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!