Glory of the 54th Regiment

Today during class, Mr. Armstrong had asked the students whether we had any questions for him about the Civil War. We had many questions about the 54th regiment and whether they had won or not. Mr. Armstrong had said it wasnt about victory but about how they fought hard even if there were many consequences like losing their freedom or even their lives. Then to continue on with our topic on the 54th regiment, he played parts of the movie Glory. I thought it was really ironic on how the ex-slaves were fighting to not be whipped and treated like crap, but they were whipped from the union soldier who claim they want to stop the mistreatment. Also, i really liked how the movie showed us the process of getting ready for the battles because in the textbooks, they only tell us about the battles and the winner and loser. This was a new point of view from the slaves and the officers.  

By Micky K. 8D :)

The Civil War Begins

Today’s history class was the far most exciting and fun of all the classes I had! We learned more about the civil war which we started with Fort Sumter last week before the break. We learned about the start of the Civil War which contained group activities. Mr. Armstrong had power point presentations, text books, hand outs, visuals, and activities to help us with our learning.
We got a visual of the map of America and set the borders for the North and the South on the map. It helped me learn easier of where the state’s positions were in when the secession of the South occurred. It helped me a lot, because it was a visual and one picture contains a thousand words.
This time, our class focused on the individual and spread out to the general’s opinion. Mr. Armstrong gave an example of paint ball survival and we shared our personal experience and laughed. We also did a simulation with the fake South and the North. We had the fake North and the South and each pod chose a leader and Mr. Armstrong called the leaders out and gave out plans. The leaders came back and told the plan to the pod members and the North took the South’s belongings away. The only person in the South that protected his belongings was Jae Song. The guy that got shot in the back in paint ball survival “Eddie” was brave enough to steal a bag from the North. It was really fun and hilarious.
We also discussed about the North and the South’s advantages I was amazed that the North had so many advantages over the South and the Civil War lasted for 4 years. But I soon learned that the South had better educated generals. I also learned the importance of education and that it could be the best weapon in war.


Claire J. 8D

I AM Project and Satisfying Test Results!

On Tuesday, Mr. Armstrong and the class discussed about the I AM project that eigth grade was working on. The class discussed wether to present it in the hall ways of second and third floor, or to present it all together in the cafeteria. Most of the students wanted to present it in the cafeteria. Also, he gave us a few minutes to think and brainstorm how we are going to present our person. We had to write or draw in our notebook and many of us came up with some creative ideas. After discussing about the I AM project, our topic changed to our test results. Mr. Armstrong showed us a graph of the eight grade's average test scores. Most of the students were between the 80-90 range and a little less between teh 90-100 range. This time, not many students were below 70's. We went over the test questions that most of the students got wrong on. After, the teacher handed us the essays that students wrote for each class. He told us that those essays in the hand-out are a good example of an A-R-E format, and a well thought out answers. Most of us were very statisfied with our test results and it was clear that eight grade students improved alot comparing from the beginning of the year.
-Jee Min H. 8D

The Class Before the Last, Big Test

Today, in social studies class, we had simply put are minds together into one and discussed about the test and all the events that led up to the Civil War. We had an interesting class as Mr. Armstrong visually demonstrated the Dred Scott Case. He had Joshua Kim as Dred Scott and visually let the class see what the Dred Scott Case was about. These kind of visual acts help students really learn and understand what the actual meaning is. We had covered the elections of 1860 which was the last event that pushed the nation finally into war. Furthermore, Mr. Armstrong had the 4 pods to discuss what they did not get and sometimes asked us deep questions. One question was ,"How does the idea of popular sovereignty contradicts the Dred Scott case?" This was really a tough question and I commed Rebecca Lee for answering it thoroughly and thoughtfully. She had really thought deeply and this made the class understand the whole contradiction right there. Therefore, today was a simple gathering of our class with Mr. Armstrong for a last "discussion" and "visual explanation".

By Albert C. 8D

Seminar on Sectionalism Imersion part II

Today in class, the 8D class directed their focus to the topic covered in the sectionalism imersion part two. The key terms studied today include: popular soverignity, secede, compromise of 1850, and fugitive slave act. The class format today was basically a seminar format, where the students sit as a group and express comments and questions that are relative to the topic directed by Mr. Armstrong. During the discussion today, almost everybody participated very well, sharing their knowledge with the rest of the class to enhance our understanding about the imersion. What was really interesting about today's class discussion was the fact that some of the discussions really connected the American history to our modern world right now. For instance, we had a little discussion of whether popular soverignity, democracy, was good or bad. This was a exceptionally difficult question, because the students knew that what ever the outcome is, there was always going to be positive and negative impacts of the decision. We also talked about the morality side of slavery, when we were discussing the fugitive slave act, which specifically stated that northerns were required to send back the escaped slaves. By the intelligent conversations that went on during the whole seminar, it is pretty certain that the majority of the students had enhanced their understanding of the key terms and main ideas that were presented to them as a part of the sectionalism imersion part two.
-written by Lisa A.

Bleeding Kansas

At the beginning of class, 2 questions were assigned to us:"What was the Kansas-Nebraska Act and how did they contradict the Missouri Compromise?" and "Identify how antislavery and proslavery supporters reacted to the Kansas-Nebraska Act." Then Mr.Armstrong showed us how people of the south and north saw and thought about things such as the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the fugitive slave law. By doing this most people got a clearer understanding of how the people felt at that time. (And it was more enjoyable.) We then went in depth about how bleeding Kansas all started with the construction of a railroad in Chicago and how Stephan A. Douglas made the Act to get votes from the south to do so. However, since whether a state would become a slave state or a no-slave state all depended on the people, many southerners and northerners began to move there. So when it became voting time, only about 20 out of 600 people were actually legal residents. However, the southerners won and it became a slave state, wich angered the north so they built another government, ignoring the one already existing. So Kansas had two different governments. The results of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was two opposing goverments in one state, illegal voting, Pattawatomie (John Brown), Preston Brooks beating Sumner with a cane, and the attack on Lawrence. At the end of class, i had a clearer understanding of the conflict between the south and the north.
- Jiwon C. 8D

Destiny and Expansionof America

The class 8B had social study as their last period. They were all worn out from P.E. but they tried their best to learn all they could.

Today in class we talked about destiny, having an example about eight ball. Our class had a very enjoyable time withe the eight ball since we got to put the questions that we wanted to. My classmate, Billy Park, had a question to ask. It was if he would get into Princeton and the ball said absolutely. This had a relation about what we were learning since we talked about manifest destiny. Manifest destiny was about American spreading their ways of living since they thought they were chosen by God.

Also in class we learned about how part of Mexico and Texas became United States. Mexico seperated from Spain, like America seperated from Great Britain. Mexicans wanted people to live on their land since they might get it taken away. Lots of Americans came to live in the lands, but they wanted to use slaves which was against Mexico's rules. So Americans stood up and fought for their liberty to have slaves. The American won and they got their lands. When the Mexico stricked once more, still the Americans won. But the Americans who were seperated wanted to be accepted to be an offical state since they might get attacked again. Which is the state of Texas right now. The American government refused at first since they did not want a war with Mexico and have issues about which side the state would be going into, slavery or free. Later, America and Mexico had a war, America won and they wrote a treaty saying that America would pay for the debt of Texas when it was independent. America accepted Texas. Which meant America has expanded their territory

When we had 20minutes of class left over, we had time to work on our next immersion. The "Debate over Slavery."

Britney B. 8B

Sectionalism: Who Gains the Advantage? North or South?

Social studies was 8B's first class of the first regular school day this week. As soon as I walked in, I noticed that the arrangement of the desks was still in a big rectangle. I wondered why and when class started my question was answered.
We were still doing our seminar that started on Monday, the half day. The topics were mainly of the Missouri Compromise and the Tariff of 1832, how this affected the North, South and Great Britain and who gained the upper hand because of these events. A lot of students still did not understand the aftermath of the Missouri Compromise and student Britney Byun lead the class to a more clarifying understanding of it by asking a question that most of us were thinking.
Then, the class discussed about who got the advantage of the Missouri Compromise. The class voted 10 for the South and 7 for the North. The people who voted for South supported their argument by saying that while Maine entered as a free state, balancing the number of slave states and free states, Missouri was a much larger state and therefore had more economic chances. However, Mr. Armstrong pointed out that the North's political power was
higher than the South's. If only Missouri entered the Union, the North and South's political power would be balanced, but since Maine had also joined, the power still stayed the same and North still had the upper hand. Overall, it resulted that the Missouri Compromise had given an upper hand to the North side by letting it keep its power politic wise.
Halfway through the class, Mr. Armstrong told the class to get into groups of 3~4 and create a short skit that would help the class understand the Tariff of 1832. For five minutes, each of the four groups worked on doing that and afterwards, two groups presented what they had been practicing. The first group (Eric, Harry, Andy, Billy) explained the fall of the South and Great Britain's relationship due to the Tariff of 1832 and the second group (Yoona, Deborah, Soyon, Jenny, Hee Jae) emphasized how much the South disliked the tariffs placed on the imports.
By the end of the class, I have got all of my questions answered clearly and I understood everything much better and think that the other peers of my class felt the same way.

Yoona Cha 8B

Economy or Morality??

Does economy trump over morality? Or does morality trump economy? This was the question of the day that stumped all of us in seminar and made us realize how problematic the entrance of Missouri as a slave state, and the controversy of the expansion of slavery that it brought, was.

To better understand the whole conflict, we first discussed about why the Missouri Compromise was so significant at that time. Before in the Senate, there were an equal amount of representatives from the South and from the North, but if the Missouri Compromise was put into action this would mean that Southern representatives would outnumber the Northern representatives and break the checks-and-balances within the Congress. This would lead the Southern states to have a greater amount of power and influence in their grasp when creating laws and policies. Therefore, in order to protect the power of the free states, the House of Representatives passed a special amendment which stated that Missouri would be accepted as a slave state, but it would be illegal to import enslaved Africans to Missouri and also mentioned that the children of Missouri slaves would be set free. Putting an end to the import of slaves in the South would lead to an end in the increase of population there, which would work as a disadvantage towards the South because the number of representatives in the House of Representatives was decided according to the population of a state. However, this amendment was rejected by the Senate. Later, Henry Clayton convinced Congress to agree to the Missouri Compromise, which stated that Missouri would enter the Union as a slave state and Maine would join as a free state, and that slavery would be prohibited in new territories formed in Missouri’s southern border.

The topic of the Missouri Compromise brought us to our main question: “Although the Missouri Compromise was a success, it brought an expansion to slavery, which is something morally wrong, however it would be impossible to put an end to it. Slaves are a necessity for the production of agricultural goods in the Southern states, hence its economy, so which one is of more value? Economy or morality?" All of us voted and 15 of us said that the economy was more significant than morality, but after discussing how the Missouri Compromise, which was supporting slavery, was going against the idea that all men are created equal, stated in the Constitution, some of us changed our minds and agreed that morality was more valuable. Then, a very interesting idea was presented to the class by Eric Kim. With great confidence he explained to us that if slavery was still going on today, great rappers like Snoop Dog or 50 cent would not exist and that they would be living their lives just as miserable slaves.

Due to a lack of time, we couldn't continue on our intriguing discussion, however, by the end of the class, I think most of us fully grasped how this sticky situation between the North and the South caused a major tension and problem between the two, eventually becoming one of the factors that lead to the Civil War.

- Hee Jae C. 8B

Nationalism and Innovation

In class today, Mr. Armstrong started the class by explaning the importance of the roads, canals, and steamboats in economy. He drew pictures that showed the Cumberland Road, Erie Canal, and how these affected America back then. After that, we discussed about the Industrial Revolution. For homework, we were supposed to read about the Industrial Revolution and how the important inventions affected the textile business significantly, starting the Industrial Revolution. Brian Kwon started the discussion by answering Mr.Armstrong's question. He said that the large spinning machine called water frame was invented by a man called Richard Arkwright.This was first invented in Great Britain and was kept secret, severly affecting Great Britain's economy. Then Mr.Armstrong showed us a picture of the machine and asked us how it worked by looking at the picture. Few people volunteered to guess how it worked but they did not get it right. While the classmates were thinking, So Yun volunteered to guess and explained how it worked and got it right. Then we talked about a person called Samuel Slater. We have discussed that the invention of the water frame was kept secret but Samuel Slater, who came from Great Britain to America ran a mill at America. This affected the economy of America significantly, being able to compete against Great Britain. At last, we talked about the invention of the cotton gin. At the end of the discussion, Mr.Armstrong explained about the connection between what we discussed today and how this would lead to the Civil War. When we finished discussing about the Industrial Revolution, we had about 30 minutes to start our next immersion, finishing up our class for today.

Junwoo H. 8B

Transportation And Grand Canals

Today as we entered the class room we were assigned to sit in groups at colored tables. We were first briefly discussing some of the key parts of the immersion that would later be in connection of what we needed to do for tonights homework (discussion). Later when Mr. Armstrong opened up a slide show, we talked about random inventions such as the Erie Canal, Cumberland Road, and steamboat, this directly went into play when we started to talk about how transportation and trading was an important part in American economy. This was where a couple of classmates and I were used to demonstrate of how things worked in terms of business and transportation. We showed how one area (ville) could have something so valuable (chocolate), that it attracted other areas of people to buy some as well. This meant that an increase in production would take place, and thus it would influence them to create their own. After the demonstration was over we started to talk about how S. Korea was planning on building their own canal from Seoul all the way to Busan, and how this was in relation to what America did with their invention of the Erie Canal. This was when we were given several handouts such as two news reports and a chart to distinguish the propositions and the oppositions of the construction of one of Korea's largest projects. When we were done listing, we had a water fountain discussion with our table groups to discuss some of the propositions and oppositions we found from both reports. This was where Soyon and Jamie backed our group up with most of the things we were suppose to find. After the discussion we were referenced again with a video from the wiki. The video was helpful because it simply outlined the situation as well as giving interviews to random people who lived around the area of where the canal was going to be built. Towards the end of class we were asked to give our opinions and arguments of which side we were on in another open discussion with our table group. This was where Mr. Armstrong and Soyon had a mini debate as an example.

Ryan H. 8B

Nationalism and Sectionalism

As we entered the class of Social Studies, we were asked to be seated according to our laptop numbers (one-to-one laptops). Luckily, this class awakened us from our Spring Break mode by starting us off with tons of information.


First, we saw a title, Nationalism and Sectionalism in bold letters up on the screen. “What can this title lead us to learning?” I thought. Nationalism…what does that mean? National pride or spirit. Because America had just won the War of 1812, Americans felt strong patriotism about their country since they’ve won against Great Britain. As a result to the war and their victory, Americans are in an “Era of Good Feelings” where they can trade peacefully among themselves and be unified once again. Unfortunately, after around 35 years, the American Civil War occurred, dividing the North and South. Then, the definition of sectionalism would appear clearly now that we know what nationalism means. Regional or local spirit. After seeing the meaning to both nationalism and sectionalism; how did it go from American’s nationalism to sectionalism? Hopefully, we will find the answer to this question further on in the chapter.


The most important part of this class was when we were lectured about how transportation played a big role in the American economy and made it self sufficient. At this time, Yoona Cha and Eric Kim had supported us by telling the class the definition of self sufficient, meaning independent. Mr. Armstrong asked us to discuss the answer to how the transportation revolution helped to build the American economy. The Cumberland Road (1811-1837) was the first road built by the federal government and now that there is actually a road to comfortably transport from one place to another; it made trading easier. Not only is it easier for trading, but many people received opportunities by stopping at the inns and restaurants. The Erie Canal was an expansion developed later on. This canal allowed America to become connected to Canada by trading. Since it is a waterway, it was faster, easier, cheaper (saved money), and carried a larger load. Finally, the steamboat was built. Yet, the class could not identify the difference between a steamboat and an ordinary boat. Mandy Myung led us to the answer which was that the steamboats could go upwards or any direction where the other boats have to go along with the wind.

To wrap up the class, Mr. Armstrong gave us time to work on our Week 10 Immersion. Although it was one tiring and difficult class, I was able to understand clearly about our topic.

Jenny J. 8B

Primary Resources and Secondary Resources

Many students had trouble finding their primary sources. The main problem was that many of us did not know what primary sources meant. Mr. Armstrong realized this and we went over what primary and secondary resource were.

He first gave us a slideshow on what primary and secondary sources were. Primary resources are something that is created in the time unders study. They are created by people who actually saw or participated in an event and recorded it immediately after a short time. Secondary resources are created using information provided by someone else, they are often created with some distance form the event.

After viewing the slide and understanding the meaning of primary and secondary resources, Mr. Armstrong showed us the next slide. The next slide showed two picture of different things. One was a painting of Colombus and his arrival at the Caribbeans and another showed his report of the discovery. We were asked to decide which was the primary resource. After people volunteered their thoughts, Mr. Armstrong told us that the report was the primary resource.

When we finished viewing the slide show, we did a CIS activity in our groups. We were given pictures of resources and broke it down, trying to find out who, when, and why. We first did it as a class and later in our groups. After we finished, we were told the story of each resource. After this activity, we turned on our laptops and checked eachother's resources to see if they were primary resources or not.

I think that everyone learned a lot, and unlike last class, I'm sure everyone of us were clear with the term "primary resources." Everyone helped eachother with finding primary resources and Mr. Armstrong gave us all an excellent definition on both primary and secondary resources. Goodjob everyone!

Soyon J. 8B

Primary Resources

March 24, 2008

Today we were assigned to individual seats with our one-to-0ne laptops. We started of with an introduction of what had been done last week, and our goal for the up comming weeks until we finaly become high school students.

Nearing the end of the semester ment closer to putting our "I am..." projects together. We started out with what we would be doing in class: finding primary resources to answer our questions from the project with facts, not opinions. Mr. Armstrong gave us a list of resources on the wiki we were able to use, these included ABC-CLIO, History Channel, American Voices and more(http://armstrong-history.wikispaces.com/I+Am+Project).

Not many of us (I'm sure), were clear with the term "primary resources." Mr. Armstrong started to explain what it was; he asked questions that related to what primary resources might be. Sungmo Koo gave the exact answer Mr. A wanted: primary sources DO NOT have opinions. After Sungmo said that, I got a clear image of what primary sources exactly are. After an exapmle of a primary source which is a letter Thomas Edison wrote, I was confident in what type of resources I had to be looking for.

During the rest of the class time, we worked on making changes to our wikispaces and looking for primary resources while Mr. A called indivuduals up to discuss the big question we had about our I Am... persons. For homework tonight, we had to find primary resource links we found and hyper link it to our wiki pages.

By: Deborah Kim 8B

I Am Project

Today, we worked on our 'I Am' project. We first wrote down our 'I Am' person and then wrote down the things that we know about him/her. Then, we tried to connect the facts about that person to us or someone that we know. After discussing these facts, we had to create a question that interests you and makes you think. Mr. Armstrong gave us a handout called, "I am..." Project Phase 1.5. On that worksheet, we wrote down five questions that we thought of for our 'I Am' person. Then, we went to wikispaces and then we put a picture of our 'I Am' person and also wrote down what we already know about that person, the questions that came to our mind, and the primary historical question.
I think Dk helped some of the classmates about how to put pictures in the wikispaces. My partner was Billy all the time today when we shared what we wrote for what we know about our 'I Am' person, connections, and our historical question. Billy had some good connections to himself to his 'I Am' person.

-Michelle K.-

What is Historically Important?

Yesterday in social studies, we went over the question, "What is historically important?". We went over this to help us on our I Am projects so that we can do our timelines better. This helps us what events we can take out and which ones we should take out. We went over many things that could make something historically important, like events that changed mindsets or destroyed things. The only thing that was actually put on the desks in the first place were blank sheets of paper. We had to fold the paper, hotdog or hamburger style, and drew a timeline of five important events in our life on one side, and five important events in our project person's life on the other side. After looking over the points that makes something historically important a little more, we were introduced to a new website called Circavie. Circavie is this website where you make timelines for events or peoples' lives. We made open IDs so that we can have access to the site. We were expected to be able to take out the important events in our project person's life and put it on a timeline we are to make as part of the project.
Unfortunately, it was not really a day where someone could directly help the other. A lot of what we did just was state some points of what we thought could make something historically important. As usual, the person who said something thought provoking was Mr. Armstrong himself. When he asked us a question, we were simply dumbfound at the presence of his extremely hard question that we didn't speak, not that we always do anyway. Unfortunately, I couldn't actually write down his question fast enough before he went on, so I don't actually have the exact text. But the heroes among our shy and quiet class was mainly Soyon and Heejae. They were the ones who spoke up when none of the others could, which is not an easy thing to do. However, I would have thought that they were always good spoken people.

-Eric K. 8B

Going over the Question in Social Studies

Today, in Social Studies we check over the question that people mostly got wrong. I think that this was very helpful because this clarify our information on the war of 1812 and the presidents. This would make us understand and not make the same mistake if the same question appeared on a different test. Mr. Armstrong handed out some sheets such as the essay which were a 10 out of 10 and a parent teacher conference sheet.
Nobody could help a student because today we could of just listened and participated a little bit and support someones ideas, or thoughts. The people who supported and answer was Michelle, So Yeon, and Hee Jae.
We found some interesting facts in the discussion about the Federalist made an act benefit but it backfired and made their party unpopular and a lot more. We found how to write a proper essay for our test to get a better grade. Nobody said anything provoking or interesting because we had to mostly listen because Mr. Armstrong was explaining about the question and the answers.
Unlucky, I don't remember any of the exact quotes that the people said but some people said where to find the source and the exact page number to prove the thoughts.
I think most of the students were paricipating properly becaue everybody seemed like they were listening carefully and tried to answer the question but some people were just to shy to raise their voice.
Mr. Armstrong gave us some tough questions to answer and a lot of people were silent because they were to shy or scared that their answer was going to be wrong. I think that the classmates who deserved commendation was Sungmo, Eric, So Yeon, Deborah, and Hee Jae who tried to answer the questions. I think that they deserve commendation because they were trying to get an answer and was brave enought to state their point.
I think that Eric tried to do better because most of the times I think that he couldn't state his ideas and facts but today he participated answer some questions. Even though he might of known that his answer was wrong he still stated his point.

Sungmo K.

History Test Review

Today in Social Studies Class was basically a review day. With the upcoming test just a few days away, Mr. Armstrong really wanted us to get a clear understanding of what we should know. Today was kind of like the seminar's we did in the beginning of the year, however we weren't graded on participation. There were tons of questions that we had. However, the students in 8B all were able to answer whatever was asked.
We didn't really have homework, except just to study for the test. Today was just mainly focusing on getting a good grade on the exam.
A lot of people helped each other get a better understanding of things. Many questions were asked, and many were answered. I believe So Yun was very active, and asked many questions, and also answered many as well. A lot of things that were said were really helpful. Everyone was able to help each other in some way. Also, i was surprised to see a few people talking, that usually NEVER talk during class. I noticed that everyone was serious. No one was fooling around, and we all took today seriously because of the test.
I believed that class today was an extremely helpful time. It showed that everyone in our class can work together, and also, it benefited everyone. With the help of all the classmates, I think that everyone can do well on the test. Thank You Mr. Armstrong for a wonderful and helpful class.
-Brian Kwon 8B

History is Today

The thoughts and the knowledge that everyone had was very enormous and this was what had been shown today. Right from the start, all the students had been separated into different groups of tables, around four to five per table. Mr. Armstrong put up on the screen the main ideas, and each person in the group answered each question.Thoughts were brought up, and many of my classmates, argued sometimes on a point of what they had believed to be the right answer. My group kept arguing, until I had noticed that there had been no "true" answer. Every answer had been correct and was an opinion, that could have matched as the answer to why some events may have occurred and developed into the War of 1812.
Today was the day we learned and discussed in small groups as well as the class of why the War of 1812 had happened and how the Embargo Acts affected the United States as well as if it succeeded for what the people needed or not. In the powerpoint lecture that was told by Mr. Armstrong, we learned why the Congress had passed the Embargo Acts, as well as the Non-Intercourse Act. He later gave out sheets of paper that had showed articles of the battle of Tippecanoe and Tecumseh and his brother. Many people such as Heejae and Soyon participated in the discussions by giving solid answers and thoughts that they had to questions.
The main thought and topic of this class was one question that stumped everyone. It had mainly been if money put into the military should be stayed the same, or decreased. From his information and ideas, as the happening of Britain and France taking control of U.S. ships, countries should not decrease the amount of military power. Mr. Armstrong gave us and interesting question to think upon. It had been "Should South Korea send away United States troops." The majority of the class had said no, but in my mind, I thought, can Korea keep on relying on United States for the help of armies? As I have learned from Mr. Armstrong, I thought critically on the question, and thought, should Korea take the chance of maybe being weak and other countries maybe taking advantage of South Korea? I thought no for a second, but as I kept thinking, could South Korea be more economically stable and become a stronger country, without the military? The confusing questions later ended me to think that this was a too complicated of a situation and question, but I knew that I would be asked later in the future years of what I thought, so I knew I had to keep this in mind.
Today's class was one of the many classes that gave many of the classmates' answers to questions that they had for the test that would be on Friday for 8B class. The events that happened in the War of 1812 and the Britain's actions of impressment had been reviewed in class. Many of the questions had been answered by Mr. Armstrong as well as the students. Today was one of the amazing classes that students would carry out of the class in their minds of "History is once again repeated."

D.K. L 8B

History is Hard.

Ok, so we went all through the usual rituals before going into class. However, as soon as my class sat down to start reviewing information we individually learned, students were raising their hands to ask Mr. Armstrong and the other kids about something they apparently did not understand. To be honest, I didn't fully get some things either. Fortunately after much intense discussion about the key terms and main ideas for this week, things started to clear up and everyone looked much more happier and less confused. Mr. Armstrong got us thinking by asking us connections between important events. People like Soyon and Deborah were responding enthusiastically and represented basically the whole class, but thanks to them, I learned some new information that were valuable. An example would be how the XYZ Affair was connected to the Alien and Sedition acts. As America was ticked off by the XYZ Affair, there were cries of war everywhere and the Alien and Sedition Acts prevented anyone from disagreeing with war. After this helpful debate, the class started working on our next immersion, and the we were called up individually to talk about our I Am character with Mr. Armstrong. The rest of the class was spent as nice, peaceful work time.

Andy L.-8B

IC/OC SEMINAR

2008.02.18
Mr.Armstrong started greeting us when we were on our seats, getting ready for the IC/OC seminar. When the bell rang, we started right away. First, Mr.Armstrong explained about the handouts that were placed on the desks. There were three handouts. A stapled piece of paper, grade sheet, and notes sheet. We put our names on it and he gave us time to write our reflection on the other side of the grade sheet that had a place to write the reflection. After we finished writing the reflection, and getting ready for the seminar, we started.
The inner circle started first. The inner circle talked about some of the main ideas of The Early Presedencies. The inner circle did quite well on answering the basic main ideas of that section, but when DK asked a question to the group, the inner circle was kind of stuck. But with Mr.Armstrong's clarification, inner circle was able to get through the confusing part. When inner circle's discussion ended, outer circle had the time to ask or add on to the inner circle's information. Outer circle used this time really wisely to ask the inner circle what they are still confused on, and what they don't know. I think the outer circle also did very well on adding some extra informations, and clarifying some facts that the inner circle didn't really do well on. After the inner circle's discussion, we got up and changed. Inner circle people went to the outside, and the outer circle people went inside the circle.
Outer circle was a very active discussion. As always, Soyon, Sungmo, and Britney were very active and brought up a lot of facts that helped other people understand better in some things. There were some people in both inner circle and outer circle that didn't really talk alot, or at all. But, Mr.Armstrong gave most of them chances to talk and raise their grades. I think the people that talks a lot during the seminar should sometimes give the quite ones a chance to talk. Remember you quite people, 'Silence is Deadly'.

Mandy M.

The Early Presidencies-Harry O.

Today in class, we went over our immersions we did. Mr. Armstrong did not check our notebooks since he did not give us a lot of time last class, but the next immersion will count twice. During the review, Mr. Armstrong woke us up by randomly asking questions. The review helped clear my mind up a bit. We reviewed informations such as privateers, how Halmilton put tax on wiskey to test the power of the new government, Jay's Treaty, Pinckney's Treaty, and the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Going over the immersions are really great becuase you can learn from Mr. Armstrong's explanation and your classmates' thoughts.
After going over the immersions, he gave us a lot of time to get started on Week 4 Immersion Part 2.
It was almost 45 or 40 minutes, plenty of time to finish or almost finish the immersion.
The only hand out that was given was the Week 4 Immersion Pt. 2, Early Presidencies: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, it was just a paper with the key terms and main ideas.
Well, thats mostly what we did in class.

History class on Feb 13th.

During class today, we talked about a new section: The early Presidencies.
We talked about the first president, George Washington. To learn about the hardships George Washington went through as the first president of the united states, we did an activity.The activity was about one of the international problems George Washington had to face.The problem was : When France and Great Britain were at war, George Washington had to choose what he was going to do... ally with Great Britain due to trading/economic reasons? or ally with France due to the fact that they allied with America during the Revolutionary War.
With the groups we were assigned with, we had to decide what we would do if we were George Washington, and give reasons to why we would help the country we chose. ( at the end, we found out that George Washington didn't side with either countries, he decided to be neutral)
at the end of going through which country we would side with and through the power point, we had quite a lot of time left, almost 30 minutes to work on our immersions.

Billy Park.

History Class -.-

Febuary 2nd, 2008 after the week of Holiday everyone came back not really remembering what they learned for the past few weeks. Mr. Armstrong woke up the class by telling the class some important dates of I am projects and a Test.And also he also went over the test, which he said we did improve alot on. We reviewed on many things today ,but most of the question in the test were all over 80 percent and also went to the 90 percent. Some question which asked things like the Manga Carta one many got it wrong because it wasnt on the pdf but Mr. Armstrong said we could look it up on different cites but many people did not do that. So many got it wrong and the next question which was analyizing with the Magna Carta people got it wrong too because they did not even know the definition. When we were almost finishing the review about from questions 40 to 50 the scores were not that good. The scores were like 40 percent or 60 percent. So Mr. Armstrong was like we need to still be active until the end of the test because thats the part where we lose points. Many people helped to solve problems why people chose the other answers. Hee Jae, Britney and Andy used there knowledge to help solve problems. We had handouts that were on our essay questions and like the answers which we just went over. And lastly Mr. Armstrong gave us handouts for our I AM project and also told us who we were. And many guys wanted what they wanted but not all.

Jamie W.

The Voice recorded Test review!-Jorma B.

As always we were greeted by Mr. Armstrong with a handshake and a color. We sat at whatever color we were assigned to, then get out our agendas to write the homework. Mr. Armstrong then talked to us about reviewing for the test and what we are going to do today. He told us about the project we were doing. At first I thought it would be due on Monday but he then told us we will present it in 20 min. I was surprised at the amount of time he gave us, but I was also determined. First me and Hee lang figured out what parts everyone should do then our group asked each other for extra information and other historic events. I was surprised how much work we did in only 20 minutes. The whole class was working hard to put together a good presentation that will help people study for the test. Everyone’s presentations were different and they all helped me understand more about the topics. Another thing that surprised me was that Mr. Armstrong said they weren’t graded only if you participated. Even thought it wasn’t graded the whole class still tried to get there topic across so that other people might understand it better. I enjoyed this class and will be watching the study casts to study for the test. I would also enjoy to do this again on the next test.

Short but Packed

Seeing that it's one of those half days with such tight schedule... I was rather startled when Mr. Armstrong told us we were to create a podcast after a given time of preparation. He sorted us into tables, shaking hands, taking attendance, and all that habitual stuff. After that he assigned each group with a different 'week' of the unit we covered recently. Our group was to cover week 1 while others covered week 2, 3, and essay topics. I'm not so sure of the other groups but our group first had a mini seminar amongst us. First we described about the key terms and people, educated one another on what they are. Then we discussed about the topic, often times had little disputes. Speaking of disputes and disagreement, perhaps we had a little mini debate too. And so we finished organizing our information, it was time for... CHOOSING WHO GOES WHEN!! 'Choosing who goes when' is for all one knows the most dreaded time when working with other people. People just mewl how everything stinks and all that rubbish just bursts out here and there. But some how everyone manages to sort things out in order. Seeing that we are week 1 we were the first to go. We sat around the little orange table placed at the centre of the room. Then as Mr. Armstrong pushed the trackpad button, the recording session started. I was given the honour of beginning our discussion by saying the words “8C group 1”. Elizabeth first described the topic we chose for her to say, and so did the others. But we failed to make it sound like a group of people discussing. So we tried it again. This time I managed to make my self seem like a nincompoop, being neither unconscious nor concentrated and suddenly bursting the words “8C group 1!!” as I realized the recording has begun. Although I didn’t see much difference with the first try, all of us contributed something to make it sound like a smart conversation by asking questions to others and adding amiable comments like “Ah” “Interesting” or “Fascinating”. As we continued recording I realized the whole thing sounded very unrehearsed (not like we did rehearse) and typical. Yet Sangwoo managed to make it a success by asking a very keen, clever question at the end, which just saved the podcast. His question was “What is the difference between the Land Ordinance and the Northwest Ordinance?”, very good question indeed, according to Mr. Armstrong, it was amongst the questions in the little piece of paper he gives us time to time to help us make good questions. Although our podcast was great in my opinion, I still had feelings of regret due to the fact that I wasn’t able to contribute much to the group. Followed by other groups, the little time that was given to us in the first place went by quickly. Today’s class was short but rather packed and brimming enthusiasm.

Andrew W. Yoon 8C
28.01.08

A New Government

As my enterance through the threshold of Mr. Asrmstrong's classroom, he greets every student with a warm handshake and instructs our schedule for the day. We began our class by a continue of the debate Counting slaves as part of population with honorable Julia, the proposition, speaking of a higher population, a higher tax, another way to release the country from debt. Soon as the proposition agruement was over, honorable Sangwoo, the opposition declares it is injustice for that slaves are being treated with disrespect and like property. After the last opposition arguement, soon the rebuttals spoke their opinions for their victory. After the entire debate, Mr. Armstrong pointed out some achievements and areas needed to be improved. Some of the major achievements from South Carolina/ Proposition side were, an increase of population leads to a increase of tax, and leads to another way to set the country out of debt. The greatest mistake of the entire debate was honorable Sangwoo's statement of "You treat slaves as property, and you intend to count them as human?!" This meant that the Pennsylvannia, a nonslave community, also called the Society of Friends were agreeing to slavery and agreeing that enslaved Africans were property. After discussing the overall debate, Mr. Armstrong took the class to another subject we learned, The Division of the Federal Government. Most of the information studied during class which had been done previously as a homework assignment were easily interpreted. The chief topic of The Division of the Federal Government was changing a one single branch, the Legislative branch, with two additional more branches, the Executive branch, and Judicial. To achieve these additional branches, we learned that the Consitutional Convention, a group of delegates from each state, had met to create a stronger government which was not tyrannical, but was based upon the people. In the meeting, the delegates proposed the Virginia plan, and New Jersey plan, both offering ideas for the new central government. As the states took sides, a Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman proposes his idea for the government which all the states agreed to be the next government. After the new government was created, slavery was still a topic in Legislature if a enslaved man should be counted part of the population. Soon the three-fifths compromise is established which explains that only three-fifth of a slave would be admitted as human. As the clock ticks the last minute of the class, my classmate peers write their last sentence in their notebook and revise their work and pack up to leave for lunch.

Eddie M.

23 Minutes of Non-stop Debate

Thursday, January 17, 2008

As we walked into class on Thursday, we realized what was coming, the anticipated debate we had been preparing since Tuesday. We shook hands with Mr. Armstrong as usual and took our seats in the inner circle for the first debaters, and the outer circle for the “jury”. This arrangement was familiar to us as we had used it for IC/OC seminars. Before we started, Mr. Armstrong reminded us to refute the opposing side’s arguments as well as stating your own. He also told us the basics for the debate – address him as judge, address an individual as “Honorable someone”, and stand up before saying Point of Information a.k.a. POI. Then the clock started ticking and the first debate began. Virginia and New Jersey debated over if the representatives sent to Congress should be based on population. Virginia was for this idea because it was the largest state while New Jersey wanted something more beneficial for the small colony. In the end, New Jersey won and Mr. Armstrong explained why. The second debate was Pennsylvania vs. South Carolina. They were debating if enslaved Africans should be counted as part of the state’s population. South Carolina, being a southern state with many slaves, was for this idea unlike Pennsylvania who argued against this idea. As the debate heated up, the clock ticked away. In the end, Mr. Armstrong had to stop us after the third speaker and the remaining speakers breathed a sigh of relief. Before we packed up, Mr. Armstrong commented on our first debate of 8^th grade. He told us that although we could improve in some areas, it wasn’t bad for the first debate. Just before the bell rang, he also reminded us of our homework which was to take notes on Week Three Immersion. Overall, today’s class was different from our usual classes and we all got to do what we do best, argue with people.

Sangwoo N.

There were many things today. People were fighting, states were disagreeing, and many things had to be solved by sacrafises. The first thing we noticed when we entered the room was the white board. It said recomandations of what to say in a debate. We didn't like the sound of it. Our teacher came in and assigned seats. I was put in New Jersy. Then, we were shown a slide show of some problems the states faced. This time it was against each other; they didn't know who to be the leader, who would choose, how many representatives, who could vote, populations, and other ordeals. So, we then had to answer six questions (A through F) of such ordeals. Non of them were easy, and we would often disagree. But our teacher would always be there to help us, and other groups as well. And then we were told about a debate we had to do. New Jersy and Virgina Had plans of how many representatives would go to meetings. Virginia, who is the largest, said it depended on the size of the state. New Jersy, being the smallest, was at a disadvantage. Then there was a fight for who does what part of the debate. We had a lot of fun in class, thinking in another state's shoes, having a debate for the first time for a while, and I look forward to our discussions to see what we, or our enemies, have cooked up for us.
-Jaekyung S.

What a Great Leader May Be!

Today in Social Studies class, it was our turn to be the leaders of the United States. We thought of solutions to the problems that early America had been troubled with when they were given independence. Major problems that early America had suffered was economic problems. Britain and Spain were making trade hard for them. America had little exports and too many imports. Therefore, the economy went down. Another problem, Britain was supposed to withdraw from the forts around the great lakes, but with no army to stop them, they refused. We came up with many solutions for these problems. But none of them seemed valid and probible enough to be taken into consideration. You really have to think twice before making a decision. One handout we were given was about Daniel Shays and his rebellion. Daniel Shays was a farmer that was suffering from the taxes from the ecomonic problems that the country was suffering. He formed a rebellion following the footsteps as Samuel Adams did during the revolution. However this time, Samuel Adams accused Shays of treasonous rebellion. I think Adams made a mistake there. Today we figured out how hard it is to be leaders. There are many problems you have to go through and factors you have to think about. Our class worked very cooperatively. Eddie had mentioned a lot about China, but that had stirred the conversation about making allies and that was very useful in our discussion. Everyone was participating and everyone was having fun!
-Nick Yun