Homework 3, Due November 5, 2010

This being a short school week, you will doubtless have extra time to commit to history homework! All kidding aside, I will eliminate the minimum word count for your essays and responses for this week's assignment. Your assignment is a simple and straight-forward one: following Tuesday's election results, research the outcome of the contest your wrote about a couple of weeks ago. Tell us who won and whether your prediction was correct. Summarize your beliefs about how the election results will affect the US over the next two years and explain why. Enjoy your extra-long weekend!

Homework 2, Due October 29, 2010

Last week's homework assignment was very well done by so many of you! Congratulations on your research and on taking a stand. Remember, there's no reason why politics should intimidate you; it's your RIGHT to have an opinion and to express it freely. If someone else wants to get angry and act childishly that shouldn't convince you to not participate! By backing down you give up your right to participate in the democratic process.

This week's assignment will focus on a less-controversial subject, though. When you think of Ancient Rome it is likely that you picture the incredible architecture and artwork that continues to exist and inspire us today. Your assignment is to follow one of the following links and choose a Roman piece of artwork or architecture to share with us. What was the initial purpose of your topic? Does it exist today? What is special/unusual about it? Why did you choose this specific example?

http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/romans/
http://www.roman-colosseum.info/roman-architecture/index.htm

Take time to choose your selection carefully and share what you've learned!

Homework 1, Due October 22, 2010

As we continue our discussion of the history of Rome I want you to consider the enormous amount of dedication and sacrifice it must have taken for the democratic system to have been adopted - and then notice how quickly the Romans lost it with the dawn of the age of emperors. The right to choose our representatives in government is sacred and includes an incredible responsibility. Voters absolutely must make an honest effort to understand the issues and carefully consider the longterm effects of the proposed plans in order to make a reasonable choice. For example, polls conducted this week on college campuses in states where key elections are being held found that many of the students were unaware of the positions of the candidates - on issues the students said they cared about! (I suppose we can all be thankful that the youth voter turnout is consistently low).

This week's assignment is an exercise in democracy. I want you to visit the site http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/2010_Elections/page?id=10476449 to view an analysis of the upcoming election. Then I want you to choose any election on the ABC News site and report back on it. Who is the incumbent, who is the challenger (include the party affiliation) and who does ABC News think will win? Then find a news story about the campaign and share what you learn (cite your source). Finally, tell us who you think should be elected (or good/bad points about both candidates if you wish to keep your politics a secret).

Remember that the minimum requirement is 200 words - you don't have to write a book! Your responses to your classmates have been good; keep up the good work!

Homework 8, Due October 15, 2010

For the next couple of weeks we will be studying the greatest western empire of all time - the empire of ancient Rome. So much of western culture is derived from Rome - our languages, laws and politics, and even forms of recreation. Of course, as you've already noted, Rome was built on the heritage of other cultures that came earlier, but nowhere else do we see all these special western traits come together quite like the Roman empire. You might know, for example, that the Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian languages are all derived from the old Latin (called "vulgar Latin" because it was the language of the common people). You might even know that half of the modern English language is directly descended from the vulgar Latin (we'll discuss why when we talk about the history of England). But did you know that most of the major European cities today are built on the locations of Roman military forts? At the peak of the Roman Empire, not only did Rome control the Mediterranean world and the Middle East, but also North Africa and almost all of western Europe.

If you are a native of Kentucky it is likely that you have very little Roman ancestry, however. It is more likely that your ancestors (and mine) were uncivilized people like the Gaelic (or Celtic) or Germanic tribes. So how did the culture of Rome become the basis for the culture for all the rest of the European people groups? Well, that's an important topic we'll discuss in lecture over the next few days.

Your assignment for this week is to research life in ancient Rome and identify ways that Romans were SIMILAR TO residents of modern Somerset. Go to www.worldbookonline.com (choose the student section) and find the article "Rome, ancient" (found at the link http://worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar474350&st=life+in+ancient+rome ). You will have to sign in to World Book: your id is "scs" and your password is "cougars". Identify and discuss two topics of similarities that you find.

Remember that your essay must be at least 200 words and you must leave comments on the essays of at least two others (totally 150 words). Your essays are due Friday evening by midnight; the responses are due Sunday evening by midnight. Give it your best effort!

Fall Break, October 4-8, 2010

Hope you are enjoying your fall break! There is no new assignment this week; however, for those of you who have missing assignments from previous weeks, here's your chance for make up work. Under THIS POST ONLY, submit your essay, being careful to label it (include the homework number and original due date). Essays must be at least 400 words in length and can earn you up to 50% credit (which is far better than the zero you currently have!).

See you next Monday!