Weekly 3

       Most people believe that cowboys originated in the "wild west" but really, that's just where they became popular. Cowboys originated during the hacienda system in medieval Spain and were herders and rangers. They became popular in America during the westward expanision when the need to drive herds of cattle grew. The cowboy soon became an idol of the western world. Their fame grew even more when Hollywood started producing western movies staring John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.
         John Wayne protrayed the cowboy to have a fairly easy and exciting life, going on adventures and being heroic. What people don't know, however, is how a real cowboy was and looked. In reality the cowboy didn't dress like the cowboys in the movies. They wore whatever they could get their hands on. Cowboy hats were wide-brimed to keep the sun out of their eyes.The cowboy hat was made famous with the black and white movies. Black hats were known to be for the bad guys and white for the good. Crowns on the cowboy hats become symbols of who you were.Their boots were for riding and were started by the Mongol tribesmen. The early 1900's brought along the "Duster", which was used to keep all the dust off of their clothes.The original cowboy boot was pointed due to the fact that the they spent a long portion of the day in a saddle, boots in the stirrups. In the mid 1900s, the cowboy belt buckle was introduced. Over time, the cowboy's appearance changed with the new fashion or what materials were avaliable. Everything they wore served a purpose, not to change their "western cowboy look." Another stereotype associated with the cowboy is a hand gun. Back in the 1900's, guns were relatively expensive and most people couldn't even afford to own one. Cowboys had a hard life in the west; they had to be "the Jack of all trades." They needed to know how to ride, rope, saddle, tend to and care for animals and build shelters. Cattle drives were a huge part of a cowboys job. During cattle drives, the cattle is moved from one place to another by cowboys or on horseback. They were a major economic activity in the west when 20 million cattle were transported from Texas to Kansas. Covering long distances, rest stops and towns were established across the west. Cattle drives actually still occur in western America and Australia.
        Cowboys also learned to live in and bond with nature. Being outside in the hot, dry weather all the time helped them learn the land and to know which places to avoid out of danger. Overcoming the tough journey west, a foreign land and new way of life, the cowboy is an American symbol. Cowboys remind us of how much we have progressed since earlier times but also bring us back, to when times were simpler. They represent a lifestyle and time period that is cherished as a part of our American history. Not even originating in America, cowboys were so important in our life that they're represent who we were then and are recognized for that now.


http://blogs.pitch.com/fatcity/2009/02/saddleback_ranch_ups_and_close.php

Weekly 2

      During the first week of school, we were introduced to the concept of blogging. Before this project, I had little knowledge of what blogging even was. I used to hear it associated with journalism and publishing but never thought students would actually use them as well. With an online textbook, teacher website and project system, I realized that this would be a very technology-driven class from the start. I believe this aspect makes materials more available to the students in our technology-thriving generation.
      I agree with the concept of blogging for several reasons. A common excuse for laziness is to just "blame it on the generation." But let's face it, kids are not as motivated today as they were even 20 years ago. We all tend to slack off or not give 100% at times but it seems that as time progresses, so does the laziness. I can admit that I procrastinate, even with these blogs as you can see. And I would be lying if I said I couldn't wait until our new topics were assigned so I could blog about them. Even though we may complain about taking the time to write them "everyday" or trying to figure out how to turn a simple question into a 600 word answer, I think the blogs are beneficial. They force us to be constantly writing and researching. In order to improve on something, you must frequently be exposed to it and practice. Having 3 or 4 writing assignments each week helps us become better writers and scholars. I think that since the blogs are online, not with just a pen and paper, students are more motivated to research information they are unsure about. With our "lazy generation", if the resources aren't in front of us, we generally won't spend too much time looking for them. I make these statements because they apply to me as well. Blogging also helps us learn the material. As I previously mentioned, writing forces us to research. So therefore, blogging is kind of like a method of studying. For me, I feel that writing (or typing) the information out helps me remember it better than just staring at it, trying to memorize. I may be semi-biased on this topic because writing, in general, doesn't bother me. For a biology project last year, we were all told that we were to carry around babies for 2 weeks to experience what it would be like to be a teen mom. I loathed this idea so much that I said I would do the alternative option of writing a 20 page research paper. Unfortunately, the teacher wanted me to actually do the project, not thinking anyone would rather write the paper. Maybe writing it would have given me a better understanding about child care and development but I'm certain I would have procrastinated that as well.
        I think as the year progresses, we will become more acquainted with the blogging system and requirements. From this project I learned what blogs were, that "every-day people" could write them and that following the guideline of the midnight deadline is something that should be followed. I think the concept of not actually making them due until the end of the quarter helped us and hurt us. There were weeks where I knew I would have no time for blogs so I didn't have to stress out over them. I'm greatful that we had the opportunity to complete them at our own pace but I think that idea was too tempting for procrastinators like me. Next quarter, I will try to follow the midnight deadline and keep my blogs up to date.


http://everything.typepad.com/blog/i-love-blogging/

Blog 14

    The game "Oregon Trail" is a computer game about westward expansion and settlement. Games like this help students learn important topics by challenging them in fun and encouraging ways. One survey by Project Tomorrow showed that over 50% of students in grades 3 through 12 believe educational games help them learn. I also believe that games help kids learn better. Who would seriously rather read a textbook (with no pictures!) than play a game? You're learning the same thing, it's just the way you decide to approach it that's different. Also, playing games helps students remember the material they learned. Most people learn from examples or relations to real life situations. I believe it's much harder to memorize sentences than to remember an experience, such as the information from the game.

Blog 13

     Does history matter? Well of course it matters, we wouldn't learn about the history of the entire world if it were meaningless. But more importantly, history matters because it helps us learn from our mistakes. Everyone's heard the quote "History repeats itself" but we wouldn't really know that if we didn't learn about it. As people, groups, or countries make "history-worthy" actions, we have the benefit of being able to look back on what specific things they did to either repeat or not repeat them. While some people may argue that history isn't the most exciting topic/class, it is of great importance to our education of the world as we know it today.

Blog 12

     I think blogging was more beneficial than writing with pen and paper because it forced me to look up information I was unsure about. Already being online with an easy access to resources, blogging takes away the excuse for not searching for information. I think writing with pen and paper would also be more frustrating because mistakes are harder to correct there. It's much easier to "backspace" instead of crossing out, writing over another word and having a hard time reading what you just corrected. Overall, I think blogging helped me learn the topics by being able to discuss them quickly and efficiently.

Blog 11

      From the first quarter, my favorite blogging topic was about our history, the way we teach it and if we should hide certain parts. I found out a lot of lies we were taught before high school and I liked having a blog topic about that so I could discuss if we should learn history how it really happens or the child-friendly version (lie.) Along that same subject, I liked the blog about us (America) hiding parts of our history to give us a better image. America isn't the only country who does this though. I guess most countries seem to go by this quote saying "what you don't know can't hurt you." I think the main reason I liked those blog topics was because they allowed you to voice your opinion on something using general knowledge instead just one specific idea or example.

Blog 10

     Coming from all over the world, immigrants must have gone through quite a culture shock upon their arrival to America. Many immigrants came from southern and eastern Europe and most couldn't speak English. It's hard enough to travel across the ocean to a foreign land, but not being able to speak the native language made their new life even more difficult. Taking all those aspects into consideration, they probably felt secluded and rejected. Immigrants settled in large cities in New York and California where there were more avaliable jobs. Coming with high expectations, the city life wasn't as glamorous as it seemed. Families had to live in close quarters with no heat, running water, or sewage systems. All in all, I think the immigrants were more dissapointed with the real America - the land of opportunity.

Blog 9

     The lyrics from the "Song of the Shirt" shows how factory work really was. The employees were extremely over-worked, poor, hungry and dirty. They worked all day, from morning until night. There were no labor laws during that time, so conditions could be completely unsafe without actually violating any laws. One part of the song tells us how dangerous the tasks they had to perform by saying "It is not linen you're wearing out, but human creatures' lives." Because children were smaller and had tiny hands, they were the ones called upon if a machine needed to be fixed. It wasn't uncommon if they got injured or even lost a hand while doing this either. The "Song of the Shirt" was sung by workers probably to express their exhaustion and misery brought upon by the laborious tasks they had to perform daily at the factories.

Blog 8

     The song "Rocky Raccoon" by The Beatles portrays the stereotypical image of a cowboy in the west. When we think of a cowboy, most of us imagine a middle-aged man all dressed up in his wild west outfit and hat, riding a horse and carrying a gun, maybe even a lasso. This song encourages us to picture a cowboy this way. Here, the cowboy Rocky finds out his woman left him for another man and is determined to find him. Checking into the local saloon, Rocky only finds a bible. The man he is looking for, Dan, is in the next room with his woman, Nancy. Rocky challenges Dan to a duel but looses and is shot. The song ends with Rocky dying in his room alone with his bible. The story this song tells is mainly about a cowboy's revenge and violent way of solving problems. Real cowboys, however, were not as aggressive and daring as the glamorous stereotypical life made them seem.

Blog 7

Half way there, out of food.

Weekly 1

       Throughout history, discrimination, unfair treatment and prejudice ideas have been common issues. Specifically, African Americans during the Reconstruction (1865–1877) and Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) encountered these hardships daily. Even as time progressed with small changes these people were still treated about the same.

       Under the Reconstruction program in the south, the 13th Amendment was passed to abolish slavery. Soon after this was passed, however, the Black Codes were developed. Varying from state to state, these codes continued legal discrimination between blacks and whites. The Black Codes intended to secure a steady supply of cheap labor and continued to assume the inferiority of the freed slaves. Prior to the Reconstruction, African Americans were slaved to work on their masters plantation. What was the white man to do now that slavery was "abolished?" Since African American slaves were technically free (according to the law), they could not be forced to perform such laborious tasks anymore... or could they? This is when the idea of sharecropping was invented. The basic principals of sharecropping are similar to slavery, though. Farmers were allowed to plant and harvest their landowners crops in exchange for small portions of the food and profit. They worked year-round planting, harvesting, repairing, selling and cleaning anything that the landowner demanded. But, the sharecropper had to pay the landowner with interest to use his tools to perform such projects. They also had to pay rent to live on the property and give at least 1/2 of their harvested crops and profits to their landowner. With so little money and food coming in, the farmers easily went into a endless circle of debt. This kept them on the plantation long enough to keep trying to make enough money, but it was hardly ever reached. So much for their first taste of freedom.

      The purpose of the US Civil Rights Movement was to outlaw racial discrimination against African Americans and to restore suffrage in the southern states. After the Reconstruction, several problems still existed. For example, the 15th Amendment granted all men the right to vote and said they could not be denied this privilege by race, color or previous servitude. The law clearly stated this right, but society refused to accept it. Running for political officials, a white man still had the advantage over a black candidate. This sense of inferiority outraged African Americans who were determined to be treated as equals. Two people were of significant importance during this time period. Rosa Parks was a representation of bravery by her act of refusing to give up her seat for a white passenger on the local bus. She believed she had the right to state her opinion and refuse to succumb to a "superior" person. This one act by one person started a chain reaction of over 17,000 black residents in the town of Montgomery. In 1955, Martin Luther King, Jr. as a civil rights activist, led the Montgomery Bus Boycott. He worked to end racial segregation and racial discrimination through civil disobedience. This idea of non-violence made him very successful and eventually earned him the Nobel Peace Prize. People such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. greatly impacted the US Civil Rights Movement by setting themselves apart from society, and trying to make a difference.

       During the Reconstruction and the US Civil Rights Movement, even though changes were made and laws were enforced, African Americans didn't really experience much more freedom and were still treated about the same throughout society. 90 years will pass before even another attempt for change will occur in the 1960s and '70s.

http://www.alamo.edu/pac/faculty/pmyers/hist1302/1302Theme7.htm