Blogging vrs. Pen and Paper Assigments

Blogging, as I said, is something that is very heard back where I come from, Guatemala. So it was something completly new and at first I thought I would do horrible and that I wouldnt like it but it turned out to be very easy and useful. I think when you blog, you create an argument for a side that you believe is right, so you have to actually understand the topic and analyze it to chose and argue that side. So its not like you make up everything, you have to understand the topic. So I learned so much more blogging than pen and paper assigments. It helps you memorize and understand better.

Favorite Blogging Topic?

My favorite blogging topic was the six word story. I liked it because I didnt know how deep six words can be. Like, I had never lerned or heard anything about "six words stories", so it took me a while to finally come up with one. It so interesting how six words can say so many things without really saying them. And plus, it was a blog in which we just had to write six words so it was pretty easy! But I liked, it was fun thinking about a story made up in only 6 words.

Learning new ways to study: Blogging!

I come from a country where we dont have this kinds of advanced learning techniques. In Guatemala, I was in a very good school but not all the people that live there go to a good school. My school was pretty advanced in everything but normal schools were not and we definetly didnt have these "blog posts". So when we were first told about it I felt a little scared and nervous because it was new to me. But I realized all they do is help you. They give you a situation where you have to make up your mind and create an argument for it. You have to analyze and decide which choice is better and fight for it. Besided learning from it, it is better than doing handwritten homework in paper or readings. All teenagers use the computer like everyday. So that gives us a lot of opportunity to log on blogger and just be done with United States History's homework. It was nice learning another way of learning and studying. I was also good because like other people can read them and comment or make suggestions or remarks. It was a great way of  learning, having fun and having the opportunity to get an easy A or B. I think we should keep them going through out the year because they have helped me understand better all the topics and everything because it actually makes you think about it. Also, I realized that in tests, it is easier for me to remember everything because I wrote an argument for it. I deffend a side of that situation and its easier to remember everything. It was a grat way of getting out of all that "youre homework for tonight is reading a 30 page article about Slavery in the United States". We are so used to that that it was nice to get out of it for a while. And I actually learned more from it than I do in those worksheets, so who said learning could not be easy and fun?
 

Excitement and dissapointment: Immigrants in the United States

Immigrants coming from the United States were probably very excited to come to this "new and different" world. When the shipped arrived and they saw all the buildings and all that, they probably felt so excited and hopeful. But as they got off from the ships and went inside the city, like in New York, they saw what was really like. It was so filthy and gross, not to mention smelly, that their hopes and excitement probably fell to the ground. But it was at least an opportunity for a new beggining so they made the best from it.

Stitch, stitch, stitch, a day in the factory.

The factory workers in the nineteenth century worked so hard in the factories. Endless hours every day of hard work and as described in the song, until your brains begin to swim, your eyelids and eyes feel heavy and you sleep on the buttons still dreaming that youre sewing. If must have been hard to go through the whole day stitching and working. They made these songs to actually let people see and hear what a real day of work in a factory was like. It was hard and they worked until they couldnt work anymore.

Six Word Story

Finally His dreams actually came true.

Who said learning was not fun?

When people hear the word "game", they usually never link it with "learning". But here's something they did not know.
Oregon Trail is a great game. It is a game that shows information from the 1800s, while the west expansion was going on. Gaming could potentially connect with learning because while you are playing and having fun. You need to find a way to remember the material you are learning and playing a game about it is a great way. Many of us are visual learners and gaming helps a whole lot because it helps us memorize and make connections between the game and the lesson learned through it. In the Oregon Trail game, you have to move pieces all around the board. You have to know the information from what it told you to be able to play correctly. Its a great way of learning because it told you facts about the 1800s. Playing games and learning can help you understand everything better. So keep up the gaming!

The Old But Good Cowboy Days

Back in the 1800s and early 1900s,  Erwin E. Smith was busy taking pictures of the daily life of a cowboy. This pictures would later be treasured as some of the most accurate cowboy pictures because they showed how cowboys really were and what they did in their daily life.
In his collection, his pictures show the varied jobs the cowboys did. It was not always that easy, sometimes it was a hard job. Some of the managed cattle, others worked as range bosses to the wrangler. And the bronco buster to the line rider, the cook to the cutting horse. The goal for his pictures was to capture the rugged realities and the romantic life they lived on the open range.
One of this pictures from his collection, is a picture of a boss in a horse. I like this picture because it actually shows how the cowboys did have a boss. This pictures show how cowboys really were.
Hollywood's portrayal  is a little bit different from what cowboys were really like in the 1800s and early 1900s. Hollywood's series in television called "Gunsmoke" was about cowboys and the open range. It had some things that were true but there were things left out. Also, today we think that cowboys are just men with round hats, boots, a gun, cowboy pants and a horse. We imagine them at a bar living a romantic life. But the truth is that is only partially true. In Erwin E. Smith's collection, we can see that they had not-so-easy jobs. They did have their boots, horse, hats and gun. But they also had struggles with the jobs. So thanks Erwin, for taking those pictures and permitting us see the reality of how cowboys really were in the late 1800s and 1900s!

http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/collection.php?asn=LC-S59-078&mcat=9&scat=28