Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Genocide in Rwanda, Day 5 - Class Recap


My mom, Amanda Fritz, giving a speech after she was elected to Portland City Council in 2008. Photo taken by my dad!

Hi everyone,

Today was our last day of preparation for the Rwanda speech in front of the United Nations! Lots of tips and stuff to talk about. 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.

Soundtrack: "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson. Selected because you get to "make that change" with your speech, and also, practicing in front of a mirror is a good strategy to prepare for a speech. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/14/16:
News Brief - Jim
Brainstorm Public Speaking
Rwanda Video
Speech Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. The United Nations group speech in front of an administrator is next class! Practice! Dress up (if possible)! Be ready to go with your group! Also, if you haven't turned in your revised/final individual speech, please do so ASAP on Google Classroom. Next news brief: Ranger.

News Brief: Jim had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: USGS.gov - M5.0 - 72km NNE of Miyako, Japan. We found Japan on our world map packets and talked about the ongoing earthquake situation there. I also made sure to talk about the current situation in Aleppo, Syria, where there are reports of civilians being massacred by the government.

Ranger 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):


Brainstorm: Public Speaking: We talked in class about some tips for giving a good speech. I used two video clips for this:


The 2014 National Champion of Original Oratory, Andrea Ambam.

I only showed the first two minutes or so of this in class, but the point was hopefully made clear. She does a great job of knowing her material, standing straight, using hand gestures to be engaging, making eye contact, and varying her tone of voice.

As a class, we thought of good public speaking tips. Here's what we came up with:

• Hook is relatable.
• Great use of hand gestures.
• Look on top of people’s heads (to practice looking out at the audience)
• Believable
• Body positioning
• Act with confidence, use good posture
• Make sure your speech is written powerfully
• Pause effectively.
• Put emphasis on powerful words
• Tone of voice

Next, I showed this five minute video from Toastmasters (an organization devoted to helping people with public speaking):


I hope that all of this made everyone feel better, or at least, provide some tips on how to feel better about the speech!

Rwanda Video: Finally, before work time the rest of class, I showed half of this video that an American media company made for Rwanda's tourism department. I wanted to show this to highlight some of the beautiful aspects of Rwanda, as another counter story to what people may typically think.


Group Speech Work Time: The rest of the class was devoted to working on the speech in groups - getting the order down, practicing, and refining. The groups are (some may have six, which means that the group will have four middle speakers on speech day):

Group 1: Jim, Kira, Olivia, Samuel Ro., Sammy Re.

Group 2: Sophia, Kenny, Caleb, Arjun, Reuben

Group 3: Erika, Abhigya, Oliver, Irene, Jimmy

Group 4: Rachel, Sean, Alex, Patrick, Mailynn

Group 5: Ayra, Skyler, John, Makayla

Group 6: Samma, Miriam, Moses, Braydon, Matthew

Group 7: Reese, Camille, Adamari, Lewis, Ranger

Here's the assignment sheet again, if you are needing it to find the rubrics to turn in with your revised paper:


Please make sure to bring a revised final copy of your speech (if you have not turned it in already), for me to grade, next class! Be prepared and confident in your speech - I know you will all be great! Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help!
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Monday, December 12, 2016

Genocide in Rwanda, Day 4 - Class Recap

Fireworks to start the 2011 US Open, held in New York City, which is where the United Nations meets.

Dear class,

I hope that today was productive for you and your group! I certainly enjoyed reading over your speeches and trying to help everyone revise them. 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.

Soundtrack: "Somali Udiida Ceb (Somalia, Don't Shame Yourself)" by Maryam Mursal. Selected because Somalia has a direct impact on why the United States was reluctant to do anything to stop the genocide in Rwanda. Listen to the song here.

AGENDA 12/12/16:
News Brief - Sean
Hutu Ten Commandments
Peer Review
Group Speech Work

Homework: Read the blog. Revised/edited Rwanda speech due. Bring one copy for me to grade, and your paragraph that your group decided to use for the speech, to work on. The Rwanda resources will help. Next news brief: Jim.

News Brief: Sean had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: NPR.org - 'Frantic' Search For Survivors After Earthquake In Indonesia Kills Nearly 100. We found Indonesia in the world map packet and talked about this tragic story.

Jim 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):


Finally, we checked in about the past long weekend and what everyone was up to.

Hutu Ten Commandments: I talked about this right after the news, as yet another aspect in the lead up to the Rwandan genocide that students could write about for the speech:


Again, it was not a surprise at all that a genocide occurred, with words like that being used, years in advance. This would count as part of the Polarization stage of genocide.

Peer Review: I passed out a review sheet and went over exactly what everyone should be looking at, as far as their papers being revised. Here it is - if you missed class, please complete it!


Basically, you need to be sure to talk about the United Nations definition of genocide and the role that imperialism (especially Belgium's classification of Hutus and Tutsis) had in starting the ongoing genocide. Here's the Imperialism PowerPoint again, if you wanted to look in more depth. Hint: you cannot say that Hutus are promoting imperialism against the Tutsis. That's not imperialism at all.


I tried to give feedback on as many papers during class as I possibly could - I apologize for not being able to get through everyone! Fortunately, the groups should have helped a lot in revisions, too.

Group Speech Work Time: The rest of the class was devoted to working on the speech in groups. Next class, you will be refining and practicing your speeches. The groups are (some may have six, which means that the group will have four middle speakers on speech day):

Group 1: Jim, Kira, Olivia, Samuel Ro., Sammy Re.

Group 2: Sophia, Kenny, Caleb, Arjun, Reuben

Group 3: Erika, Abhigya, Oliver, Irene, Jimmy

Group 4: Rachel, Sean, Alex, Patrick, Mailynn

Group 5: Ayra, Skyler, John, Makayla

Group 6: Samma, Miriam, Moses, Braydon, Matthew

Group 7: Reese, Camille, Adamari, Lewis, Ranger

I used the Random.org List Generator to make the groups. :-)

While everyone worked in groups, I tried as hard as I could to look at the papers that were turned in and immediately get them back with feedback. Here were the elements I most commonly saw as being needed for addition in the speeches:

1) Need to mention United Nations definition of genocide, made in 1948, after the Holocaust.
2) Need to connect classification of the Hutus and Tutsis to the legacy of Belgium’s imperialism.
3) Asking the United Nations for something SPECIFIC. Not just “do something.” Say “more troops” “more funding” “more awareness – declare this as what it is: genocide.”

Here are the directions, from earlier in the unit:

The final assignment for the unit and before break is a speech before a mock United Nations, in class. You will be pretending that it is April 24, 1994 - the actual date that arguments were ongoing at the United Nations Security Council about how to respond to the conflict in Rwanda.

There are a few steps in the process to prepare for the speech, which will be given on Friday (if there is school - if there isn't, then it will be after break). The first is to write a persuasive essay (in the form of a speech you could give).. Here's the assignment:


As a reminder, this will eventually be a formal speech before break that you give as a part of a group, in front of the class, with myself and another teacher and/or administrator (like Dr. Franco) listening. You are going to need to persuade us to act and do something!

To prepare for this, I passed out a class set of copies of three things:

1) The United Nations definition of genocide, as agreed to by the world in 1949. This is helpful, because if you can persuade the United Nations that genocide is occurring in Rwanda, they HAVE to act (because that's what they agreed to).

2) The Eight Stages of Genocide. I read over the stages, but not all of the content describing them. There is a lot of information that might help you craft your speech! You can certainly talk about every stage of genocide, occurring in Rwanda, up to April 24, 1994. Here are some hints on how to do this.

3) A reading that goes over more of the history in Rwanda, what happened during the genocide, and the end. Remember, you can't talk about anything after April 24, 1994, but you can make predictions as to what will happen if the United Nations refuses to act! The reading is pages 5-10 here:


Another resource that might help could be your Cornell Notes from last class, which was on this presentation:


Please be sure to ask me if you have any questions or need help in any way! I'm really excited to see what you can come up with! :-)
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Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Genocide in Rwanda, Day 3 - Class Recap

A young Egyptian guy, who wanted me to take his picture in front of the pyramids in Cairo. Photo taken in 2014.

Hi everyone,

Two more weeks of work until a nice break! Lots to do - today, we looked more into Imperialism and Privilege, as I asked students to think about how they may have impacted Rwanda. 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.
Critical Thinking LT 1: I can explain multiple perspectives and viewpoints.

Soundtrack: "Africa for Norway" by SAIH - The Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund. I was projecting this video as students walked in - it is a humorous look at stereotyping, and how Norwegians should not stereotype Africans, because what if the opposite happened. I read the reasoning behind the video in class.

AGENDA 12/6/16:
News Brief - Ayra
Imperialism
Privilege
Speech Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Rwanda speech due - bring it on your Chromebook. The Rwanda resources will help. Next news brief: Sean.

News Brief: Ayra had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: CNN.com - Karachi hotel fire: 11 dead, dozens injured in blaze. Thanks for bringing this in, Ayra! We found the Pakistan on the world map packet and noted we did a news brief there.

Sean 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):


Imperialism: Next, I went over the concepts of imperialism and colonialism, in the form of a PowerPoint. Students took notes (if you took Cornell Notes, all the better) on the presentation.


One of the learning targets associated with this unit is Knowledge LT 20: I can identify the critical components of imperialism. This presentation was to help students understand how to do that, especially in regards to how Belgium had an impact in Rwanda, long after the independence in 1962.

Privilege: Another component of how we look at people in the world is the concept of privilege. Specifically, white privilege - a system of advantages some people get over others, that are often not even recognized. Here is the reading we went through, by Peggy McIntosh:


Basically, I am asking everyone to think about how our privilege here in America (of being a world superpower) relates to our study of Rwanda. Specifically, I think that race has a lot to do with it. We did a quiet activity with this document, which I think was pretty powerful (the Westview teachers recently did this, too). Thank you for your participation here.

As part of this section, I also provided some counter stories to the negativity surrounding Africa. In particular, I highlighted these:


This was about how the highest levels of educational achievement in the United States are from African immigrants.


Since some people believe that Africa is very far behind in technology (and to be certain, some places are), I pointed out this story, which is about how Kenya has a system that is the best in the world for sending payments on the go.

I also showed RisingAfrica.org, which has lots of stories about the positive sides of Africa.

Finally, as a challenge assignment for the TAG students in the class, I read the first part of this long article on Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda. If you want to learn more about why the balance in assessing Kagame is so tricky, and enjoy a reading challenge, here's the entire article:


The first part has to do with how clean and safe Kigali is now, which is related to the counter stories I was trying to present.

Speech Work Time: The rest of the class (about 30 minutes) was devoted to working on your speech. Here are the directions, from last class:

The final assignment for the unit and before break is a speech before a mock United Nations, in class. You will be pretending that it is April 24, 1994 - the actual date that arguments were ongoing at the United Nations Security Council about how to respond to the conflict in Rwanda.

There are a few steps in the process to prepare for the speech, which will be given next week. The first is to write a persuasive essay (in the form of a speech you could give). This is due in class (typed, on your Chromebook) next class. Here's the assignment:


As a reminder, this will eventually be a formal speech before break that you give as a part of a group, in front of the class, with myself and another teacher and/or administrator (like Dr. Franco) listening. You are going to need to persuade us to act and do something!

To prepare for this, I passed out a class set of copies of three things:

1) The United Nations definition of genocide, as agreed to by the world in 1949. This is helpful, because if you can persuade the United Nations that genocide is occurring in Rwanda, they HAVE to act (because that's what they agreed to).

2) The Eight Stages of Genocide. I read over the stages, but not all of the content describing them. There is a lot of information that might help you craft your speech! You can certainly talk about every stage of genocide, occurring in Rwanda, up to April 24, 1994. Here are some hints on how to do this.

3) A reading that goes over more of the history in Rwanda, what happened during the genocide, and the end. Remember, you can't talk about anything after April 24, 1994, but you can make predictions as to what will happen if the United Nations refuses to act! The reading is pages 5-10 here:


Another resource that might help could be your Cornell Notes from last class, which was on this presentation:


Please be sure to ask me if you have any questions or need help in any way! I'm really excited to see what you can come up with! :-)
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Friday, December 2, 2016

Genocide in Rwanda, Day 2 - Class Recap


The results for our class when I asked students to think about five things that come to mind when we think about Africa. I mean, the comparison with Europe makes the differences pretty startling, right?

Dear class,

Today is always one of my favorite days to teach. Not because it is particularly fun to talk about genocide, but because it is SO important that we stop ignoring it, and especially the continent of Africa. If I ignored it, when would you hear about it? What associations would you continue to make? 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.
Critical Thinking LT 1: I can explain multiple perspectives and viewpoints.

Soundtrack: "My Generation" by The Who. Selected for today because it is your generation that can change the world for the better. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/2/16:
News Brief – Sean
Debrief Pop Quiz
Scream Bloody Murder
United Nations Speech

Homework: Read the blog, and look at for Rwanda resources, and continue working on your United Nations speech. Next news brief: Ayra.

News Brief: Sean had the news brief today and but was not in class, so I selected an article about this story: TheGuardian.com - Indian court orders cinemas to play national anthem before films. A very interesting story that I knew nothing about before today! We found India on the world map packet and noted we did a news brief there.

Ayra 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):


Finally, we checked in about the weekend and what everyone is up to.

Debrief Pop Quiz: I always enjoy looking at what we know when it comes to Europe and Africa. Here is the PowerPoint with the combined results for your class answers:


It was only fair that I showed my own results, from when I was given this quiz when I was in graduate school, and I said much the same thing. Here's my actual paper from 2008:



As I tried to forcefully point out in class: isn't this stunning? We know that Africa is a place of enormous need. Why don't we know much more about it, then? Why don't we help our fellow human beings, instead of ignoring them and not learning anything about the continent? Taking this quiz inspired me to make sure to talk about the Rwandan genocide (which was only 20 years ago) in my Global Studies classes. It's why it is my favorite unit of the year and one that I have a lot of emotional investment in. I care, and I think it's important that students care about people in the world.

Scream Bloody Murder: This was a section of a documentary from CNN, that aired in 2008 (not so coincidentally, right as I was about to teach this unit for the first time). Here are the three videos I showed in class (caution: some of the material is graphic and difficult to watch and/or listen to):





United Nations Speech: I hope that you watched those videos and felt frustrated, angry, and upset. The fact that the United Nations (the global community of countries) and the United States (as the most powerful country in the world) did little, if anything, to prevent or stop the worst genocide in modern world history, is awful.

So, the final assignment for the unit and before break is a speech before a mock United Nations, in class. You will be pretending that it is April 24, 1994 - the actual date that arguments were ongoing at the United Nations Security Council about how to respond to the conflict in Rwanda.

There are a few steps in the process to prepare for the speech, which will be given on Wednesday, December 14th. The first is to write a persuasive essay (in the form of a speech you could give). This is due in class (TWO COPIES, typed - or, just use your Chromebook) next Thursday, December 8th. Here's the assignment:


As a reminder, this will eventually be a formal speech before break that you give as a part of a group, in front of the class, with myself and another teacher and/or administrator listening. You are going to need to persuade us to act and do something!

To prepare for this, I passed out a class set of copies of three things:

1) The United Nations definition of genocide, as agreed to by the world in 1949. This is helpful, because if you can persuade the United Nations that genocide is occurring in Rwanda, they HAVE to act (because that's what they agreed to).

2) The Eight Stages of Genocide. I read over the stages, but not all of the content describing them. There is a lot of information that might help you craft your speech! You can certainly talk about every stage of genocide, occurring in Rwanda, up to April 24, 1994. Here are some hints on how to do this.

3) A reading that goes over more of the history in Rwanda, what happened during the genocide, and the end. Remember, you can't talk about anything after April 24, 1994, but you can make predictions as to what will happen if the United Nations refuses to act! The reading is pages 5-10 here:


Another resource that might help could be your Cornell Notes from last class, which was on this presentation:


There is definitely a LOT to think about here. I am confident that you can write a five paragraph essay in a week! Next class, I will go over the concept of imperialism and colonialism more, and then give the rest of the class as prep time. The typed copy of your individual speech will be due the following class.

Please be sure to ask me if you have any questions or need help in any way! I'm really excited to see what you can come up with! :-)
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