have to worry about the weather conditions as much as they did before. The steam engine is the basis of every single vehicle we have today, especially today's train.
 |
| The Open Door Web Site http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/IR/028.html |
Julianna
Monday, September 8, 2014
Teaching students how to really use the Internet
Hello!
A few days ago in class we started to learn about how we should search and research on the internet responsibly. To learn to do so we did a few activities. We first used Google A Day. Google A Day asks you to figure out an answer to a question without using any spoilers. This helps teach us how to search for things using the correct phrases to find an answer. The second activity we did was go over website accuracy, authenticity, and reliability. This second activity helped us identify good websites to use for research and searching to find good information.
So the first activity we did was Google A Day. The link to this website to learn even more is right here: http://www.agoogleaday.com/#game=started. Google A Day is a website, obviously run by Google. It works by asking you a question and you have to find the answer without using any spoilers. Surprisingly it is very hard! It was a lot of fun because we got to work together in groups and it was like we were all on a mission. Plus we had a bit of a competition going with other groups. It was a bit frustrating because some of the questions asked were hard to understand and therefor hard to find answers to. We learned a lot of good things from this activity including what were good phrases to research and what reliable websites were to use for the answers.
Accuracy, authenticity, and reliability are three key words to think about when looking at a website and trying to find reliable sources. Accuracy according to Google definitions is "the quality or state of being correct or precise" so for a website this would mean it had correct information on it. Authenticity, also according to Google definitions, is "the quality of being authentic" but what is authentic? Authentic is genuine, true, and real. Authentic for a website doesn't just mean the information is real but you have a good author of the website. Now reliability according to dictionary.com is "...depended on, as for accuracy, honesty, or achievement". This would mean for a website that the source is able to be depended on for the information given. It means that it is true, up to date, and usable. Now many people have heard of the website for the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. This website is all about the FAKE tree octopus that someone has made up. The information seems accurate and authentic and reliable but it is not true. You can't use it as a school website because it reaches none of the words listen above. To learn more about the FAKE Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus go to this website here: http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/.
Julianna
A few days ago in class we started to learn about how we should search and research on the internet responsibly. To learn to do so we did a few activities. We first used Google A Day. Google A Day asks you to figure out an answer to a question without using any spoilers. This helps teach us how to search for things using the correct phrases to find an answer. The second activity we did was go over website accuracy, authenticity, and reliability. This second activity helped us identify good websites to use for research and searching to find good information.
So the first activity we did was Google A Day. The link to this website to learn even more is right here: http://www.agoogleaday.com/#game=started. Google A Day is a website, obviously run by Google. It works by asking you a question and you have to find the answer without using any spoilers. Surprisingly it is very hard! It was a lot of fun because we got to work together in groups and it was like we were all on a mission. Plus we had a bit of a competition going with other groups. It was a bit frustrating because some of the questions asked were hard to understand and therefor hard to find answers to. We learned a lot of good things from this activity including what were good phrases to research and what reliable websites were to use for the answers.
Accuracy, authenticity, and reliability are three key words to think about when looking at a website and trying to find reliable sources. Accuracy according to Google definitions is "the quality or state of being correct or precise" so for a website this would mean it had correct information on it. Authenticity, also according to Google definitions, is "the quality of being authentic" but what is authentic? Authentic is genuine, true, and real. Authentic for a website doesn't just mean the information is real but you have a good author of the website. Now reliability according to dictionary.com is "...depended on, as for accuracy, honesty, or achievement". This would mean for a website that the source is able to be depended on for the information given. It means that it is true, up to date, and usable. Now many people have heard of the website for the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. This website is all about the FAKE tree octopus that someone has made up. The information seems accurate and authentic and reliable but it is not true. You can't use it as a school website because it reaches none of the words listen above. To learn more about the FAKE Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus go to this website here: http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/.
Julianna
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
What do students really think about their education?
Hello readers!
I am Julianna, a sophomore at Reading Memorial High School and this is my Honors History blog. This is where we will be asked to write about topics in our history class.
Thanks for reading!
Many teachers think they are great teachers or at least on the right track but do they ever ask what the students think? Students have their own ideas of what would make a great teacher for them. A great teacher to me needs to have a few mandatory qualities; sense of humor (especially for high schoolers), a desire and passion for teaching, caring and a desire to learn. Without these things a teacher will never be great. They must want to do the job they are doing or they will never do it well. And lets be honest now high schoolers like to have fun and joke around and we want teachers who will do it with us while also teaching us the things we need to learn. This may be a tall order but being a great teacher is something to really strive for. I have only had three or four great teachers in my 10 years as a student. Now I have had a good amount of teachers in these years, too many to count actually. These three or four great teachers had a desire to help students learn. They also had a desire to learn and enjoy their job. As long as my future and current teachers have a positive attitude and a desire to teach and learn then the school year should go well. I look forward to learning with everyone this school year.
This is the John Green Video from Youtube addressing Students
An Open Letter to Students
John Green, the author of A Fault In Our Stars and many educational youtube videos, has this idea that students have a duty to put their education to use and do great things. I completely agree with this! We all have our own idea of what it means to put something use and what it means to do great things but as long as we reach our own idea of those things than that is what matters. This school year I hope to do great things. I hope to improve my research skills and my understanding skills as a student. I also hope to improve my horseback riding this school year as well as getting better at balancing school and my barn time. Hopefully I will make more friends and also keep my current ones as well! To reach my goals I will keep doing what I have been doing as I have been succeeding in reaching my goals the way I am now before.
Have a great school year!
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