Homework: Being Thankful & Making a Difference

HOMEWORK [70 points]

Decide the location of your community -- Jellico, LaFollette, Elk Valley, Rocky Top, Clairfield, Stinking Creek, Caryville, etc.  If your local community doesn't fit with this project, use Jellico since it's where you spend your days, do your shopping, go to restaurants, etc.

• List 10 specific things that are positive about your community.  What are some things that you would tell someone about if you wanted them to visit?  If some jerk that you couldn't stand came here saying your community was horrible, what sorts of things would you counter with?  List WHY your community is good.  (At least 10 *real* things)
• List 10 specific things about your community that one person could do to make a difference.
  These could be simple things like picking up trash in the park, clearing weeds along ABC Road, painting over graffiti behind the gas station, etc.  (At least 10 *real*, specific things)
• List 10 specific things that a small group of people could do to make a difference.
  Things like cleaning up the abandoned cemetery on XYZ Street, planting a community garden in the abandoned lot on the corner of Main Street and 1st Avenue, cleaning out destroyed/abandoned buildings or lots along the railroad tracks, etc.    (At least 10 *real*, specific things)
• List 10 specific things about Jellico High School that are positive. 
  How are we better than other schools int he country or int he world?  What are some good things that we have at our school that you wish more people knew about?
• List 10 things that you [or a group of students, parents and teachers] could start doing to make JHS a better place to go to school.  Be honest but respectful.  Try to think of things that could help the school in a variety of ways -- academic, aesthetics, attitude, etc.
• List 10 specific things that students can do to become better students.  This one is a bit different than "making a difference in your community" because it focuses on making yourselves better, but what could you [and others] do to be better students, people, friends, etc.

Now that you have your lists:

1. Look at your lists of projects and put a star next to the items that could be done without money.
2. What are some local resources that might be used to get some of the projects on your lists done?  (i.e. Boy Scouts, church groups, philanthropists, etc.)
3. In what ways could getting some of these changes made help your community [and school] now and in the future?
4. What is one easy task that you would be willing to take on to make a difference?  What if everybody worked on one simple thing?  
5. There's a rule in hiking, hunting, camping, etc. that recommends leaving your site better than you found it.  What would happen if we did that everywhere?
6. How does examining your community (where you live and go to school) help students understand history, geography, and economics?
7. Interview an adult in your community and ask them about the positive things and the things they would like to see changed.  (4 pts.)

5.1: Europe in Crisis

• Taking Notes (p.72): Complete Chart
• Geography Connection (p.72): 1 & 2
• Drawing Conclusions (p.74): Why might the overthrow of Protestantism in England have been important to Philip II?
• Identifying (p.75): What was the purpose of the Edict of Nantes?
• Identifying (p.76): What sources of social tension existed in Europe during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries?
• Stating (p.76): Was the original motivation for the Thirty Years War political or religious?  State evidence.
• Writing Activity #7 (p.76): In two or three paragraphs, compare Elizabeth I of England and King Philip II of Spain in terms of their personalities as rulers, their relationship to religion, and their foreign policy.  Use descriptive language.

Things to Think About...

We'll discuss the economic implications of changing educational paradigms and the business of testing.  We will also discuss the tendency to assume that someone is "smart" or "dumb" based on their ability to pass a given test.

Final Project: Create a History Project

Take something you have learned this semester and create an art project.  The project must cover one topic entirely -- for example, World War I, Civil Rights, the Industrial Revolution, Atomic Energy or Atomic Bomb, the Rise of Communism, Native Americans, the Holocaust, the Great Depression, the Transcontinental Railroad, etc.

Select any topic relating to this class that interests you.  Remember where we started and where we ended with the topic, and then cover the in-between.

• Painting
• Song / Parody
• Movie / Historical Fiction
• Comic Strips
• Board Game
• Video Game
• Drawing
• Children's Book
• Presentation Board / Collage
• Quilt or Sewing Projects
• Clothing / Costume
• Welding / Metal Work
• Woodworking
• Sculpture / Pottery
• Local History Documentary
• Diorama / Model
• Etc. -- If you have an idea, ask.

There are no size requirements, but effort is a huge part of this project.

Suggestions:  

• If you're going to do a board game, you might look through your closet for games that are missing pieces or hit the Goodwill store or yard sales and start with an actual game board.
• If you want to do a song, start with a Karaoke version of a song you like and make a parody using your topic.  (See example below)
• If you're going to do something like a drawing, it needs to be pretty comprehensive.  Don't throw together a 5 minute drawing and expect two weeks credit.
• Consider a project that is good enough to use as classroom decoration.  Extra credit if you let me keep your project for the classroom.  :)

Protest Music

Protest Music of the 1980s:









Nena - 99 Luftballons (99 Red Balloons) (German... by wonderful-life1989

World War I: Video Clips

The Causes of World War I