Period 1: Nigeria - Building a Power, Day 3 - Class Recap

A map of Nigeria.
Good morning class,

Because I am currently waiting to talk to another Westview teacher for a homework assignment from Lewis and Clark (yes, I have them too!), I figured I might as well get the recap done early today, while everyone is forecasting!

First off, I want to apologize for the rushed feeling of the seminar today. I did not know that class would be ending so soon until right before. I also think I was probably a little too directly involved in the discussion. I should have let everyone get their thoughts in on their own. It's very difficult for me as a teacher, because my main goal for this particular seminar was participation. What happened was good - I loved some of the ideas that were brought up. What I did not feel particularly proud of was my trying to force people to talk, at the expense of those who really did want to. It is a difficult problem for me. When I have a few people who are really into the conversation, I love it, but I also am really interested in what everyone else has to say.

I think the opposite of my goal happened today. I was so concerned with getting everyone to participate that I was the person taking up much of the time with my own thoughts, trying to get everyone involved! I just think it backfired. For everyone that was really excited to bring tons of ideas to the table, I am sorry for that lack of time. Obviously, we are going to do the seminar for the outside group next class - which is even more difficult because that is the group that did not volunteer to talk in the first place.

Anyway, I hope that we got something out of it. I'll try different things in the future with the seminar! Please let me know if the comments or by e-mail what you thought of things.

Essential Questions: How do different structures of power impact the people over whom they govern? How does a developing country become developed?

Soundtrack: "Refuge (When It's Cold Outside)" by John Legend. Selected because it is cold outside and the classroom should be a place of refuge and excitement. Lyrics are here.

AGENDA 2/11/09
Hand Back Work
News Brief
Chapter Presentations
Socratic Seminar
Visiting Africa

Homework: Find out basic information about your country - bring to class on Friday. Check blog!

If you do not remember which country you signed up for (which would be understandable, given the rush), please either comment or e-mail me. I just want you to begin investigating on your own - we will do more in class on Friday.

Hand Back Work: You should have your Somalia article handed back to you. I know that some people did not. Are you sure that you turned it in to me? Remember, I went around and checked it off, but I did not collect it until the end of class that day. I did look in my folder, and I did not find any other work. Please let me know if you think I may have misplaced it - or you could just send me another copy and I will be fine.

News Brief: McKenzie brought in an article about crazy weather in Europe - BBC.com - High winds hit north-west France. Again, an interesting look at some the extreme weather that has been happening! I talked a little about climate change/global warming, and the impact that melting ice caps have, due to the loss of ability to reflect light. This is called a "feedback loop" and here is an excellent recap of what I was talking about: ABC News.com: What is a "Feedback Loop?" Nathan, you are up for Friday - any news article that talks about something outside the United States.

Chapter Presentations: These were a lot better today, I thought. I especially liked how it seemed like almost the entire class was paying pretty close attention to what the groups were talking about. I don't know if that is a function of the new seating chart or not, but it was definitely appreciated. Again, the reason that we did this activity was to learn a little more about how different places around the world have dealt with development. We then crafted a small list of what we had learned about developing countries - off the top of my head, I think it was something like: struggling, time consuming, conflicts, government building. Good! I was actually a little surprised we got that much out of the exercise. Sorry if it was boring!

Socratic Seminar: Hopefully you have read some of my thoughts above about this. Basically, I think that I didn't allow everyone enough time to really go through and talk about it - and I know that there were definitely times when people had to restrain themselves from bringing excellent ideas to the table. This was my bad - but again, it's difficult. What do I value more: participation of everyone, even if it isn't that deep, OR about a third of the class really getting into the discussion and going very deep into it? For this seminar, I wanted participation, and I think I let everyone down by trying to force it too much. Live and learn!

As for the thoughts that WERE raised: EXCELLENT. It is obvious to me when people are doing the reading, making connections, and excited about asking questions. I loved what we had to say about the article. I especially liked how it seemed like nobody just completely rejected what the author had to say, even if the way he made his argument was pretty controversial. I seemed like everyone really considered the root causes of the answers to the original question of: how does a developing country become developed?

Again, please post any other thoughts, questions, or comments about the seminar - by all means, if you felt like you didn't really get to say what you wanted today, let it out on here! Let's start a discussion again! :-)

Visiting Africa: Thanks for staying behind for a minute or two to pick out your countries. Please e-mail me if you need to know which one you picked or have any questions.

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That should just about do it! Please have a wonderful afternoon. Don't forget to watch the World Cup qualifier between the USA and Mexico (4 PM, ESPN2) and/or the Blazer game vs. the ex-Sonics tonight (7 PM, CSN). Also, watch The Office tomorrow night, because it is pretty much guaranteed to make you laugh. And we could all use some more of that! I will not be at Westview tomorrow, as it is my day to do some homework, planning, and sleep a little. So, see you Friday!