American Expansion and Sp-Am War

Today we are finishing up the Spanish American War and looking at the results. We aquired several of Spains possession and had to decide what to do about a newly freed Cuba.

Tomorrow for periods 1,2,4,5 will have an open map quiz. Students need to bring a completed map to class to use directly on the quiz

Political Changes

In today's class we are briefly looking at two more Progressive Era presidents. The presidency of Grover Cleveland and Benjamin Harrison are examined to see how they too contributed to the reform movement started by Garfield and Arthur.

Secondly we are looking at 4 words that changed political participation.
primary
initiative
referendum
recall
Dissecting these vocabulary words and making current day comparisons will be the focus of the second half of the class.

Enrichment Group:

Presidential Reformers

Today we are looking at the work of U.S.Presidents during the Progressive Era and their contributions toward political reform. Last Friday we talked about James Garfield and his assassination. By trying to end the "Spoils System" Garfield was actually murdered by a so called supporter who felt he deserved a political appointment. It is a good story an important lesson that many Progressive did pay quite a price for their boldness.

Today we looked at Chester A. Arthur as the new president and how he continued Garfield's efforts at ending the Spoils System and patronage. He went against many in his own party to sign the Pendenton Act and set the stage for meaningful Civil Service Reforms

Enrichment Group: Video Alexander Graham Bell and Garfield

Political Cartoon Project

To end the unit on Big Business students are creating and sharing political cartoons.
Click HERE for the diretions to the project.

Management vs Labor

In today's class we will be taking apart the responsibilities and definitions of Labor and Management. We're completing a double bubble chart that compares and contrasts the two sides. New words like "Blue Collar and White Collar" are heard in the news all the time and its important the students recognize the differences.

As an extra treat I am showing an episode of the Simpsons' which deals with the topic of Labor and Management. It's funny and entertaining, but truly covers a lot of the concepts we've been learning about such as Colletive Bargaining, contracts, benefits, blacklisting, striking, picketing, and other woprkplace related topics!

Note: Friday test is changed to a Quiz.... I will hand out a review sheet in class tomorrow.

Hey!!!! Welcome Back!!!!

Ok, We're almost to the end of November and we will be finishing up the Business Unit this week. There will be a test on Friday. This week We have to finish Labor Unions and Workplace Problems. All materials needed to review for the exam will be given in class and also found on this blog.

Sorry for the lack of posts and I will get back on track when we return next week. We have been continuing the business unit and today started on a 3 day discussion of Labor Unions and the problems they fought. There is no homework for the weekend and I hope everyone enjoys the Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend.