Period 2: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 1 - Class Recap

Your class rules! After an extremely long deliberation, I think you came up with some really good ones!
Good morning class,

I am so excited to be writing my first class recap for you! This website will hopefully become one of your all-time favorites, but I will be more than happy if you just read it once after each class (the times when I am able to post may vary pretty widely - the next couple of weeks should be during school, but after that, it may be much later in the evening). Remember to read the "Welcome to the Blog!" post below, to get some of the basics out of the way. There usually is a lot to digest, and since we have limited time during class, I try to explain a lot more about why we are doing what we are doing, what I thought about it, and what actually happened. So, let's begin!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What impact can women in the Middle East have on policy? - Remember, the essential questions are the big ideas that we are trying to get at with our work in class. They do not have any definite, yes or no, answers. Hopefully, they should promote thinking about what we are studying.

Soundtrack: "Changes" by 2Pac. Lyrics can be found here. I chose this song for today because I have now changed into your teacher for the rest of the year. Also, I think the song is incredibly powerful and there is a lyric in there that says: "And still I see no changes can't a brother get a little peace/It's war on the streets and the war in the Middle East." By the way, if you ever have suggestions for what the soundtrack should be, let me know! :-)

AGENDA 3/31/09:
Letter to Class
Create Rules
What is the Middle East?
Domestic Violence
Queen Noor

Homework: Letter to Mr. Fritz, due next class. Post comment on blog!

I am not going to put my personal letter to the class up online, for obvious reasons, but here is your assignment, due Thursday:

Who are you outside of the classroom? What are your goals in life? Tell me something quirky or interesting about you. What do you want me to know about you? What kinds of music do you listen to? What movies do you like? Is there anything going on around the world that you know a lot about – do you have an area of expertise? Topics you want to learn more about? Make a list! What do you like about high school and this class so far? What do you not like? What do you think your strengths and weaknesses as a student are? Finally, do you have any concerns, questions, or comments for me about this class?

Typed, 12 point Times New Roman font, at least one page - attempt to answer all questions!

Again, I really want to get to know everyone better! If you write a lot, it will help me, help you. The other homework is to post a comment on the blog, which I showed you how to do in class. Just go down to the bottom of this post and click the "comment" link (there will be a number with how many comments there currently are).

Letter to Class: I greeted everyone to class, went over the essential questions, soundtrack, agenda, and homework. Then, I read my letter to the class, which you should each have an individually signed copy of. Let me know if you have any more questions or comments about how the class is going to work, or about me as your teacher! Remember that you need to get all the work you previously did for Mrs. DeFrance turned in to her, especially before the quarter ends next Friday. For everything that I assign, starting with the letter to me, I will keep track of and grade.

Create Rules: This took way longer than it needed to, but I think we came up with some good rules. They can be found in the picture (from my cell phone) at the top of this post, as well as always be visible on the top right of the blog. Hopefully we will not have any sort of lingering disagreement about these very good and helpful ground rules.

What is the Middle East? The class was split into five groups and I asked each group to come up with a list of things they associated with the Middle East. Then, I asked a member from each group to come up to the board and write they thought was the most relevant or important things. From memory, the words that came up the most were: OIL, hot, sand, war/terrorism, turbans, Aladdin, and for some reason, monkeys. So, this is what the class thinks of the Middle East going in to the new unit. Always interesting to see!

Domestic Violence: I began this section by asking the class about the Chris Brown/Rihanna insanity. It was recapped well in class. However, I have a few links for you to check out as well. Here is a really good article talking about the basics (supposedly) of what happened, as well as the question on everyone's mind: why in the world would you get back together with someone that did this? CNN.com - "Commentary: Brown-Rihanna case's dangerous message"

Two, Katie Couric and Oprah have really stepped up to the plate for using this incident to get the word out there that domestic violence needs to be talked about and stopped. In particular: HuffingtonPost.com - "Katie Couric on Rihanna & Chris Brown: Talk to Your Children". Insane statistics about teen sexual and physical abuse in that article as well: 20% of teens will experience some kind of assault at the hands of their partner.

Also, CNN had a fascinating article (which if you only click on one link today, this should be it) up about how to avoid abusive people. CNN.com - "How to avoid dating an abusive creep". I have extremely high confidence in everyone in our class, but this is something to constantly be on the lookout for.

After talking about Chris Brown and Rihanna as a lead in, I brought it back to asking the class what we thought about women in the Middle East. Lots of thoughts about women totally cloaked except for their eyes, housewives, and very little power. I then played the following video clip and asked the class to look for visual representations of domestic violence in the Middle East (not viewable at Westview, because the district blocks YouTube):


I did not have those statistics on hand in class, but here they are, and they are horrifying: Find Counseling.com - Domestic Violence Statistics. An estimated 25% of women in America will experience physical abuse in their lifetime, and around the world, the number is more like one in three. Furthermore, only about 50% of domestic violence is reported. THIS IS INSANE! Guys, I could not imagine a less talked about issue of vital importance for overall health.

After watching the video twice, there was a lot of silence when I asked some follow up questions, but then we really got into it. There was a lot of really heartfelt and personal responses, and let me once again say that our classroom is a safe place. What is said in class (along those lines) does not leave the room, as I am sure all of you know. Domestic violence really is such an incredibly overlooked issue, around the world. I was glad to hear that your health class has talked a little bit about it, but the most important thing I can say is: get help if it is an issue that you are personally effected by. The Westview counselors are absolutely fantastic and a great place to start, trust me. Thank you for everyone's participation and interest in this part of class. It is nice when I can really tell that everyone is thinking about something. Sometimes, the silence is worth more than spoken responses.

Queen Noor: Following the discussion on domestic violence in the Middle East and what we thought of women there, I tried to turn the tables a bit and brought in an interview of an absolutely incredible person, Queen Noor of Jordan. One of the most amazing people and stories I have heard of. A real life fairy tale! It's like the Princess Diaries, only better (by the way, totally watched both those movies like 5 times with my sister). Here is her official biography from the Jordan government's website. Just fascinating. I mentioned her book, Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life in class. I know that my mom really liked it!

Anyway, I introduced her as a way to think outside what you would normally think a Middle Eastern Queen is. I showed the following video in class and asked everyone to write down what she is proposing that women do in the Middle East. This originally aired in 2007, on the almost always interesting "Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer.


We had a little time at the end of class to discuss what she talked about, and we came up with the following list: Jordan not unique, stand up/unite, Economics, Religion, Get involved with politics, Mothers as building the future, empowerment of women, and develop skills.

Good! We will continue with thinking about how women have have a say in policy on Thursday. Another thing that Queen Noor mentioned very briefly (before being cut off) was Rwanda, which has the most women in its government out of any country in the world, I am fairly sure. Link: AFP.com - "In a world first, women in the majority in Rwanda legislature". This was just last year. Wow, we still have a long way to go.

Hopefully, this will be an interesting way to approach this unit: through the eyes of women in the Middle East.
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The Blazers play at 7:00 tonight against Utah on Comcast Sports Net. Huge game! I will be in class at Lewis and Clark on Wednesday from 4:30 to about 6:30 or so, but other than that, I should be able to immediately respond to comments and e-mails. Please leave a comment below so I know that you visited, favorite this site, and come back for more discussion! Thank you for an excellent first day of class!