Congratulations! If you passed the class, you have completed a semester of Global Studies! Photo taken at Niagara Falls in 2010.
Today was finals day in class and, as promised, we did a essay test on the Ladakh, with multiple different possibilities for learning targets to address. Here's what happened in class today:
Learning Targets:
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Critical Thinking LT 1: I can explain multiple perspectives and viewpoints.
Knowledge LT 10: I can demonstrate an understanding of the connection between the physical and human systems.
Knowledge LT 15: I can explain how culture both reflects and shapes society.
Knowledge LT 17: I can explain how and why world societies organize themselves and how power is established and maintained.
Soundtrack: "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin. Selected for today because Ladakh is located in Kashmir, India. A classic song! Lyrics here.
AGENDA 1/28/16:
News Brief – Jonathan F.
Grades
Class Feedback
Ladakh Final
News Brief: Jonathan F. selected an article about this story for the news brief today: CNN.com - Israeli vulture detained in Lebanon on suspicion of being a spy. What a fascinating story! We talked about the geography of Lebanon next to Israel, and perhaps some of the paranoia there. We also discussed the Flint, Michigan water crisis and what happened there. Thanks, everyone!
Jonathan B volunteered to do the next news brief.
We forgot to watch the one minute BBC World News update in class (I was busy with trying to go quickly to give students enough time on the final). 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):
Grades: After the news and checking in with students about if anything fun or interesting was going on outside of class, I talked about how grades for the class (and the final) would work. Basically, the Westview Global Studies team has a general agreement to use the final to help improve student grades, instead of bring them down. That said, if there is an obvious lack of effort or knowledge, we will take that into account, as well. So, if you are an A student, you can be almost assured of keeping that grade. If you have a lower grade, the final is an opportunity to improve. I am only going to put scores in the gradebook (StudentVUE) that improve grades (so you might just see a blank grade for your final), so that I can finish grading everything by the deadline. We have a grading day on Friday (no students), so I am hoping to submit grades then.
Class Feedback: In the spirit of assessment, I asked students to provide me with some feedback about how class has been going this year so far, and what can be improved. The four questions that I asked students to anonymously answer were:
What do you like about this class? What do you think you as students are good at?
What does this class (you, as students) need to improve at?
What do you like about Mr. Fritz as a teacher? What is Mr. Fritz good at as a teacher?
What does Mr. Fritz need to improve at as a teacher?
I will show everyone the combined results from this next class, so we can learn about what is working and what could be improved. Thanks for participating in this!
Ladakh Final: This was the assignment for the rest of class. As promised, I let students use notes from the previous class(es) on Ladakh. The test itself was four questions (all the questions needed to be answered), followed by a short response essay for each one. There were five different learning target possibilities that the final addressed (written out above). I am looking forward to reading these over and assessing where you are at! If students finished early, there was time to quietly work in class.
Final grades for the semester are due by Monday morning. Thanks for your hard work, everyone! See you next week! :-)
