Friday, June 8, 2018

Israel and Palestine, Day 6 - Class Recap


This week is the graduation ceremony for the seniors at Westview! Therefore, a sunset picture above the clouds is appropriate. I took this on the way from California to Portland in 2007.

Hi everyone,

I hope you are feeling more clear about what to do for the final and feeling good about the end of the year! 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: "Good Life" by OneRepublic. Selected for today because all people want is a Good Life, even in Israel and Palestine! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 6/8/18:
News Brief – Krista
Check In
Final Questions
A City Divided
Through Middle Eastern Eyes
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog! All late/missing/revised work due TODAY. Bring your Chromebook charged and ready to work next class! Keep working on your final project for the year (specific guide for what to do here). Next news brief: Richard.
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News Brief: Krista had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: USGS.gov - M 2.9 - 157km WNW of Haines Junction, Canada. We found Canada in the world map and talked about what happened in this article before moving on to check in about the weekend.

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):


Check In: After the news brief, I had students turn to each other and check in about how the end of the year was feeling, in terms of stress and finals. It's important to take care of one another during stressful times! I had a few students share out about how they were doing, too. Please know that I am here for you! Let me know how I can support you, both now and into the future! Yes, I will still be that teacher in four years, saying hello to you when I see you in the halls!

Final Questions: Yet again, I went over in class 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. As I have said in class, everyone needs to have their final project address their ideas for a solution for the conflict. If you are writing a paper, it needs to be a minimum of 2.5 pages, typed, double spaced, Times New Roman, size 12 font (yes, you can write more than that if you want). If you are doing a presentation or a speech, it needs to be from 3 to 5 minutes long (no, you may not go longer or shorter than that).

A City Divided: After this, we watched a few videos from VICE News (because last class was so short, due to the Senior Assembly), which help explain what is going on in Jerusalem and the West Bank right now. The first was from the HBO version of the show (Season 6, Episode 2), which a preview can be found here.

Next, we looked more into 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 class, 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:

Work Time: For the rest of class, we worked on the final assignment - whether that is a speech, paper, or a combination of the two. To help with this, I passed out a paper copy of this recent New York Times Upfront article:


Some other resources we have been using in class to help prepare for the final project are:


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:

Google Drive - David and Daud TMEE Assignment

Another resource is this timeline of the conflict:

Google Drive: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Timeline

Thank you for your hard work on the final project! Keep it up!

Finally, at the end of class, I showed this update that fellow Global Studies teacher Mr. Yoder put together about the children (now adults!) from Promises:


So crazy to see them all now! Have a great weekend, everyone!

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