My cool Spring Break photo of a MAX train coming up the Steel Bridge. 25 second exposure, F9.0 aperture value, 100 ISO, with a Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTI.
Hola clase,
Estoy escribiendo a el escritorio de Mrs. DeFrance, en Westview! Wow, I wonder if that made any sort of sense - it has been a while since I have written out Spanish! Welcome to another delightful, insightful, and not hopefully not frightful recap. From now on, these recaps will probably be written at Westview, during 1st AND 2nd lunch on A Days. Please come visit if you have any questions about anything, or want to just check in! Let's get on with the recap!
Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What is the impact of religion on policy in the Middle East? - Religion is such a HUGE part of why the Middle East is a region of turmoil. We will be looking at the impact of it for the next few days.
Soundtrack: "B.O.B. (Bombs over Baghdad)" by Outkast. Chosen mainly because of the song title - Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, which, as we hopefully all know, is in the Middle East. Look up the lyrics if you want - we talked a little bit in class about the derogatory nature of the term "ragtop" to describe an Arab person.
AGENDA 3/30/09 The Global Spring Break News Brief? Ryan Moats Otherizing Obama $2 a Day/Revisions/Check-In
Homework: This WAS going to be an assignment on living on $2 a Day or less, but we did not have time to properly set this up, so I will save that until next class. Your other homework was to finish late work because the end of the quarter is next Friday. Please e-mail me if you have any concerns at all about how you are doing in class - I would love to tell exactly what you need to get in, if anything. Next class I am hoping to have some good time to do this, but we all saw what happened today, when we got lost in some really interesting conversations about stereotypes. Finally, check the blog, which, if you are reading this right now, you have done. Woo hoo!
The Global Spring Break: After getting our new seating chart implemented (again, let me know if you have any huge issues here), I asked you to talk a little about your spring break with everyone else, with a twist: you had to find out some way to connect what you did to a country outside the United States. I gave the examples of taking a ride in a Honda (Japan), eating tomatoes (Mexico), riding in an Airbus plane (France), buying clothes that were made somewhere else, and watching TV (Japan). Hopefully this was a fun way to catch up with everyone, as well as realize that we are all connected to the world around us!
I showed you some of the pictures from my break, and connected my picture of the New Irene, a ship from South Korea that was docked down by the Rose Garden:
8 seconds, F5.6, 100 ISO. Lots of fun, and actually not that difficult to do! Even just exploring the areas around you at home is part of adventuring around the world. Go outside and enjoy what is going on!
News Brief: Jordon brought in an article about AIG (American International Group) being "bailed out" by the U.S. government again, which basically means that taxpayers are paying to make sure the company does not fail (because it is so enormous). We talked some in class about why the government is doing this and how it is hoping to get the economy on track again. Recently, AIG got in a huge amount of political trouble because it was found that the company was paying executives gigantic bonuses, as recently as a few months ago. Interesting article Jordon - I'm glad we tried to relate this to the world! Ben, you are up for next class. A current event article about anything going on outside the United States.
Ryan Moats: I started this section off by showing the class the following video clip.
I asked the class to write about how stereotypes start and then we had a little discussion about it. We related the video to stereotypes about gay people, and what impact that has on our society here in America. Lots of really good input here, thanks!
I asked about why stereotypes begin at a young age and had some interesting perspective from the class. We then watched the following recap of the Ryan Moats incident.
Here's an excellent recap of what is currently going on in the situation: ESPN.com - Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats accepts officer's apology. I asked the class to write how how stereotypes MAY have had an impact on this situation. I didn't say it in class, but what if Ryan Moats happened to be Tony Romo, the star QB from the Dallas Cowboys? Would the situation have happened any differently?
Otherizing Obama: This section of class was built on reading this opinion piece by Nicolas Kristof: NYTimes.com - The Push to 'Otherize' Obama. We talked about how making someone "foreign" or "non-American" or "Muslim" was a strategy to make people seem not like "real" Americans. I showed the McCain campaign commercial that Kristof wrote a little about, which you can find here.
Great discussion on this too! Why is it that many people don't just believe President Obama when he says he is a Christian? Why is it even an issue in the first place? Why do some people really believe that Obama is the Anti-Christ? All of these questions and more were just excellent, and I am glad that we had the time to go through them.
I also wanted to have a discussion about what it might really be like to be an Arab-American Muslim today, but we can do that next class.
$2 a Day/Revisions/Check-In: A side effect of the quality discussion was that we did not have time to do this portion of the class (which is especially weird because I planned a good 30 minutes for it, but hey, sometimes you just have to go with the flow). Again, I really must stress the importance of turning in any late work. Your grade is guaranteed to go up if you turn in things. Think about it! I really want to sit down with each of you on Wednesday and go over everything so there are no surprises. I will also ask you to compose a day where you only had $2 for every expense you have. It should be a fun class, as always! ---
Thanks for the energy and enthusiasm today everyone. Make sure to check out the Blazers play an enormous game against Utah tomorrow night at 7:00 (CSN). 24 airs tonight at 9:00, though it has somewhat gotten away from the Africa plot that was so interesting earlier in the season. Come see me tomorrow and wish me luck with Period 2! Guess what the first assignment for them will be? A nice letter to Mr. Fritz. Ahh, the good ol' days, right? :-)
Have a wonderful afternoon! Leave any thoughts or questions about today's class or anything else going on in the world in the comments below!
I hope that you have a fun and restful week off. In the meantime, feel free to talk about anything you want in the comments on this post. The NCAA tournament, Blazers games, sleeping in, fun activities, adventuring or traveling, and anything else that you are doing with the time off - it's all good. Be safe and come back ready to finish out the year!
Wonder Woman, as envisioned by Kierra and her group today. Try to think of all the symbolism - there is a ton!
Good afternoon class!
Oh wow. Today was absolutely fantastic. I left that class just beaming! Thank you so much for being willing to follow along and go with what we were doing. What a truly fun, interesting, and inspiring day. Thank you again! A great way to head out on the break. A ton of things to talk about, link to, and explore further, so let's get on with the recap!
Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected?What impact can women in the Middle East have on policy? - Remember, that first one is something that is directly impacted by the concept of globalization!
Soundtrack: "A Whole New World" by Brad Kane. Music Video from "Aladdin" can be viewed here. Lyrics can be found here. Song chosen because we were talking about the entire world today, and what brings us together. I have a lot problems with the way that Disney portrays some of their characters, but I have to admit, that is one catchy song, especially first thing in the morning. Sorry for my terrible singing voice at the start of class, I couldn't help it. :-)
AGENDA 3/19/09: News Brief Wonder Women Globalization Commonality The Break
Homework: Have a great, safe, Spring Break! Check blog!
As part of our discussion of Spring Break, and what was going on in the world, Archana mentioned the Carl Landry story. Check it out if you haven't heard about it (which is likely - Archana and I are really probably the only people in the class that pay that much attention to the NBA). Just crazy. Please, please be safe out there, as you are exploring the world!
News Brief: We started out the class by talking about plans for the next week, the NCAA Tournament (still astounded that nobody else signed up for the class bracket), and the Blazers playing Cleveland tonight. I collected your Nigeria essays, so I can look them over again. For those who got them in today, thank you. For those that did not, I am sorry. Jazmyne talked a little about a cool article that she saw about a Russian woman having a lot of influence on her government. That article can be found here: Meet Maria Sergeyeva. See, this is what I am talking about everyone! What we learn in class is so relevant to the rest of the world around you! :-)
"The killing of al-Samarai represents an attempt to target Iraq's unity and cohesion. Those who made this assassination want to destroy the goodwill in the hearts of Iraqis," a statement on the IIP's [Iraqi Islamic Party] website said.
Unity and cohesion, under attack. Sound like things we have been talking about? Thanks for bringing this in Kierra! Jordon volunteered to bring in an article on the first day after Spring Break, but if he forgets, that is totally fine too.
Wonder Women: This turned out to be a lot of fun, especially with the really talented artists that we have in our class! I asked the class to get out the homework assignment (which, by the way, I took a look at a few already, and they look AMAZING, thank you!) and collaborate with a group to create a visual representation of a wonder woman, using all of the characteristics that you thought of that women needed to have in order to impact policy decisions in the Middle East. It sure sounds like a lot as I type it, but the class definitely got it, because what you made was great! I posted Kierra's at the top of this post, but every other group had really interesting ways to represent your ideas! A really fun exercise to do and to see the results of what everyone thought was important in a woman's ability to have an impact on policy. I love all the creative talent in the room! :-)
Globalization: To begin this section, I asked the class to give me a few ideas of what globalization is. I then went on to read a little bit of a Roger Ebert blog entry: Roger Ebert's Journal - "A slow boat to anywhere". Some really interesting thoughts there, especially about how American's do not travel very much, and that there are amazing ways to go about traveling, even in today's economic climate.
After that, I shared one of TIME magazine's "10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now" - 6. Africa, Business Destination. This was another one of those things where I was just browsing around online, ran across this article, and thought "wow, that is exactly what we are talking about in class, I am going to bring it in." Really interesting, especially if we want to change our perceptions about Africa. Check out the entire thing if you get the chance!
I then handed out a worksheet, guessing about a "miniature earth" and how lots of different factors were related. This concept was if the entire world was reduced to 100 people, representing the rest of the world. So, if there are 13 North Americans in the 100 people, that means that in reality, 13% of the world is North American. Got it? Here's the video we watched, twice:
I really liked the response to this too. Liked hearing the gasps at the "75% of the world lives without a house, closet, fridge, and bed." Liked the "I want to do something about this" that I heard. All of that. When I hear stuff like that, it means I am bringing in something pretty powerful. I'm glad that everyone thought this was interesting. The song in the video is "Mad World" by Michael Andrews (made for the Donnie Darko soundtrack, it is a cover of a song). Lyrics here.
After watching the video, which can be found at miniature-earth.com (with a different soundtrack), I asked about some of the guesses that you had that were completely off. Interesting stuff! Again, really glad to see all the hands up here. A TON to think about in that movie, I think we will come back to that for a bit after the break. Also, Lauren talked about how she was surprised that there were not as many North Americans. There was a little debate about the third largest country (by population) in the world - that country is the United States: InfoPlease: World's Most Populous Countries, 2008. Indonesia is #4, Brazil is #5.
Commonality: So we had a little bit of depressing, real world stuff to think about. In order to send you out on the break on a high note, I asked about what all humans have in common. I had some pretty sugary responses (hehe), but I really liked "laughter" and "dancing" the most. We ended class by watching this video (props to my Lewis and Clark classmate Megan for showing it to me), which, as I stated in class, is positively real, shot on location:
I would highly recommend going to the actual YouTube site and clicking "HD" on the side of the video - it makes it all the more better. The guy in the video is Matt Harding, who runs a website called "Where the Hell is Matt?" - I think my favorite part is the blog, where he currently has a really funny video up, explaining how he purposely tried to get people to believe that the video was a hoax (but he made the reasons completely ridiculous), and they ended up believing him. Quality comedy, seriously. Check that out here: Matt Reveals the Hoax is a Hoax at MacWorld. Some good background about who he is there too - sponsored by Stride gum, apparently! That is an incredible life!
The Break: This is one of those videos that I watch and just feel inexplicably happy about. Yes, the world has a lot of problems. However, dance is one of those things that goes across all cultures. I would have loved to have had a little more time at the end of class to talk about your reactions to this (especially all the dancers, because I know we have a few), but perhaps it was even more powerful just to say "okay, go out there and enjoy the world!" So please, do that, and come back refreshed and ready to go. :-) ---
In other news, my bracket almost totally got trashed by Memphis, who needed to rally from behind against 15 seed CSU Northridge to win their game. Bad times. Also, the Blazers play tonight against Cleveland, with Nic Batum definitely out and LaMarcus surprisingly upgraded to questionable. That is on TNT and CSN, starting at 5:00. I am so, so mad that I have class and will miss the whole thing. Though it probably won't be a competitive game after the first quarter. Also, watch The Office tonight, 9 PM, on NBC for some laughs. Tons of NCAA tourney games all day and all weekend, all of which are on CBS (channel 6).
I will post a "Spring Break Open Thread" for comments after school on Friday, because I don't want anyone getting the impression that you are done yet. Please keep checking back to see if anything else is going on! Have a wonderful, relaxing break! See you in a week! :-)
Suzanne Mubarek, the first lady of Egypt, who we read about in class today.
Hello class,
I have driven home, made lunch, watched the daily White House press briefing, read up on what is going on in the world, been excited that Greg Oden is possibly coming back tomorrow night, and listening to my absolute favorite sportswriter ever, Bill Simmons, via his podcast on ESPN.com. This is a life of luxury that I will all too soon have to leave behind to be at Westview full time! A good trade off though - I finally get to be at the school every day, for the entire day! I am not sure how it will all work out yet, but for now, let's all enjoy another class recap!
Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? What impact can women in the Middle East have on policy?
Soundtrack: "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" by Dropkick Murphys. Lyrics (which do not make any sort of sense) here. Song chosen in honor of the Irish and St. Patrick's Day. I certainly hope that there was no pinching going on, regardless of what you were wearing.
AGENDA 3/17/09: Weekend and Essay Talk News Brief Article Reading Battle of the Sexes Debrief Seminar
Homework: Write neatly or type a three paragraph explanation of how you think women can have a say in decisions in the Middle East. Check blog!
You should have a lot of notes about what everyone in class had to say. Basically, I want you to choose three ways that women can impact policy in the Middle East. Think about it as like the Somalia Five Points assignment. What needs to happen in order for women to have a say? There were a lot of good ideas in class. Pick three and talk a little bit about why you chose each one. This should not be a difficult assignment.
I also need any late work (and especially the Nigeria essay - which is going to be marked down as a solid 0 if it not in) by Thursday. Seriously. Do not leave things to do until after Spring Break. You do not want it weighing on yourself, trust me.
Weekend and Essay Talk: Let's see here. I remember a few interesting things from the weekend talk. I'm glad that everyone made it back in one piece! I talked a little bit about the NCAA tournament (feel free to set up a bracket for the class, if you want - with the stipulation that absolutely nothing is bet on it), the Blazers finally winning on the road in Memphis, and planning my latest flights. PDX-SEA-EWR (Horizon and Continental) on May 22nd, EWR-PHX-PDX (US Airways) on May 24th, for those interested. I try to go out once a year to help my brother pack up all his stuff and come home from Princeton. Really looking forward to it already!
I also asked how the class liked Ryan coming in, and was glad to hear the positive response. I am always thinking of ways to get people to come in and talk, so hopefully I will be able to bring someone else in soon! I talked a little about the new "gadgets" on the side of the blog, which have the Western Conference standings and The Oregonian front page. I mentioned that today is the last day of printing for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Sad times.
News Brief: Kurtis shared a good article about workers in North Korea being allowed to return home to South Korea. The article can be found here: CNN.com - N. Korea lets stranded S. Koreans cross border. Apparently the workers had been stuck since March 9th. The most interesting part of the article in my opinion was the end:
The border closing was part of a recent series of aggressive moves by North Korea, which included cutting the last remaining communications channel between North and South; saying that the North could not guarantee the safety of South Korean passenger jets in its airspace during the annual joint military exercises; and threatening to retaliate if a "satellite" launch from its northeastern coast was intercepted, saying interference would "mean a war."
U.S. and South Korean officials have said that North Korea appears to be preparing to test-fire its long-range missile, the Taepodong-2, under the guise of launching a satellite into space. The missile is thought to have an intended range of about 4,200 miles (6,700 kilometers) that, if true, could give it the capability of striking Alaska or Hawaii.
Yes, you read that right. Any interference with satellite/missile launches will be considered war by North Korea. A huge reason to continue to pay attention to the area. Thanks for the article Kurtis! Kierra, you are up for next class on Thursday. One current article about something outside the United States.
Article Reading: I read this article to the class: The Observer - The Arab world's first ladies are forging rights for women. A lot of interesting questions and comments came up during the reading. One was about genital mutilation, and whether or not that was okay to enforce our culture on other cultures. I am not going to link to any articles or pages on the subject, but I think you can pretty much guess what the debate is about from what we talked about in class. Along those same lines, I posed the question about human sacrifices, and whether or not those should be culturally acceptable too. I also thought the debate about men having multiple wives was good. Lots to think about!
Battle of the Sexes: I had Mrs. DeFrance take the ladies, while I took the gentlemen. I am not sure about exactly how the female side of things went (Mrs. DeFrance told me you had a little trouble starting off with ideas, but then got into it after a while, and some "boys stink" comments), but I really enjoyed what the fellas had to bring to the table. The article really wasn't the best for referencing, it was more to start the process of building ideas about women's empowerment. Which we had a good conversation about.
Specifically, I wrote about the ideas that "women process information better than men," "men do not look out for women's best interests, but if women were in power, they would just look out for themselves," "through education and voting rights, women can have power," "give women a chance to have power, see what they do," "do women really want to be treated like the stereotypical definition of "ladies" is?" "listen to what everyone has to say - give everyone a chance in the process," "women have to be vocal about what they need - come out of the closet!" "women can't just build up a burst of things to unload - share it immediately instead of bottling it up," and finally, "make a time machine so that we can go back and create equality from the very beginning."
I am not saying that those are my ideas or all of our thoughts - they were just thoughts that came up during our lively discussion. Thank you for that!
Debrief Seminar: I asked Archana and Brandon to share what both groups thought of. I am not going to recap this, because if you did not take notes during this part of class, I am not going to enable you to not listen and just come online to find out. However, if you do have any questions about what I am asking you to do for homework, please let me know. ----
Finally, we had a (very) short debate today in class about the best Southern California frozen treat place. I mentioned Pinkberry, Yogurt Land, and Jamba Juice (which apparently has oatmeal as a menu item now). However, as one of my SoCal friends pointed out to me later, when I told her about the debate, I made an egregious (which means really bad) mistake in not including the best one of them all, Golden Spoon. Just a terrible oversight on my part, and I profusely apologize to the store owners of the many Golden Spoon's I have had. Glad to have that off my conscience.
The Blazers play tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 PST in Indiana (CSN). Unfortunately, I will be in class for the entire game. Ugh. I will be at school, subbing for Mrs. DeFrance tomorrow (and I will be at Westview every day for the rest of the year, actually), so please come see me if you have any questions or concerns. Please finish up your late work (especially those essays) and revisions by Thursday!
LATE EDIT: Zack T. has made a group for our class NCAA tournament bracket, which can be found here: ESPN.com - Tournament Challenge "1st period globstud". The password to get into the group (you will have to create a free member profile first) is westviewglobstud - all lowercase. Zack and I are already in the group, who wants to bring it on? :-)
As requested, the full Wilson Football 2003 Highlight Video. I am #64, Ryan is #15. Our quarterback, Sean Setzer, who went on to play for Utah State (I saw him this year in Eugene against the Ducks) is #4. Joe Bozikovich, who got a scholarship to Boise State and started for the last two years for them is #67. Also, enjoy random appearances of my brother yelling on the sidelines and other fun stuff, like the clip Ryan showed in class, our head coach with the words at the end, and the rest of the 2003 PIL City Champion (9-0) football team. I was always the first person down field to celebrate touchdowns. :-)
Good afternoon class!
With that fun introduction out of the way (I can't wait to hear the comments...), welcome to the Class Recap! A really fun, deep, and interesting day today, thank you! Even though I could really barely talk, you kept us on track and engaged in what we were doing!
I am going to try to remember to link to all of the things I talked about and we discussed in class (citing my information!), but also attempt to keep the blog length down, because I know that last time was a whole heck of a lot. Let's see how I do with that!
Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? What impact can women in the Middle East have on policy? - I asked what "policy" means, and got a few good responses, like the rules and laws that are made by government, as well as the projects and proposals that they support.
Soundtrack: "Rock the Casbah" by The Clash. Lyrics here. Wikipedia has a really interesting background on the song: Wikipedia.com - "Rock the Casbah". As I said in class, one possibility of the song's meaning is about the banning of rock music in Iran. Also, a song featured in many commercials, and Will Smith used it as the beat for his song "Will 2k" on his album Willenium. You can watch the video for that song here.
AGENDA 3/12/09: Hand Back Work News Brief Guest Speaker The Women’s Perspective Seminar Discussion
Homework: Do something that you have been putting off for a while (homework, chores, apologizing, etc). Check blog!
I have a full 10 students that have not turned in even a preliminary copy of their essay. I need this fixed right away. Remember, I will give you all the help you want, but I need you to show some effort on this. Also, as part of the team mentality of the class, I need you to help me out in proving that you actually learned something from the Nigeria unit. Please be working on the essays if you have been putting it off. Otherwise, find something else that you really think it is about time you did. Post it, if you want! Let me know if you have any questions!
Hand Back Work: At the start of class, I handed back the last of the essays that I had graded. If you are not happy with your grade, please make the revisions that I asked for, and ask me any questions about what I am expecting you to do. By and large, I liked the effort on this assignment. It is really just about getting the sequence and organization of your thoughts down. I am not expecting you to be brilliant essay writers yet, but I am expecting good effort and a good attitude! Let's get through this together!
News Brief: I went over the essential questions, days until Scout's birthday (12), soundtrack, agenda, and homework, as well as asked the class a little bit about what was going on. We talked a little bit about the Blazers, and I mentioned that Blazers Edge is a site that really any good Blazer fan should be checking up on, because it is seriously fantastic.
Andrew then brought in an article about the "Slumdog Millionaire" children and what sort of life they will have now that they are back in India. Here's a great TIME magazine article on them: Time.com - "What Will Happen to Slumdog's Child Stars?". Really cool kids, and a really great movie that I think just about everyone would enjoy. Thanks for bringing that topic up Andrew! Next class on Tuesday it is Kurtis's turn (despite his pleas) to bring in an article that has something to do with the world outside the United States.
Guest Speaker: This was really a treat for me - to get to bring Ryan in to talk to everyone and see you guys! Literally, I just found out for sure that he would be able to come in yesterday, on his trip from Los Angeles up to Seattle. Thanks for paying such close attention to what he was saying! His website for the trip to the inauguration is Biking for Obama and his new website is Ryan With The Bike. Check out those cool graphics! Ryan talked about his trip to Mali (you can check out the website he created to document his trip here: Oxy.edu - Ryan Bowen), the importance of sports in Rwanda, as well as a little about his trip across America to Washington D.C.
I linked to this right after the inauguration, but in case you are interested, here is the picture that you can zoom in and find Ryan, if you look really hard! Gigapan - Inauguration. I am not sure what other sites Ryan would want me to link to, as he is currently napping on my couch downstairs. Busy guy! Maybe he will post in the comments and answer any other questions you might have? We will see!
The Women's Perspective: Okay, this was absolutely fantastic. I asked you to get out your interview notes (which I forgot to collect, and I am kicking myself because I really wanted to see those - hopefully I will remember next class and give you credit) and talk about what the person you interviewed had to say about the struggles of women across the globe. This was an incredibly interesting discussion - so much so that I took a picture of the thoughts that we came up with on the board:
A few things that I noted that I wanted to link to. We talked about the differences in pay across the board between what women make and what men make, even here in America, and even though it is illegal. A good article breaking down the reasons behind how this happens can be found here: About.com - GAO Report: Why Women Still Make Less Than Men. The article cites the U.S. Government as saying that women make about 80 cents for every 1 dollar a man makes. Remember, if you ever feel like you are being discriminated against (for your gender, race, religion, etc), report it as soon as you can. The legislation that President Obama signed on this front was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
I also talked about the concept of "mutually assured destruction" in response to Aaron's question about women being able to carry firearms for protection. It is an interesting Second Amendment issue - if everyone had a gun, would we really all be better off? Or if we took away firearms from everyone except a select few (like police officers), would crime really be reduced?
Furthermore, I cited an article that I remembered reading about how much a stay at home mom would earn if someone really thought about all the things that they do. To my great delight, I was able to find that article here: CNN.com - "Being a mom could be a 6-figure job". The best part:
"Salary.com determined that a stay-at-home mother might be paid as much as $134,121 for her contributions as a housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, janitor and CEO, among other functions."
EDIT: The most recent estimate of a stay at home mom's worth can be found here.
Finally, the last point that I can remember about needing to post was about the Equal Rights Amendment that was proposed to the Constitution. This is the entire proposed law:
Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.
Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.
Now, if I say something like "this amendment failed due to conservative women" in class, I had better be able to back that claim up. Though I would definitely encourage you to do some of your own research if you are interested, here is an excellent breakdown of the debate from the opposition to the ERA: A Short History of the ERA.
Anyway, tons of great discussion, and I really like how we turned it into thinking about how women in the Middle East have many of the same struggles, but without even close to as much political power (yet). Well done, everyone. Hopefully discussions like that are why you enjoy coming to class, because I certainly think so.
Seminar Discussion: We did not get to this, but I did hand out the article for you to read if you want for next week (though as I said, I will give you time in class to read it before our discussion). Basically, I am going to have you highlight or think about ways that the women in the article are trying to have a voice, whether or not you think it is going to work, and finally, going back to the essential question, what impact the women of the Middle East can have on policy. Sound good? ---
Ryan took some great pictures of the class, but I am hesitant to post any of the ones with students in them, due to confidentiality restrictions. However, here is a good one of your faithful teacher, excited as always:
Have a wonderful long weekend! Enjoy it, but please be productive at the same time! Blazers game tomorrow (Friday) against New Jersey at home (7:00, CSN) before a five game road trip starts on Sunday (Atlanta, 10:00 AM, CSN) and continues on Monday at Memphis (5:00 PM, KGW). Also, watch a new episode of The Office, tonight at 9:00 on NBC! Other than that, have a fantastic weekend and enjoy the sunny weather while it lasts! Thanks for a great class!
Thank you for an interesting day. I definitely feel like I was not on the top of my game, due to the complete lack of sleep and sore throat, but you carried me quite nicely. I always like bringing in good topics for discussion, and today was another great day for that. However, I am becoming increasingly concerned about the use of general class discussions as a way to hear student voices, because to be honest, I know many of you have amazing things to contribute, but choose not to do so (and thus, get to tune out). We have got to get past that! I may have to go back to the playing cards or something.
Anyway, it was wonderful to see you all and start the new unit! Obviously, we are in the very beginning stages, but I think it will be something that you like. Next class, we are going to go over the basics of what the Middle East is (answers to the same kinds of questions I asked your groups to answer today) and why we are studying it.
Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? What impact can women in the Middle East have on policy?
Soundtrack: "Mesopotamia" by The B-52's. Lyrics here. Again, I love this song because of the lyrics "I am no student, of ancient culture," which is a great line for when you have just finished a test of some sort. As I talked a little bit in class, Mesopotamia is the region around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which includes most of Iraq and some other Middle Eastern countries. It is frequently referred to as the "cradle of civilization" or part of the "Fertile Crescent."
AGENDA 3/10/09: Hand Back Work/Weekend/Collegiality News Brief What is the Middle East? Domestic Violence Queen Noor
Homework: Interview (take notes!) an adult female about any possible struggles that she perceives women have in the world and/or in America.
The assignment should be fairly clear. I am interested to see what you can get out of these! As a heads up, I will be collecting your notes next class, so please write neatly. Also, please get your essay done and turned in by Wednesday, if you have not done it. This is your opportunity to get it done without too much credit being lost! Please let me know if you have any questions on this.
Hand Back Work/Weekend/Collegiality: At the beginning of class, I handed back the essays that I had graded this weekend and explained why (I think these are fairly good excuses) I could not get them all done - getting sick after playing basketball on Saturday (which you could still hear, I'm sure), and the car/bike accident I was involved in yesterday.
I talked about my writing symbols on the papers, which I really did try to grade thoroughly but easily. All I really want are five paragraphs of five sentences, organized in the way that we talked about in class. Let me know if you are still confused about this in any way.
Other points: the feedback from the exit tickets last class good to know! The main things were about how to start essays (thesis, hook?), how to format paragraphs (is it necessary?), and that the questions are too general (how to put in Nigeria?). I will maintain for the rest of the class (and probably the rest of my life) that just giving you facts to give right back to me is not really a good way to check if you are learning anything or not. When you actually create something new off of what has been given to you, in order to answer an essential question, you are much more likely to form a real understanding of something.
I also talked about what collegiality in the classroom means. I pointed that out, because I would like to think that we are all colleagues, working towards the goal of really understanding something. I say that, because honestly, there are days that I come in and am blown away by what the class has to say, in framing an issue in a way I have not considered before, or asked questions that I have no idea how to answer. This is good! We have created a classroom environment that is all about learning! Thus, do not hesitate to give me honest feedback about how you think things are going. If you really want to take an issue with something, you know that I am always open to it. On the other hand, please know that I definitely do not see it as "sucking up" or "brown nosing" if you have positive comments about the class. I need to hear those too, so I know what is going well!
News Brief: Carson brought in an excellent (and timely) article on a suicide bombing at an Iraqi police academy. Here is a link to the article (or one really close to it): IHT.com - "Iraq police academy bomb kills 28". As I said in class, this is a really interesting way for people that are not satisfied with the U.S. and our role in shaping their country. By bombing police recruits (who, by the way, are reportedly VERY hard to come by, to the point that I have heard that there are sometimes 5 American trainers for every 1 Iraqi), the people who disagree with us are making sure that other Iraqi's do not cooperate out of fear. Lots of things to think about! Thanks Carson! Andrew K, you are up for Thursday. One current article, having to do with anything outside of the United States.
What is the Middle East? This was a really fun activity to do and for me to see! I was not sure how it was all going to work out when I planned it, but everyone definitely brought in some interesting general impressions. I loved Brandon's question of if I was going to Wordle it or not. I did not really need to, did I? I remember the main impressions were "Muslim," "terrorist," "oil," "turban," and "Osama." Sure enough, I will bet that the rest of the the United States would probably agree with you. However, you guys know me too well at this point. This was a good set up for the rest of the unit.
Domestic Violence: I masterfully transitioned to this part by asking the class what leaders that you could think about in Africa or the Middle East. After a good little guessing game, Zach N. (possibly with the help of Abe) noted that they were all men. Yes! I asked if gender was a possibility of a structure of power, and I think the general consensus was that it was. Someone (I think it might have been Nolan) asked me if there were any women that are currently heads of state, but not royalty. The one big example that I could think of was Angela Merkel, who is the current chancellor of Germany and one of the most powerful women in the world. The other question I asked was why it was so unusual for women to have power up until very recently (and perhaps, still).
I then set up the following clip by saying that we really needed to be serious about the effects of domestic violence because the statistics say that it has almost certainly affected someone in our class or a friend. I did not have those statistics on hand in class, but here they are, and they are horrifying: Find Counseling.com - Domestic Violence Statistics. An estimated 25% of women in America will experience physical abuse in their lifetime, and around the world, the number is more like one in three. Furthermore, only about 50% of domestic violence is reported. THIS IS INSANE! Guys, I could not imagine a less talked about issue of vital importance for overall health. I am glad that your health classes have talked a little bit about it. I specifically wanted to look at how the Middle East, which has a really big stereotype of repressed women (we noted in class the clothing that sometimes covers everything except the eyes). Here is the video that I showed twice:
We had a good class discussion about the imagery used in the video to portray violence afterward, as well as general impressions. Everyone, I am really serious about this. If you bear witness to a physically abusive relationship, it is not ever okay. Especially if you are directly a part of one. You need to get help and speak out, not only for the safety of those around you, but for your own personal well being. The counselors at Westview are absolutely incredible, and would be amazing at helping you out. This goes for any relationship that you are in as far as high school dating goes too.
This was all kicked off by this Chris Brown/Rihanna insanity that was recapped well in class. However, I have a few links for you to check out as well. Here is a really good article talking about the basics (supposedly) of what happened, as well as the question on everyone's mind: why in the world would you get back together with someone that did this? CNN.com - "Commentary: Brown-Rihanna case's dangerous message"
Two, Katie Couric (and Oprah, who apparently is devoting her entire show on Thursday to domestic violence) have really stepped up to the plate for using this incident to get the word out there that domestic violence needs to be talked about and stopped. In particular: HuffingtonPost.com - "Katie Couric on Rihanna & Chris Brown: Talk to Your Children". Insane statistics about teen sexual and physical abuse in that article as well: 20% of teens will experience some kind of assault at the hands of their partner.
Also, CNN had a fascinating article (which if you only click on one link today, this should be it) up today about how to avoid abusive people. CNN.com - "How to avoid dating an abusive creep". I have extremely high confidence in everyone in our class, but this is something to constantly be on the lookout for.
Queen Noor: One of the most amazing people and stories I have heard of. A real life fairy tale! It's like the Princess Diaries, only better (by the way, totally watched both those movies like 5 times with my sister). Here is her official biography from the Jordan government's website. Just fascinating. I mentioned her book, Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life in class. I know that my mom really liked it!
Anyway, I introduced her as a way to think outside what you would normally think a Middle Eastern Queen is. I showed the following video in class and asked everyone to write down what she is proposing that women do in the Middle East. This originally aired in 2007, on the almost always interesting "Situation Room" with Wolf Blitzer.
We did not end up with a whole lot of time to debrief this, but I think it was very valuable to see someone who was originally American, spoke extremely eloquently, dressed in a western style, and also happened to be a Queen and a Muslim. Again, combat stereotypes!
What we did get to talk a little about was how she was calling for women to unify across the Middle East. I pointed out that women are actually the majority in the world, and I said I would post a link on the blog. However, finding proof of this is somewhat difficult, because there are a ton of factors that come into play (like the amount of female babies that are aborted in China because of the "one child policy" and so forth). So maybe I had better retract that statement. I am fairly sure that I heard in my college biology class that the odds of being born female are slightly higher than male though.
Another thing that Queen Noor mentioned very briefly (before being cut off) was Rwanda, which has the most women in its government out of any country in the world, I am fairly sure. Link: AFP.com - "In a world first, women in the majority in Rwanda legislature". This was just last year. Wow, we still have a long way to go.
I am really wanting to focus a lot of our analysis from the viewpoint of women in the Middle East. It was a really interesting way to approach this unit, that is for sure! ---
Remember to interview an adult woman on struggles that she sees for women in America and/or around the world. I am looking for a half a page of notes here. Feel free to ask your own questions - be the reporter!
Our amazing Blazers will play Dallas tomorrow at 7:00 on KGW (Ch. 8), almost certainly without Rudy Fernandez (but all indications are that he will be fine). I will not be on campus tomorrow, because I really need to be able to sleep to kick this sore throat, and I still have to come in on Friday, so I will miss seeing everyone in the halls! I will definitely hope to have all of your essays and work back, but please continue to make up anything that you need to submit, re-submit, or revise!
Also, it is possible that I may have a special guest speaker for the class on Thursday. Be excited for that! Have a great evening! :-)
My intramural basketball team at WOU, which won the 2007 championship (and those sweet T-Shirts), out of 32 teams. From left to right: Clarke, Kyle, Brandon, Mr. Fritz (without beard!), and Cody. Not pictured: Jake, who had to miss the final game. Basketball = an activity that I love! Remember to do your homework by doing an activity that you love this weekend and reporting back!
Hello class!
What a positively BEAUTIFUL day out! I really hope that you have found some way to enjoy it, because coming Sunday, more snow is in the forecast! I enjoyed what we did in the assembly shortened class today. Thank you for your engagement in what we were doing! I am especially excited to read the Nigeria final essays and see your thoughts on the essential questions of the unit.
Strange to think about, right? Next week we will begin to move out of Africa, into the Middle East! All sorts of new and extremely interesting things to talk about. That is what I will be doing for most of this weekend (besides playing some basketball, to fulfill my own assignment): grading papers, writing papers, and writing the unit plan for the next few weeks. Any suggestions on things that you would like to do? Let me know!
Essential Questions: How do different structures of power impact the people over whom they govern? Why do some countries thrive while others fail?
Soundtrack: "Duel of the Fates" by John Williams. There are no lyrics that make sense for this song, but the music video (which apparently appeared 11 times on TRL, according to Wikipedia) can be found here. Man, I love Star Wars. Also, chosen because you probably had to really duel with that essay. :-)
Homework: Mandatory activity that you love. Spring forward! Check blog!
I am not kidding about this assignment. You MUST do something that you love doing (again, I will caution you that your activity has to be safe and legal please) and be prepared to report back on how it went in the comments section of this blog (if possible) and in-class next Tuesday. Have fun with this, but do not take this assignment lightly! Something that you truly, really, love to do. I am excited to hear about what everyone can come up with!
News Brief: At the start of class, I asked about what everyone was excited for this weekend. We then went over the essential questions, soundtrack, and agenda, before diving right in to talking about Andrew's article, which was probably this one: CNN.com: British cruise ship in 'pirate attack' scare. Way to bring something in about Somalia! It is hard to believe that more than 1,000 people were taking a cruise off the Gulf of Aden, though the story does say that it was an around the world trip. Certainly one way to spend your hard earned cash! It's like the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland, only real. Thanks for the article Andrew! Carson, you are next up for Tuesday! An current news article, having to do with anything outside the United States, please.
Homework: I really enjoyed this discussion. Some of the words that I heard tossed about when I asked what your general impressions of homework (throughout your life) were: stressful, inconsistent, time consuming, inconvenient, good practice, and lack of communication. At least, that is what I can remember. We also talked about homework specifically in my class, and there were some interesting suggestions and feedback that came out. Specifically, we talked about the idea of having someone be able to make up credit through other activities, which I struggle with a little bit as a teacher. Ultimately, the main goal of any class is actual learning taking place. I think that can come in a variety of different forms.
I will pledge to keep considering the amount of homework that I give, when I give it, and other avenues to get credit. As Zack T. pointed out, it is not really fair to have someone slack off for an entire term, and then turn it on at the very end to pass the class, while someone else might be getting everything in on time, but still struggling with the concepts. We also talked about my class and how we use homework in class to prove other points. Very rarely (if ever) do I give you homework that does not have some specific use in class that can translate to direct learning. Also, I would point out that the reason that we almost never do worksheets out of the textbook is because Social Studies is not about memorizing facts and figures for tests that you are immediately going to forget (trust me, I have been there too). In this class, I really want to have us be focused on abstract problems that promote different ways for you to think about an issue (this is called critical thinking). Anyway, it was a very good discussion to have, so thank you again for participating.
The Office & Nigeria: I started off this section by showing the class a clip from the currently running commercial promoting Tanzania (Brooke's African country) as a tourist destination:
Now doesn't that look absolutely incredible? Tell me that you do not want to go climb Mount Kilimanjaro now! A great final reminder that Africa is a continent that can and should be traveled to.
Next, I showed a clip from The Office episode "Michael's Birthday," from Season 2. I cannot find it online, but if you have the money, I cannot more strongly recommended buying or renting Season 2 of The Office on DVD. Really one of the best television seasons in history. The point of showing the clip was to see Michael say "when the son of the deposed King of Nigeria e-mails you for help, you help!" We then went on to talk about the threats of the Nigerian scam e-mails. In particular, I showed you the Snopes.com article on the fraud. Also, you may want to check out the Wikipedia article on advance-fee fraud. It is crazy to think that the roots of the scam are in the 1920s! I also mentioned that Citibank had recently fallen prey to the scam too, and almost lost 27 million dollars. Read the New York Times article to learn more. Finally, this whole thing is so big that the US Embassy has an entire website, with sample e-mails, devoted to countering it.
Again, the point of this was to really let you know to NEVER click on any links in any e-mails that are asking you to input passwords (no matter how legit it looks), give money, or get personal information from you. The very high likelihood is that it is a fraud.
Essay Peer Review/Sharing: I liked this! I am concerned about those of you who neglected to turn it in today (please e-mail me as soon as possible with any missing work!), but overall, I think that this part of the class went well. I really enjoyed hearing those thesis sentences! The vast majority sounded great. As I stated in class, I will have them graded and given back to you by next class.
Exit Tickets: Thank you again for filling these out and providing feedback on the essay writing process and class in general. I will definitely look over them all and try to address any problems that I see in class next week. As always, if you ever have anything else you feel uncertain about, please come talk to me, comment here, or e-mail. I really do care about what you have to say and want to work hard for you! At this point I think it is pretty hard to deny that. Let's make it a two-way street! :-) ---
Blazers are at home tomorrow against Minnesota (7:00, CSN) and Monday against the Lakers (7:00, CSN). It also happens to be my brother's birthday, but since he is all the way across the country in New Jersey, I am thinking the e-mail and phone call will have to do. Hopefully I will be getting some good basketball time in - I will be sure to comment on how that goes as well! Today's lunch game was way too short, but definitely still fun. We played in the gym, and eventually got some 5 on 5 going! Alas, the pep assembly had to kick us out, but it was great to see all of you that showed up to play!
Thank you so much for your hard work this week everyone! Enjoy the weekend off and come refreshed for next week! Tell everyone about doing the activity that you love in the comments!
My brother Maxwell and me, after the commencement ceremony at Western Oregon University, 2008.
Good afternoon class!
I am attempting to get this update up quickly, so those students that need to access the internet at school can check it out before leaving. Today was a day of highs and lows, I think. I loved our discussion on what creates happiness (especially as it relates to thinking about successful countries) and I think that the teaching essays part could have gone much better. As Mrs. DeFrance pointed out to me after class, if there are long periods of silence when I ask for questions, that usually means that almost everyone is confused or does not get what I am asking. So I am interested to see what you can create - maybe you were all completely on board with everything? I doubt it, but we will see.
Essential Questions: How do different structures of power impact the people over whom they govern? Why do some countries thrive while others fail?
Soundtrack: "Smile Like You Mean It" by The Killers. Lyrics here. I really enjoyed the guessing game for why I picked this song! All of your thoughts were very good connections! Yes, I like to smile a lot and am almost always optimistic about things. I have found it goes a long way toward happiness! I also picked this because of our continuing talk on essays, asking you to smile like you actually meant it when we were talking about them.
AGENDA 3/4/09: Hand Back Work (Sources) News Brief The Pursuit of Happiness Easy Essays
Homework: Final draft of essay finished, to hand in, TYPED. Check blog!
The final essay assignment, which we went over pretty thoroughly in class, can be downloaded here if you lost your copy:
As I stated in class, what I really need is for a clear thesis statement in the first paragraph, followed by the next three paragraphs (or sections) based on a topic sentence (explain what the paragraph is going to be about), two concrete details (what are the facts that support your claim?), a commentary by you (remember, do not use "I" in this paper), and finally, a concluding sentence. This is for each of the three middle sections. Finally, your concluding paragraph should restate the thesis and tell the reader what you just went over.
I know this is a lot, but please use your yellow papers to help you with this! They will help you break down each sentence in a very easy to follow manner. I should have done a better job promoting this in class. If you feel like you can write this essay without help, that is fine. However, I think most of you would greatly benefit from having your thoughts laid out on that paper first.
Remember to have someone else read it before you print off your final copy! I would be happy to take a look and suggest changes if you need. Just e-mail me and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible.
Cite your sources please! Not only inside the paper, but the more complete version at the very end! Here is the website that I think will help many of you out:Purdue University - MLA and Style Guide. Go all the way to the bottom of that page to see how you can cite various different sources (whether they are online or in a book, or something else).
Again, do not hesitate to ask questions! I know that there must be many! Let me know and I will help you, seriously! :-)
News Brief: Alondra brought in a very interesting and timely article on the Sri Lankan cricket team being attacked in Pakistan. Her article can be found here: CSMonitor.com - "Militant attack on cricket team in Pakistan could backfire". Wow, Pakistan really is an area that everyone should pay a whole lot of attention to. I also brought up in class that I was just listening to this story on the way into school this morning. Class, I could not more highly recommend that you listen to NPR (National Public Radio) news whenever you can. It is 91.5 FM here in the Portland Metro area and just outstanding when it comes to talking about the world. Thank you Alondra for the article! Andrew H., you are up for next class on Friday. One current article, having to do with anything outside the United States.
The Pursuit of Happiness: No, not the movie (which spells happiness as "happyness"). Though the discussion this section sparked was probably more interesting than any movie could have been! Here are the two articles that I projected for the class: BBC.co.uk - "Nigeria tops happiness survey" and BusinessWeek.com - America's Unhappiest City: Portland, OR. I do not think I need to recap our class discussion, but I loved all the stories that you brought to it! It is definitely something to think about when you consider how Nigeria is affected by changes in government, or whether or not it is thriving or failing. What is your definition? That is what I want to see in those essays! A fantastic way to get into the lecture on essays, thank you.
Easy Essays: Okay, this was difficult, I am not going to lie to you. As I said at the beginning of this post, I am not entirely sure how much of this actually got through to everyone, especially because the PowerPoint was uncharacteristically pretty dull. Almost all the information that it had is on your yellow sheet and assignment handout, but here it is again, should you wish to review it:
I think everything else I pretty much covered in the "Homework" section above, so go back up to that if you need further clarification. Of course, you are more than welcome to comment as well. ---
That should do it! Breaking news: I have tickets to the Blazers/Pacers game tonight! The opportunity came up really unexpectedly, but I am thrilled. However, this means that I will probably have very little opportunity to answer your comments until much later tonight. Also, since tomorrow is the second B day of the week and I will not be at Westview full time until after Spring Break, I will not be at the school tomorrow. However, Mrs. DeFrance knows that some of you might need to go to the computer lab, and I told her to hand out passes as needed, so please go check with her. Remember to watch the Blazers tonight (7:00, CSN), and tomorrow night in Denver (7:30, TNT), as well as The Office tomorrow (9:00, NBC), but ONLY if you have all of your homework, including your essay, done first! :-)
Let's work together on this! Please put a lot of effort into these essays - you will be rewarded, not just in my class. Have a fantastic afternoon!
A picture I took of an elephant at the Oregon Zoo, last year. Yes, there are elephants in Nigeria. Hopefully, not lonely ones.
Hello and welcome to another class recap!
I'm going to try and take my time on this one, because hopefully all of you will be checking out this post after the talk we had in class today about the importance of following along online. Today was a good class, though I can sense that there is a lot of angst and confusion about the essays. That's okay, really. For Wednesday, I just want you to have as much written as you can think of. It will truly help you.
Essential Questions: How do different structures of power impact the people over whom they govern? Why do some countries thrive while others fail? - Again, we are really starting to try and hone in on answering these questions!
Soundtrack: "The Circle of Life" by The Lion King (Broadway Musical). Lyrics here. I picked this song because it (as we all know) is related to Africa. That, and it's just plain a great song. I told you a little bit about my job working at the airport - I remembered after class that I actually had a cell phone video of my friend Clarke doing the "Circle of Life" song with the "Last Bag" tag from Lufthansa, so if you feel like it, watch below and laugh at how awesome we are.
As I said in class, I would highly recommend The Lion King musical, if you ever get the chance to see it. I'm really not that into theatre, but it was outstanding when I saw it in London in 2007.
AGENDA 3/2/09: Blog Recap News Brief Pen Pal Letters Essays - Rough Draft Work
Homework: Rough draft of essay finished. Check blog!
I'll talk a lot more about this in the essays section below, but basically, I want you to bring in a rough draft essay, trying to answer the essential questions of: How do different structures of power impact the people over whom they govern? Why do some countries thrive while others fail? - especially in relation to what you know about Nigeria already. There are tons of tools at your disposal for this, but let me know if you are having trouble with ideas. I have no length requirement, but I will say that if you follow the introduction, three main points, and conclusion format that we talked about for the persuasive speeches, you will be fine. Remember, this is for you to express your opinion, because it matters!
Blog Recap: This is self-explanatory. I pulled up the class recap from last class, read everything aloud, showed the class how to post a comment, and tried to make the point that reading the blog and knowing about what is going on in class is very much related to your success.
News Brief: Some of this happened before the blog recap, but to make the flow better, I am putting it here. I asked the class about the weekend. I remember Jazmyne telling us about the chili cook off that she attended at McKenzie's house. I told the class about my intramural success (or lack of it) at Lewis and Clark on the weekend. Archana recapped the Blazers game (and by the way, Archana must have taken the Blazers performance to heart, because she was amazing the entire period long at staying involved with what was going on), which was fantastic.
Jillian shared a news article with the class about Iran. I'm guessing this was not the exact article, because it was published two hours ago, but here is a similar one: LA Times.com - "U.S. commits to arms control, engaging with Iran". This brought up a lot of interesting questions! We talked about the "Axis of Evil" (which I believe I also linked to when we were talking about North Korea). I also asked the question, "does Iran scare you?" This is probably the most important area in the world as far as U.S. foreign policy goes. Do we try to talk them out of developing a nuclear weapon, if they are? Do we use force (again) to intervene? Difficult questions! Excellent article Jillian, thank you. Alondra, you are up for next class. One current news article, having to do with something outside the United States please.
Pen Pal Letters: I really liked this activity, thanks everyone! I asked you to read over someone's letter, and then we came together as a class to discuss aspects of a good pen pal letter. I actually graded all of these already (it is amazing what I can do when I am not correcting or writing comments), and almost everyone that turned it in today got a 10/10, because they were fantastic. Incredibly heart warming too, by the way. I'm glad that it seems you took this assignment to heart. I also liked the "P.S.: Tell me about your culture" that was added to a few. That made me chuckle. All in all, job well done. I gave these to Mrs. DeFrance to send on over to Nigeria. I will let you know once I hear anything about them again. :-)
By the way, as agreed upon, I will have your Africa Travel Guides graded and returned to you on Wednesday. So far, they are amazing!
Essays - Rough Draft Work: I can hear the groans now. By the way, I loved the groans when I said "just watch me get fired up about writing essays!" That was a highlight of the day for me. Okay, let's go over this nice and slowly.
As a form of introduction to thinking about writing an essay on a question that is completely up to you, I asked Jillian, who was nearest to the window, her opinion about what the weather was outside. She said that it was sunny. I told her that she was wrong and that it was partly cloudy. For some reason, the class seemed to conclude that I must have been right, because I am the teacher. Really? So if it was snowing outside, and I said that it was sunny, would I still be right? I think it's weird how students sort of expect that teachers are never, ever wrong about things. I know that I did it in school too.
The point here being that both Jillian and I could have made good cases for why we thought the weather was the way that it was outside. We could have cited evidence like "about 5% of the sky has clouds in it, over there on the horizon" or "there is rain on the ground" or "the sun is clearly hitting the trees outside" to back up our case. This is clearly almost exactly what I am asking you to do when you are writing your essay in response to the essential questions on Nigeria. What do you think?
How has the recent transformation from a dictatorship to a democracy affected the people in Nigeria? Do you think that Nigeria is "thriving" or failing? Again, this is not really a persuasive paper, it is more of a "here is the evidence which proves the point" paper. We are going to talk a lot in class on Wednesday about building points around a thesis, but here is a great little website that should help in the meantime: The Five Paragraph Essay.
I had some interesting comments after class from a student that said that there was no way that Nigeria was not failing. Really? That is an interesting perspective. Take a look at the PowerPoint again:
I see at LEAST five extremely positive things going on in Nigeria that a good case could be built around in that presentation, should you choose to go that route when talking about why some countries thrive while others fail.
Finally, I know this is hard. I know that many of you are having an extremely difficult time even knowing where to start with this. That is fine. However, if you work with me here, I guarantee it will pay off in the long run.
---
There is a special two hour long 24 tonight starting at 8:00, which I am pumped about, but I have to meet with some of my fellow teachers at Lewis and Clark to watch our delightful in-class videos at 7:00, so I'm hoping to make it back in time. Until next class, please continue to work hard and comment or e-mail me with any questions or concerns. Have a great evening!
