Revolution! Day 1 - Class Recap

My view of the 2012 Rose Bowl, between Oregon and Wisconsin. I showed the class a video of my reaction to the end to this game.

Dear class,

I loved today. It was fun to be able to focus on some good in the world and have a little fun being creative! Here's what happened in class:

Learning Targets:
Critical Thinking LT 1: I can explain multiple perspectives and viewpoints.

Knowledge LT 20: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements.

Soundtrack: “Where is the Love?” by The Black Eyed Peas. Chosen for today because we have been talking so much about war, genocide, and revolutions (soon) - I thought we needed to focus a bit on love and what brings people together across the world. Lyrics here. 

AGENDA 2/25/16:

News Brief - Jessica

Debrief WWI Essay

Togetherness
Create Posters

Homework: Read the blog! Finish your togetherness posters for next class. Yanuel has the next news brief.

---

News Brief: The news brief article for today was brought in by Jessica. Here is the story: CNN.com - Plane crashes in Nepal midway through 19-minute flight; 23 feared dead. We did not talk much about this, because it was later in class.

Earlier in the class, we found Afghanistan in our world map packet and I talked about this story: BBC.com - Afghan boy bags real Messi shirt - finally. A nice story to start the day! After this, we talked about the weekend and what is going on.

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

Debrief WWI Essay: Next, I asked the class for general feedback about how the in-class essay went. I really appreciated the responses here. I noted that you will have to do such tests in the future, like for SATs, and this was good practice. That was definitely my hope! Yes, it may have been tough to write so much, in an entire class period. I do think that most of you did well with it. I know it was a difficult assignment!

Togetherness: After this, I turned our attention to something more exciting and interesting (I hope): ways in which the world comes together. Here's what the class came up with when I asked about what brings the world together:

• Olympics/Sports
• Celebrations
• Holidays
• Music
• Food
• Knowledge
• Education
• Art
• Cultural Exchanges
• Dancing
• Trading
• Money
• Religion
• Business
• Jobs
• Clothes
• Sleep
• After disasters/conflicts
• United Nations
• Talking
• Laughing
• Language

A good list! I then showed six consecutive videos (a record, but there are so many good ones out there)! Here are the links to them, if you want to watch again:

The end to this video:

The reaction in Chicago when Carli Lloyd scored the first goal of the Women's World Cup Final in Canada, last summer (I was there!): 

Next was my own video from the Rose Bowl. Yes, that's me screaming incoherently at the last second win, and my brother jumping up and down in the video.

Then: the "Free Hugs" campaign in Australia: YouTube.com - Free Hugs.

After that: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

Finally, the 2012 version (there are multiple videos from different years, and they are all SO good) of "Where The Hell is Matt?" on YouTube:

 "Dancing (2012)"

I LOVE these videos. All great examples of what brings people together across so many different areas.

Create Posters: Your task after watching these was to start creating a poster of something that brings the world together, as we listened to music in class. Again, this is extremely low stakes - it's not going to be a huge grade or anything. Just a fun activity to remember that there is more to the world than just conflict. We will present these next class, then move on to the revolution unit. Sound like a plan? Thanks for the great class today! Let me know if you have other videos that you enjoy along these same lines! :-)

Revolution! Day 2 - Class Recap

This is a picture I took of Maria Sharapova carrying the flag of the Russian Federation at the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics. The flag is different from the one the USSR had after the revolution!

Hi everyone,

Another sort of relaxed day in class today, with finishing and presenting our togetherness posters, and starting to learn a little bit about the Russian Revolution. Here's what happened in class:

Learning Targets:
Critical Thinking LT 1: I can explain multiple perspectives and viewpoints.

Knowledge LT 20: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements.

Soundtrack: "I Lived" by OneRepublic, because another thing we have in common is that we are all alive together. :-) Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/2/15:

News Brief - Tyler A.

Finish Posters/Present
Newsflash
Peace, Land, and Bread

Homework: Read the blog! Kento has the next news brief.

---

News Brief: The news brief article for today was brought in by Tyler A, who selected this story to talk about: CNN.com - Netanyahu: Israel-U.S. 'friendship will weather the current disagreement'. We talked about the Prime Minister of Israel visiting the United States, and both governments having a debate about how best to deal with Iran's nuclear program. We also talked a bit about the weekend, including some pretty crazy "fugitive" game stories.

Kento, you are up for next class.

We also watched VICE News today (which referenced Rwanda!) before moving on.

Finish Posters/Present: The first 20 minutes or so of class was used to finish the artistic representations of what brings the world together - left over from last class. I enjoyed seeing what everyone created, and I will try to do some decorating with them in our classroom! :-)

Newsflash: This is absolutely my favorite way to start a new unit. Good teachers always try and assess where students are at before they teach any specific content (otherwise, we would have no idea if you had actually learned anything or not). If you wanted to see the hilarious "Whose Line is it Anyway?" clip again, here it is:

So awesome. Next, I passed out the "pre-assessment" paper that was geared around going back in time to Russia in 1917. If you did not complete this in class, you absolutely need to do this BEFORE going on to reviewing the presentation. If you missed class, or lost your copy (I will have you turn this in later), here it is to download and print:

Google Drive: "Newsflash" Russian Revolution Pre-Assessment

Again, it does not matter if you do not know very much: make an educated guess!

Peace, Land, and Bread: After the newsflash activity, I started up the Russian Revolution content. Here is the vocabulary list that students were filling out during the presentation (the quiz will be on these terms, next class):

Google Drive: Russian Revolution Vocabulary Terms

I helpfully three hole punched these, as well. See? I listened to your feedback about making notes easier!

Here is the main event - the PowerPoint of the basics of what happened during the Russian Revolution:

Google Drive: "Peace, Land, and Bread: The Russian Revolution" PowerPoint

We only made it through the first two slides of this in class, so we will get back to it and finish next week. Enjoy your weekend, everyone! :-)

Revolution! Day 1 - Class Recap

My view of the 2012 Rose Bowl, between Oregon and Wisconsin. I showed the class a video of my reaction to the end to this game.

Dear class,

I loved today. It was fun to be able to focus on some good in the world and have a little fun being creative! Here's what happened in class:

Learning Targets:
Critical Thinking LT 1: I can explain multiple perspectives and viewpoints.

Knowledge LT 20: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements.

Soundtrack: “Where is the Love?” by The Black Eyed Peas. Chosen for today because we have been talking so much about war, genocide, and revolutions (soon) - I thought we needed to focus a bit on love and what brings people together across the world. Lyrics here. 

AGENDA 2/26/15:

News Brief - Vlas

Debrief WWI Essay

Togetherness
Create Posters

Homework: Read the blog! Tyler A. has the next news brief.

---

News Brief: The news brief article for today was brought in by Vlas. Here is the story: TIME.com - Jamaica Decriminalizes Marijuana and Moves Toward Cultivation. Tyler A, you are up for next class.

We also watched VICE News today before moving on.

Debrief WWI Essay: Next, I asked the class for general feedback about how the in-class essay went. I really appreciated the responses here. I noted that you will have to do such tests in the future, like for SATs, and this was good practice. That was definitely my hope! Yes, it may have been tough to write so much, in an entire class period. I do think that most of you did well with it. I know it was a difficult assignment!

Togetherness: After this, I turned our attention to something more exciting and interesting (I hope): ways in which the world comes together. Here's what the class came up with when I asked about what brings the world together:

- Peace
- Travel
- Olympics
- World Cup
- Food
- Health
- New Years
- Friendship
- Music
- Family
- Money
- Trade
- Internet
- Love
- United Nations
- Religion

A good list! I then showed six consecutive videos (a record, but there are so many good ones out there)! Here are the links to them, if you want to watch again:

The end to this video:

The world's reaction to the United States Men's National Team winning a critical World Cup game at the last second in South Africa, 2010: YouTube.com - Landon Donovan Goal Reaction.

This is my own video from the Rose Bowl. Yes, that's me screaming incoherently at the last second win, and my brother jumping up and down in the video.

The "Free Hugs" campaign in Australia: YouTube.com - Free Hugs.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

 "Dancing (2012)"

I LOVE these videos. All great examples of what brings people together across so many different areas.

Create Posters: Your task after watching this was to start creating a poster of something that brings the world together. Again, this is extremely low stakes - it's not going to be a huge grade or anything. Just a fun activity to remember that there is more to the world than just conflict. We will try to finish these up next class, present, then move on to the revolution unit. Sound like a plan? Thanks for the great class today! Let me know if you have other videos that you enjoy along these same lines! :-)