September 11th, 2001 - Class Recap

This is part of N591UA, which operated United Flight 93 on September 11th, 2001, and was hijacked for possible use against the White House. Instead, a passenger revolt forced down the plane into a field in Pennsylvania. A part of my 9/11 story is that I once flew on that exact same plane, from Portland to Chicago in 1996. Check out my FlightMemory map of lifetime flights.

Hello wonderful students,

Today, I tried to make sure everyone learned about the basics of the major events of September 11th, 2001, which happened 16 years ago today. Sometimes, I just want to focus on the moment! Here's the class recap for today:

Learning Targets:
Behavior LT 1: I can manage my responsibilities as a student.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Soundtrack: “Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day. Selected because it is September, summer is over, we are losing sleep, and we discussed the events of September 11th, 2001 today in class. Lyrics (which some may argue directly relate to the War on Terror) here.

AGENDA 9/11/17:
Wildcat News Brief - Desi
The Wall
September 11th, 2001
Fear

Homework: Read the blog recap! Post a comment if you have not. Bring in a photo for the wall that is either: 1) A place anywhere in the world that you have been. 2) A place anywhere in the world that you want to go to. 3) A picture of you and/or your family. Next news brief: Bailey.

News Brief: Desi had the news brief today and chose this story to talk about: CNN.com - Cuba cleans up after Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean. The first news brief of the year! Desi did an excellent job recapping what this story was about, as we discussed what happened with Hurricane Irma over the weekend. Thanks for leading us off, Desi. We then talked about what else we knew about what was going on around the world recently, as well as what we were up to over the weekend!

Bailey was assigned to do the next news brief.

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

BBCNews.com - One-minute World News

Hooray for knowing what is going on around the world!

For those that wanted to see Wildcat News again, here it is. These will be an addition to the News Brief section when they come out (usually each Monday):

The Wall: As a get to know you and get to know the room activity, I split the class up into six groups. Everyone in the group was responsible for knowing everyone else's name. I also assigned each group to look at one of the big photo posters in the back - trying to analyze where they were taken and different aspects of them. It was just an attempt to try and get everyone to work together and use some critical thinking skills. I revealed during this exercise that I took all of the photos that are currently on the back wall. I love traveling and photography! :-)

Your homework was to find a photo to contribute to the back wall. Just a regular 4 x 6 print is 29 cents at Walgreens (I know, because that's what I used to print some of the photos for the back wall). It has to be able to be stapled up (so don't use the last copy of a precious family photo). Here's what I am looking for (choose one):

1) A photo of a place you have been to before.

2) A photo of a place that you want to go to.

3) A photo of you or your family.

I am really excited to see what everyone brings in! Again, if you need help with this, please email me or comment on the blog. I am hoping for an amazing back wall, full of all sorts of pictures from our adventures, hopes, and families! :-)

September 11th, 2001: To start this section, I asked students to do a free write for about 5 minutes on the following questions:

What do you know about September 11th, 2001? What have you heard about it? Do you remember anything? What have you learned before, in class, or from parents?

After the free write time, we shared responses as a class and I told my story about September 11th. I was starting my Sophomore year at Wilson High School in Portland. It was definitely a day I will remember for the rest of my life. To drive home the point as to what the day was like, I showed this video in class, which was a timeline of the day:

From there, I moved on to discussing how September 11th, 2001 came about.

Fear: We talked about in class about FEAR. To start to look at how fear played a role after September 11th, I showed a couple of videos:

This is United States Secretary of State Colin Powell addressing the United Nations about the "weapons of mass destruction" that the U.S. government thought was in Iraq. It turned out that there were not any such weapons.

This video contains a montage of President George W. Bush and many of the key figures in his government repeating words in speeches that sounded pretty scary.

The last bit to class was another free write. This time, it was about fear in our lives. 

The prompt was: write about a time in which you experienced fear and how you felt. What did you want to do in that moment?

We didn't get to share these in class, so we will come back to them next time.

I wanted to make the connection between the fear much of America felt after 9/11. In fact, one of the ways that the government might have helped keep people fearful (or ready) is by making a threat level color coded system.:

In the entire history of the threat level system (which ended under President Obama), the threat level never went below Elevated - meaning we were supposed to be at "significant risk of terrorist attacks," constantly.

That was it for the day! 

Introduction Day - Class Recap

The start of a year long journey together! This is the road to Monument Valley, on the Arizona/Utah border, during the summer of 2014.

Hello everyone,

Thank you for doing your homework and visiting the blog! As I said in class, I think this is a really helpful resource for students, staff, and parents to be able to follow along with what is happening. After every class, I will write up a recap and post it. Most of the time, your only homework will be to read over the blog and be prepared for what is coming next in class. With that, let's get started!

Soundtrack: "Changes" by 2Pac. I always choose this song to start off a new class with, because I like the idea of our room being somewhat different from your other experiences in high school. This song also has all sorts of lyrics that relate to Global Studies, like the line:

"Can't a brother get a little peace?
There's war on the streets and the war in the Middle East."

Check out the full lyrics here.

AGENDA 9/7/17:
Introductions/Attendance
Syllabus/Grades
Letter to Class/Mr. Fritz
The Blog
Create Ground Rules
News Briefs

Homework: Share syllabus and website with parents. Bring binder. Check the blog and post a comment! Next news brief: Desi.

Introductions/Attendance: At the start of class, I introduced myself and how the agenda on the whiteboard works. I am absolutely delighted to be your teacher at Westview this year!

I took attendance and tried to ask everyone how they wanted me to address them. It will take me some time, but eventually, I will know everyone's names, I promise!

Syllabus/Grades: I know that this is not the most exciting content in class. I wanted to make sure to go over some of the real key points to the syllabus (like where I am, how to contact me, how your grade is decided, and the need to bring a binder to class). Here is an electronic copy of the syllabus and rubrics:

Google Drive: Westview Global Studies Syllabus

Global Studies: Westview Global Studies Grading Rubrics

If you or your parents have any questions about any of this, please let me know!

Letter to Class/Mr. Fritz: After the syllabus talk was done, I passed out a letter that I wrote to the class, explaining all about who I am and what sort of expectations I have. Hopefully, most of it was interesting information! I like passing these out and signing them all individually. To me, it represents that I really am interested in everyone in my class.

After reading the letter aloud, I asked everyone to write back to me in a similar sort of fashion. I gave a bunch of possible questions to answer as prompts and about 30 minutes or so to complete the assignment. I LOVE reading these and writing back to everyone! Thank you for your effort - I can't wait to learn a little bit more about who you are!

The Blog: As part of the syllabus, I introduced this website: the class blog! This is seriously so important for your success in this class. If you are staying up to date on here, reviewing what happened in class to get ready for the next meeting, and asking questions if you need help, I guarantee that you will be more successful than if you do not. Make sure to leave a comment at least once (the easiest homework assignment of all time for most students, I believe), so I know you are able to!

Create Ground Rules: Ahh, yes. Your class was great with this usually awkward process! The rules that you came up with and agreed to as an entire class are:

• Treat others with respect
• Be Responsible
• Stay Focused
• Participate in Class
• Support Each Other

I will be working to make sure everyone, including myself, is following the ground rules! Thank you for participating in this exercise. I will post these in the room and on the top right of the blog.

News Briefs: This is the current event style assignment that everyone will do at least once. Basically, all I want is for someone (I will assign it) to bring in a print out (or email me) of an current news article (within the last two weeks) that is a story about something outside the United States (since this is a Global Studies class). We will talk for about 5-10 minutes at the start of class about whatever article this is - just as a way to help make class relevant and interesting to you and what is going on every day in the world.

Desi kindly volunteered to do the first news brief. :-)

Thank you for reading! See you next class! Post a comment to do your homework!

Welcome to the Blog!

The dawn of a new day and year over Westview!

Hello everyone,

Welcome to the Period 4 blog for my Global Studies class at Westview during the 2017-18 school year! Before I begin with posting updates via class recaps, let me give you a little introduction to this website.

First off, comments can be made on any post by anyone, and they can be anonymous (though I would really prefer that you leave your name, so that I can follow up with you in person) by selecting "Name/URL" on the right, underneath the comment box. Please try to use good spelling and grammar in your comments! I have to approve the comments before they are posted, so don't worry if you don't see your comment right away.

Secondly, because I will be putting up the class agenda and homework, as well as any interesting links (after class has met), I will attempt to give you ways to download the relevant files and documents you may have missed in class or would be interested in seeing again for your homework (or just because). For instance, here is the syllabus that I passed out in class:

Google Drive: Westview Global Studies 2017-18 Syllabus

The learning targets for the course and rubrics for how you will be assessed/graded this year can be found here:

Google Drive: Westview Global Studies Grading Rubrics

Finally, to contact me personally (other than leaving a comment - which I may or may not see immediately), please e-mail me at luke_fritz@beaverton.k12.or.us - this can always be found by clicking on "View My Complete Profile" on the right, where my picture is, then clicking on "Email" on the left sidebar. I will get back to you ASAP! Again, please use grammatically correct language and spelling, to the best of your ability. It really is appreciated and will go a long way for you in the future!

I know it might be a lot to take in, but hopefully we will all get used to it! I envision this blog as a place where you will be able to come to converse with your classmates and me, as well as get all the latest assignments, updates from class, and further information.

If you have any questions or comments, please never hesitate to let me know!

Welcome again - thanks for visiting. Please bookmark this site and come back soon! :-)