First, I had to think of something to say. That was harder than you might think! Since I've been working on my American Government class this summer, I decided to make a short presentation about the Constitutional Convention.
I captured some pictures of the era using Jing. I downloaded the Jing interactive tutorial but don't seem to be able to "get it" because whatever I do it says "Please try again!" I'm not sure what Jing did with the pictures but they were on the Desktop so I uploaded them to Screencast.
I wrestled with this for 90 minutes this afternoon, until my wife ordered me off the computer because of the unpleasant sounds I kept making. Since then I've snuck back on, and have this to show you. I'm sure if I knew what I was doing I could put content with the actual pictures, and then have a slide show, but what I'm offering you instead is a bunch of links with narration.
In the 1780s, the recently independent United States faced a number of difficult problems. Or didn't face them. Many people were frustrated by the decentralized system of government and blamed it for the country's inability to solve its problems. These people included such luminaries as George Washington...
...James Madison...
...and Alexander Hamilton.
Other people liked the decentralization, and thought the first group were elitist national snots. These included Patrick Henry...
...Luther Martin...
...and Sam Adams, brewer-patriot!
The dispute was unresolved until the winter of 1786-1787, when civil unrest broke out in Massachusetts, led by Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays.
The unrest scared enough people that they went along with the movement to strengthen the national government. Delegates from 12 states met in Independence Hall, Philadelphia...
...and wrote the Constitution.
Today, the Framers of the Constitution are remembered as heroes, and their memory excites people young and old...
...and even kitties!
I doubt I will use this in class.
Love the kitty!
ReplyDeleteI tried Jing a very long time ago - and remember much more pleasant sounds from my time there. If you are ever interested in doing something more with this type of thing OR having your students create something as an assignment, please let me know and perhaps we could wade through some details and make it work.