Thursday, December 3, 2015

Genocide in Rwanda, Day 1 - Class Recap



A look at your responses for "Name five things that come to your mind when you think about Europe" question on the pre-assessment quiz today. Next class, I'll show you the Africa responses, as well. What do you think it will look like?

Hi everyone,

Welcome back! Now we have a fast paced dash to Winter Break for the next few weeks. We have a lot to pack in, for sure! Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 20: I can identify the critical components of imperialism.
Communication LT 1:  I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Soundtrack: "Storms in Africa, Pt. 2" by Enya. Selected for today because we started talking about Rwanda, which is a country in Africa. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/3/14:
News Brief – Jessica
Review Tests/Grades
Hook/Textbook Hunt
Rwanda

Homework: Read the blog. Turn in any missing work ASAP. Review your notes from the PowerPoint on Rwanda. Know that I will have a substitute again next class (sorry)! Next news brief: Koby.

News Brief: Jessica had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: BBC.com - Syria air strikes: RAF Tornado jets carry out bombing. We found the United Kingdom on our world map packets and continued to talk about the situation in Syria. The big deal here was that hours after the debate (like ours in class) about what the government should do, and the majority said that the UK should bomb ISIS in Syria, they began.

Koby was selected to do the next news brief.

We also watched the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):


Finally, we checked in about the break and what everyone was up to.

Review Tests/Grades: Thanks to the grading day Monday and the long weekend, I am now completed with all grading and late work, so your class grades should be updated! I passed out the culture DBQs, culture unit work, government tests, forced choice reflections (graded for two learning targets, both in class discussion and with your written reflection about multiple perspectives and the role of government), and any other missing work. If you are concerned about anything related to grades, please come see me at lunch, before school, or after school. Or, send me an email!

Hook/Textbook Hunt: I will sit down tomorrow and type up a list of what everyone said in response to the questions (we just did 1-16). I know there were a lot, so thanks for hanging in there with me. Like I said in class, I took this exact same quiz at Lewis and Clark (as part of the class where I learned how to be a teacher) and was absolutely amazed about what I did and did not know. I'll share your responses next class.

The textbook hunt: I'm not sure if all of you understood what I was saying, so here it is again. In our Modern World History textbook, which was published in 2005 (11 years after the genocide in Rwanda) there are TWO in text mentions (a one sentence recap for each) of the genocide, each citing ethnic violence between the Hutu's and the Tutsi's and 500,000 people dying, while there is ONE other picture, with two small paragraphs beneath it, citing a number of 1,000,000 dead. So again, the textbook barely had anything at all to say about the genocide, and when it did, it couldn't even be consistent with the number of people killed. Why do you think this might be?

Genocide in Rwanda: Finally, the presentation:


A few things about this. One: most of the statistics I used in the first few slides are found here: CIA World Factbook - Rwanda. Now by NO MEANS are those statistics solid hard facts. I know of plenty of other sites that will give different numbers. However, since these are the official US government statistics, I think that it will be useful for your upcoming assignment (which I will reveal next class).

Two: I found the picture of the propaganda, "beat the cockroaches" on Wikipedia, here: Rwandan Genocide. Now as most of you know, NEVER use Wikipedia as a source in a paper or for anything else. However, it can be used as a good start to researching something for yourself - just find the sources the article links to at the bottom and go from there. As Michael Scott from The Office once said: "Wikipedia... is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information."

No, it is not. But it is a funny quote nonetheless!

Much less humorous information: The horrific picture of the Hutu man (who did not support the genocide) that lived after being hacked multiple times by machetes can be found here: Salon.com: Inferno.

Please review the PowerPoint and your notes for next class, as we will be going more in depth! Thank you for your focus and questions today. I know this may not be the most fun subject to learn about, and it is so important to not ignore. See you next class.

12 comments:

  1. Cool picture. Please don't reject me like you did to christian

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  2. Hi I have a somewhat random question. I thought that we had to have a notebook for this class. I checked the blog from the intro day and the syllabuss and I couldn't find any information about a notebook. Every B day, I put a green journal in my backpack labeled "Global Studies." Must I continue to bring this to class or can I leave it at home? I don't think we've used it in class yet. I'm sorry I didn't pay more attention on the first day of school.

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    1. Hello there!

      You were required to have a Westview binder, as with every class (one binder total, not one binder for each class). As a general rule, it is good to have extra paper. That said, I did not ever make it a requirement to have a notebook. The syllabus states: "This binder should contain the following: a pouch containing pens, pencils, and highlighters; lined paper; binder dividers that mark each class, including one for Global Studies. Students are expected to bring their binder to school EVERY DAY, and binders will be checked every Friday in Study Hall for organization and reported as part of the behavior targets."

      All of that remains true. I'm sorry you have been lugging an extra notebook around! You could also put it to use if you wanted to just take notes and complete assignments in it, if you wanted.

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    2. Ok huge thanks! By the way, the notebook isn't that heavy so there isn't a need to feel sorry for me. Thanks anyways.


      P.S. Cool Picture

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  3. Have fun at the Timbers game

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    1. Thanks Zack! Good luck with your game, and have a great weekend. :-)

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  4. I'm sooooo happy the timbers won

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  5. When r u going to post today's blog?

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    1. It is pre scheduled to post at 7:30. So... Like now. :-)

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