Period 2: Nonviolence and Gandhi, Day 4 - Class Recap

As good as a poster as any for "Takin' Care of Business" today. This has been hanging over my bed at my house since Middle School. Even if you are not doing well in this class or with this paper, please keep trying! You will be rewarded!
Dear class,

Thank you for the excellent questions and engagement in what we were doing today! I really thought it was fantastic and hopefully we are all cleared up about what I am expecting you to do this weekend. I also liked how Mrs. DeFrance and I got to chat with most of you about how things are going in the class with your research paper and overall grade. Please remember to keep in touch and ask questions!

Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? What are civil rights?

Soundtrack: "Takin' Care of Business" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Lyrics here. Selected for today because we really needed to take care of business when it came down to this paper and with finishing the year strong.

AGENDA 5/28/09:
News Brief
Paragraphs and Citing Sources
Conferences

Homework: Rough draft of paper due for peer revisions! All notes and bibliography due! Read the blog and ask questions!

For those that do not have the original handout about what we are asking you to do with the historical investigation, here is that to download:

Historical Investigation Assignment Sheet
The research paper is really built on all of the various handouts that we have given you in class to put in your folder, as well as your own personal research question and sources. Hopefully everyone has all of that and will make it make sense!

Please, please do not stress about the paper, but please also get it done. I will help you out as much as possible, so comment or e-mail if you have questions!

News Brief: For this part of class, after going over the essential questions (which did not get much love today), soundtrack, agenda, and homework, I passed back your grades for the Israeli-Palestinian presentations. Seriously, these kept me up until 1:30 AM last night, and I do put a lot of effort into grading each one, so please read all of my comments! If you are missing aspects of the project (like the explanation paper, skills packet, or presentation notes), please come see me ASAP! Remember that you can always revise if you need to as well.

That being said, I really do not remember much about the news brief today. Partially because I am really tired, and partially because I am not sure that we had much to say about what was going on around the world. Helpfully, Allie brought in this article to talk about: CNN.com - Report: Would-be suicide jumper pushed off bridge. This is really a crazy article! As I pleaded with everyone in class - please don't even think about suicide! Life is so worth living! :-)

Thanks for that article Allie. Ismael, you are up for next class on Monday. Any current news article about anything going on around the world, outside the United States.

Paragraphs and Citing Sources: We talked about how to write a body paragraph in Social Studies, with an Introductory Statement, a Concrete Detail, another Concrete Detail, a Commentary, and a Concluding Statement. There was a really fantastic discussion about the finer points of citing a source and how we want you to write the paper, which would be impossible to entirely recap on the blog. However, if you were paying attention in class, I feel pretty confident that you understand what is going on. If not, please ask questions in the comments about how to construct a paragraph and cite a source! Remember, we do not want you using a ton of direct quotes. Pick a couple really key ones, and summarize the rest! You still have to cite them, but now you are showing me what you think about your research!

Mrs. DeFrance talked about her own investigation and body paragraph, which she did as an example on global warming. Hopefully that was good for you to see how to construct each part of the paragraph.

"Westview is the coolest school ever." (Fritz, 3) - In this case, I am citing myself! Remember that it goes (Author, page number). If you do not have the author of the article, it needs to be ("Title of Article"). If you do not have the page number, do not put anything in.

Thanks for this section! It was fun, even though it lasted for a long time! :-)

Conferences: At this point in class, I had everyone get into base groups to conference on how the paper is going, what help you need, and finally, to really be writing the paper. I am not sure how well you used this time to actually be writing, but I am sure everyone is on top of this paper.

Until the end of class, Mrs. DeFrance and I tried to do a one-on-one conference with everyone. We did not get to some of you, but I do know that it was really awesome to get to talk to the people about how everything was going! We really tried to help you out with a research question and tell you exactly how you were doing in the class, along with possible ways to improve your score. Again, if you are at all interested in keeping in touch about this sort of stuff, please be coming to see either of us!

Generally, it was a good, productive day. I know that you probably feel like you have a lot of work ahead of you this weekend, but it is really just converting your notes into a paper, with an introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion, and bibliography. Okay, that still sounds like a lot. I am here to help! :-)
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I am becoming increasingly busy it seems, but should be mostly available to post and respond to comments over the next few days. This week has been absolutely exhausting! Let's keep working hard together to finish the year! Have a wonderful evening!

Period 2: Nonviolence and Gandhi, Day 3 - Class Recap

Because we talked a little bit about nuclear winter (that is a really interesting Wikipedia page) today in class, I figured that I would post a picture from outside my house last winter, during the week we had off of school!
Hello and welcome to the blog recap!

We have lots to get to today! I would have to say that generally, I liked how class went today, though I was not too happy to see how little it seemed that most people had worked on their research questions, and with some of the base groups that did not seem to be particularly productive in talking to each other about their ideas. Hopefully, we can work hard next class and finish out the year strong!

Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? What are civil rights?

Soundtrack: "Bomb the World" by Michael Franti and Spearhead. The lyrics, which I showed on the projector and read aloud in class because I thought that they were really interesting, can be found here. This song was suggested to me by Ms. V'Marie. I played it today because of the nuclear bomb test in North Korea, which we talked about in the News Brief section.

AGENDA 5/26/09:
News Brief (Exploding Nuclear Bomb Edition)
Scheduling
Taking Notes
Gallery Walk

Homework: Notes on sources #1-3 (use to start paper!). Read blog recap and ask questions!

This will be explained in greater detail below, so keep reading! :-)

News Brief (Exploding Nuclear Bomb Edition): At the start of class, I went over the essential questions, soundtrack, agenda, and homework, then asked the class about what they did for the long Memorial Day weekend!

After some good conversation here, we went on to talk about the enormous news of the weekend. I found it absolutely incredible that in both of my Global Studies classes today, nobody had heard that North Korea had detonated a nuclear bomb as a test over the weekend. You can read all about that on really any news site. CNN.com has a special section dedicated to it, which you can find here: CNN.com - News & Videos about North Korea.

We also talked about the local story of a woman throwing her children off of the Sellwood Bridge in Portland. Just insane. That story can be found here: KGW.com - Mother accused in river murder has history of domestic violence.

I also mentioned this story: ABCNews.com - Police Say Albuquerque Mom Confessed to Murder of Boy Buried in Playground. You have to wonder what is going on in these people's heads. Is the incredibly depressing economy playing a role here?

I also mentioned: FT.com - Tehran puts block on Facebook access as election date looms. Apparently, Iran's government recently restored access, but it is interesting to see nonetheless!

CNN.com - California high court upholds same-sex marriage ban - this was the "Proposition 8" topic that I mentioned would be decided at 10 AM today. Basically, the Supreme Court sided with the voters in California that elected to ban gay marriage last November, but also that the people that got married when it was legal for a short time last year (about 18,000 people, including Ellen DeGeneres) still have valid marriages in the State of California. So basically, neither side of the debate is happy. The debate continues!

Finally, I mentioned that President Obama had selected Sonia Sotomayor to be on the Supreme Court. She has to be confirmed by the Senate now, but seems likely to be the first Hispanic (her parents were born in Puerto Rico) on the court, as well as the third woman. This is another HUGE deal, that is all over the news. Her biography can be found here: CNN.com - Who is Sonia Sotomayor?.

Allie, you are up for a news brief for next class! Anything going on around the world outside the United States. Thanks!

Scheduling: For this section of class, I had everyone take a schedule and write out what we will be doing in class for the rest of the year. Here is what I put down on the board, for those of you that were not in class or lost the schedule:

May 26 (today): Research Questions and quiet work on notes.
May 28 (next class): Notes on sources 1-3 due. Work on citing in paper.
June 1: Peer Review in class (rough draft and Notes 4 due. Check off bibliography in class.)
June 3: Paper Due (First Draft).
June 5: Paper Pass Back and Revisions.
June 9: Paper Due (Final Draft).
June 11: Paper Pass Back and LAST DAY OF CLASS!

I went over all of these dates and what I will be checking off and looking for in class. Hopefully, this makes sense to you! Please let me know if it does not!

Taking Notes: For this section of class, I had everyone come up and take 4 sheets of paper for your notes on your sources to put in your folders. I talked about the awesome system for writing the paper. Take one of these papers and write #1 on the top, then write #1 on your first source. Write your research question in, then look at the "cheat sheet" in your folder to find out how to correctly cite your source for the bibliography. Finally, use the three smaller sheets that Mrs. DeFrance and I showed you how to take notes on (quotes/summarizing sentences/summarizing the entire source), and use those to create your notes for each source!

I know that this sounds complicated, but I feel fairly confident that I explained this well in class. Again, if this is not making sense, PLEASE ask me to clarify! There is simply no way that I can know how to best explain it if you do not tell me what you are confused about.

After this explanation, I had everyone get in to "base groups" of 3 people (there was one group with 4), to talk over what your research questions are about and what sources you have. You will continue to be in these base groups for the rest of the year, writing the paper! I have found that it is really nice just to have people to check in with, who know what you are writing and bring good ideas to the table.

For the rest of class, people were working on their research questions (running them by Mrs. DeFrance or me), as well as writing notes about your sources. Again, try to have at least two direct quotes per source! This will make writing the paper so much easier, I promise!

As I said above, I am not sure how productive this whole period of time was, because there seemed to be not a lot of thought put into the research questions, or communication amongst the groups. We will see what happens for next class, when I am asking you to bring in three sources with notes on each source! :-)

Gallery Walk: We were not able to get to this, but I am okay with it, as it really does take up a good amount of time to do correctly.
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That should just about do it for today! Please remember to be asking questions and posting comments below if you are confused or needing help in any way! It is a two way street here, remember that. Thanks! Have a great rest of the day!

Period 2: Nonviolence and Gandhi, Day 2 - Class Recap

The Wordle of what everyone had to say what everyone had to say for what they liked about this class! I was glad to see all of this, thank you for the participation here!
Good afternoon class!

Despite some continuing issues with attention, listening, focus, and being quiet, I think today was really a good day of class! We definitely accomplished a lot, and did many crucial things to get us closer to the end of the year! Your class is great to be around, but at times, I have to use some tough love to keep everyone on track. Generally, we did that today! On to the recap:

Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? What are civil rights?

Soundtrack: "Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado. Lyrics here. I'm not sure if anyone really knows what this song is about, including Ms. Furtado, but man, is it catchy. As I said in class, it reminds me of a California road trip I took in 2007! Chosen for today because I searched my iTunes for "right" and this was the best song that came up.

AGENDA 5/20/09:
News Brief
Debrief Class Reflections
Martin Luther King Jr.
Final Paper Bibliography

Homework: Have research question formulated for next class, begin work on writing paper! Read blog recap! Have a great long weekend!

In class, we talked about aspects of a good research question. Is is specific enough? Can it be actually researched or tested? Is it interesting to you? All of these should go in to formulating your question. Please let me know if you need help here!

I cannot emphasize this enough: you NEED to be working on finding sources for this paper, taking notes, and answering your question. It is not like you do not have homework to do for the next six days. It is really important that you use this time wisely, so please do.

News Brief: I used this part of class to go over the essential questions, soundtrack, agenda, and homework, as well as talk about your Israeli-Palestinian projects (about half of which I have graded). Apparently, nobody is particularly interested in getting theirs back, because I did not have any visitors at lunch. Good, I am glad that I can take my time then! :-)

We talked about what we had planned for the long weekend for a bit, and also talked about the news of the day - which I didn't make any notes on, so I am not sure if the class and anything to say that I needed to look up. I do remember this being productive, as always. This section of the class is only as good as you make it! Pat attention to what is going on in the world, it is really pretty interesting!

Mary brought in this news article to share: CNN.com - Indonesia plane crash kills nearly 100. Really unfortunate! I pointed out that Indonesia is actually the most populous Muslim country in the world, not anywhere in the Middle East. I also talked about how safe (I certainly hope) the airlines here in the United States are. Look at the bottom of this post for a little recap of my trip this weekend and why I love airlines.

Allie, you are up for next class for a news article, about anything going on outside the United States. Thanks!

After Mary presented her article, she showed the class an incredibly awesome PowerPoint she made using her photography of nature, and making it relate to the conflict in Israel and Palestine by saying that the land would be eventually destroyed if they kept fighting. Good points! Thanks for this, Mary!

Debrief Class Reflections: This is always interesting for me to do, and I liked that most everyone was following along, hoping to get a glimpse of what people like about my class, and what should be improved. If you missed it, here were your answers again:

1) What do you like about this class?

What we learn about x 9, culture x 2, relaxed, not hard, news x 7, people x 5, agenda, blog x 2, soundtrack x 4, activities x 3, comfortable, safe, fun x 2, "not just textbooks," interesting x 2, everything, Mr. Fritz, not much homework x 2, relevant x 2, easy to understand x 2, debates, videos x 2, food, quietness, discussions x 2, energetic, happy

2) What could the class improve on?

Attention/listening/focus x 12, less homework, discussion, less lectures, more debates x 2, less talking/quieter x 7, more windows, less videos, more history, more games, sharing more, being interesting, not talking about sports, nothing, checking the blog, respect

3) What do you like about Mr. Fritz as a teacher?

Excited x 2, comfortable, not harsh, work hard/effort x 3, makes class fun x 3, focused, enthusiastic x 4, interesting x 3, good topics x 2, personality, music, loud (and clear) x 4, activities, learn from, cool, good at explaining things x 3, friendly/kind/nice x 4, smile, optimistic, helpful, blog x 4, easygoing, organized, awesome, style x 2, motivated, eccentric, understanding

4) What can Mr. Fritz improve on?

Reduce amount of homework, assignments are boring, making the class fun x 2, keep classes attention x 3, be quieter/volume (disturbs us in Hardin's class/only if needed) x 9, memorable activities x 3, games, music selection, slow down, "make note taking a little more fun" (less) x 2, handwriting (on board) x 4, talk less about what we already know, be stricter ("give lunch detentions for people who are bad or late"), explain more
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Really interesting stuff! My main point here was that it seems that you like what we study, but know that there are a lot of problems with your attention and noise level. Similarly, you like my enthusiasm as a teacher, but think I need to be a bit quieter. Sounds like we need to work on this together, so please, let's do that! I think we got better at this as time went along today, but the start of this class was a little rough.

Martin Luther King Jr.: For this section, I asked you to get out your notes on civil rights from last class. I then proceeded to hand out a sheet of excerpts from three different speeches, which can be found (along with many others) at MLK Online - Speeches.

The speeches that I quoted from were "Letter from Birmingham Jail," "Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech," and "I See the Promised Land." All incredibly powerful speeches, with some amazing context for when they were given! For instance, check out this excerpt from the end of the last speech he ever gave, "I See the Promised Land":



If that does not give you chills, I do not know what to tell you.

After reading through these excerpts, I asked the class (using volunteers and calling on random people) to tell me a little bit about the philosophy behind what MLK was saying. How was he trying to get civil rights? I thought that this was an incredibly productive conversation to have (I took notes on the board and asked you to copy them down). It was a little shorter than I wanted, but that is the nature of things for the rest of the year, since we also have the following section to work on!

Final Paper Bibliography: For this section of the class, I handed out a bright yellow sheet to help you with formulating a good research question and citing sources. I talked about how to create an easy bibliography, using the "cheat sheets" that were stapled in your folders. I used Suzie's book as an example for a source. Remember, for your final paper, you need to have at least four different sources, and three of them have to be a newspaper article, magazine article, and a book. Wikipedia is NOT a source, but it does frequently link to sources at the bottom of each page!

We brainstormed on the board the aspects of a great research question, like: being specific, testable, interesting, and easy to follow. For the last 10 minutes or so, we worked in class on developing your questions. Again, please see me if you want any help with it! Begin researching and answering your question! This should be a fairly lengthy paper - about 3-4 pages by the time you are all done. We will continue to talk about great ways to take notes and accomplish all the other objectives for the paper, next class.
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As I stated in class, this weekend I will be visiting my brother at college in Princeton, New Jersey, to help him pack up to come home for the summer. I am really excited! I am flying out on Friday morning and getting back on Sunday night. If you are at all interested, you can track my flights in the air here: Portland to Seattle (Horizon Air Flight 2172, 9:30 AM Friday), Seattle to Newark, New Jersey (Continental Airlines Flight 1680, 11:45 AM Friday), Newark to Phoenix, (US Airways Flight 77, 4:35 PM Sunday), and Phoenix to Portland (US Airways Flight 94, 8:10 PM Sunday).

Also, if you would like to see a really awesome website that has all of the flights I have ever taken in my life mapped out, check out this: FlightMemory.com - Ml007. I love flying! Looking forward to putting that Newark-Phoenix route on that page later! If you end up doing this, post a link to yours in the comments! I would love to see where everyone has flown to!

Finally, I told the class about an airline geek post I wrote for Period 1, during the Nigeria unit and the travel guides everyone was working on. Should you like to see how big of nerd I am about this all, you can check that out here: Off-Topic: The Airline Geek Post.

Whew! With all of that being said, I still should be fairly easy to communicate with this weekend, though it may not be as fast as you are used to. Please keep in touch and ask questions, post comments, or e-mail me with anything I can help you with! Enjoy the long weekend, and thanks for being so great!

Period 2: Nonviolence and Gandhi, Day 1 - Class Recap

Earth, as seen from the Apollo 17. This is probably the most famous image of Earth from space, and is sometimes referred to as the "Blue Marble" picture. Found on the consistently incredible (bookmark and come back every day) NASA.gov - Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD).
Dear class,

That certainly was an interesting class. I am not sure what it was about today, but there seemed to be an almost class-wide lack of focus. Possibly because it was a Monday after a sunny weekend. Possibly because the class just was not all that interesting (which I have a hard time believing, but could totally be true). Whatever the reason, I really had a difficult time quieting everyone down, making sure that people were paying attention to what was going on, being prepared, and other aspects of class that should really be entirely up to you guys. Take some ownership of class! It simply just will not work if I have to do it all. That, as we saw today, would take up most of the class.

Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? What are civil rights?

Soundtrack: "Wavin' Flag" by K'Naan. Lyrics here. Selected for today because Ricardo suggested it to me, because it was his birthday.

AGENDA 5/18/09:
News Brief
Reflections on Goals/Unit/Class
Civil Rights
Final Paper Note Taking

Homework: Bring sources (at least one more) for next class. Continue to work on research project! Read blog recap!

For next class, I want you to have a solid choice for your topic that you want to research, as well as multiple (more than one) sources to take notes on. Thanks!

News Brief: We had a few good topics to talk about this morning, but none that I actually took note of to post on the blog. However, I did have a couple of items to point out in class and on here. The first was this article: CNN.com - Woman elected in Kuwait says gender in politics is 'history'. Super interesting article, I thought! Exactly what we were talking about at the beginning of this unit with how women can have an impact in the Middle East. Yay, progress!

I also pointed out that President Obama is meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today. Here is a recap of what they talked about, supposedly: HuffingtonPost.com - Obama, Netanyahu Meeting: Obama Says Israel Must Stop Expanding Settlements. Again, EXACTLY what we were talking about in class! Cool to see how it all relates, right? :-)

Breanna chose to bring this article to talk about: CNN.com - Abuse of child 'witches' on rise, aid group says. Such a sad story! Furthermore, it is talking about Nigeria, a country that we know a lot about, right? Very interesting! Education is the name of the game!

Mary, you are up next for a news article! Anything currently going on around the world outside the United States. Thanks!

Reflections on Goals/Unit/Class: At the start of this section, I had you pull out your goal sheets from the beginning of the semester (if you still had them), or make a new sheet for goals. I asked you to write a little reflection about how things are going, what you can improve or continue to work on, etc. I read all of these, and generally, I am glad that you are participating on this! It is really important to set goals for yourself, and come back to those goals from time to time.

I then asked you to use the second half of your sheet of paper to do the activity that we had done at the end of last semester. The questions that I wanted you to respond to were: 1) What do you like about this class? (What about the structure gets you excited to come in the morning?) 2) What can the class improve on? 3) What do you like about Mr. Fritz as a teacher? 4) What can Mr. Fritz improve on?

To be honest, I have not read all of these yet, but I did glance at them, and I am really thankful for your honest feedback. It really does help me out (and in theory, you as well)!

Civil Rights: To start this section of the class, I asked you to get out another sheet of paper and I projected this quote for you to reflect on (like Mr. Hardin's class): "A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history." - Mohandas Gandhi.

After a really great period of focused work (I could tell you guys were used to doing this), I had everyone come up and write one example or thought you had that came to mind as you were thinking about the quote. I thought all of these were really interesting! The point to doing this was as a warm up to think about the fight for civil rights.

Next, I asked you to help me brainstorm about what, exactly, civil rights were. I started this by asking the class "how (have) your civil rights been violated lately?" We had some interesting stories about freedom of religion, and freedom against search and seizure, amongst others. Mary helpfully pointed out that civil rights are rights that you are born with, which I called "natural rights." Generally, I think this was a great way to begin the unit and thinking about all of this!

Final Paper Note Taking: During the final few minutes in class, I had everyone go up to the board and write down what their idea for their final research project is. I was not expecting a really concrete idea, but many of these seemed entirely too vague or not thought through enough. Again, your homework was to think of something and bring in a news article about it! That is your homework for tonight as well!

For the rest of class, I had you take notes on three separate sheets of paper in your folders. I think I probably could have done a better job at teaching this, but hopefully everyone understood the main points behind all of this. Here is exactly what I typed on my laptop, for future reference:

YELLOW SHEET:

One sentence or a short thought, directly

Quote "in quotation marks" (Author, page number) – in parenthesis

Indenting multiple sentences

Commentary on how or why the quote relates!

RED SHEET:

For paragraphs or chunks –

Paraphrase! (take the paragraph, rewrite into your own words)

PURPLE SHEET:

For the entire article –

Main points (what is the abstract?) of the article.

Put this in your own words – paraphrase, summarize
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That was just about the end of the class! I hope that everyone has a wonderful rest of the day. Please come prepared to focus and learn on Wednesday! We are almost to the end of the year! Keep working hard, please. Post comments about anything you think is interesting or any questions that you have about what we are doing! See you next class! :-)

Period 2: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 16 - Class Recap

Peter's really amazing wallpaper that was his creative product! Formatted for screen resolution 1280x800, I believe. Seriously incredible! Click to view full size, then right click on the image and select "set as desktop background" and presto! :-)
Good afternoon class,

This was another really productive day of presentations and talking a little bit about the final paper for the entire year! Thank you for the good focus and attention, for the most part. You guys are sort of a bouncy group, but all in all, really fun to work with. I hope you enjoyed class as much as I did! On to the recap:

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? How can the Middle East be stabilized?

Soundtrack: "Let Love In" by Goo Goo Dolls. Lyrics here. Really an excellent song. It can also definitely be related to the conflicts that we are studying!

AGENDA 5/14/09:
News Brief
Student Presentations
Final Paper Folders

Homework: Decide on what topic you want to do, bring a source to take notes on next class. Read blog recap!

This will be talked about a little more in "The Final" section. Basically, I want you to decide on what you want to investigate for your final paper, and bring one source in (like a news article, book, magazine, etc) that relates to your topic and that you can take notes on. We will help you do this in class! All I need for you to do is to pick a topic, and choose something to take notes on about.

For anyone that was not in class today, or that has lost (already) the assignment sheet, here it is to download:

Historical Investigation Research Project - Overview
Again, we will be talking about this much more. In fact, for the rest of the year, this is what we will be doing. As I noted in class, I am thinking that we will have about half the time devoted to a new unit, and the other half to developing this paper.

News Brief: We have really been struggling to find things to talk about recently! The two things that I took note of were:

The recent plane crash in Buffalo, which Amy mentioned, is something to really be interested in. A lot of things had to go wrong for that to happen. Source: ABCnews.com - Buffalo Crash: 'A Recipe for an Accident'. Basically, the pilots were sleep deprived, inadequately experienced, paid very little, and the icy conditions outside made it all come to a head. Really a sad story. Pilots do not get nearly enough credit for what they do.

Also, someone mentioned this story, about a police officer kicking a suspect in the head, while they were on the ground, then high-fiving his partner: LATimes.com - Experts say El Monte police officer's kick was unjustified. Bad times.

Yesenia brought finished this section of the class up with this article: CNN.com - Former Mexican president calls for legalizing marijuana. This is a pretty interesting take on the whole "war on drugs" issue. Someone else in class noted that some people are proposing to legalize marijuana in California and tax it, in order to help with the state's finances. A really interesting report on that was recently done by TIME Magazine, here: TIME.com - Can Marijuana Help Rescue California's Economy?

Breanna, please remember to bring a current news story about anything currently happening outside the United States, for next class on Monday. Thanks!

Student Presentations: These were pretty fun, again! Thank you to those who really put a lot of time and effort into creating something. I really respect your hard work! After everyone was finished, we turned in the following items, which I need from everyone ASAP if you did not turn it in today:

- Completed Skills Packet (which contained the Blazers recap and debates).
- Presentation Notes (for other students).
- Explanation Paper for your creative product AND
- Creative product, if it is something that can be handed in (like lines for a skit, or a PowerPoint, or a poster, etc). Again, I cannot grade your creative products without the explanation paper, so please get both in to me!

I hope that everyone enjoyed these presentations, and possibly learned a thing or two about interconnectedness as well. It was fantastic for me to be able to see you demonstrate your knowledge about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict!

Final Paper Folders: As I think I said in class, this "historical investigation" project is one that every freshman at Westview is working on, as part of the common assessment for Social Studies. If you remember, the first semester version of this was the visual metaphor. Thus, this is a really big deal!

I talked about Mrs. DeFrance's really amazing folder system for helping you write papers. Seriously, if I had this in high school, I think I would have written 10 page long papers with ease. It is really a pretty incredible way to keep track of everything. Please keep everything in that folder - including all the sheets of paper tucked inside!

I linked to the final paper assignment sheet above. We read that together in class, as I tried as best as I could to introduce this as something that you do not have to stress out about. Make it interesting to you! After reading everything together, we started brainstorming ideas for "issues of global significance" on the board. Here is a picture of what we came up with, to help you out if you need it:


Pick one of these, or any other issue for your homework, and bring in something to start you off on the project on Monday! I want you to be excited at finding out information about the world, that you may not have really had the chance to learn about in class this year!

Put it this way, there are entire college courses devoted to just these topics. In fact, I was in one last year at Western Oregon University! It was called History 492: World Problems. I ended up writing a 10 page paper on the search for Osama bin Laden. It was a really interesting class!

If you are still totally unsure about what to do, try a Google search for "world problems" or "globalization" or something along those lines. If none of that sounds interesting at all, come talk to me and I am sure we can get you started. :-)
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Other news of interest: Brandon Roy was selected to the All-NBA Second Team! This is a really huge honor! The first time a Blazer has made All-NBA since Clyde Drexler in 1992. Source: BlazersEdge.com. Brandon Roy is simply incredible. What a guy.

The Office Season Five finale is tonight (Thursday)! It is totally worth checking out, even if you have never seen it. The fun starts at 9:00 PM, on NBC (Channel 8 for most of you). The Office is my favorite television show of all time. I am really quite sad that the season will be over and we will have to wait until the fall for a new episode! Every year this happens, and there is a huge cliffhanger, and it just kills me.

There is a TON of sporting action going on. I am sure that Westview's spring sports are all worth checking out. Add to that two Game Sevens in the NHL, the Lakers-Rockets and Celtics-Magic series in the NBA (both Game Sixes), and Major League Baseball, all tonight. Wow. It is a great time to be a sports fan!

Tomorrow, I will be playing hoops during second lunch in the gym. Come sign up on the sheet in N116 if you want to play! I am excited about it!

With that, I think I will sign off! I hope everyone is doing well! Have a wonderful weekend! Keep in touch and keep working hard on everything we are doing!

Period 2: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 15 - Class Recap

Faraj Adnan, one of the people in the movie Promises that we finished today. The picture can be found here. Also, here is a site that tells you a little bit about what happened right after the movie. Faraj is now 24. Should you feel so inclined, here is Faraj's MySpace, and here is his FaceBook. Also, while you are at it, here is Yarko Solan's FaceBook. I wonder if they are friends? Certainly something that connects cultures and countries - social networking sites! :-)
Good afternoon students,

I must say, I REALLY liked your presentations and creative products today. I now know that I made the right decision in putting them off until today. That extra time, as well as making it really explicit how I wanted you to relate your product to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, paid great dividends. Thank you for your hard work, those of you that went today! We will finish these up next class and then move on to the next unit.

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? How can the Middle East be stabilized?

Soundtrack: "Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith. Chosen because today had a lot to do with the emotional pull on people, and because it is a great rock song.

AGENDA 5/12/09:
News Brief
Finish Promises
Student Presentations

Homework: Finish any late work – be prepared for next class! Read blog recap!

Also, because I understand that the internet was down at school this morning and nobody that wanted to print out their explanation papers before class, please either e-mail me it or bring in a hard copy for me on Thursday - regardless of whether or not you presented today. I was going to make everyone turn in the paper today (thank you to those who did after their presentations), but I think this way makes more sense now.

News Brief: After going over the essential questions (and pointing out Allie's excellent find that relates in the comments on the last blog post), soundtrack, agenda, and homework, I asked a little bit about what everyone did for the weekend. I hope you were good to your mom's!

Mary started out the news from around the world section with the really interesting topic of the search for Earth-like planets in the universe. Here is an awesome article detailing the current quest: WashingtonPost.com - Science Digest, April 27, 2009. As I pointed out in class, there are so many stars and galaxies in the universe that it is probable that there are other places out there that are capable of having the right conditions for life.

For the news brief today, Luke talked about the recent diversion of a plane because of swine flu fears. Here is an article about this: Boston.com - Flight diverted to Boston after passenger complains of flu-like symptoms. Really, people get spooked by this sort of stuff. A great article recapping why the idea that airplanes just recirculate air and infects everyone on the plane is completely untrue can be found here: Salon.com - Ask the Pilot, May 8, 2009.

Furthermore, as I was trying to point out using the map, and subsequently made it crash and fall to the ground, the shortest distance between two points on the globe is very rarely a straight line because of the curve of the globe. The website Great Circle Mapper is an excellent representation of this. Check out what the flight path between Portland and Beijing, China if such a flight actually existed (it does not, currently): Great Circle Mapper, PDX-PEK.

Interesting stuff, right? Thanks Luke! Yesenia, you are up for next class please! One news article about anything currently going on outside the United States!

Finish Promises: I'm glad everyone participated in this! Even more so, I was really excited to hear your thoughts about all of it, especially about the innocence of children and the circumstances that they were born into. This was so related to the rest of the movie and the overall point!

By the way, now that the film is done, here is the trailer for the movie, and you can also watch the entire film on YouTube in 10 parts. That playlist can be found here.

I am very interested to see what you did with these conversations! I think it was a good way to approach watching the film. It is possible that we will do something next class with these as well. Again, thank you for your participation!

Student Presentations: After wrapping the movie went, we went on to your presentations! I asked the class about elements to a good presentation, which I wrote on the board. I also wanted everyone in the audience to write about what was interesting/good about each presentation, as well as how it made you feel. With that, I turned it over to you guys! We had Amy, Corri and Brian, Aaron and Dylan and Logan, Nasser and Jaye, Suzie and Ariel, Diana and Breanna, Sante and Haze, Iris, Sam and Stephen, Sarah, and Juliet go today. Thank you! To everyone not on that list, please be ready to go tomorrow!

I am attempting to upload Dylan, Logan, and Aaron's video creation on YouTube - I will post if it is successful.

Overall, as I said above, I think that these were fantastic. A lot of thought and effort went in to most of your presentations! Thank you! We will continue with the presentations next class, then move on to the next unit.
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Have a fantastic afternoon! Thanks for being such great students! See you on Thursday! :-)

Period 2: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 14 - Class Recap

One of the promotional images for the film Promises that we are watching in class. Found on the official website, here.
Dear Period 2,

Thank you for the class today! I think that it went well, though I did notice a little lack of focus at times on the film - which is made all the worse because there is no way that you will be able to understand what the people are saying unless you can have your head up to see the subtitles! Anyway, I liked how it all went.

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What are the factors to consider in the development of a Palestinian state?

Soundtrack: "Dear Mama" by 2Pac. Lyrics here. Chosen because it is Mother's Day on Sunday! This is an excellent song - it is the ringtone for when my mom calls me! :-)

AGENDA 5/8/09:
Mother's Day
News Brief
Promises, Part II

Homework: Bring presentations and papers for Tuesday (for real)! Read blog recap!

As I said in class, next week we will be doing the presentations. As you could hopefully see, showing the film Promises was a great way to lead in to getting people to work together. There was a lot of it in the movie! Now I want to see your takes on it! Remember, both your final paper and presentation should be ready to go by Tuesday. Also, I want you to bring back your completed film notes (I am guessing there are about 2 more minutes to watch, so we will probably do that and then get on to the presentations). Thanks!

Mother's Day: At the start of class, I went over the essential questions, soundtrack, and agenda, which led into talking a little bit about what people were doing for Mother's Day. Please be good to your mom! She helped shape you into the person you are today! :-)

News Brief: After talking for a minute or so about the importance of mothers, we got to hear a little bit about what is going on in the world! Someone noted that the Statue of Liberty is finally reopening. They have that planned for July 4th! I would highly encourage you to check it out if you are ever in New York City. Very cool place. Source: CNN.com - Statue of Liberty's crown to re-open July 4.

Stephen asked about why the United States gives Israel 3 billion dollars a year. Here's at least one perspective: Israeli-United States Relations. A quote:

U.S.-Israeli relations have evolved from an initial American policy of sympathy and support for the creation of a Jewish homeland in 1948 to an unusual partnership that links a small but militarily powerful Israel, dependent on the United States for its economic and military strength, with the U. S. superpower trying to balance competing interests in the region. Some in the United States question the levels of aid and general commitment to Israel, and argue that a U. S. bias toward Israel operates at the expense of improved U. S. relations with various Arab states. Others maintain that democratic Israel is a strategic ally, and that U. S. relations with Israel strengthens the U. S. presence in the Middle East.

I mentioned that the U.S. also provides a lot of aid to Pakistan (in order to help it fight the Taliban and other Islamic extremists in the country), and that last summer a report came out about some of the wasteful spending. Specifically, I mentioned a fleet of cars that Pakistan bought with U.S. money. Here is a great article talking all about that: WashingtonPost.com - U.S. Funding to Pakistan Plagued With Problems, GAO Report Says. A relevant quote:

In one example, the report cited monthly payments averaging $19,000 per vehicle for 20 passenger vehicles used by the Pakistani navy that appeared to contain "duplicative charges," the GAO said. The Pentagon often did not document its basis for evaluating claims and did not check Pakistan's currency conversions, which could have led to overbilling, the report said.

Look, this is not to say that all the aid the United States gives to Pakistan is being spent terribly. I tend to disagree when people make the argument that all the money being put forth to a particular purpose must be not worthy because of individual specific cases of inefficiencies, where money is spent badly. That is the same sort of argument that some people use to say that schools should get less funding, because they waste a lot of money on bureaucrats, or other individual aspects. It just makes no sense in the grand scheme of things.

In fact, check out this current article from just this last Monday: CNN.com - Legislation would triple U.S. non-military aid to Pakistan. Currently, we provide 500 million dollars a year to Pakistan. This bill would up that to $1.5 million. Again, a HUGE reason why paying attention to the Middle East is important. These are our tax dollars! We need to know what is going on, in order to be well informed about why our money goes where it does!

Suzie brought in this article to talk about: NYTimes.com - Swine Flu Cases Worldwide Exceed 2,300. I noted that this is something to be still really careful about, especially because really deadly flu viruses tend to start slow and then evolve into something really dangerous. The 1918 flu epidemic killed millions and millions of people and started just this way.

Thanks for the article Suzie! Luke, you are up for next class. Any current article about anything going on outside the United States.

Promises, Part II: I did not get to stop this as much as I wanted (and there are still a couple of minutes left) but generally, I liked this. Again, hopefully you can see now why it is so important to find common ground between people! This is what your presentations should be all about. I am super excited to see what you bring in on Tuesday! :-)
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Thanks go out to Haze, Krishna, and Stephen for playing hoops at lunch, and Iris for coming and watching. That was fun! Also, thanks go out to the rest of you as well, for being such amazing students!

Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy Mother's Day! I will be unavailable to post and respond to comments from 4-10 tonight (Friday), but other than that, I should be able to get back to you fairly quickly. Have fun in the sun! :-)

Period 2: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 13 - Class Recap

Another one of the pictures that I took in downtown Portland over Spring Break. I'm going to make this relate by saying that rivers, railroads, bridges, and even planes (look at the top of the picture for the light) all connect cultures and countries.
Hello class!

I'm wondering if I will have any extra people on here reading this, due to the events of the class today! Let's hope. Generally, I really liked what we did today, and I am glad that I changed up what we were going to do. Yes, I think most of you guys were ready to do these presentations and would do a fantastic job. However, as I said in the last blog, I think that by switching it up, I can give you an even better idea of exactly what I am looking for with this. Anyway, I'm glad that I am able to do things like that and have everyone buy in to it! Thanks!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What are the factors to consider in the development of a Palestinian state?

Soundtrack: "You Can't Hurry Love" by Phil Collins. Lyrics here. Really an excellent song about having patience, which I was asking you to do with these presentations. Also, a great song for looking at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well.

AGENDA 5/6/09:
News Brief
Calling an Audible
Promises

Homework: Continue to work on final project (paper and creative product)! Read blog recap!

This should hopefully be made much more clear by the recap about everything, so read on!

News Brief: I know that we had a good conversation, as always. I remember that Iris and Diana have a lacrosse game at 6:30 on Thursday, here at Westview. Other than that, I'm not entirely sure that I can remember what we talked about, besides:

The swine flu! What a surprise! :-) Stephen noted (which was the story that James was going to use for his news brief) that the first American died of the swine flu (or at least, had the swine flu and later died). The story about that can be found here: CBSNews.com - First U.S. Resident Dies Of H1N1 In Texas.

We had some more good discussion about this, but quite honestly, it really isn't that interesting at this point. There are plenty of other things going on in the world - let's try to focus on those please! :-)

James, thanks for having that topic of discussion ready. Suzie, you are up (I know, I'm sorry) for next class on Friday! I'm excited! Any current news article about anything going on outside the United States.

Calling an Audible: I asked the class if you knew what an "audible" meant - I loved hearing the very deep "yes" from the guys. Here's a great definition for everyone. About.com - Football Glossary - Audible. Basically, I wanted to switch things up, because I believe it makes a whole lot more sense logically to end the unit by first watching the movie Promises, and then going on to the presentations that will aim to bring people together. So, I did that.

Before this, however, I asked everyone to get out their explanation papers, so I could check them off to make sure everyone that actually did them on time got credit for it. Please e-mail me the paper ASAP if you were not able to show me in class.

Another reason why I wanted to flip things up was because I got the feeling that your papers weren't going to really touch on the ideas that I was asking you to. To help you out in revising, I read four samples from my Period 1 class that I thought were particularly well done. The common thread between all of them were:

- Facts about the conflict: Who, what, when, where, why.

- Sides to the debate.

- How your presentation is going to address this and bring people together. What is your decision about a possible way for this to happen - a solution?

Please revise and update your papers accordingly. Like I said in class, I am not expecting this to be a major production. However, I want to make EXTRA sure that you can really explain what your presentation is going to do. I may even have you read it before your presentation, so that we can see what your thinking was.

Promises: We watched about 35 minutes of this movie, pausing from time to time to write down thoughts and questions to the children in the film. From what I could tell, everyone knew what was going on, was actively involved in watching the film, and had some incredibly interesting thoughts to share. I am really excited to finish this up next class! Please bring those conversation pieces to class to continue!

Like I said in class and before on here, I am sorry about unexpectedly flipping everything up. I think by the end of the film that you will agree that it makes way more sense to do it this way though. Thanks for being willing to work with me!
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I think that should just about do it! Please get in touch with me if you need any help at all, or have questions about anything. Or, just post comments about whatever. That works too. :-)

The Office is on tomorrow night (Thursday, 9:00 PM, NBC), and it is always funny. Other than that, please continue working on your papers and projects, and come ready for class on Friday!

Have a wonderful afternoon!

Period 2: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 12 - Class Recap

EDIT (2:00 PM, Tuesday): After thinking it over and seeing the results of the lesson I did for my class today (5/5), we are going to hold off on doing the presentations tomorrow. Instead, I am going to go over a little more of what I am looking for, as well as do something that I really think you guys will find interesting and informative. How does that sound as a tease? Definitely bring your papers and anything else that I can check off to see that you have done, but again, I think I am going to push it back a bit. If anyone is surprised tomorrow, it will be because they didn't read the blog tonight! :-)

On to the original class recap...


Outside the World Trade Center in downtown Portland, near the waterfront. All sorts of countries and cultures coming together there! Picture taken by Mr. Fritz on April 17th.
Hello class!

Thanks for the (hopefully) productive work day today! I will have no sympathy if you do not have anything for your final products, because we have certainly used enough class time to work on them. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. Remember, make your paper really tell me how your creative product relates to the conflict in Israel and Palestine!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What are the factors to consider in the development of a Palestinian state?

Soundtrack: "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey. Lyrics here. Chosen because we are continuing to think about what brings people together.

AGENDA 5/4/09:
News Brief
Ping Pong Diplomacy
Music in Pyongyang
Project Work

Homework: Final project (paper and creative product), due on Wednesday (next class)! Read blog recap!

Just so that there are no issues with this assignment that can be immediately be solved by looking at the assignment sheet, please look it over before asking any questions about what I am asking you to do. After that, by all means, fire away! Here's the assignment to download, if needed:

Israel and Palestine Final Project
Remember that you need to type at least one page explaining your creative product. In that explanation, please write about how you addressed the issues at stake in the conflict, the essential questions of the unit, and how your creation is going to help foster collaboration between both sides.

Again, make this fun and interesting for you! This assignment gives you an enormous amount of free choice! Find ways to relate something that you love to this!

Also, if you need anything in particular for me to bring in, or set up for your presentation, please let me know. I will have my laptop (capable of playing DVDs) and a projector with an ELMO ready for use.

News Brief: To begin class, we did a little stretching! However, that quickly died down because of a lack of participation. After that, we talked for a bit about the swine flu (for some reason, this is the story all of my classes want to talk about), and then Diana brought in this article to share with the class: CNN.com - Farmer may have given swine flu to pigs, Canada says. As always, interesting stuff! James, you are up for next class on Wednesday. Any news article about anything currently going on outside the United States.

Ping Pong Diplomacy: Before letting you loose for project work the rest of class, I wanted to show you a couple of really famous instances of creative ways to get countries talking. One of the most interesting that I can remember (and as highlighted by the fantastic movie Forrest Gump) was the "Ping Pong Diplomacy" that happened between the United States and China in the 1970s. This was an HUGE deal. Here's the video we watched in class:



Music in Pyongyang: Someone in the class (I can't remember who) helpfully pointed out that the Ping Pong Diplomacy wouldn't really work for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, because neither side wants to make amends. This thought led directly in to a more current situation, with North Korea and the United States, where music was used to bridge long held divides (partially). Here's the video we watched in class about the New York Philharmonic playing in Pyongyang:



I also mentioned an excellent report that Christiane Amanpour did for CNN as a result of the trip, where you get to see some really interesting footage of what life is like in one of the most secretive countries in the entire world. Here is the link to the first YouTube video in the series - Notes from North Korea (1 of 6).

Project Work: Using the two videos as a sort of a final "pump up" for the final project, we read the key parts of the assignment sheet together. I also told the class to have the skills packet to turn in and be graded on Wednesday.

As I said at the beginning of this post, I liked the work we did in class, and I think I touched base with everyone about their project. Please do not leave the rest of this until the night before! There is way too much to do. I do not want a million comments asking for directions on Tuesday night (though again, I will always be glad to respond to anything you bring up).

Be excited for class on Wednesday! I think this should be interesting and a lot of fun! Let your optimism shine through!
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I do not really have much else to say! Please let me know if you need any help with any of this. Have a great afternoon! :-)