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! :-)