The Final Exam

               For our final exam 2011, I think that it should be worth a fair amount of our grade. I say this because most people would want the percentage to be reasonable. For example if our grade for history is bad then that means that it can be pulled up if the pecentage is high enough. The other example is for if you fail the test it wont hurt your grade to much. So to conclude this to an end, my opinion on how much the exam should be worth is 20% of our grade.

America I Am! Are You?

     Today, Wednesday 13,2011, my classmates and I visited the National Geographic Museum to experience the America I Am exhibit. It was very eye catching and it was filled with lots of interesting information, photos, videos and artifacts, such as Martin Luther King Jr.'s jail cell, with his actual seat he sat on, or 2Pac Shakur's hand written poem. I'm pretty sure the creators of the exhibit took a lot of their time and patience to put together a outstanding exhibit as such but the title is apart of it all too. The title sums things up, it puts the bow on the present, so out of all names why choose America I Am? What is that supposed to mean? Are they referring to some plain ole American? Or is there a deeper meaning to it? I don't think they just choose a random name I think the name is saying you can be an American person but their are certain actions that people take to make them a "true" American, they did something to make a difference in the world or their community, famous or not they did something that can help someone now or people to come in the future. That's what I think the title means and the exhibit backs it up perfectly.

    "We must dissent because America can do better, because America has no choice but to do better. Take a chance, wont you? Knock down the fences that divide. Tear apart the walls that imprison. Reach out; freedom lies just on the other side." This quote was said by Thurgood Marshall, an American, the first black Supreme Court Justice, in this statement he is talking about freedom and equality in America. Saying that America must fight for what they believe in and if they all were to work together they can accomplish anything. "Freedom lies just on the other side" he said meaning that its not far away, they can "Reach out" and almost touch it, that they have the ability, the strength to "Tear apart the walls that imprison" they can break the racist comments and the injustice but they need each other, they need to help one another to make it.

When the creators say America I Am they are talking about things such as when Martin Luther King Jr. sat in a jail cell for fighting for justice and equality. An innocent man held in a cold box with nothing but maybe a toliet and a bench, just sitting there as time goes by. But what did he do? Nothing, he used non-violence, he used assemble and protest to get his word across and he gets punished for doing the right thing. That is America.

America I Am is when a solider puts his life on the line to fight for his country, when a solider leaves behind his life and family to fight for his country's beliefs when Fredrick Douglas says that a solider that fights in war has truly earned the right to citizenship in the United States, i don't think any one could have said it better.

America I Am is when a famous rapper gets shot in a limo in Las Vegas because he was caught up in a bad life and was set up. That's America, violence and cursing, children and elderly dying, kids not getting the education that they should, drugs, media it's all apart of America. The commercials that tell one that they aren't good enough, the bullying that takes the lives of teenagers. Yes, that truly is America.

America I Am is having an African American President for the first time. America I Am is the Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights. America is justice and equality, it's "all men are created equal". America I Am is democracy. America I Am, Are You?

Good vs. Bad/Pros & Cons, of History Standardized Tests

      Should it be? The question asked on whether History should have standardized test. I personally think not because it's just to much for students to handle. In addition we already have enough test as it is. I don't really like to many test because its to much pressure for me to have to deal with, having to prepare in class and remembering things. For example if we have a History standardized test we'll have to remember dates in order as well as why the date was important and who was involved. But I also think that NHD is a way of testing because we research on a certain topics in history. In this we learn new things about the topic we choose and may know a little about already. This is also good because in class we get to hear about other people's topics all together learning history.

Tuskegee Airmen

A lesson I learned from the Tuskegee Airmen is that don't doubt yourself. I think what they mean by that is if you have a dream and you go for it. But at the time didn't succeed don't give up and say you can't do it. Also I have learned that if I was to be in the Air Force don't get to close to a person because once you lose that person you will put yourself down thinking it was your fault that that person died.But I'm not saying don't make friends. Also I've learned that if you try hard enough you can achieve what you are working for. I say this because those Tuskegee Airmen never lose a bomber meaning they fought hard, and harder each time. The last lesson I learned is to love what you do and never give up. I say this because if you love what you do and keep doing what you do, you can be moved up to a higher position such as capton and get your wings.

The Tuskegee Airmen

 The Tuskegee Airmen have taught me a lot of great lessons. One lesson is to strive for something even if people doubt you and tell you that your not capable of doing something, such as flying a plane.They all showed great courage by all fighting for a country where they were hated by white men.They also taught me that if you believe in something then you can achieve it. I know that this is a lesson because they believed that they could win in battle during fights and it did happen because they had never lost a single bomber. The last lesson that I learned, which to me was most important, was to not get to close to people if you would soon have to let them go. Most of the airmen were to close, so when someone would die or get killed, the other men would feel a strong pain in thier heart like they had just lost a brother.

Freedom Riders

 My class Daisy Bates attended at field trip at the American History Museum to attend a program about the freedom riders. Before we left we watched a very informational documentary about the Freedom Riders to give us a little knowledge on who they were/are and the impacts they made in history. Also we watched the video before to give us a question to answer at the program.Once we were finished watching the movies we answered a couple of questions about the film. My overall experience with the film is that it was very sad because it was hard for me to see how back in history we had sides. Like colors and whites. And how they treated the color people.

 When we arrived there we were seated as a group. My teacher told me we were the only middle school there. Once we all were seated we song a song with the host. I'm sure of what the song it was but it was related to what the freedom riders went threw.After the song, we watched part of the film we watched at school before we left. After that they spoke on their behalf of the Freedom Ride. My question was " When you were younger and made your decision to be a freedom rider, was your parents in agreement"? John Lewis said that they did not notify their parents because there parents were going to be against it. I think that they could've told their parents because what if something bad happened they wouldn't be able to tell their parents bye. But then they would've had the chance to be a Freedom Rider and fight for their rights.

 From this experience I have learned is to fight for what you believe in. Even if you get beat down, still fight for your rights.I believe that I connected personally with all the Freedom Riders because they all fought hard through thick and then.Their experience was tough, but they got through it all. All they wanted was peace and equality and that is all I want and that i what we have. And as Maya said "Two wrongs doesn't make a right".

The Freedom Riders

       My class, Daisy Bates, were going on a trip related to our class name. We were going to go see the Freedom Riders at the Youth Town Hall. But before we went we sat down in Ms.Trenkle's class to watch a movie called the Freedom Riders. In this movie I learned the true story of the Freedom Riders. What had happened was that some black and white activist had decided to take a bus ride all the way down through the deep south. They were trying to see just how bad the different places were due to segrigation.

         When we got to the Youth Town Hall we sat their and listened to the Freedom Riders each tell their story. One thing I learned that I did not know From the movie was that some people who decided to take this trip had droped out of high school for it. They would have been the first in their families to graduate from high school. In addition most of these young students, Such as John Lewis, did not notify their parents that they were leaving. If they had not have escaped that bus when it had caught on fire, then they could have died without saying goodbye to thier parents.

          One most important thing that was a lesson learned, was to always stand up for what you believe. I say that this was most important because even though they were beat down and almost killed they were still going to keep riding down the bus line. This applies to my life because I always stand up for what I believe. For example in arguements a always try to get my point accross. I find that the person that I can connect with is  John Lewis. He had faught for alot of what he believed in. I felt this connection because I also like to fight for what I believe. Not only John Lewis,  who was tough, but there were many more from the Freedom Riders.