Today's class started with a discussion of the first half of Chapter 15.  Students then worked on a Newsela reading/quiz on the Enlightenment.  Afterwards, we talked about what the Enlightenment was, who some of its important thinkers were, and how their ideas contributed to the American Revolution and the creation of the Constitution.  Hopefully, today helped address an area a lot of people have been struggling with.

Students then had time to work on their LEQ and get feedback.

I continue to get questions on contextualization for this question.  Remember that, according to the College Board, for context you want to "relate the topic of the prompt to broader historical events that occur before, during or continue after the time frame of the question."  It wouldn't make a ton of sense in your intro to address broader historical events that continue after the time frame, save that for your conclusion. 

So in your intro, you want to address broader historical events that occur before or during the time frame of the question.  Sometimes, it might make the most sense to address events that happened before.  For example, with the American Revolution DBQ, it made the most sense to address the broader events (End of the French and Indian War/Salutary Neglect) that led to the Revolution.  That did a nice job setting up your thesis which addressed the degree to which the Revolution brought fundamental political/social change.

However, there will be questions where it makes more sense to address the broader events that happened during the time frame of the question.  This LEQ seems to be one of those prompts.  Think about the period from 1800-1848.  What were the major changes the country went through?  For example, the country doubled in size with the Louisiana Purchase.  Can you see how that addition of land had major economic implications that led to an eventual market revolution?  What were the other big things going on (outside of technology which your thesis/body paragraphs will address) that set the country up to become a quickly growing economic power?  These are the things you'll want to address in your intro paragraph contextualization.  Remember 3-4 good sentences gets the job done.

Hopefully this helps and saves me from having to explain this individually a dozen times. :)  But we'll be back at it the second half of class tomorrow getting ready for this essay.  Remember, it's vital that you are putting in the mental work on your end as part of this writing process.  We are trying to get you ready to do this all on your own.  But that's not for a little bit.  See you tomorrow.

Today's class began with a discussion of assigned readings to this point, there was not a Type 2.  Afterwards, students got into groups work on a comparison activity of the 1st and 2nd Great Awakening.  Specifically, students were asked to consider the following questions and work together to put them in a chart in a Google Doc which was turned in.  if you are gone today, complete this assignment.  Class time finished with time for LEQ work.

• When did each event take place?
  
• Who were some if its leaders?
  
• What were the religious conditions that led to each Awakening?
  
• How is the 2nd Great Awakening a response to the rationalism of the Enlightenment?
  
• What was the religious message of each?
  
• What impact did the Awakening have on American culture?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Today's class starting with the last half of the Westward video.  We then had a Type 2 over assigned readings and discussed the first half of Chapter 14.  The chapter should be done by Friday.  The class finished with a practice SAQ and a look at three samples.

Today we discussed three different primary sources relevant to the forging of the national economy in the 19th century.  We then started a video on Westward expansion.  Remember that 278-290 needs to be read by tomorrow.
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