Blog Essay

A new unit, a new chapter of ancient history, a new different project. This time the tech-savvy students had a chance to show off their skills, and for students who don't know much about computers, to learn a thing or two from the experts. Our new unit was on Mesoamerica. Each of Mr. Brown's freshmen classes had to make a blog in groups of four focusing on one "ancient empire" in Mesoamerica. My class, the red class studied the ancient Mayan civilization. The blue class studied the ancient Inca civilization, and the green class studied the ancient Aztec civilization. In our blogs we had to use primary sources, and find as much accurate information as we can, and post it on the blog in a organized manner in the form of a Investigation report.

My group split up into three different parts. Jamila's role was to collect the evidence, and observe it, and find primary sources. Annette had to translate all the Spanish text. My job was to find the information and post on the blog. But since the dead-line was near I also had to find the cause of death and the primary sources, since nobody volunteered

I got all my information using reliable sources. To filter out the third party websites I used Google Scholar. While trying to figure out how the land was, Mr.Brown mention something about the cause of death. I wasn't really paying attention until he said " It's the first thing, the other student will look at, and you have to make sure its accurate." Tuning into the conversation and finding out what we had to do, I look at the page in front of me, and see the an e-mail address of an archaeologist. When I see it I thought " Mr.Brown and his primary sources, how can I find out the cause of death from a second-party site? Maybe this guy can help me in giving me the cause of death" At first I thought this would be cheating, asking a professional for help in a school project, while my other classmates were using the Internet. But I guess the competitive side of me took over, making me realize, that I'll have the closest answer, and just use the site i got the e-mail address from. Never have writing a fancy formal letter I was stuck. So I called quits, and called over Mr.Brown for help, and to see his reaction. When he found out, it was the total opposite. Leaping with inner-joy I finish up the e-mail with help. On receiving my reply from Dr. Brent Woodfill, we had a short conversation, going and lots of help coming

While doing this project, i learned a lot. Not only about Mesoamerica, but about life in general. My mom always tells me to have confidence in what ever you do. Before contacting Dr. Brent Woodfill I was a little hesitant, and scared about what others might say. But seeing Mr.Brown's reaction gave me that confidence my mom always tells me to have. I also learned how to write fancy letter to a professional. I can't say I mastered it, but I think there was an adequate amount of " Please and Thank You's". This project showed me that I can do, what I think I can do. This project was quite an experience, and I hope to do something like this in the future.

- Hawa
-Montessori: Red Class