Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Israel and Palestine, Day 2 - Class Recap


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

Hi everyone,

It was a very nice and long weekend, and now we are back for the last push to the end of the year! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Communication LT 1: 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 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements. Knowledge LT 21: 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 5/31/17:
News Brief – Reuben
Perspectives
Final Project Options
Timeline Review

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade (updated on StudentVUE) and how to improve it, if possible. Keep working on your final project for the year (overview here). All late work or revisions due by next Friday. Next news brief: Camille.
---
News Brief: Reuben had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - Kabul bomb: Diplomatic zone attack kills dozens. We found Afghanistan in our world map packet and noted we did a news brief story on it. We talked for a bit in class about religious extremism and terrorist groups.

I also wanted to be sure to talk about the stabbing on the MAX train on Friday, and the heroic acts of the people who were killed or injured standing up against hate. I showed the Anti-Defamation League's Pyramid of Hate and talked about how important it is to speak out against bias and prejudice.

The next news brief was assigned to Camille.

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):


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 (starting from around 7 minutes in):


If you would like to see a similar video from the Palestinian perspective, here it is:


I also shared this recent story by the Washington Post on what it looks like for the Palestinians that commute to Israel: WashingtonPost.com - A Palestinian’s daily commute through an Israeli checkpoint.

Finally, I talked about this article: AlJazeera.com - Why Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel as related to the conversation we had last class.

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!

Keep working hard! We are almost done! :-)
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Thursday, May 25, 2017

Israel and Palestine, Day 1 - Class Recap


A sign that was in the hotel I stayed at in 2014 in Amman, Jordan, which was hosting refugees from the ongoing battles in the Gaza Strip.

Hi everyone,

Welcome to 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 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements. Knowledge LT 21: 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 5/25/17:
News Brief – Matthew
The Lesson of War
Brainstorm
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade (updated on StudentVUE after this Friday) and how to improve it, if possible. Start working on your final project for the year (overview here). Next news brief: Reuben.
---
News Brief: Matthew had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about:  TheGuardian.com - More than 30 drown as hundreds fall from migrant boat off Libya. We found the Libya in the world map packet and talked about this horrific story, which is obviously still developing as of the writing of this post.

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):

The next news brief was assigned to Reuben.

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:

  
60 Minutes - The Lesson of War from The Center Mind-Body Medicine on Vimeo.

I asked students to take notes during this, on what we learned and what questions we still have about the conflict.

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 showed a 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 a bit, 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 (note that the second page is the backside) that I showed in class:


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 a VOX video on Israel and Palestine, which does a really good job at explaining a large amount of details about the conflict in 10 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! :-)
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Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Demographics, Day 5 - Class Recap


I was at the state tennis tournament over the weekend for Westview! This photo is of my favorite tennis player, Roger Federer, playing in Eugene, Oregon.

Dear class,

I really appreciate your hard work today in class, as we had a work day to wrap up the demographics unit and check in about grades in order to improve them, if possible. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: 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: "Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own" by U2. Selected for today because we had a work day for me to help students in understanding how to improve their grade in class. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/23/17:
News Brief – John
Demographic Work
Grade Check
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog! Finish your demographic unit work (see below for links). Next news brief: Matthew.
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News Brief: John had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - Manchester bomber named by police. We found the United Kingdom in the world map packet and talked about this horrific story, which is obviously still developing as of the writing of this post. We talked about the response of the United States government, as well.

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):


The next news brief was assigned to Matthew.

Demographics Work: The rest of class was spent as work time (hopefully you were able to turn in the whole packet today) for the demographics packet:

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).

The next assignment was related to the Children of Syria documentary in class.

Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:

Next, we did the End of Poverty reading and assignment last class:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Finally, we watched World in the Balance and did an assignment related to that. Here is the assignment:


And here is the video we watched in class:


All four of the assignments, in order, were what was due today in class. I appreciate your work on this!

Grade Check/Work Time: As students were working, I called everyone in class up to talk with me, one by one, so I could go over every grade, along with what was missing (if anything) and needing to be turned in or revised ASAP. You should have a plan of action for what you need to do, if you need to do work for me! If you have everything in, rest up and get ready for the final unit of the year, which we will start next class!
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Friday, May 19, 2017

Demographics, Day 4 - Class Recap

NOTE: I was out of the building today, helping coach at the tennis state championships and supporting our Westview teams there. I hope it all went well with class! Here's a recap of what I expected to have happen.


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,

I apologize about missing class today, but I had a good time at the tennis state championships to support our Westview teams! Today, we watched a documentary about population and demographics. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: 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: "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" by Tomoyasu Hotei. Selected for today because we learned more about Japan's battle against demographic trends in their population, and because it is Election Day, and because you are battling towards the end of the year!

AGENDA 5/18/17:
News Brief – Lewis
World in the Balance
Review
Demographics Work

Homework: Read the blog! Next class will be an in class work day to finish all demographic unit work and turn it in at the end of class, so be prepared to do that! Next news brief: John.
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News Brief: Lewis had the news brief today and selected an article to talk about, as students found the location in the world map packet.

John has the next news brief, for Tuesday.

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):


World in the Balance: This was a NOVA documentary that we watched together in class. 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. Before moving on, I showed this interesting website that has lots of different population data: Worldometers.info - World Population.

Review/Demographics Work: We did not have much time at the end of class today, but I did want to link to the assignments in the demographics unit, which are as follows:

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).

The next assignment was related to the Children of Syria documentary in class.

Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:

Next, we did the End of Poverty reading and assignment last class:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Please have all of your demographics work ready to turn in at the end of next class, as I will give work time and also check in about everyone's grades! Thank you!
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Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Demographics, Day 3 - Class Recap


My brother visited Portland recently! 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 9: 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: "The End" by The Doors. Selected for today because of "The End of Poverty" reading, and because we are approaching the end of the school year.

AGENDA 5/17/17:
News Brief – Arjun
The End of Poverty
Group Work
Finish Demographic Packets

Homework: Read the blog! Continue to work on any missing/incomplete assignments to improve your grade! Be good for the sub on Friday! Next news brief: Lewis (then John on Tuesday).
---
News Brief: Arjun had the news brief today and talked about this story for the news brief: CNN.com - Researchers find possible North Korea link to massive cyberattack. We found North Korea in the world map packet and talked about this story, including what happened with this particular cyber attack and how it was related to Microsoft and our own government. After the news brief, we checked in about the weekend.

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):

The next news brief was assigned to Lewis, then John on Tuesday.

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:


Group Work: 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!

Finish Demographics Work: We did not have the time in class to do much of this, but your demographics work will be due later in the unit, so please finish all of the assignments related to it!

Thanks for your focus and work today in class!
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Monday, May 15, 2017

Demographics, Day 2 - Class Recap


Photo taken in 2007 at the Denver Aquarium.

Dear class,

We continued looking at demographics today, through the very recent documentary "Children of Syria" which does a great job giving a case study of the Syrian refugee crisis. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: 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 being happy could actually be considered a demographic indicator. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/15/17:
News Brief – Abhigya
Children of Syria
Review
Trends

Homework: Read the blog! Continue working on your demographics packet! Next news brief: Arjun.
---
News Brief: Abhigya had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about with the class: CNN.com - Putin warns against 'intimidating' North Korea after latest missile launch. We found Russia in the world map packet and noted we did a story on it. We talked for a while in class about this latest update in terms of North Korea's missile technology and what it might mean for us. We also checked in about this past weekend.

Here's the link to see the latest one minute update from BBC World News, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):


The next news brief was assigned to Arjun.

Children of Syria: This was a fantastic documentary that recently came out (last year - it was nominated for an Academy Award) on PBS Frontline. Part of the learning target for the unit is tying demographics in with current events, so this was perfect. Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:


Review: After the documentary, a few random students were asked to answer questions from the documentary review. Thank you for your input and thoughts here! I hope everyone was really engaged with answering the questions and watching the film.

Trends: At the end of class, it should have been work time to continue to fill out the demographics packet of information. We will continue this next class (it will likely be due later in the week). Thanks, everyone!
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Thursday, May 11, 2017

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 started up work on the demographic indicators packet. 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 5/11/17:
News Brief – Sophia
Demographics
Indicators
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog! Finish one column (all four pages) of data for the country on the demographics profile (your personal copy is linked to on Google Classroom). If you have not turned in your Historical Investigation, please do so immediately. Next news brief: Abhigya.
---
News Brief: Sophia had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - Yemen war: Surge in cholera outbreak kills 34 - WHO. We found Yemen in the world map packet and noted that we did a news brief story about it. I talked for a while in class about the ongoing war there, and how Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and UAE all have interests. As usual, I asked the class if they were up to anything fun or interesting outside of class - especially with it being Mother's Day weekend.

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):


The next news brief was assigned to Abhigya.

I also talked about the short answer question on the back of the religion test. If you did poorly on this test, you will have the opportunity to retake it with the final project.

Demographics: Our next unit is on demographics. We started this section of class by watching this video about population, health, and income over time, which I think is an amazing way to visualize all that data:


Demographics really help in determining what a country is like, when it comes to the people inside of it. We will be doing a lot of work with data and statistics in this unit!

Indicators: To further explain the concept of demographics, I went through this PowerPoint and asked students to take quick notes about what demographics are:


Hopefully, you are beginning to get an understanding about how demographics work and why they are useful in determining what is going on with people in a country.

After the presentation, I passed out this assignment, which we did today in class using the links on Google Classroom:

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). Students should complete the last column with a country of their choice (possibly the country from the historical investigation?).

Work Time: The rest of the class was spent working on finding different development statistics on the US, Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip in class using Chromebooks. Again, please have one full column (all four pages) completed for next week, when I will provide some time to finish 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! :-)
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Tuesday, May 9, 2017

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 21: 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: "Oye Como Va" by Carlos Santana. Selected for today because of last weekend being Cinco de Mayo (remembering a famous Mexican victory over the French) and because Carlos Santana is an amazing Mexican-American guitarist. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/9/17:
News Brief – Yuval
Religion Test
Demographics
Indicators

Homework: Read the blog! If you have not turned in your Historical Investigation, please do so immediately. Know your grade and how to improve it -  Russian Revolution work (found on this post), World War I work (found in this post) and finishing Historical Investigation if you have not - revisions needed, as well. Next news brief: Sophia.
---
News Brief: Yuval had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - Emmanuel Macron defeats Le Pen to become French president. We found France in our world maps and noted that we did a news brief about it. I showed some pictures from my French wife and brother in law voting in Portland over the weekend, and talked for a bit about Mr. Macron and his ideas. We also checked in about last weekend.

The next news brief was assigned to Sophia.

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):


Religion Test: After the news brief, we started the test (I hope you did your homework and studied)! 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. At the end of class, we graded the multiple choice section together.

Next class, we will start 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! Moving on to the last new learning target of the year!
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Friday, May 5, 2017

Religion, Day 7 - Class Recap


Buddhist prayer flags at Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu. Photo taken in 2015.

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 21: 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: "Duel of the Fates" from Star Wars. Selected for today because it was May The Fourth yesterday - international Star Wars Day! :-)

AGENDA 5/5/17:
News Brief – Oliver
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 work (found on this post), World War I work (found in this post) and finishing Historical Investigation if you have not - revisions needed, as well. Next news brief: Yuval.
---
News Brief: Oliver had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: NBCNews.com - Prince Philip Is Retiring but Queen Elizabeth II Won’t Abdicate: Experts. This was out of the United Kingdom, which we found in the world map packet, and also checked in about what students were up to outside of class.

The next news brief was assigned to Yuval.

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):


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!

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! See you then! :-)
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Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Religion, Day 6 - Class Recap


The streets of Kathmandu at night are really something. The prayer flags lining the streets in Thamel are a nice touch. Photo taken in March, 2015.

Hi everyone,

I enjoyed today's class, especially because of the interesting nature of what we were discussing. Thanks for the great questions and conversations! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 21: 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: "Mustt Mustt" by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Selected because this is a representation of Sufism (some consider this to be a branch of Islam), Explanation of the song can be found here.

AGENDA 5/3/17:
News Brief – Patrick
ISIS and Sunni/Shia
More Religions/Atheism
Vocabulary Guide

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade and how to improve it - Russian Revolution (found on this post), World War I work (found in this post) and finishing Historical Investigation if you have not - revisions needed, as well. Next news brief: Oliver.
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News Brief: Patrick had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - Kabul bomb attack targeting Nato convoy kills eight. We found Afghanistan on our world maps and talked about this story, especially as it relates to what we were talking about later in class with Al Qaeda and ISIS. We then continued to talk about what people were up to outside of the class, including what people are up to over this weekend.

The next news brief was assigned to Oliver.

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):


ISIS and Sunni/Shia: To start this section, I asked the class to brainstorm what we knew about ISIS, especially as we have been talking about the group in our news briefs for the entire year so far. I wanted to hear what we remembered and also maybe some assumptions. Next, I asked students to get out paper for notes on the rest of the class and I played this video from VOX, which does a great job of quickly explaining the rise of ISIS and what is going on in the Middle East:


I also talked a bit about the demographics in the Middle East. Specifically, I wanted to look in depth at the central role that the two main sects of Islam have in conflict, by watching this video:


One of my main points with this is that we cannot stereotype "all Muslims" in many of the conflicts that the world is in, just as we cannot stereotype "all Christians" or any other religion. If you are really interested in learning a lot more about ISIS, I encourage you to read through this lengthy article: TheAtlantic.com - What ISIS Really Wants.

More Religions/Atheism: Next, we did a sort of blitz through a few other religions that students wrote to me they identified with (I think these are important to cover), along with Atheism (belief that there is no God or gods at all).

Here are the resources we looked at as a class, as students took brief notes (there will be a few questions about these on the test):

Shintoism (based in Japan, focused on ancestral spirits).

Jainism (based in India, focused on nonviolence and sanctity of life).

Taoism (mostly found in China, based on concept of yin and yang).

Sikhism (based in India, focused on one God, rejection of caste system).

Finally, we ended by watching part of this video about Atheism, which is the belief that there is no God or gods, and that faith, being unscientific and not testable, is impossible to prove:


I thought the above videos and articles did a pretty good job explaining the points of view of some important philosophies in a short amount of time. Thanks for hanging in there with me as we looked at all of these!

Vocabulary Guide: At the end of class, I passed out a vocabulary sheet to study for the quiz. Please note that there will also be a question or two based on some of the religions we talked about today in 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 beliefs we went over today! Next class, we will play PowerPoint Jeopardy to review, then take the religion test next Tuesday.
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Monday, May 1, 2017

Religion, Day 5 - Class Recap


Arabic calligraphy that surrounds the entrance to the Taj Mahal, in India. We learned about Islam today in class - this is a famous example of Islamic architecture in the world! Photo taken over Spring Break, 2015. 

Hi everyone,

I hope you are feeling excited for the prospect of a three day weekend coming up! I certainly believe you have earned it! It is a very stressful time of the year for everyone, and I am grateful for some time to grade and then relax a bit, as well. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 21: 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: "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum. Selected for today because of our ongoing religion unit. The lyrics also mention Jesus, who we talked about today and last class in regards to Christianity.

AGENDA 5/1/17:
News Brief – Rachel
A Christian Nation?
The Pluralism Project
Islam

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade and how to improve it - Russian Revolution (found on this post), World War I work (found in this post) and finishing Historical Investigation if you have not - revisions needed, as well. Next news brief: Patrick.
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News Brief: Rachel had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - Japan sends biggest warship to protect US supply vessel. We found Japan on the world map and talked about this story. As part of it, we discussed the ongoing tensions between North Korea and their development of missiles to potentially attack Japan.

The next news brief was assigned to Patrick.

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):


A Christian Nation?: This was not meant as a debate question in class, but rather a look at how religion impacts and shapes our own society (relating, as always, to the learning target for the unit).

To start, we watched a short clip of President Obama saying that the United States is no longer a Christian nation, which upset a lot of people at the time.

Next, I showed this story from nearby in Washington:


This was meant as a call back to earlier in the year, when we had a Forced Choice debate on whether or not the phrase In God We Trust should be removed from our currency. It was also meant to show how fired up both sides were, and how religion impacts our society.

Then, we watched the first few minutes of this debate on the TV show Hardball in 2009, between an Atheist and a Christian, talking about the origins of the United States government and the role religion should play in our lives:


Finally, I showed some more Pro/Con quotes. Again, this was not a debate we had in class - I just wanted everyone to see that it IS a debate, and be able to identify some different perspectives about how religion impacts and shapes our own society (in keeping with the learning target of the unit).

The Pluralism Project: Next, I passed out this in-class assignment, which is a reading and some questions on the back:


The point here was to see that there are a variety of different religions (and people who don't believe in religion) in the United States, which the article makes the case is a reason our society has been shaped (get it - the learning target again!). Students were expected to read the article and answer the three questions on the back. I called on students randomly to talk about the answers. As part of this interesting discussion, I pointed out that "Jedism" had a fair amount of adherents in the UK: BBC.com - Have Jedi created a new 'religion'?

Islam: Next, we continued with the religion notes, using the Cornell Notes format. Here is the PowerPoint again:


Today, we finished the last religion in the PowerPoint - Islam. I appreciated your focus on it! I enjoyed, as always, explaining and trying to answer questions from the class. It was also great to have students be able to share and explain more about their own faiths!
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