Blog 8

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7jqLXLcx6VlckgwbTNuS0VyNzQ&authuser=0

Blog 7

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7jqLXLcx6VlQmFhazNXaC1WUk0/view?usp=sharing

Blog 6

American literature and american history seem to be swaying further apart, and hence make it harder to draw connections to. However, since the metacognitive blog gives some leash when it comes to blog topics, I would like to go on a tangent today. I was wondering if the new quarter should bring new practices or methods of teaching in both classes. Previous methods have been fairly effective, but I think the beginning of a semester allows for teachers and students to experiment with me things they doubt. One question I'd like to propose to the readers is if new methods of teaching would help you, or is it just me who feels this way? Also, I'd love to vent out some steam related to the excessive amount of projects we're getting, not only in american history, in literature and other classes as well. Including the metacognitive blog, national history day, and timeline, we have three relatively large and quite consuming projects in a single class alone. Though these projects are properly spaced out, it still is a huge load of stress on many of the students. With a new quarter under way, all of us are attempting to improve and expand on what we've accomplished the previous quarter. With the increased workload and decreased days at school, do you think it'll be possible without stressing too much? I for one am fearful of what might happen to myself if I hustle through these projects, knowing that quality work comes over quantity. Sorry for not audio blogging this week, my drive wouldn't support any more audio files. I hope to be back to audio blogs by the next entry. It would be great for me, Mr.Hoffman, and the rest of the readers if you guys could answer the simple questions I proposed in my blog. Thank you and Good Morning.

Week 5

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7jqLXLcx6VlN01veEc4VVgyQlU/edit?usp=docslist_api

Blog 4

https://docs.google.com/document/d/110EyciEDEJSc1pDT4Zu1g6I0/edit

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7jqLXLcx6VlRjdyb0g4aGJZLTg/edit?usp=docslist_api

I attempted to upload a video but it wasn't working, please use this link until I can fix the problem

Week 2

      This was a very material dense week in American History. The classes we attended were more than 70% of lecturing and very less amount of hands on and interaction. To some, this may appeal, but to others and me personally, this is a very tedious and inefficient way of teaching. What we did learn this past week was related to Liberties, and can be linked to John Winthrop's Speech on Liberty. Although not entirely the same context, we studied how certain liberties influenced lives of women, more specifically, factory workers who were women. With the industrial revolution and the development of machinery and tools to ease the work force necessary to run farms and agricultural planes, women were presented with a great increase in free time, and instead of spending it for leisure, they made the best out of it. Many immediately rushed to factory towns because they felt liberated there. We also covered a bit of what behind the generation of the continental army, and what influenced the constitution to be written. Overall, despite this week being hectic and rather disengaging, the content was understood and divulged, with a little difficulty of course, but we got it done. In American Literature, we have veered off course to work on our Puritan Essays. 

Blog 1

      American Studies and American Literature are two subjects that go hand in hand. This is mainly because many of the important pieces of literature were created due to weighted events in American history. Many historian rely heavily on American Literature to understand and interpret American History, and this also works the other way around. The two classes we have this academic year do relate heavily, and have a lot of the similar substance. This often is a good thing, but at times seems strenuous and over bearing on the students. Although, all the similarities make it easy to take in and understand all the information.

    These past few weeks, we have covered Puritans in both American History and American Literature, especially while analyzing Mary Rowlandson's text. What I think we are aiming to get at in both American Literature and American History is Puritans and their beliefs, all while briefing over the British colonialist and the Native Americans' interactions and feuds. This will probably transition into slavery, which would eventually lead up to the civil war and the Industrial Revolution. In American History, we jumped forward to the slave industry and slave trade, despite still focusing on colonizing the new world in American Literature. Many of the aspects we analyze are just different dimensions of the same occurrence. For example, in American Literature, we analyze the language and contextual meaning of the text, while we interpret and learn about the back story and actual knowledge in American History.

       A clear distinction between these two subjects are that one {American History} is more engaging. Talking about literature is interesting and invigorating, however when studying history, a person understands and engages with the story more actively. History is like putting a puzzle together, which instinctively triggers a person more. Quite frankly, these two subjects don't tend to interest me much, however when combined and thought hand in hand, both subjects tend to become more interesting.