Period 1: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 10 - Class Recap

The United States provides Israel with an average of 3 billion dollars a year in military aid. I would remember that fact if I were you. Source: NYTimes.com - U.S. and Israel Sign Military Aid Deal.
Hello Period 1 students, where ever you may be!

Lots of interesting information and content to go over today. Generally, I liked how class went! We are in a very nice groove of knowing exactly how things work and what is going on at each moment, I do believe. It is wonderful to have someone in the class be able to speak and actually have everyone listen to and consider what they are saying. Let's keep it going!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What are the factors to consider in the development of a Palestinian state? - The second question is a new one, built off of our final project (which just so happens to be based off the first essential question).

Soundtrack: "Paris, Tokyo" by Lupe Fiasco. Lyrics here. This is a fantastic song for thinking about traveling around the world, and seeing all sorts of different cultures and countries. For one reason or another, the Lizzie McGuire Movie soundtrack came up, and we were trying to remember the main song. It was "Why Not?" Why not, take a crazy chance? Why not, do a crazy dance... My sister definitely would have remembered that for us.

AGENDA 4/14/09:
News Brief (Extra! Extra!)
The Israeli-Palestinian Problem
Final Project
Work/Study

Homework: Study for Middle East map quiz, on Thursday. Idea for the final project. Read recap on blog!

Yes, the Middle East map quiz is on Thursday. You should have had ample time to study and remember the countries in this incredibly important region of the world. I will provide you with the names of the countries on the quiz, but it will most likely be a slightly different map than the one I handed you to study on.

Also, I would like you to bring in one concrete idea for what you are going to do for your final project. This will be recapped in great detail below in the "Final Project" section.

News Brief (Extra! Extra!): I wrote Extra! Extra! because I knew that I wanted Abe and Zack T. to talk about their experiences at the basketball games over the weekend. I also wanted to highlight some of the recent happenings in Somalia - as you could see, I was incredibly excited to be able to instantly say "See? This is why we learned all about this!" Social Studies is all about the world around us, and it is always great to make connections to current events.

Tanya brought this current events article (or one similar) to share with the class: UPI.com - Afghan women's rights activist killed. This was absolutely excellent to bring in, thanks Tanya! It ties right in with my point about women not simply being able to "stand up and speak out" as many of the students in the class said should happen in the Middle East. Generally (there are some exceptions) it is such a difficult place in the world for women to really have an impact on making policy decisions! So much so that an extremist group is offering huge rewards for killing members of a council. Continue to be thinking about this, everyone! Brooke, you are up next for Thursday's class. One current event article, about anything outside the United States.

The Israeli-Palestinian Problem: This section of class was devoted to learning a little more about the conflicts in Israel. I handed out the notes from the PowerPoint (please come see me if you were not in class for this) and went through this presentation, asking you to take notes about things that were interesting (or in some cases, what I had just told you to write down):

The Israeli-Palestinian Problem PowerPoint
I am not sure if I like how my handing out the PowerPoint notes relates to a seeming lack of attention to the presentation. Today we were much better than the last time, but still, I would really appreciate your attention and focus when I give you a break and do not make you take enormous amounts of written notes for each slide to stay focused.

Something that came up during the PowerPoint was my love for the Olympics, and how the recent Opening Ceremony in Beijing was one of the most incredible performances I have ever seen. Ben wanted me to post a video of it. Done and done.

Final Project: Transitioning from the presentation and using all of the information we have learned about different cultures across the Middle East, I handed out the final project for this unit, which can be downloaded here:

Israel and Palestine Final Project Handout
We read this together as a class, and as promised we will go through many different aspects of what I am asking you to do over the next few class days. Again, your homework is to think of an idea that you can bring in to start working on (and get my approval) for next class.

As I said in class, the main point of this assignment is not to try and determine a Middle East peace plan between Israel and Palestine. There are some classes that do that exercise, and while I think it can be incredibly valuable, I want our class to create something that can help get us to that point. I heard many good thoughts in class today, and I also listed out a few options in the assignment. Please come see me or ask away in the comments or e-mail me if you have any questions about this project!

Work/Study: I was glad to see that we ended up with a good 15 minutes or so to study for the Middle East map quiz and think of ideas for the project. Most of this was good work, but please remember to be considerate of our neighbors next door when you are discussing your amazing ideas. :-)
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The Blazers play their final game of the season tomorrow night at 7:30 (televised nationally on ESPN), against Denver. I will be there, in Rip City Row! If the Blazers win, they are assured home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, so it is a pretty big deal. I have class at Lewis and Clark right before it from 4:30 to 7:30 (I'm hoping to get out a little early), so if I am not able to post your comment, that is why. Other than that, please be studying up, and stay active and involved in the world around you! Have a fantastic rest of the day!