Genocide in Rwanda, Day 8 - Class Recap

The sun is setting on the Rwanda unit! Hopefully it had a great impact on you. Next week, we will move on to the last (shorter) unit before finals! Photo taken in Washington, 2009.

Dear class,

Today was spent continuing to watch Hotel Rwanda as we close down the unit. Just one more day left! Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 20: I can identify the critical components of imperialism.
Behavior LT 2: I can self-direct my learning.

Soundtrack: "Million Voices" by Wyclef Jean. Selected for today because it is a powerful song from the Hotel Rwanda soundtrack. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 1/10/17:
News Brief - Sammy
Hotel Rwanda
Movie Assignment
Make Up/Late Work

Homework: Read the blog. Work on any late or incomplete work. Next news brief: Jimmy.

News Brief: Sammy had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: NYTimes.com - Bombings Near Afghanistan’s Parliament Kill Dozens on Day of Assaults. We talked for a while in class about Afghanistan and found it in the world map packet, before continuing on.

Jimmy 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

Hotel Rwanda: We stopped about 1:31 in today. Here is the worksheet of questions to answer as we watched:

Google Drive: Hotel Rwanda Questions

Next class, we will finish watching the movie and prepare for finals!

Make Up/Late Work: We didn't have time in class to check in about grades on a 1-1 basis. I will try to find time to do so soon! Grades have been updated on StudentVUE, as well. Please know what you need to be working on to improve your grade.

Genocide in Rwanda, Day 7 - Class Recap

We played the Sporcle country game today as welcome back after the pressure of the Rwanda speeches last class!

Hello everyone,

An official welcome back from break and to 2016! It was so great to see everyone and check in about break, after we had all of last class dedicated to the Rwanda speeches! 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: "Welcome Back" by Ma$e. Selected for today because it was great to welcome everyone back from break! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 1/6/17:
News Brief - Ranger
Winter Break
Speech Debrief
Hotel Rwanda

Homework: Read the blog. Work on any late or incomplete work - make sure to submit your individual Rwanda speech on Google Classroom if you have not already! Next news brief: Sammy.

News Brief: Ranger had the news brief today and chose this story to talk about: BBC.com - Syria conflict: Russia 'withdrawing aircraft carrier group'. We found Russia in your world map packets and talked for a while about the ongoing situation in Syria and Iraq with ISIS. Lots of good questions here - thanks!

Sammy 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

Break: After the news brief, I gave students some time to check in about how break was and what they were up to with the class. I talked a bit about my break and my experience with going to France and England with my wife!

Speech Debrief: I did not talk about this in class, but this is how I will be grading the Rwanda speeches over the weekend. In essence:

1) If you did not address imperialism in Rwanda at all, you received a score of 1 on that target.
2) The communication target was the score for your actual speech in front of the class, as well as how well your individual paper followed the format we talked about in class. I included my notes as well as everyone else at the table listening, so you can see what I wrote about how you did.
3) The critical thinking/multiple perspectives target was for talking about the United Nations own definition of genocide, and talking about the perspective of the people of Rwanda during the genocide in your written speech.

If you have individual questions, I would be happy to answer them in person. As with any assignment, you can always revise it (or resubmit it, if you haven't turned it in) to demonstrate a higher level of proficiency, if needed. I will hope to get these grades to you next class.

Hotel Rwanda: Before the movie, we played a surprise Sporcle "name the country" game, as evidenced by the top of this post. The rest of class was spent watching the movie Hotel Rwanda (2004). I normally do not show entire movies in class, but this one is SO good and relevant to the Rwanda unit. Here is the worksheet of questions to answer as we watched:

Google Drive: Hotel Rwanda Questions

We watched until 32:24 in class, and will watch most of the rest next class

It was so great to see everyone again! Have a great weekend!

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 1/4/17:
News Brief - Mr. Fritz
Setting the Stage
United Nations Speeches
Debrief

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

News Brief: Since it had been forever since our last class, last year, I had the news brief and talked about my time in France over the break.

Ranger was selected 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 Aki Mori and your counselor, Yoonwa Saechao 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 Mr. Mori and Mr. Saechao for being willing to give their 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 next class! :-)