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