Blogging

I agree with the blogging assessment system because it is a whole lot better then just doing a test or even writing notes. You can prove how much you know on the subject by writing a blog. Yeah you can look at your notes for most things but that will not help you write a whole blog on it. It will just help on the topic and it also helps you get an idea of what to write. It does not give you all the answers. On a test all you have to do is memorize stuff off the top of your head. That would not get you that far. When you are blogging just take a look at your notes and/or what you wrote down in class about the topic. Then you have to do all the work from there. You have to write down what you think and all your feeling on the topic. By doing that you are learning more on the topic. Than going to your class, sitting at your desk and testing a test on things you had to write down and memorize on the top of your head. It helps you organize all your ideas about the topic. When you are taking notes you do not really know what you are writing you are just writing it because your teacher told you to. Most people do not understand the notes or even what the teacher is saying and then when it comes to taking the tests they do not know the information on the topic that well and they fail the quiz or test. Taking notes never helped me because i knew i had to memorize what was on the piece of paper and i am not that good at memorizing anything. So when i blog i feel as if i know everything that i have to write as a blog and on top of that i get to pick two questions to answer from as many as there is. When that i happens i pick the ones that i know the most of and then i do really good on them. When you a teacher tells you have to take a test they just give you a topic to study from they do not tell you a specific to study from. When you are blogging you know exactly what to talk about and you know how you are going to blog. Then on top of that you can take as long as you want to write your blog and they do not rush you. You just have to finish before the quarter will the amount of blogs that have to be done.

Learning

My learning was different compared to writing just pen and paper. The way you learn with writing down you don't really have to think about it just write it and then look back at it if you need to know something. When you are blogging you have to think about the situation and what you are going to write down. When you are taking notes you just copy everything you see on the board or PowerPoint and that is it. Blogging lets you remember and think about everything from the notes and think about how you are going to wirte it down in your own words.

Blog topic

My favorite blog topic of the quarter was the one about the stereotypes of cowboys. It was interesting because from looking at the pictures that were provided you get to understand how they were described in books and shown in movies and in the pictures. What you learn about them is not they same they were not the same as the pictures or the movies or even the books. They were what people imagined them as. But it wasn't the truth. In the blog topic you can say that.

Ellis Island

After viewing the photographs the immigrants comign through Ellis Island experienced a lot of happiness. They wanted to be free and enjoy a better life and by coming through that island they knew the hope that they had all along was finally coming true. There were a lot of people wanting the same thing so they always had to maintain the hope of getting there. A lot of people knew they wouldnt make it but they also knew they had a chance so they must of been really nervous and happy at the same time. All the little children on the boat tried their best to be happy but there were times that family were splitten up and the kids stayed as orphans, but they knew that their family just wanted them to have a better life.

"Song of the Shirt"

The textile factory workers were always tired and weary because of the work they went through. They could not complain because they needed the money to feed their family. The workers didnt know how they could make it but they would push on by singing about the work they had to do and how hard it was for them. They weren't eating frequently or having a break for a rest. They were pushed to just keep working through the pain.They felt like they were slaves because they didnt have any freedom to stop and rest their eyes.

Cowboy

There are so many stereotypes of the American Cowboy. This picture represents some of them. In the picture the cowboy is next to a fire with his boots on and his hat. With a button-up shirt and chaps and a bandanna around his neck. Behind him there is a wagon with all his stuff. Next to that there is a tent where he must sleep in. Another stereotype is the fire in front of him and him pouring beans into the pot. Not everyone set up a camp like that if anything they would set up camp in their wagon with their family. They would do that do protect them from anything that could have happened. Also not every cowboy looked like that. They mostly looked like everybody else around the town. They were not always living in a tent with a camp set outside of it. The cowboys did struggle a lot with some stuff like the reality of their safety and all the bad things that can happen to them. The reality of their job was that they could of gotten killed by drunk men and could of gotten hurt by them just wandering around like nothing. There were a lot of brave people that thought that they were big and bad and not even the cowboys could of stopped them. Even if they tried.
Hollywood always portrayed them as being the one to always fight in a saloon at a open bar fight. They also portrayed them as being the hero or everything being a party for the cowboy when it was not even that. In old western films they showed the cowboys trying to get girls and getting drunk all the time. Which was not true because most cowboys had a family and kids they were moving west with. A lot of problems arose with cowboys trying to move west. Most of their family died or got sick and were in ill condition. Other problems were that they did not have enough money to make a good life for their family. It was not easy things to go through or having to deal with. It was not a big party and it was not all about getting girls, it was about the struggle they had to go through to get west.

Rocky Raccoon

The Beatles song "Rocky Raccoon" describes the wild west like you learn from a child book. Such as a saloon, there weren't many saloons in the wild west. The song is also describing the stereotype for the wild west. I think it is not accurate because it was not like that all the time. They discuss about Rocky carrying a gun and not everyone back then carried a gun with them. They carried a weapon but not a gun.They also talked about a hoe down, they never had a hoe down really. The hoe down is not exactly what they thought.

Oregon Trail

Gaming can connect with learning in many ways. For instance like the game oregon trail once you play it you understand how life was for the families that taveled west. You learn that there were complications on the trip such as getting a disease or having your wagon broken. These are all the things that you dont really learn or experience but once you play the game you understand all of that.