Happy Halloween!

For tonight, read pages 308-310 and the essay on pages 314-315

pre-halloween stuff

For tomorrow, prepare for the quiz on chapter 12. There will be 20 multiple choice questions.

For Halloween, you may dress up!
1) Come in lame costume of some type and get 1 point. ("I'm wearing a Red Sox hat: I'm Dustin Pedroia!")

2) Come in a good costume of some type and get 2 points ("I've got a hat, beard and jersey! I'm Dustin Pedroia!")

3) Come in costume as a historical figure and get 3 points. ("I've got a beard, crown, toga-ish dress and strappy sandals! I'm Cleopatra!")

Costumes should cost as little as possible (read: do not go out and buy/rent some elaborate get up!), not include overt weaponry, (read: even if the person used a weapon, leave it at home...)  and be school appropriate (read: Don't do the following: "I'm only wearing a carpet! I'm Cleopatra when she met Julius Caesar!")

Tonight, watch this 20 minute video on Attila the Hun.

In class, October 29

Sorry to not be with you guys today.

In class I'd like you to spend some time working with the collapse of the Roman Empire (Western; the Eastern half continues.)  As said in class yesterday, you can generally group the causes into internal and external, and you all have the textbook's account of what happened in chapter 12.

Today, let's take a look at everyone's favorite first Google hit, wikipedia.  You can search for "Decline of the Roman Empire," in Wikipanion (if you have that app) or you can just click the link to get you to the entry that deals with the topic.  Wikipedia presents you with probably more information than you need, so you can skim through much of the entry.  What I'd like you to do is look at the section entitled "Highlights" first to refresh your memory of what happened as the empire was collapsing.

Then focus in on Theories of a Fall, Decline, Transition and Continuity. The collective hive mind of wikipedia says there are four main groupings of thought on causation: Decay, Monocausal, Catastrophic collapse, and Transformation.

In groups, read the Highlights and then the selection assigned to you (below). Discuss it in your group and come to consensus about what the theory is. On your blog for homework, post whether or not you agree with the cause as it is described in Wikipedia, and offer evidence that supports or refutes the theory.

The groups:
Last names B-K (inclusive) take Decay.
Last names L-Patel, J (Inclusive) take Monocausal
Last names Patel, T-R (inclusive) take Catastrophic collapse
Last names S-T take Transformation

Homework for October 28

For tonight, creep on each other's blogs. ;)

Look at how your classmates composed their Venn Diagrams to show the similarities and differences of the end of the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty.  The protopage containing the blog posts for the class is located here.

Homework for the weekend of October 26

This weekend you will need to download the app Venn Diagram onto your iPad if you were not able to do so in class today.

Read pages 302-308 about the collapse of the Roman empire and the Han Dynasty.  As you read, create a venn diagram in the app in which you compare and contrast the underlying causes of the collapse.

I do not believe that you can export the final product to anything other than email, so once you have completed the venn diagram, screenshot it and post the image to your blog.

There is an annual tradition in AP World to dress up for Halloween for extra credit points on the next quiz.  The rules are simple:

1) Come in lame costume of some type and get 1 point. (I'm wearing a Red Sox hat: I'm Dustin Pedroia!)

2) Come in a good costume of some type and get 2 points (I've got a hat, beard and jersey! I'm Dustin Pedroia!)

3) Come in costume as a historical figure and get 3 points. (I've got a beard, crown, toga-ish dress and strappy sandals! I'm Cleopatra!)

costumes should cost as little as possible (read: do not go out and buy/rent some elaborate get up!), not include overt weaponry, (read: even if the person used a weapon, leave it at home...)  and be school appropriate (read: Don't do the following: I'm only wearing a carpet! I'm Cleopatra when she met Julius Caesar!)

The quiz will be on Halloween day and will cover the contents of chapter 12.

Homework for October 24, Silk Route readings

For tonight, read pages 294-302 in the textbook.  We covered lots of this in class, so treat it as supplemental to today's notes.

Silk Road In class activity

Tonight, on your blog, reflect on the simulation.

First, on the meta level: What did you come to understand about the Silk Road from doing it? Do you think the Silk Road was a benefit to or did it detract from the societies that participated in it?

Then think about it on a more practical level: Think about the simulation itself.  Did this work for you? Why/Not? What were the pros and cons of learning about the Silk Road this way? What more do you want to know having worked with the information in this manner? Should we do this again?

re-post of homework

Hi folks-

Sorry, this didn't post for some reason, so we will slide it one day.

For Tuesday night, October 22, read pages  287-294 in the textbook. Now that we have empires in place, we'll start looking at how they trade with each other.

Homework for October 17

For tonight, you should prepare for the essay tomorrow. It will be a compare and contrast essay and the topic will be political systems/state building.  We will have 45 minutes to write the essay, and then we will have some time to review for the test after that is done.

Homework for October 15

For tonight, finish reading Chapter 11.  And be sure to spend some time reviewing the past chapters and working on your review charts/diagrams!  You have a test coming next Monday, and a compare and contrast essay coming on Friday, the topic of which will be Politics.

Roman City. For the long weekend...

For the weekend, read pages 265-271.

Watch the video Roman City, linked up here. Enjoy the cartoon, and don't be frightened by the scary druids...The host's sweet 90s mustache will keep you safe...

Respond to the prompts about the video linked up here on your blog.

Next week, we will have an in-class essay on Friday, compare and contrast, the topic will be politics.  On Monday we will have a test on the Classical Era, chapters 7 (Persia) - 11 (Rome) inclusive. It will consist of 70 multiple choice questions. I'd suggest going back over the weekend and updating the charts/webs you started to organize the information if you haven't been doing so...

Be sure to pay tribute to genocidal, avaricious European "explorers" on Monday...

Homework for 10/10 Roman Republic to Roman Empire

Today in class we looked at some documents that are connected to why Rome changed from being a republic to becoming an empire.  Below are the Storified tweets that you all wrote about each document.  Look over each collection to see what your peers had to say about the documents (which are linked up after each Storify).

Storify 1 #reptoemp1: The Twelve Tables

Storify 2 #reptoemp2: Republican Government Structure

Storify 3 #reptoemp3: Murder of Tiberius Gracchus

Storify 4 #reptoemp4: Life in the Late Republic

Storify 5 #reptoemp5: Maps

Then, on your own blog, write one thing that you can say that you know (that is, you are 100% certain) about why Rome made this transition. This can be one sentence if you wish. After that, write what you want to know, or feel you need to know in order to explain why this change happened; what parts of the story did you miss?

Homework for October 9: The Roman Republic (be sure to roll the R's...)

FOr tonight, read pages 259-264 about the early Roman Republic.

You will need to have a device that can scan QR codes tomorrow, and you will be using twitter, so be sure that your account is either open to the public or set up an account for AP World.

Homework October 8

If you have not done so already, make sure you share your google doc with me for your project topic!

For tonight, you should be working on your project and preparing for the Compare and Contrast in class essay tomorrow.  The topic of the essay will be drawn from religions/philosophies of the Classical Age in the regions we've been discussing.  Look back at the scoring guide and be sure you remember what you have to do in the essay!

You will need to write the essay in blue or black ink, so come prepared to do so.

Project info

The project description is linked up here

The groups are linked up here.

The reading is linked up here.

Sorry that this was a little rushed in class today.  There are 5-ish of you in each group, and there are four regions we will be looking at, so there will be one region that pulls two philosophers into the dialog. You should divide the regions amongst you so that each of you takes responsibility for one region.

Tonight, read your section of the reading. One of you should start a google document from your home computer and share it with the rest of the group and with me.  Tomorrow you should decide who is going to be which philosopher, I will give you your topic, and you can then start the dialog.

in class, October 4

Hi Folks-

Sorry to not be with you today!  While I'm gone, your task is to create two maps.  The first map should be for the Aegean Sea region, so a close up of Greece and Turkey.  The second map should be of all of Alexander's conquests, so from Greece through India.  On that map, include the route he took on his conquests. Paper for the maps are in the front of the room on the table, by the projector.

For homework over the weekend, you are to read the article written by William McNeill (no relation to our Math Department Chair that I know of...) about India and Greece linked up here. As you read, you should answer the questions that are linked up here. You can post the answers on your blog.

If you finish the maps, you can get started on the homework!

homework--Alexander the Great

For tonight, watch the clips from In the Footsteps of Alexander the great listed below (the numbers are the minutes in the video when you should start watching--should be around 45 minutes in total).  On your blog, post a response to what you watch: Does Alexander deserve to be called "The Great?" Why or why not?

Part 2 "Lord of Asia"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJnuMBZnAbQ

2:00-8:00 In Iraq, on the plane with the Brits

28:26-34:00ish Persepolis burns

43:53-47:40 death of Darius

Part 3 Across the Hindu Kush

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=277cyzL5nLc

It opens in Kabul, which shows what the city looked like before the US invasion...not pretty. And they go to the equivalent of the MFA in Kabul, and that’s upsetting...

7:00 Hindu Kush upward to 11:00 Gives a good look at the terrain, and once again, car trouble...

18:37 Woods finds the root plant and tries to eat it, through the gunfire of bandits and the summit 23:00—nothing stopped him, nothing put him off…

36:30-38:30 Bessus captured, Alexandria the farthermost founded.

45:00-47:30 Cleitus' death

52:00 Marry Roxanne-declaration of worship as a god, Persian style. Assassination attempt, and falling out with Calisthenes 57:30

Part 4 "To the Ends of the Earth"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5HzkRO8TGA

32:30-36:30 on the wall

46:00 final march begins 48:30 water dumping incident

last five minutes of fourth disc: 50-55 minutes Death of Alexander in Babylon

The reality of homework

For tonight, your reality must encompass reading. Pages 245-254 in fact...

Reality Bites, October 1

For tonight, read pages 237-245.

Come in tomorrow prepared to prove to me that you are real...

Good luck with that! :)