Period 2: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 4 - Class Recap

Wonder Woman, as envisioned by Iris and her group today. Check out all the symbolism! I especially like the question mark on the face, because she could be any woman. Very nice!

Dear class,

I was super excited for this class today! I think it went off fairly well, but we really have to solve the attention/talking issues. Honestly, it was a little ridiculous. Especially when the content in the class is so interesting and there are a lot of students that are really quite into it. Let's work on that. Other than that, I really enjoyed working with you guys today! Always fun to listen to your ideas and see what you can bring to the table. Hopefully you are beginning to get a good feel for how I am as a teacher as well.

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What impact can women in the Middle East have on policy? - Today we really looked at finding out the answers to both of these questions!

Soundtrack: "A Whole New World" by Brad Kane. Music Video from "Aladdin" can be viewed here. Lyrics can be found here. Song chosen because we were talking about the entire world today, and what brings us together. I have a lot problems with the way that Disney portrays some of their characters, but I have to admit, that is one catchy song, especially first thing in the morning. Sorry for my terrible singing voice at the start of class, I couldn't help it. You guys were all excellent at it though. :-)

AGENDA 4/8/09:
News Brief
Michelle Obama
Wonder Women
Globalization
Commonality

Homework: Mandatory activity that you love. Read blog recap!

I am serious about your homework. All too often, we do not really engage in activities that we love to do, or if we do, we forget why we enjoy it in the first place. This assignment is based on you getting out there in the world and enjoying it. Please remember to keep your activity safe and legal! Post a comment explaining what you did and why you love it, if at all possible.

If you are reading this, thanks for doing the second part of your homework! :-)

News Brief: Krishna brought in an article about a hijacked ship off the coast of Somalia, with 20 U.S. crew members on board. Apparently, during our class, the crew took control back over: CNN.com - U.S. crew retakes hijacked ship; Pentagon says. See, this is another reason why talking about Somalia is something that is relevant! Now you can go home and talk about everything you know about that region! Dylan, you are up for next class, on Monday. One current article or news topic, about anything going on in the world outside the United States.

Michelle Obama: I am glad I got this video to work today! It actually was a nice setup for the "wonder women" activity, so maybe it was all for the best. The video we watched in class can be viewed here. I wanted to really show the value of education and why we are studying Global Studies (and in particular, women in the Middle East).

Wonder Women: This turned out to be a lot of fun, especially with the really talented artists that we have in our class! I asked the class to collaborate with a group to create a visual representation of a wonder woman, using all of the characteristics that you thought that women needed to have in order to impact policy decisions in the Middle East (or in general). It sure sounds like a lot as I type it, but the class definitely got it, because what you made was great! I posted Iris's at the top of this post, but every other group had really interesting ways to represent your ideas! A really fun exercise to do and to see the results of what everyone thought was important in a woman's ability to have an impact on policy. I love all the creative talent in the room! Thanks for the participation! :-)

Globalization: I then handed out a worksheet, guessing about a "miniature earth" and how lots of different factors were related. This concept was if the entire world was reduced to 100 people, representing the rest of the world. So, if there are 13 North Americans in the 100 people, that means that in reality, 13% of the world is North American. Got it? Here's the video we watched:



I really liked the response to this too! I'm glad that everyone thought this was interesting. Please watch it again if you have the time - we will be doing an activity with your results from that worksheet next week! The song in the video is "Mad World" by Michael Andrews (made for the Donnie Darko soundtrack, it is a cover of a song). Lyrics here.

After watching the video, which can be found at miniature-earth.com (with a different soundtrack), I asked about some of the guesses that you had that were completely off. Interesting stuff!

Commonality: So we had a little bit of depressing, real world stuff to think about. In order to send you out on the long weekend on a high note, I asked about what all humans have in common. I had some pretty sugary responses (hehe), but I really liked "laughter" and "dancing" the most. We ended class by watching this video (props to my Lewis and Clark classmate Megan for showing it to me), which, as I stated in class, is positively real, shot on location:



I would highly recommend going to the actual YouTube site and clicking "HD" on the side of the video - it makes it all the more better. The guy in the video is Matt Harding, who runs a website called "Where the Hell is Matt?" - I think my favorite part is the blog, where he currently has a really funny video up, explaining how he purposely tried to get people to believe that the video was a hoax (but he made the reasons completely ridiculous), and they ended up believing him. Quality comedy, seriously. Check that out here: Matt Reveals the Hoax is a Hoax at MacWorld. Some good background about who he is there too - sponsored by Stride gum, apparently! That is an incredible life!

This is one of those videos that I watch and just feel inexplicably happy about. Yes, the world has a lot of problems. However, dance is one of those things that goes across all cultures. Please, go out and enjoy the world this weekend, and come back refreshed and ready to go. :-)
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The Blazers play at 4:00 today against San Antonio (on ESPN) . Tragically, I will be in class at Lewis and Clark from 4:30 to 7:30, so I will miss the entire game. That also means I will be unable to post comments or respond to e-mails during that time, so heads up about that. The Office has TWO new episodes tomorrow (Thursday), starting at 8:00 (with the new show Parks and Recreation in between). Check those out, if you want a good laugh! Other than that, have a wonderful weekend! You guys are a great class to be around!