This week was SHORT. Thank you to any and all parents who came to parent-teacher conferences. I enjoyed meeting with you!
Some highlights from this week:
Monday
- We completed an activity where we looked at problems in the cities and how we (as city planners) would fix them. It was really interesting to see what you came up with. Many of your ideas were kept to the time period (which was good- 1898 wouldn't see plumbing and electricity in houses as a norm!), although some groups did go a little futuristic on ideas. But that's okay. Progressive (forward) thinking IS good and it's what drives our country forward!
Tuesday
- We discussed political machines and how they were "good, bad, and ugly." We looked at the structure of political machines in major cities during the late 1800s/early 1900s and how they really DID have a focus to help the citizens of cities (even if it meant "getting a vote" come the next election). We looked at how the political machines were bad- CORRUPT, CORRUPT, CORRUPT!!! with graft and patronage happening in politics. And then we looked at the ugly- the situation with Boss Tweed in NYC and how he stole over $200 million from the taxpayers in the city, to line his own pockets. Overall story: political machines while good and necessary don't always have the best ways to get things done.
Wednesday
- This was a short day. If you were in 2nd/5th blocks (co-teaching blocks), you worked on some statistics information from the Gilded Age. Anything to get those skills in! If you were in 6th block, we finished up the political machines lesson with work on skills- political cartoon interpretation.
ENJOY YOUR 4 DAY WEEKEND! And be ready to hit things hard next week. We have a benchmark coming up!
Oh- and DCN 9.1 is due on Monday. DON'T FORGET!! :)
