Government, Day 2 - Class Recap

Winter time is coming! Photo taken outside my house in 2008.

Dear class,

It was so nice to see you all again today! I really enjoyed the discussion today. Here's what happened in class:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 17: I can explain how and why world societies organize themselves and how power is established and maintained.
Communication LT 1:  I can use language and  style that is appropriate to the content area.

Soundtrack: "Get Up, Stand Up" by Bob Marley. Selected for today because students were standing up for what they believed in, in terms of the Forced Choice questions. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 11/14/16:
News Brief – Caleb
Culture Presentations?
Forced Choice
Reflection

Homework: Read the blog. Catch up on any late/incomplete/missing work. Next news brief: Arjun.

News Brief: Caleb had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about: Weather.com - Mass Evacuations Underway After Deadly 7.8-Magnitude Earthquake Leaves 'Utter Devastation' In New Zealand. This is a big news story, as New Zealand had another big earthquake in 2011. I talked a bit about my trip to New Zealand in 2014. We found it in our world maps and noted that a news brief was done on the story. Thanks, Caleb!

Arjun 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):

BBCNews.com - One-minute World News

I also asked about the long weekend and what people were up to, before moving on.

Culture Presentations?: This time was utilized by a few students that did not present last class. Thanks for doing this today, and for the attention and respect of the class.

Forced Choice: This is one of my favorite activities of the year. I had the class answer the following questions and choose YES or NO to each of them. Then, we split up the class so that two sides were facing each other. With each question, students moved to the side they felt best represented their opinion on the matter. These are difficult ethical questions and I am glad that we have the type of classroom culture that students feel able to talk about them! The questions were:

1. Giving up some of our rights (like our phones being searched without a warrant) is necessary for our own protection.
2. Everyone in the US should have the right to own guns if they want.
3. Government officials should have to approve/sign off on marriages that they are against on religious grounds.
4. Marijuana should be legalized everywhere for recreational use.
5. Public schools should strictly enforce a standardized dress code.
6. Organized prayer in public schools should be allowed.
7. The government of a country should be able to make unpopular decisions.
8. Should the motto “In God We Trust” be removed from our currency?
9. I agree with the death penalty option for convicted murderers.
10. People in power are always corrupt in some way.

Today, we did questions 1-4. Lots of interesting questions and critical thinking! Thank you for your responses and participation. It was not possible to get to every hand that was up in every discussion, for which I apologize. I am glad that students were engaged!

If you had any other articles or links to share to back up what you shared in class, please post them in the comments!

Reflection: We will have some time to do this in class next time, and then we will have to move on to the rest of the Government unit. See you next class!