Period 2: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 2 - Class Recap

Suzanne Mubarek, the first lady of Egypt, who we read about in class today. Doesn't she look like Emily Gilmore, from The Gilmore Girls?
Good afternoon (by the time I finish writing this), class!

Thank you for another interesting class! I think we are gradually getting in to really getting to know each other well. The turn-in rate on the letters to me was absolutely outstanding, thank you! I am really quite excited to read them and get back to you, which I will do on Monday. Generally, I think there is still a little too much talking (from all sides - I do not want to be talking that much either), but I am sure we will all get better with time. Again, if you have anything to ask me or comment about, please do! :-)

Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? What impact can women in the Middle East have on policy? - We especially looked at answering the second question in class today!

Soundtrack: "Rock the Casbah" by The Clash. Lyrics here. Wikipedia has a really interesting background on the song: Wikipedia.com - "Rock the Casbah". I didn't mention this in class, but one possibility of the song's meaning is about the banning of rock music in Iran. Also, a song featured in many commercials, and Will Smith used it as the beat for his song "Will 2k" on his album Willenium. You can watch the video for that song here.

AGENDA 4/2/09:
Blog Talk
News Brief
Article Reading
Battle of the Sexes
Debrief Discussion

Homework: Finish three paragraphs on women in Middle East. Interview an adult woman about any struggles she sees that women around the world have. Check blog!

The three paragraph assignment will be explained in more depth in the "Debrief Discussion" below, but essentially, I want you to think of three ways that women can have some sort of say in policy decisions in the Middle East. Write a paragraph about each way, explaining what it is, why you think it will work, and how it can be done. This should not be a very difficult assignment, but I am going to be looking to make sure you put some effort and thought into it, as always.

Secondly, another easy assignment: interview an adult woman about any struggles that she thinks women face throughout the world. What are they? Why? All I am looking for here are some notes on a conversation. Talk to your mom, Mrs. DeFrance, another teacher, anyone who is grown up and has some perspective about these issues.

Finally, if you are reading this sentence, you have the "check blog" homework in the bag. Way to go! :-)

Blog Talk: Thank you for the feedback on this! I really liked all the participation in the comments! Remember to use comments to ask questions or talk about anything else that is on your mind (within reason, of course). The blog is really an extension of class, and hopefully you can see how important it is to be following along with what is going on.

News Brief: Haze brought in an "out of this world" interesting article: CNN.com - Jupiter's stormy Great Red Spot is shrinking. Actually a really fascinating read! Apparently, the storm is as big as three Earths. Crazy! Thanks for bringing this in Haze! Ricardo, you are next up for Monday. Any article (preferably about this planet, please), that has to do with something outside of the United States that is currently going on. Let me know if you want to run it by me before class!

Article Reading: I read this article to the class: The Observer - The Arab world's first ladies are forging rights for women. Some good thoughts and comments came up during the reading. One was about genital mutilation, and whether or not that was okay to enforce our culture on other cultures. I am not going to link to any articles or pages on the subject, but I think you can pretty much guess what the debate is about from what we talked about in class. Do we have a right to go into another place and say "hey, stop doing that (even though it is a part of their culture) because it is barbaric" - or should we just ignore these things, which are somewhat similar to the human sacrifices of not that long ago? It is a difficult question to answer!

Battle of the Sexes: I took the gentlemen, while Mrs. DeFrance took the ladies, and we talked about two things primarily - 1) What was something interesting you saw in the article? 2) What needs to happen for women to be able to have an impact on policy decisions in the Middle East?

I know that it was not as clear as that, but that is sometimes how discussions go. Ladies, I am very sorry that you could not hear each other a lot, and I know that was mostly my fault! If we do something like that again, I think we will just go to another area of the school. Leading a discussion is always a tough thing for me, because I really get excited and interested in what people have to say - so much so that I have to be able to calm down and let the class talk to each other, not to me. A work in progress!

Overall, I was pleased with how this went. There were some issues with lack of focus on the male side, but we did come up with some really good ways for women to have an impact.

Debrief Discussion: Breanna and I helpfully made a list for the class of what we talked about in our respective groups. It certainly seemed like we came up with similar ideas! Here they are:


What is important to remember is that we cannot just say "women need to speak out" - because the reality is, if they did that, they would be killed in some countries. Also, we need to realize that it is not merely up to women to fight for their rights - men need to be on the forefront of helping. For instance, what good would it be if white people just sat back, did nothing, and collectively said "it's up to black people to claim their rights." We would still have segregation, at the very least.

So, use the list above (or anything that you think of on your own) to write neatly (or type) three paragraphs on how women can have an impact on policy decisions in the Middle East.

Again, if you have any questions about what I am asking you to do, please either comment or e-mail me and I would be more than happy to help you out. Keep the conversation going!
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I will see you next Monday. In the meantime, there is no new Office tonight (but there are two new episodes next week). There are Blazer games on Friday (at The Team That Moved From Seattle - 5:00 PM, Comcast Sports Net) and on Sunday (at Houston, 4:00 PM, KGW - Ch. 8). The NCAA Final Four starts Saturday on CBS. There's your sports public service announcements. :-)

I am so excited to read your letters and get to know every one of you better! Have an absolutely wonderful weekend!