Genocide in Rwanda, Day 6 - Class Recap

A look at the view from the podium in our room for the United Nations speeches about Rwanda!

Hi everyone,

You all did such an amazing job today! I am so proud of you and your effort in these speeches! It was an inspiration to be able to see how well you communicated about the genocide and the learning targets for the unit. 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
Behavior LT 3: I can communicate and work effectively within a team or group.

Soundtrack: "Heroes" by David Bowie. Selected for today because you got to be heroes for the people of Rwanda. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/17/15:
News Brief - Grace
Setting the Stage
United Nations Speeches
Hotel Rwanda

Homework: Read the blog. Turn in any late or incomplete work, and the individual copy of your United Nations speech ASAP. Next news brief: Mr. Fritz.

News Brief: Grace had the news brief today, but was not in class to present, so everyone had more time to prepare.

I selected myself to do the next news brief. We did not watch BBC World News today, due to the time with speeches, but here it is to watch, if you want to.

Setting the Stage: Right after the news brief, I went over exactly how the speeches would work in class, and talked specifically about a tie that I brought in for students to wear if they wanted, which a friend who went to Rwanda brought back for me. The tie was made by survivors of the genocide, so I thought it was pretty important symbolism as we were talking about needing to prevent it!

After the introduction, I gave about 10-15 minutes for groups to get ready and organized, then we started.

United Nations Speeches: I LOVED these! Again, the vast majority of students did such a good job with this! The basic set up was to have a group come up and line up behind the podium, do their speech in order, then listen as the panel at the front (for your class, it was Vice Principal Cheryl Ashdown, along with myself) gave positive feedback about how your speeches went.

I really appreciated your effort and willingness to speak up about Rwanda! I know that the panel was impressed. I also wanted to make sure and publicly thank Ms. Ashdown for being willing to give her time to come see you speak. What a cool community we have at Westview!

After the speeches were done, there was not enough time to start Hotel Rwanda, so we will do that next class.

At the end of class, I had everyone (who had not already done so) turn in their individual speeches (five paragraphs) with the rubric attached.

Here's the assignment sheet again, if you are needing it to find the rubrics to turn in with your revised paper:

Google Drive: Individual United Nations Rwanda Speech Assignment

Thank you all so much again for your hard work today and in the build up for it! You totally rock! I am very proud of everyone. See you in 2016! Have a wonderful break!