World History with Ms. Elrod

The Unit 6 Essay assignment and writing preparation for Honors World History is below. The due date is Monday, April 12, 2010. This should be a well-developed 5-paragraph essay, typed in 12-pt. Times New Roman font. Points will be deducted for handwritten essays, more points will be deducted for plagiarized essays! You have been warned!

Explain how Enlightenment ideas have influenced the structure of modern governments, the rights of citizens, and the use of reason to solve problems.

Structure of Modern Governments:

• think about the Enlightenment philosophers and what they believed about government
  • social contract
  • Rousseau, Montesquieu, Locke
  • the government set up by the U.S. Constitution

Rights of Citizens:

• “natural rights” (Voltaire)
• social contract
• incorporate a quote from the Declaration of Independence that deals with people’s rights

Use of Reason to Solve Problems:

• reason and logic used to fix society’s problems—
  • religious toleration/religious freedom (Voltaire)
  • women’s rights (Mary Wollstonecraft, p. 577)
  • economics (Adam Smith, p. 577)

The Unit 5 Essay assignment and writing preparation for Honors World History is below. Please be prepared to write this essay in class on Wednesday, March 10, 2010.

PROMPT: Describe European expansion, the fall of Native American empires, and the isolation of Asian Empires during the 1300s through the 1600s.

European Expansion & the Age of Exploration:

• effects of the Renaissance, p. 469
• reasons for expansion/exploration
• European countries that funded large-scale voyages of exploration
• effects of expansion and exploration in the Americas

Fall of Native American Empires:

• Spanish in Central America
• Spanish in South America
• the Encomienda System
• North American tribes
• Where do Europeans in the Americas turn for workers as a result of the decline of Native American populations?

Isolationism of Asian Empires:

• Zheng He and the Chinese voyages of exploration
• Chinese rulers’ response to foreign influences
• reasons for Chinese isolation
• Tokugawa trade with Europe
• Shoguns’ response to Christian missionaries, p. 521

You are a sailor who wants to explore new lands in 1450, but you need money for your journey.

Write a letter to Prince Henry (Portugal), Queen Elizabeth (England), or King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella (Spain) to convince them to fund your expedition. Tell them the (1) reasons you want to explore, (2) what you think you’ll find, (3) what you’ll use to get to the new lands (new technologies), and (4) mention other discoveries and explorers that are being made at the time.

This activity will be completed tomorrow in class for Bellwork.

Ms. Elrod’s first and fifth period Honors World History classes will begin our studies in Chapter 10 on Monday, November 30, 2009. Students will receive a list of important terms and concepts about “African Kingdoms” which they will be responsible for knowing. To complete our studies in Chapter 10, each student will be assigned a country in Africa to research and report about. Click here for project instructions, grading rubric, and contract.

Ms. Elrod’s second, third, and fourth period World History classes will be working on an alphabet book project beginning on Monday, November 30, 2009. All books are due on Monday, December 7, 2009. Click here for instructions, grading rubric, and project contract.

Can you believe it’s already time for Thanksgiving Break? Before we go, though, we have several items of business still remaining to complete our study about Muslim Civilization in Chapter 9. Please click here to see our plans for this week.

Hope everyone has a fun and safe break!

Hope everyone has had a restful weekend! Here is a look at what we’ll be doing this week: click here to view our weekly overview for Nov. 16 through Nov. 20, 2009.

Click here to view our weekly overview for November 9 -13. Be sure to study for our Unit 2 Test on Thursday, Nov. 12. REMEMBER: We are out of school Wednesday, Nov. 11 for Veterans’ Day!

Here’s a look at our plans this week: click here to access our weekly overview.

There are forty-three “Key Terms” in chapters six and seven. This assignment is designed to help you review the ideas that we discussed about Rome, Early Christianity, and the Americas in preparation for our upcoming unit two exam. There are three assignment options that you may choose from. Click here for details.