Learning Smart (2nd Ed) is now up and running!

After two weeks of tinkering, authoring, and revising I am happy with my new creation.

This website is now the public page for all of my activities as an educator at OMHS.  You can come here to see work that my students have produced, check homework, or log into any of the “Smart” Apps for the World History, or World Religions classes that I teach.

Please take a look around and use the contact tab to let me know what you think…

Have a great rest of the summer..

BILL SHAKESPEARE: MAN OF THE HOUR THE WORLD

Just a titch about how his life….

Everybody’s heard of Shakespeare, most have read Shakespeare and some love him so much they call themselves “Hamletologists” after his most famous play. I certainly can’t be alone in thinking this is the greatest individual EVER.

This amazing man was probably born on April 23 1564- there’s no way to know for sure. Mystery? Check! He’s not even a day old and he has the most obvious quality necessary for a fantastic individual. Then, when he was around 3 months old, the Bubonic Plague ran through his neighborhood. HE SURVIVED. This is a truly superior man.His parents were illiterate an he still went on to be an internationally famous writer. Struggle and hardship? Check! His success in becoming a writer despite his parents’ illiteracy proves he had enormous drive to accomplish what he wanted.

He was dangerous, too. He married at 18 to Anne Hathaway- she was 26 and 3 months pregnant! Ahhhh! SHOTGUN! He had two other children with his wife, then he left. Just ran off to London, some say to pursue his career as an actor (or player as they were called). Others say he was running from the law… oohh criminal!Once he gave up acting he took on writing full time. When he was at his best, he was making close to £200 a year. Every once in a while he’d appear in his own plays (double threat).

Throughout his writing career, my mans Bill wrote 38 plays and 154 sonnets. These sonnet do-hickies were of the English variety- 3 four-line stanzas and one couplet at the end. All 14 lines are in iambic pentameter. As a testament to his greatness the world now calls this a Shakespearean sonnet. Yep. They named a type of poem after him.

This man and his work are truly pervasive.

Take a look at this handy list I made:

• Four-hundred years later there are still hundreds of Shakespeare companies that perform only Shakespeare’s plays. This video is from the Reduced Shakespeare Company. They take all of his plays and squish them down to a time reasonable for most people’s attention spans.

• There is a whole section of out local Borders store that stock only books on and by Shakespeare.
  
  
• There is a whole series of Cliffs notes for Shakespeare’s works. Not only do they have the summaries and explanations…they have the complete plays too. That’s how important the world thinks his work is.
• Barron’s has books devoted to making Bill’s plays easy to read for the more….dense individuals.
  
  
• There is “Shakespeare for Dummies” and “The Idiot’s Guide to Shakespeare”
  
  
• Shakespeare is the only mandatory author on the English A-Levels in Britain. (;] Mr. Smart)
• Historians and Shakespeare entusists have labeled a part of Bill’s life his “lost years.” Only the most significant people (like Picasso, Jesus and Merlin….the company you keep…)
• When you search for “Shakespeare” on Google about 65,000,000 hits come up. That’s 65 million. OH WOW.
• YouTube comes up with about 24,000.
• There is a Shakespeare County in Wickshire, England. How many important people actually have counties named after them??
  
  
• Every year “Shakespeare in Central Park” is held in New York City.
• Hamlet was banned by Stalin because Hamlet was just too indecisive and depressed.
• Hamlet has been made into a movie at least 45 times, inspired 26 ballets, 6 operas, and countless musicals
• “We’ve heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true.”Robert Wilensky, speech at a 1996 conference
• “To be or not to be” and “Although the last, not least” are from Shakespeare’s plays. Sound familiar?
• The beloved President who is accredited with the abolishment of slavery, carried a copy of Macbeth in his saddlebag and copies of many of Shakespeare’s plays on his desk next to the Bible and US Statues.
• Lincoln was assassinated by a Shakespearean actor. Ironic?
• “The remarkable thing about Shakespeare is that he really is very good, in spite of all the people who say he is very good.” Robert Graves (1895 – 1985)
• There are SEVERAL fansites for Señor Shakespeare online :: wshakespeare.com, a shakespeare fan blog, shakespeare-online.com,
• OH WOW! SHakespeare even has his own page on IMDb on which he is credited as a writer in 707 films.
• “Be not afraid of greatness: some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616), ‘Twelfth Night’
• A fictional tale of Bill’s life was turned into a 1999 movie called Shakespeare in Love. It’s awesome.

Shakespeare practically invented modern theater. Audiences overlooked major grammatical errors in his plays for the sake of poetry and the rhythm of the words- the beginnings of poetic license. Without Shakespeare’s work, our version of theater and even television and film would be drastically different. We are lucky to have his work in the public domain and consciousness.

World History AP Greatest Individual Blog Post – June 2008 (a controversial, but well written post!)

Who would have ever thought Adolf Hitler could be called the greatest person in history? Well, maybe it depends on how you define great, for Hitler’s purposes he was most definitely the greatest effecter in the history of the world. Not only did Hitler affect his own country, Germany, and the surrounding European countries, but he also made an impact on the rest of the world.

After World War One, Germany was in a mess both economically and politically. The Treaty of Versailles had left Germany without much of an economy and by 1933 there were over six million unemployed and the democratic government was crumbling. In 1929 Germany was completely bankrupt because it had to pay back money to America, which was experiencing an economic depression. The German people turned to the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, the Nazis, whose strong leader, Adolf Hitler, became the political leader of Germany in 1933.

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The Nazi Party was a relatively small organization in 1919 when Hitler gained membership, but within a couple of years the party gained a small number of seats in the Reichstag, the German equivalent of the modern U.S. Congress. Although the party still only had a small support group, Hitler managed to gain enough support to obtain the position of Reich by 1933. Within the year of his election, Hitler managed to install a new government in Germany and replace most, if not all, Socialist Democrats with Nazi supporters. Under Hitler Germany headed towards becoming a fascist nation; the advancement of the state, not the individual, was the focus. By 1934, Hitler’s power in Germany was absolute, proven by incidents such as the Night of the Long Knives and the abolishment of all political parties other than the Nazi Party. The idea that one person, Hitler, was able to successfully alter the German government in only a matter of months definitely supports the idea that Hitler was an extraordinarily influential person.

Hitler’s all-or-none nature did drive some people out of Germany, but many times this was for the better because these people were able to contribute to other societies. “Over two thousand writers, scientists, and artists left Germany and enriched other lands.” (1)Brilliant scientists such as Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein both stayed in the United States, offering great contributions that are used around the world. In a way, it was Hitler’s influence that allowed intellectual figures such as these to flourish.

Another impact of Hitler’s reign is the current prominence of the United States. During World War One the Allies realized they needed more power in order to defeat Germany. The United States provided this extra reinforcement, but before this it had become an important factor in war debts, holding the position of creditor to many of the European Allies. With World War Two following only about thirty years afterwards, the United States still held a strong position in the world and it took a larger role in leading the Allies during this war. Since the Second World War involved many of the nations that the Great War did, it confirmed the growing dominance of the United States. World War Two gave the United States a definitive sense of dominance in the world that it may not have gained without the war.

Adolf Hitler was also an artist, producing a vast collection of colorful works including paintings of buildings, landscapes, and flowers. As an inventor and designer, Hitler is accredited with the creation of the Volkswagen Beetle and the German system of highways, the autobahn. The design of the now-popular VW Beetle was inspired by Hitler’s desire for every German to be able to afford and drive a car. The story of the autobahn is actually quite similar to Roosevelt’s idea for the New Deal in the 1940s. Soon after his installation as Reich, Hitler started a highway building project designed to create more jobs for German workers and to connect Germany through a network of roads. This project built up the German economy and improved interstate relations, allowing Germany to progress as a nation. If Hitler had not taken the drastic action he did, Germany could have suffered several more years of economic depression and political turmoil.

Overall Adolf Hitler did many terrible things in his lifetime, but he also accomplished many credible achievements. Though Hitler may not be the greatest person in the traditional sense, it cannot be denied that he was a very effective leader, delivering hypnotic speeches that persuaded even the most stubborn critics.

1. http://1933.wikispaces.com/dictator

2.   http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/2124.htm

1. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/adolf_hitler.htm
2. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/treaty_of_versailles.htm
3. http://www.hitler.org

World War I Trench Project (9th Grade US History)

World History AP Creative Presentation – June 2008

She was a charmer. She was educated in France from the age of 7, became maid-of-honor for the Queen of France when she was 13. She was a religious reformer, supporting Martin Luther and his ideas. She was ambitious, taking it upon herself to pull the English queen from her throne. She made the most important man in England fall to his knees in desire. She turned her kingdom upside down, and caused her own demise.

She was Anne Boleyn.

Anne was the Tudor tragic hero. She was of noble stature, a girl from two of the kingdom’s most prominent families, the Howard’s and the Boleyn’s. She was maid-of-honor to Katherine of Aragon by 1526, and Queen of England by 1533.

She chose her fate, making the decision to keep the king, Henry VIII, at arm’s length while he courted her. Her sister, Mary, had been an unsuccessful mistress previously, and Anne wanted to gain from the king’s affections. She would be Queen, or she would be nothing.

Anne was already a religious reformer, reading anti-clerical literature, and she used her knowledge to influence Henry. She gave him books to read, and engaged with him in discussions of religion. Not only with her mind, but with her beauty did she cause religious reform. Her ultimatum to Henry of ‘Queen or nothing’ would cause him to ask the Pope for a divorce from his wife, Katherine, on the basis that she was his brother’s widow. The Pope, influenced by the Emperor of Spain, Katherine’s nephew, refused. In order to have Anne, he then broke with the Catholic church and became ruler of the Church of England (less commonly called the Psychotic %@&#!! Religion). He then proceeded to dissolve the monasteries and take all their money.

So, thanks to Anne, England would be in religious turmoil for the next thirty years. You’ve got to be great to cause that kind of trouble.

She was also dangerously influential without even realizing it. She was so bent on her own ascent to the throne that she did not notice what trouble it would cause to English women everywhere. If even the king and queen could get divorced, than what would stop the rest of England’s men from throwing out their wives as well? Anne and Henry were the unfortunate example to men everywhere that, yes, you can get rid of that dreadful woman your father made you marry and marry that young pretty servant girl you’ve had your eye on instead. No woman in England was safe, thanks to Anne’s determination to assume the throne.

And though it was a devastation at the time, Anne also created one of England’s greatest queens. Not herself, but her daughter, Elizabeth. Anne’s inability to have a son was mostly what caused Henry to seek for a way to be rid of her. He was not pleased that, after all her promises of a son, Elizabeth was born instead, and two stillborn boys after that (one of which was deformed).

However, when Elizabeth became queen in 1558, she changed the face of England. During her 45-year reign, she united the country, reviving it to the formidable power it once was. She brought England an impressive naval force. She continued with the discovery of the New World by supporting explorers, such as Walter Raleigh and Thomas Drake. She also brought the world’s greatest playwright, William Shakespeare, to his fame due to her appreciation of literature.

So even though the birth of her daughter caused Anne’s downfall, Elizabeth herself caused England to flourish once more. And Elizabeth would not have even existed to be so influential if not for Anne. By procreating and giving birth to the greatest queen England had ever seen, Anne herself was the great. It’s greatness by association.

Anne set a precedent for queens yet to come. She showed ladies in waiting everywhere that, with a lot of determination and a little abstinence, they could be queen, too! Unfortunately, this caused her own demise. By doing this, she had shown Henry that he could have whatever bit of stuff he wanted. He made all the rules now, he could do what he wanted with whoever he wanted. And when he wanted Jane Seymour, he knew that he could make up an excuse to remove Anne. He was much more unkind to her than he had been to Katherine, he chose to dispose of Anne by way of beheading.

This caused fear among the aspiring mistresses. Once again, if a queen could be beheaded, than what would stop other men from doing it as well? And worse, what would stop Henry from doing it to another wife or woman?

Anne’s rise and fall was sad, but great. She caused religious reform, the birth of the greatest queen in England, and the total turning of England upside-down. How can you get any greater than that?

This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it may be… the end of the beginning.

I feel that this is the state of play with this website.  Welcome to the new version of Learningsmart.org.  It is currently very much a work in progress.  Feel free to contact me with with any questions about its content, or suggestions for its improvement.

Enjoy the summer…

Mr Smart