Friday, May 29, 2015

Israel and Palestine, Day 4 - Class Recap


The Embassy of Palestine, in Bogota, Colombia. I got yelled at right after I took this picture. Photo taken in 2009.

Hi everyone,

A quick week together! Next week will be our last full one of the year, with plenty to do to prepare for the final. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Communication LT 2: 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 10: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Knowledge LT 20: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements. Knowledge LT 22: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.

Soundtrack: "Put Everything Aside" by E-Z and Tailsman. Listen to the song here. Selected for today because a student in my Period 3 class, Orel, sent it to me as a comment on the blog. He helpfully translated the lyrics, which definitely relate to our work in trying to come to a solution for Israel and Palestine! Thanks, Orel!

AGENDA 5/29/15:
News Brief – Brenden
Finish Promises
Epilogue/Discuss
Final Roles

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade (updated on StudentVUE and on by ID number on the wall) and how to improve it, if possible. Keep working on your final project for the year (specific guide for what to do here). All late work due by next Friday at the latest. Next news brief: Kento.
---
News Brief: Brenden had the news brief today, but was absent from class, so I selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Vladimir Putin's week of muscle-flexing. Russia has apparently been sending tanks and troops near Ukraine, which is an area of concern, for sure.

We also watched VICE News for the day, before moving on.

The next news brief was assigned to Kento.

Finish Promises: Next, we finished watching the Promises (2001) documentary, about Israeli and Palestinian children. Here's a link to the note taking guide we are filling out as we watch:


Here's a link to a stream online for the documentary (this quality isn't very good, but it's better than nothing): Veoh.com - Promises Streaming.

Epilogue/Discuss: After the documentary, I asked if anyone wanted to see what the kids were up to later in life, and there was a near unanimous yes, so I showed this epilogue that catches up with a few of them in 2004:


How crazy is it about Faraj and where he ended up?

I also showed this link, which is a recent interview with Sanabel: An Update from Sanabel. I'm glad that she is happy students are still learning about the conflict and thinking of ways to solve it!

We discussed the documentary and the roles of the children involved with it. Keep these notes to work on your final project!

Final Roles: Speaking of the final project, I handed out a form that clarifies what the expectation is going to be on the day of the final, as well as what students should be writing/talking about. Here it is:


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.

Another resource is this timeline of the conflict:


Let me know if you have any questions about what you need to do! One more full week of classes to go until finals! You can do this! :-)
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Israel and Palestine, Day 3 - Class Recap


My view of Mt. Hood and Lost Lake on final approach into Portland International Airport on Sunday, coming back from Phoenix.

Dear class,

Welcome back from your long Memorial Day weekend! I hope you are rested up and ready to finish the year strong. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Communication LT 2: 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 10: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Knowledge LT 20: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements. Knowledge LT 22: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.

Soundtrack: "Memories Live" by Talib Kweli and Hi Tek. Selected for today because of the long Memorial Day weekend, and making sure we keep memories alive.

AGENDA 5/27/15:
News Brief – Patrick
FIFA
Promises

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade (updated on StudentVUE and on by ID number on the wall) and how to improve it, if possible. Keep working on your final project for the year (overview here). Next news brief: Brenden.
---
News Brief: Patrick had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - FIFA corruption probe targets 'World Cup of fraud,' IRS chief says. This is a huge story today in world sport, and we found Switzerland on our world maps, because that is where many of the soccer executives were arrested this morning.

We also watched VICE News for the day and talked about the weekend before moving on.

The next news brief was assigned to Brenden.

FIFA: Speaking of FIFA in the news, I showed this recent article and played the audio from the NPR story, about how soccer is being used as a political tool:


Basically, Israel is being accused by Palestine of not letting their players train, and blocking access to their national team. I wanted to point out that something like soccer, which many people in the class like playing, is also a part of the conflict.

Promises: Next, we watched the first part of the Promises (2001) documentary, about Israeli and Palestinian children. Here's a link to the note taking guide we are filling out as we watch:


Yes, it is old (about the time you were born)! It is also an incredibly well done look at life for the children in the region and really helps people understand what is going on. We will finish watching this next class.

For homework, you need to be continuing to work on your final project on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here is the information you need for that:


Here is the overview of what the roles are:


Another resource is this timeline of the conflict:


Let me know if you have any questions about what you need to do! Not long now until the end of the year!
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Israel and Palestine, Day 2 - Class Recap


Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, everyone! Photo is of the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn, Oregon. Taken in 2015.

Hi everyone,

Today was the last time for almost a week that I get to see you all! It is a very nice and long upcoming weekend. I hope that you take advantage of the last major rest period before our final push to finals and the end of the year! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Communication LT 2: 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 10: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Knowledge LT 20: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements. Knowledge LT 22: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.

Soundtrack: "Look Into My Eyes" by Outlandish. Selected for today because of the obvious connection in the lyrics of the song to the Palestinian view of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

AGENDA 5/21/15:
News Brief – Dakota
Perspectives
Final Project Options
Timeline Review

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade (updated on StudentVUE and on by ID number on the wall) and how to improve it, if possible. Keep working on your final project for the year (overview here). Next news brief: Patrick.
---
News Brief: Dakota had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Resident: ISIS is 'everywhere,' in full control of ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. Syria has been a country of great importance to world news for the entire year, and it also borders Israel! Thanks, Dakota.

We also watched VICE News for the day (which had Israel and Palestine at the end!) and talked about the upcoming long weekend (I will be taking my mom to Phoenix, Arizona to see U2 in concert on Friday and Saturday).

The next news brief was assigned to Patrick.

Perspectives: After the news brief, I played this music video, which was the soundtrack for today: "Look Into My Eyes" by Outlandish.


We looked at some of the lyrics to the song, including these lines:

See I've known terror for quite some time
57 years so cruel
Terror breathes the air I breathe
It's the checkpoint on my way to school
Terror is the robbery of my land
And the torture of my mother
The imprisonment of my innocent father
The bullet in my baby brother
The bulldozers and the tanks
The gases and the guns
The bombs that fall outside my door
All due to your funds
You blame me for defending myself
Against the ways of my enemies
I'm terrorized in my own land (what)
And I'm the terrorist?

This song was obviously a Palestinian viewpoint on the war. The other perspective is that of the Israelis, which was demonstrated in this overview video that we watched in class as well:


The point here was to learn more about the perspective of each side. Our final project is a simulated peace conference, and it does no good to simply yell at the other side and demand concessions. You have to truly understand each side and what they want, in order to compromise and find a solution that might work.

Final Project Options: At this point in class, I passed out this paper, which goes over a variety of different ways to improve (or maintain) your grade on the five different proficiency learning targets that the final has as available options:


The really important part here is knowing your grade in the class, so that you know what would help improve your grade for finals, or maintain the grade that you want. Again, here is the overview of what the roles are, which I passed out last class:


Timeline Review: The rest of class was devoted to reading through an in class set of this reading, thinking about how you are going to construct your final presentation or writing:


As students were doing this independently, I talked with everyone in the class about what their current grade is, what learning targets they should focus on for the final, and how they might be able to demonstrate proficiency. I know it seems like the final is a long way away, but next week, we are watching a documentary in class, then there is 3 more days before the actual final day. There is lots of work to do during this time!

Have a great long weekend and keep working hard! We are almost done! :-)
Posted by at 4 comments:
Labels:

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Israel and Palestine, Day 1 - Class Recap


A sign that was in the hotel I stayed at last summer in Amman, Jordan, which was hosting refugees from the ongoing battles in the Gaza Strip.

Hi everyone,

Welcome back from the weekend, for a short 4 day week, followed by a 4 day weekend, followed by another short 4 day week! Today, we started work on our final unit for the year, on Israel and Palestine. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Communication LT 2: 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 10: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Knowledge LT 20: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements. Knowledge LT 22: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.

Soundtrack: "Battlefield" by Jordin Sparks. Selected for today because the end of the year feels like a battle, and because the country of Israel is seen as a battlefield by many. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/19/15:
News Brief – Austin
Grades
The Lesson of War
Brainstorm
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade (updated on StudentVUE and on by ID number on the wall) and how to improve it, if possible. Start working on your final project for the year (overview here). Next news brief: Dakota.
---
News Brief: Austin had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - UK police: 9 arrested over London's Hatton Garden heist. It seemed like this was a breaking news story with the arrests today, based on the robbery last month. It sounds interesting, as I am reading it now! Drilling through a 6 foot wall to get to the goods? Wow!

We also watched VICE News for the day and talked about the weekend, before moving on.

The next news brief was assigned to Dakota.

Grades: I passed back all of the work that students turned in last week, whether it was the demographics collection of evidence, or the final day that Historical Investigations were able to be turned in. As of this morning, everyone's grade should be up to date in Synergy.

The reason that I wanted to get your demographics work back to you immediately was because you can use the statistics packet to start working on your final project for Israel and Palestine. As such, I was looking through the demographic collection of evidence for your ability to demonstrate proficiency with explaining demographic changes in the world and their effects. If you did a great job with this, it was a 4, if it was okay and still demonstrated proficiency, it was a 3, and if there was obvious missing work, it was a 2 or below.

The Lesson of War: To start the Israel and Palestine unit, we watched this video, about children on both sides of the recent war in the Gaza Strip:


I asked students to take notes about what was happening in the war and how each side was impacted.

Brainstorm: After the video, we brainstormed the conflict in Israel and Palestine by noting what we did know at this point, and questions we still had to learn the answers to. Here is what your class came up with:


We have lots to learn about, which is good!

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: This was a PowerPoint that I went through with the class. I decided to be nice and pre-print all of the notes to hand out, because I know that it has been a challenging last few months, and I wanted to give everyone a break. I did want to make sure everyone focused on the images and words in the presentation, too. Here's the PowerPoint, for those who missed class:


And here are the pre-printed notes that I handed out:


After the presentation, I passed out the first look at what your final project will be, which is a simulation on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. We went through this in class in detail, but basically, you can pick any (or all) of the five learning targets listed at the top of this post to show proficiency on, by either writing a paper to be turned in on finals day, or creating a presentation (which might also involve writing a paper), if you are in big time need of improving your grade. Here's the handout (notice that the second page is the backside) that I passed out:


There were lots of questions here, which was good. Hopefully, students are starting to understand what I am going to be looking for!

Finally, at the end of class, we watched the Crash Course video on Israel and Palestine, which does a really good job at explaining a large amount of details about the conflict in 13 minutes. I know this was a lot at once, so turning the captions on is definitely a good idea:


This should give you a solid framework with which to start thinking about how you want to do your final project, and what you should focus on! We will continue to be investigating this in the next few classes. Thanks for your focus today! :-)
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Friday, May 15, 2015

Demographics, Day 4 - Class Recap


We learned about the country of Bhutan (and Gross National Happiness) today in class. Bhutan has an endangered population of tigers. Photo taken in 2007 at the Denver Aquarium.

Dear class,

Today marked the end of the short and sweet demographic unit. I introduced a last assignment, then there was work time in class to finish everything and turn it in, as I checked in with students that still have Historical Investigation work to get to me. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 10: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Happy" by Pharrell Williams. Selected for today because we were talking in class about Gross National Happiness. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/15/15:
News Brief – Ben
Bhutan
Gross National Happiness
Demographics Work

Homework: Read the blog! Demographic unit work (see below) due today in class. If you have not turned in your Historical Investigation, please do so immediately. The last day to turn anything related to the Historical Investigation in is due by 2:40 PM today, printed and handed in to me in person. Next news brief: Austin.
---
News Brief: Ben had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Chinese baby rescued after being buried alive. What an incredibly depressing story. As I was reading this over before posting, it appears that the baby boy was abandoned due to being born with a cleft lip. So awful.

We also watched VICE News for the day and checked in about what is going on this weekend, before moving on.

The next news brief was assigned to Austin.

Bhutan: To start this section of learning about a country we have not talked much about, I showed where Bhutan is on the map, and then this video about the country creating a "Gross National Happiness" demographic indicator:


I explained that Gross National Happiness was a way at looking at different demographic factors so that the happiness of the people in the country is emphasized, over how much money people have.

Gross National Happiness: The last assignment of the demographics unit was based on the GNH indicator we learned about in the video. Here is the assignment, which is a reading and questions related to it:


This was the final assignment out of four used in the collection of evidence for your Knowledge Target 10 score for demographics.

Demographics Work: The rest of class was devoted to quiet work (as I checked in with students about grades and the Historical Investigation) on the demographics unit, which was due at the end of class. Here are the assignments in the unit, if you are needing to finish them:

Assignment #1:

Students needed to find the statistics for countries on the CIA World Factbook (some of the statistics might be found from other sources, too).

Assignment #2:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Assignment #3:

This was a NOVA documentary (link here) that we watched together in class (up until close to the end). I was asking students to write about the three countries in the film: India, Japan, and Kenya, and what their population/demographics is like. Here is the assignment that goes with this:



Assignment #4:

As linked to above, this was about Gross National Happiness and Gross Domestic Product:


All of these were due in class today. If you did not finish, please turn them in to me (stapled together). If you have any questions about any of this and what to do, please let me know and I will try to help! Have a great weekend! We are almost to the finish line! :-)
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Demographics, Day 3 - Class Recap


The pathway along a Shinto shrine in Toyko, Japan. Today, we learned about the demographic pressures on Japan's population - especially when it comes to a very elderly population. Photo taken in 2014.

Hi everyone,

It is always nice to see you all in the morning! Today, we went over the End of Poverty assignment again, and also watched a documentary about population and demographics. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 10: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Money" by Pink Floyd. Selected for today because of the relationship of economic/money growth to ending poverty and improving quality of life.

AGENDA 5/13/15:
News Brief – Skylar
Finish The End of Poverty
World in the Balance I
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog! Finish your demographic unit work (see below for links). If you have not turned in your Historical Investigation, please do so immediately - I would especially just like to see Part A/the research question paragraph if you have not turned it in. The last day to turn anything related to the Historical Investigation in is this Friday. Next news brief: Ben.
---
News Brief: Skylar had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Amid fears of ethnic violence, coup attempt reported in Burundi. I talked about what a "coup" is, going back to the government unit last semester. We also talked about the Amtrak train derailment and the latest earthquake in Nepal.

We also watched VICE News for the day, before moving on.

The next news brief was assigned to Ben.

Finish The End of Poverty: I wanted to go back through as a class with this assignment - especially the back side. Here's the assignment


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


If you did not finish this today in class, please do so as homework.

World in the Balance I: This was a NOVA documentary that we watched together in class (up until close to the end). I was asking students to write about the three countries in the film: India, Japan, and Kenya, and what their population/demographics is like. Here is the assignment that goes with this:


And here is the video we watched in class:


Thank you for your focus and interest in this! As I said before watching it, I think the issues are really interesting and worth our time to learn about.

Work Time: We did not have much time at the end of class today, but I did want to link to the last assignment (of the three so far) in the demographics unit, which is this chart for statistics:

Google Drive: Demographics Development Indicators

Students needed to find the statistics for countries on the CIA World Factbook (some of the statistics might be found from other sources, too). 

Please have all of your demographics work ready for next class! Thank you!
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Monday, May 11, 2015

Demographics, Day 2 - Class Recap


This past Sunday was Mother's Day! Here I am with my sister and brother with my mom in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, over Winter Break 2014!

Dear class,

There was a fair amount of reviewing data and reading today - thanks for following along. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 10: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Rockin' In The Free World" by Neil Young. Selected for today because of our continued look at demographics in different areas around the world. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/11/15:
News Brief – Alyssa
Trends
The End of Poverty
World In The Balance I

Homework: Read the blog! If you have not turned in your Historical Investigation, please do so immediately - I would especially just like to see Part A/the research question paragraph if you have not turned it in. The last day to turn anything related to the Historical Investigation in is this Friday, May 15. Next news brief: Skylar.
---
News Brief: Alyssa had the news brief today and but needed a bit of extra time so I selected this to talk about: I showed this election result from the United Kingdom, where my Uncle Peter won re-election to his local council! Then, Alyssa talked about this article: CNN.com - 2 babies die, dozens hospitalized after vaccination in southern Mexico. A very sad story! On balance, vaccinations are incredibly important, though!

We also watched VICE News for the day, before moving on.

The next news brief was assigned to Skylar.

Trends: The first section today was reviewing some of the information that we found last class in the Computer Lab, on this assignment:

Google Drive: Demographics Development Indicators

Students needed to find the statistics for countries on the CIA World Factbook (some of the statistics might be found from other sources, too). Today in class, we reviewed the statistics and found some trends about what life might be like in the countries we researched. Basically: life in the Palestinian Territories of Israel is not as good as our lives in the United States, or the larger country of Israel. We will come back to this later in the year!

The End of Poverty: This was based on learning more about what life is like in different countries. I asked the class to split up based on how fast students thought they were at reading, and assigned this paper and reading to a group of four:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


We spent a good time in class going through this in groups, and then going over it afterwards. Hold on to these completed assignments, please! 

Thanks for your focus and work today in class! :-)
Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels:

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Demographics, Day 1 - Class Recap


A Vietnamese man and his son, in the streets of Hanoi, 2011.

Hi everyone,

A lot of work today, with the start of our new unit on demographics! We also reviewed the religion test and then went to the Computer Lab. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 10: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Ordinary People" by John Legend. Selected for today because demographics is the statistical study of people. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/7/15:
News Brief – Natalie
Religion Test
Demographics
Computer Lab S220

Homework: Read the blog! Finish your one column (all four pages) of data for the country on the demographics profile. If you have not turned in your Historical Investigation, please do so immediately - I would especially just like to see Part A/the research question paragraph if you have not turned it in. The last day to turn anything related to the Historical Investigation in is next Friday, May 15. Next news brief: Alyssa.
---
News Brief: Natalie had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Hangar of Japan's aircraft carrier sub found. Natalie was a bit late, so I started class with this article: CNN.com - Exclusive: North Korea would use nukes if 'forced,' official says. There is always lots happening around the world! Plus, we noted that President Obama is visiting

We also watched VICE News for the day, before moving on.

The next news brief was assigned to Alyssa.

Religion Test: I switched this up a bit, because there were multiple students that needed to do the test. In any case, after they were out taking the test, I went over the results with the rest of the class, by passing back the scantrons and reviewing the answers as a class. I also talked about the short answer question on the back, and how I used that as another opportunity to show proficiency on Critical Thinking LT 2 (another historical investigation target). Then, I collected the tests back, before moving on to the next section.

Demographics: Our next unit is on demographics, which we started learning a little bit about last class. Today, we went into more depth, starting with watching another introductory video about the power of demographics and statistics:


After the video, I passed out this assignment, which we did today in the Computer Lab:

Google Drive: Demographics Development Indicators

To get the information needed to complete this (I asked students to just split the columns up for people to work on, like one person taking the United States), students needed to find the statistics for countries on the CIA World Factbook (some of the statistics might be found from other sources, too).

Computer Lab S220: The rest of the class was spent working on finding different development statistics on the US, Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip in the Computer Lab. Again, please have one full column (all four pages) completed for next class, when I will provide some time to finish (not in the computer lab) before we discuss the data and what it means.

Thanks for your continued hard work! Keep working on getting your grades up, if at all possible! :-)
Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels:

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Religion, Day 8 - Class Recap


Today, we finished the religion unit in class - the last bit of fire has been extinguished on the unit! This is a photo of a pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, taken in 2011.

Dear class,

I did not anticipate the religion test taking quite so long today, but that's okay! I'm glad everyone worked hard and I am looking forward to grading them and getting them back to you soon. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 10: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Knowledge LT 22: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Himno Nacional Mexicano" - the Mexican National Anthem, in honor of today being Cinco de Mayo! I projected this video so that students could see the lyrics in Spanish and English. Again, it is not Mexican Independence Day. It is celebrating a famous victory of the Mexicans over the French. Also, it is largely seen as a Mexican-American holiday.

AGENDA 5/5/15:
News Brief – Blake
Religion Test
Demographics
The End of Poverty

Homework: Read the blog! If you have not turned in your Historical Investigation, please do so immediately - I would especially just like to see Part A/the research question paragraph if you have not turned it in. Know your grade and how to improve it - Russian Revolution (found on this post), World War I work (found on this post) and finishing Historical Investigation if you have not - revisions needed, as well (if you want to turn in a revised copy, please give me the original graded copy for review, as well). Next news brief: Natalie.
---
News Brief: Blake had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Report: Syrian government dropping barrel bombs on Aleppo civilians. We discussed the ongoing civil war and sectarian violence in Syria, especially with the government (which the US does not want to support, either) fighting ISIS.

We also watched VICE News for the day and talked about our weekends, before moving on.

The next news brief was assigned to Natalie.

Religion Test: After the news brief, I gave the class about 5 minutes to study, as I went around and talked with students that I needed to see Part A (at the very least, ASAP) of the historical investigation from. Then, we started the test. As I wrote above, I was a bit surprised by how long this took (close to the entire rest of the class), but that is okay. I'm glad students were taking their time and being thorough with their work.

Demographics: At the end of class, I asked the class what "demographics" meant and had some good initial responses about ways to categorize people. We ended class by watching this video about population, health, and income over time, which I think is an amazing way to visualize all that data:


Next class, we will continue learning about demographics and go to the computer lab to do some research on different demographic indicators. Thanks for your hard work and focus today in class!
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Friday, May 1, 2015

Religion, Day 7 - Class Recap


Buddhist prayer flags at Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu. This week was full of difficult news and updates from Nepal, which also relates to our unit on religion.

Hi everyone,

I had a lot of fun today, playing Jeopardy to review religion concepts and vocabulary! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 22: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. Selected for today for three reasons. 1) It is Spirit Week next week. 2) I was correctly assuming that there would be a spirited competition with Jeopardy. 3) Nirvana is a Buddhist concept of working towards enlightenment. Lyrics (good luck trying to understand them just listening!) here.

AGENDA 5/1/15:
News Brief – Zachary V.
Crash Course
Jeopardy Review
Study Time

Homework: Read the blog! Study the religion vocabulary for test next class! Know your grade and how to improve it - Russian Revolution (found on this post), World War I work (found on this post) and finishing Historical Investigation if you have not - revisions needed, as well (if you want to turn in a revised copy, please give me the original graded copy for review, as well). Next news brief: Blake.
---
News Brief: Zach V. had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about:
CNN.com - French soldier-child sex abuse claims in Central African Republic investigated. I feel confident in saying that we have not talked about the C.A.R. at all during News Brief articles this year. Unfortunately, this is a terrible reason to start!

We also watched VICE News for the day, before moving on.

The next news brief was assigned to Blake.

Crash Course: Before playing Jeopardy, I wanted to show part of a Crash Course video that might help students understand 1) Islam a bit better, 2) How religion impacts society in a variety of ways. It was only the first 4 minutes or so of this video - and there are lots of other Crash Course videos on the history of religion, if you are interested!


Again, just another opportunity for studying, if you want. I like that the videos are closed captioned, because they are very fast paced!

Jeopardy Review: Here is the PowerPoint we went through, playing Jeopardy to review - this should help, along with going over your notes and asking others to help quiz you!


I told students that I would put a question from the test on the blog, in the hopes of encouraging students to look, so here it is:

The term that describes a "branch" of a religion is: a) Worship. b) Pillar. c) Secular. d) Sect

Keep studying over the weekend!

Study Guide: At the end of class, it was study time for the test. Please note that there will also be a question or two based on some of the religions we talked last class, too! This guide is intended for you to help review your Religion PowerPoint notes. Here it is:


Be aware that Google Drive makes the sheet two pages, whereas the copy I passed out in class is just one page. Study the vocabulary and your notes from the religions we went over last class! The test will be next class! :-)
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)