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Here are the notes from
this past week in class:
On Tuesday of this week we discussed the reading from
Zinn's Chapter 4: Tyranny is Tyranny. The definition of tyranny is a government
in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power. This
chapter is about he English colonies beginning to gain
independence from Great Britain. The time of the American
Revolution if from 1763-1783.
King George III
ascended to the throne in England in 1760. 1763 marked the end of
the French and Indian War. It is sometimes called the 7 Years'
War. England was victorious over the French and Indians and the
French were expelled from the colonies. The Proclamation of
1763 stated that there were "Indian Lands"
beyond the Appalachian Mountains. The Proclamation of 1763 was
Britain's attempt to stop the western expansion by the colonists
and reserved the land for the Indian tribes. The act was never
really enforced. Britain continued to force more demands on the
Colonists (Britain mostly made economic demands to pay for the
cost of the French and Indian War). The Sugar Act 1764
did not allow the colonists to import foreign rum. It placed a tax
on molasses and other items. The Currency Act of 1764
prevented the colonists from creating any money in the colonies --
they had to use British money. The Quartering Act of 1765
required colonists to provide British troops with provisions and a
home to stay in while they were in the colonies. The Stamp Act
of 1765 was the harshest of these acts. It required
that stamps in the form of a tax had to be placed on every piece
of printed paper. The documents included all legal documents,
leases, licenses, ships' papers, newspapers, even playing cards
were taxed. There were other acts that Britain imposed on the
colonists also. Colonists felt constricted and believed they
were ruled too strongly by Britain. The Boston Tea Party of
1773 was an event that occurred because of a tea tax that
England put on the tea. The tax established a tea tax that gave
England a monopoly over the tea. Samuel Adams and other colonists
reacted by dressing up as Mohawk Indians, they boarded three
British ships and dumped the cargo (tea) into the Boston Harbor.
The Coercive Acts (intolerable acts) of 1774 were a
response to the Tea Party. The English closed down the Boston Port
until tax was paid on all of the dumped tea. Many colonists rose
in opposition of the control that the English government was
having over the people.
Thomas Paine
published Common Sense early in 1776. This pamphlet
established economic rationale for separating from England.
Many people read Paine's work and were convinced of his argument
for becoming independent from England.
Thomas
Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence in 1776. All
throughout this time, the poor became more and more oppressed
by the wealthy. In 1767, the "top 10% of Boston's
taxpayers held about 66% of Boston's taxable wealth while the
lowest 30% of the taxing population had no taxable property at
all" (Zinn). Those not owning property could not vote.
Four days after
the Declaration of Independence was read publicly from a town hall
in Boston, the Boston Committee of Correspondence ordered the
townsmen to show up for a military draft to fight in the
Revolutionary War. The rich people could avoid the
draft by paying for others to fight in their place. The poor
had to serve. Near the end of Chapter 4, Zinn mentioned that
rioting began and the common people shouted, "tyranny is
tyranny...let it come from whom it may..." It is important
that you understand why this statement was made. To understand
this phrase, think about the power that the British
government had over the people of the colony AND consider the power
that the newly forming colonial government was taking over its
people.
Keep
thinking about ways to teach the content of the above notes. Much
of this information is taught as part of the fifth grade social
studies curriculum.
In class, I showed a short
video clip from America Rock. The video showed some of the
information from the American Revolution --- but clearly left
out multiple perspectives. For this reason, I used this video to
have you gain an understanding of why we must preview teaching
materials before showing them to children. While this video is
certainly popular, it does not do a good job showing the
viewpoints from all of the people who were alive during the
Revolution. Instead, it depicts the dominant cultural
perspective. Be sure to be able to identify whose perspective
that is.
On Thursday, we visited
Barry Elementary School to implement community builders and team
builders to prepare us to implement some lessons with these 6th
graders. Thank you for preparing to work with them in small
groups. We thought you did wonderful with that.
That's all for this week.
Keep reading, keep learning and keep coming to class!
~Kim
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