"Nicholas and Alexandra" Blog Post

Occasionally I like to use my blog for students to complete an extra credit assignment. It’s time! This blog post goes along with the “Revolution in Russia” unit. Responding to a blog post is voluntary. Every student that makes at least one comment that adds to the post's discussion and meets the criteria detailed below will earn +2 points extra credit (kind of like an extra credit on a test or "tiz.")

This blog post assignment is designed to be “honors” level. Yes, it behooves you to read the selection and participate in the discussion if you are thinking about taking honors next year – it will give you an opportunity to practice some skills for next year. However, even if those not taking honors next year will benefit from doing this assignment. It also helps develop a deeper understanding of what we are discussing in the classroom.

As we will discuss, one of the more immediate causes of the Russian Revolution was the people's concerns with Rasputin's influence on the Tsarina and subsequently government policy. On my website, in the Unit 7 Revolution in Russia folder toward the bottom of the World History Handouts page, is an excerpt from Robert K. Massie’s classic history of the events leading to the Russian Revolution – Nicholas and Alexandra. The excerpt contains both the introduction by the author and Chapter 12: A Mother’s Agony.

Read the excerpt, reflect on what it says, and then post a comment that demonstrates some original thought. Your comment should be 100 words or more and follow the flow of the discussion thread. It specifically has to address each of the following:

• I included the introduction so that you can get some background about the author’s approach when writing this book, and perhaps some insight into his attitudes and potential biases on the subject. Based on this, how reliable do you think the information presented in his book is? Very reliable? Somewhat reliable? Not very reliable? Not reliable at all? Why? (“Many consider it a classic.” is not an acceptable answer. I gave you the introduction for a reason.)
• For the sake of argument, let’s consider this book reliable enough for you to form some opinions about what happened during this time period. What was the most interesting thing you learned that you did not know before? Why? What question(s) do you now have about what happened/why it happened? (Good historians ALWAYS have more questions, so “none” is not acceptable!)

I will accept comments on this post up until Tuesday February 4 at 11:59pm.

How To Post A Comment
In order to comment, you must first click where it says how many comments have been made at the bottom of the post. The comment field then should be at the end of all the existing comments. Do not use your full name or the full name of any other student that has posted a comment. Your post will be rejected if it includes a full name. First name, last initial works well. If you have a Google Mail account you can obviously use that profile. Just make sure you put your first name and last initial at the end of your post if you have some kind of funky user name. You can also comment as "Anonymous", but again provide your first name and last initial at the end of your post. I can't give you credit if I don't know who you are!

I will be checking for comments once a day, usually at night, so be patient if your post does not show up right away.

Please let me know if you have any questions.