Dear class,
I am attempting to get this recap up quickly today, so those of you that have access to the internet during Study Hall can check out the links. I have class myself from 3:30 to 7:30 tonight, so I will be unable to respond to questions or post comments until I get back. On to the recap!
Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? Is Somalia repairable?
Soundtrack: "Brand New Day" by Sting. Picked because of the beginning of the new semester. Lyrics can be found here.
AGENDA 1/28/09
Hand Back Work
News Brief
Debrief Last Semester
Class Unity
Introducing Somalia
PowerPoint Lecture
Homework: Somalia article write up and summary. Check blog!
Hand Back Work: Again, I would be happy to speak with you about your grade and why you earned what you did. Please come see me with your quiz/any other work you want to go over. The visual metaphors will go up in the classroom once Mrs. DeFrance's classes are done with theirs (I don't want to give their class any hints either!).
News Brief: Russel very nicely recapped this article - CNN.com: Hungry caterpillars force Liberian emergency. Very interesting! Chalk that one up for "things Mr. Fritz had no idea about." Abe, you are our next presenter for Friday. Again, I just want a printed out article and for you to give a short summary in class about it. Don't use your Somalia article, that's cheating! :-)
We also talked a little bit about the economy and why it is so bad. The main point there was that we have very little money (or credit) floating around, so nobody is lending money to each other.
I noted that the world's first openly gay head of state (in modern times) might take office in Iceland soon, due to the economy of that country being in shambles. That article can be found here: Huffington Post: Icelandic Minister, Johanna Sigurdardottir, Would Be World's First Gay PM.
I'm not sure when I showed the class this, but this is the website that has the photo of the inauguration where you can zoom in to find Ryan (I'll bet you have trouble!) - Amazing Inauguration Photo.
You can also watch the full documentary that 20/20 did on Ryan online here: ABC.news: The (Long) Road to the Inauguration. So cool! :-)
Debrief Last Semester: The PowerPoint presentation on your answers can be downloaded below.
Again, the main things that I got out of this are that 1) The class really likes the people in it and atmosphere. 2) The class knows that it needs to work on being quieter and turning homework in on time. 3) Mr. Fritz is good at being enthusiastic. 4) Mr. Fritz needs to work on explaining things better.
Thanks again for being willing to provide that feedback! It definitely helps!
Class Unity: I thought this was a fun little exercise, the "stepping in." Just goes to show how connected we are. Thank you for participating!
Introducing Somalia: I asked the class what you knew about Somalia. We got "Horn of Africa," "Pirates," and "Black Hawk Down." This was for me to see what you did and did not know going into the PowerPoint.
PowerPoint Lecture: I know, I know, there was definitely a lot there. The crazy thing is that I made sure to give at least 30 minutes of class time to it - at least 3 minutes per slide, and we were still struggling to get through each one because there was so much to write and ask questions about. That is not all bad, but I know that a lot of you missed out on one aspect or another. Here is the PowerPoint for those who want to review it again (I would suggest clicking "Save" to your computer, instead of "Open" - it is way faster this way):
During the PowerPoint, I mentioned that ForeignPolicy.com ranked Somalia as the most unstable country in the world during 2008. Here is a link to that article: Foreign Policy: The Failed States Index 2008
Your homework is to find a current (as possible) article about Somalia online and type a 2-3 paragraph summary of what it is saying. After that, you need to type out your own thoughts about what everyone should know about Somalia, in another paragraph. This should be 1 page, TYPED, double spaced, Times New Roman font.
Here are some links that might help with this - START HERE!:
Google News Search: "Somalia"
New York Times Article Database for Somalia
A couple of current articles if you are completely out of ideas for where to turn:
BBC.com: Somalia Prepares for new leader
CNN.com: U.N. considered suspending food aid to Somalia
Please comment or e-mail me if you have any questions or concerns about this assignment or anything else.
Have a fantastic rest of the day and Go Blazers (7 PM, CSN)!
Mr. Fritz,
ReplyDeleteI have a request for a soundtrack of the day. I think that the song What Goes Around Comes Around by Justin Timberlake kind of relates to what we are talking about and I think it would be a good song to play in class.
Do we need to print out the article?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the suggestion! I already have the soundtrack for tomorrow planned out, but maybe sometime in the future.
Aaron,
If you could, please print the article and bring it in. I didn't actually write that down as part of the homework, so don't worry if you can't, but it will be helpful to have.
thanks although the printing will be a little sketchy because my printer is horrible
ReplyDeleteOkay. If you can't get it to work, just post a link on here or e-mail it to me and I can print it off for you.
ReplyDeleteMy page was just sent to you. If it was not please tell me on the blog
ReplyDeleteAbe,
ReplyDeleteI was just writing you an e-mail back, but this works too. I will print out your e-mail, thanks! Remember that you are presenting a news article for the class tomorrow as well (NOT from Somalia), so have one ready to go! If you want to find one and send me a link, I can print that out for you too...
i just sent you another article. can you print it out for me?
ReplyDeleteGot it, will do! Thanks for getting it all in to me. See you in the morning!
ReplyDeletethanks
ReplyDeletejust finished black hawk down... not a happy movie.. i'd rather not watch it again in class
ReplyDeleteBen,
ReplyDeleteNow you see why I am hesitant to bring it in. There are some short clips that might work in class, but overall, it's really difficult to watch on a pretty basic emotional level. I'm glad that you checked it out though - it is a film worth watching if you can stomach it and know what the heck is going on (sometimes it is hard to keep track with all the chaos).
indeed its a bit hard to stomach.
ReplyDeleteha also i just found out my friend was in Rawanda during the genocide.
and the article i found for somalia was only 2-3 paragraphs.. so what should i do?
Wow, I'll bet your friend has some interesting stories!
ReplyDeleteAs far as the Somalia article, I'd spend one paragraph recapping your article (the actual information), and one paragraph on your thoughts. Also, remember to have that final paragraph of your thoughts on what everyone should know about Somalia.
I'm currently still in the midst of planning tomorrow, so I'll be up for another half an hour or so if you have any other questions.
well he is my age so he was only about one.. so im guessing he doesnt remember much.. and they moved to boston pretty soon after i think.. but im sure his parents have some stories..
ReplyDeleteokay will do thanks