Thursday, June 8, 2017

Israel and Palestine, Day 5 - Class Recap


I have not been to Israel/Palestine, but I have been to Jordan, which is right across the border. This is the famous Monastery in the ancient city of Petra. Photo taken in 2014.

Dear class,

Today was our last real day of new content in the class, with a look at an excerpt from a book about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Communication LT 1: I can use language and style that is appropriate to the content area.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements. Knowledge LT 21: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.

Soundtrack: "I Want It That Way" by Backstreet Boys. Selected for today because each side in the conflict wants in their way. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 6/8/17:
News Brief – Caleb
Final Roles
A City Divided
Through Middle Eastern Eyes

Homework: Read the blog! All late/missing/revised work due by Friday (next class!). Keep working on your final project for the year (specific guide for what to do here). Next news brief: James.
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News Brief: Caleb had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - Mosul battle: IS kills 230 fleeing civilians, says UN. We found Iraq in the world map and talked about this news story for a bit,  as well as how it relates to what we know about ISIS, Sunni and Shia Muslims from the religion unit, and the spread of ISIS in the region.

The next news brief was assigned to James.

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):


Final Roles: Speaking of the final project, this form clarifies what the expectation is going to be on the day of the final, as well as what students should be writing/talking about:


I'm going to keep it simple and have students just focus on this. You should already know what learning targets you need to work on. Use the chart at the top of the second page to focus your writing/speech notes on the specific issues in the conflict. I know there were a lot of questions on this - please let me know how I can continue clearing this up!

A City Divided: After the news brief, we watched two more videos from VICE News, which help explain what is going on in Jerusalem and the West Bank right now. The first was Jerusalem:


We also watched the last five minutes of this video, which has to do with violence in the West Bank:


After watching "Promises" last week, this was intended to be an update about what is currently happening in the region. 

Through Middle Eastern Eyes: This was an excerpt from a book, which I made a class set of. The two characters are representing the perspectives of Israel and Palestine. Here's the online version if you want to keep working on this at home:


There is a few pages of timeline and introduction in that, and then the characters start talking on page 229.

The two characters in the reading were David (representing Israel) and Daud (representing Palestine). I wanted students to partner up and go through the reading together. Here is the assignment that goes with the reading, to note each perspective and help you prepare for your final assignment:


We will continue this next class. See you then!

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