We departed from our originally planned study of immigration as Ben was engaged, interactive, and responsive today. We discussed current events, the war between Russia and the Ukraine, and compared differences in the ideologies of the Ukrainians and Americans specifically regarding their treatment of prisoners. Ben was forthcoming in sharing some of the information his maternal grandfather shared with him after witnessing what happened in Guantanemo Bay and the advice he imparted to Ben (dekiuevered in a Polish accent). It is wonderful and endearing to hear the love and respect Ben holds for his grandfather, and I appreciated him sharing the information with me. Ben also shared that his maternal grandmother passed away during Spring break and that he spent a good deal of the break in the hospital. I shared my deep condolences and asked that he share them with his mom and family. I greatly respect Ben's trust and the fact that he feels comfortable enough to share personal information when ready to do so.

We began today's session following Spring break attempting to reactivate prior knowledge, but Ben stated he was very tired, his mood was very subdued, he was withdrawn and did not think he could do any work. I allowed him some time and just introduced the next topic on which we will be working in Chapter 27 entitled "New Immigrants, New Cities." Ben acknowledged this and agreed to be more engaged in work tomorrow. we briefly discussed how the period of the 1880's saw another period of increased immigration to the US but that the new wave of immigrants were largely from Eastern and Southern Europe as opposed to the first wave, when they hailed from Western and Northern Europe. We will continue to talk about the reasons for these two waves of immigration in a subsequent class when Ben is more actively engaged in discussion.

Ben worked online again this morning and we picked up where we left off from yesterday's online class. Ben was in good spirits, cooperative, and appeared rested. We continued to discuss American inventions and included Isaac Singer - who improved on the sewing machine design, the first commercially successful typewriter, Alexander Graham Bell who invented the telephone, and when I mentioned Thomas Edison's invention of a version of the lightbulb, Ben refused to give him the credit and we researched the fact that Tesla actually became embroiled in a dispute about Edison but that ultimately, Tesla was the inventor of the AC system lightbulb used today. Ben shared similar thoughts and a negative opinion about Henry Ford, about whom he shared his knowledge; Ben's wealth of general information is impressive. We concluded our session discussing other inventions and the results that ensued in the workforce, and covered the growth of corporations, trusts, the businessmen and philanthropists, Andrew Carnegie and Rockefeller, and subject-specific vocabulary such as gilded, philanthropist, and monopoly. We finished our session discussing life in factories, child labor, unions, robber barons, and strikes. Ben was familiar with the topics we covered and freely shared his knowledge and opinions with me without sugar-coating the words.

Ben worked online this morning. We began with a review of content covered in yesterday's class on the collision of cultures between Americans in the West and Indigenous people. Next, we moved on to a refresher on the Dred Scott Decision, and after a preliminary review, Ben remembered and volunteered details about this landmark decision/case of the Supreme Court case in 1857. We summarized the decision as upholding slavery in US territories and that it denied the legality of Black citizenship in America. This discussion set the stage for an introduction to the next unit of study about the second industrial revolution (Chapter 26). We began discussing the second industrial revolution when Ben asked to take a bathroom break. As it was recess time as well, Ben asked permission to use it as such and would resume our lesson tomorrow when he is to be online as well.

We worked together to complete a homework assignment this morning. Ben went on Google Docs to work on the assignment. It was from Chapter 25 and entitled, "Collision of Cultures." Ben and I reviewed the conflicts between people settling in the West and the Indigenous people. We discussed resistance to reservations, the ideas behind the reservation system, Custer's last stand, assimilation efforts, and the loss of reservation land. We previewed the questions at the end of the chapter together and formulated responses that answered the 8-questions correctly, providing main facts completely yet succinctly. Ben used voice-to-text to respond to the questions and completed the assignment, given supports. He emailed his homework to me on my work email account. I was very pleased with how today's session and collaborative approach produced successful outcomes.

We began the session refreshing our study of the time period in American history from 1850-1917 as the nation reshaped itself in between the Civil War and and World War II. I then attempted to engage Ben in additional readings and a discussion about the effects of federal expansion; however, Ben stated he was very tired, lay his head down on the desk and fell asleep.

This morning in class, we read about the Gold standard and learned that it was a system where the amount of paper money available was determined by the amount of gold in the treasury. We also read about the Free Silver movement, the reasons it appealed to farmers, and that it led to the formation of the Populist Party, which focused on "average people." We learned why the term "sooners became associated with Oklahomans, essentially because the farmers and ranchers rushed into land sooner than they were supposed to - land that was supposed to be a permanent place for Indigenous people to settle. We took this time to refresh our memory about the Trail of Tears, the 1200 mile-long march which involved the forced displacement of thousands of Cherokee peoples. Ben stated he already knew most of the information we covered.

Ben and I read pages 309-312 in his text. We read about the Homestead Act, passed in 1862, which made land in the West available to any Homesteaders who wanted to farm it. We agreed that this was significant because it included women and Black Americans. However, we also noted that although this act gave the settlers 160 acres of land, that land often belonged to Indigenous people who held treaty rights to it. We read how the Great Plains proved valuable to farmers who were determined to make use of the land but noted that the farmers ultimately ended up losing money and blamed this loss due to high shipping fees, costs for supplies, and interest payments. Subject-specific vocabulary included the terms: homesteaders, grange, and cooperative. Ben asked to eat a snack during our session and worked on assembling Lego's while snacking.

Ben and I collaboratively read Unit 6/Chapter 24 in his text: 'Reshaping the Nation,' covering the period from 1815 - 1917. We learned that the Pony Express, which emerged in the 1860's and connected the East and West, was rendered obsolete with the building of telegraphy line, allowing for messages to be delivered instantly. We also read about the first transcontinental railroad and learned how it led to an explosion in the population in the west, and how post civil-war prosperity created a demand for beef demand for cowhands or cowboys. We finished out the session discussing how the need for local lawmen or vigilantes to control the cowboys led to the myth of the Wild West - even the the West was no more wild than the rest of the country. Ben enjoyed learning about one of the most famous peace officers of the western frontier, Wyatt Earp. He was surprised to learn that there really was an OK Corral, Kin's participation in a gunfight made him a famous figure of the wild West.

Ben and I began our lesson today discussing international news and Ben shared his opinions that all the wars going on right now are over power and religion. I suggested territory as well and Ben conceded that he believes that is the case with Ukraine. He is informed about world affairs and able to defend and justify his positions effectively. We then resumed our discussion of Reconstruction (Chapter 23 in our text) and discussed life for formerly enslaved people after Reconstruction. We read about General Sherman's plan to divide plantations among freedmen so literally everyone would get '40 acres and a mule.' We reviewed the pros and cons of the sharecropping system, whereby farmers receive supplies and land in exchange for providing a share of the crop to the landowner, as a system that often forced enslaved people into a lifetime of debt to landowners. We were to about to begin discussing the Ku Klux Klan at the close of the session; Ben commented that he already knows too much about the KKK.