Create a Pen and Ink Masterpiece: Using Pen and Ink to Draw a Picture

Surrender of Cornwallis by George Trumbull

This picture is by George Trumbull, Surrender of Cornwallis. An interesting fact is that Cornwallis did not go to surrender himself. I guess he was too embarrassed to show his face.

It was not unusual for people to draw their own pictures (there were no cameras in the 1700's). Here is a picture of a map and letter about Williamsburg by Franz Michel. It was drawn in 1702.

Map and letter by Franz Michel

Your assignment will be to draw with pen and ink a picture of the British surrender at Yorktown. Since you were supposed to have actually witnessed the event, you will be expected to be more historically accurate than Mr. Trumbull. If you wish to color your picture, there are colored inks available as well. Can you come up with a good way to use them effectively?

Boston, Bloody Boston

We are looking at journaling or diary writing. The first entries need to be about activities that took place in and around Boston. Make sure you understand the difference between a journal and a diary. Here is a very interesting post about the difference. Do we want to create a hand written journal/diary? Think about it and we can discuss it on Monday.

Yesterday we watched and talked about the Boston Massacre where British soldiers fired on British colonists. (Remember we were still a part of Great Britain?) This would make a great first person account especially if it was followed up by accounts of the trial.

Boston Tea Party took place in December of 1773 as a protest to import taxes. You should definitely read about Sam Adams (John Adams cousin) role in the protest. Perhaps a quick sketch using paint would be a good addition to the entry.

The Intolerable Acts were a series of acts that came from Parliment in 1774. The Boston Port Act was one act that came as a direct result of the Boston Tea Party. If you choose to write about this you will probably want to record your reactions to them. It is an easy thing to see negatively, but you may decide to take a "loyalist" approach and try to defend them.

We didn't get to see much of the Battles of Lexington and Concord but we did talk a little about Paul Revere. Perhaps you would like to write about his "midnight ride".

Eric Langhorst alerted me to this animated timeline of Lexington and Concord.

If you are reading the end of this post, please point out to your classmates that this does not have to be finished today. Take the time to read the information. Look at some of the citations at the bottom of the Wikipedia articles and follow them to read what they have to say. Discuss what you are reading with each other. I would prefer you spend the whole class period reading and thinking, not writing.

Student Learning Manifesto

A manifesto is a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives,
or views of its issuer. I wrote my teaching manifesto last summer. In it I describe actions I will take to make my classroom a better learning environment and myself a better educator.

Now I want you to write a student learning manifesto. I want you to seriously consider three or four positive actions you can take to be a better student. You can model your manifesto after mine if you like or you can come up with your own format as long as it fits the definition.

Here is Kiley talking about her manifesto:

BeFunky: Keyboarding App of the Week

BeFunky.com is a picture editor that allows you to put "filters" on your picture. It is a pretty basic editing site for your pictures. Go to the site, upload your picture and try out the different filters. When you have decided on a picture or two, click save and choose download to the desktop. Then you will upload the picture to the class Ning.

BigHugeLabs: Make a Movie Poster

Today we are going to look at BigHugeLabs. Make sure you get your user name and password for me. I want you to make a movie poster for me first. After you create it you need to post it on your blog and the ning. Make sure it is school appropriate.

After you have finished, you can check out some of the other