Period 1: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 12 - Class Recap

The Rose Garden. If you are the Rockets tomorrow night, you do not want to enter it. Right? Please? Picture taken by Mr. Fritz over Spring Break.
Hello class!

A very lively day today, I thought. Lots of conversation and debate, as I expected. Hopefully everyone is getting a really clear picture of the skills we are developing through studying the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is definitely a lot to it! Let's get the recap started!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What are the factors to consider in the development of a Palestinian state?

Soundtrack: "The Warmth of the Sun" by The Beach Boys. Lyrics here. Picked because this song is secretly extremely depressing (because of the Blazers loss) and because it is forecasted to be 83 degrees today.

AGENDA 4/20/09:
Pass Back Quizzes
News Brief
Comprehending the Debate
Project Work

Homework: Continue to work on final project (bring in materials next class). Watch the Blazers game! Read recap on blog!

Everyone should have signed up on the "letter of intent" sheet. Basically, I wanted to see what you were thinking. Next class (on Thursday), bring anything that you need to help create the final project. If you are doing a skit, bring ideas for dialogue. If you are doing a collage, bring pictures, etc. Be working on this outside of class! How are you going to incorporate all of these different aspects of the conflict that we have been talking about?

The Blazers play tomorrow night (Tuesday) at 7:00 PM, on KGW (Ch. 8). We must win this game, or the series is essentially over. I will probably be live blogging again in the comments, so come back and follow along, if you like!

Pass Back Quizzes: As I stated in class, the average grade of these was 74.6%, but that is somewhat misleading because there were a few zeros. If you studied for it, I suspect that you did just fine. If you would like to retake it, I will allow you one opportunity. Please come see me if you want to.

News Brief: Aaron brought up the situation with the captain coming home from Somalia, after being held hostage. We also talked a little about President Obama shaking hands with Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela. That meeting, as well as the resulting reactions are nicely summed up here: CNN.com - Shake hands with Chavez but hold smiles, analyst says. All sorts of interesting things happen when you start paying attention to the rest of the world! I really liked how a few of you said you had heard about some of this through NPR (91.5 FM). Sweet! As long as you are interested in what is going on around the world, I am happy.

Comprehending the Debate: At this point in class, I asked everyone to think of something to debate (since I had arranged the room with two desks facing each other). After a few suggestions, we settled on the death penalty to start out with, which was helpful, because I had already prepared a Pro/Con sheet for it, which I handed out. The sheet was made using the amazingly interesting and helpful ProCon.org website. The page on the death penalty can be found here, while the "1 Minute Overview" that we used in class can be found here.

To begin, I told everyone facing the windows to argue the "Pro" position, while everyone facing the hall was "Con." We debated for about three minutes. Though this was a little loud and heated (sorry Mr. Hardin!) I think it was a great start. I then turned the tables and had everyone had to debate the side that they were just arguing against.

After this, I asked why we would do something like this. I really liked the responses! Empathy, perspective, comprehending what the issue is - all of it. Then, we argued another issue, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict! The ProCon.org page for this debate can be found here (that would definitely be a good website to look over for your project, if you have time), and the "1 Minute Overview" that we used in class can be found here.

We debated both sides of the table for three minutes each, and then came back together to write down some of the aspects of both sides. Those can be viewed here:


Some really good questions and thoughts here. Zack asked if the United States recognized (which means that we say that they are a country we will have relations with) Palestine before Israel became a country in 1948. I am still not sure about this, because I do not think that Palestine was (at least since the United States has been around) its own independent country. Once the British Mandate of control (since 1920) expired and Israel became a nation, the U.S. recognized it as independent. Source (with cool photo of President Truman's signature on the document that said we recognized Israel): Press Release - U.S. Recognition of Israel (1948).

Another question was asked about the language of Palestinians. It appears that Palestinians speak almost exclusively their own dialect of Arabic, with some infusions from Israeli Hebrew. Wikipedia - Palestinian Arabic.

Project Work: So again, how the heck are you going to get these two groups of people that have historically completely disagreed with each other, to sit down and realize that they do, in fact, have things in common and should work towards peace? I am hearing some really excellent ideas out there. Basically, I want you to utilize your talents! Are you a good artist? How about an athlete? We have talked a lot about the different things that connect countries and cultures. What do you think connects you to well to other people? I really want you to get in to this assignment!

We set the due date of next Wednesday, 4/29 for the project. After talking it over with Mrs. DeFrance (and thinking about how loud it got today with our multiple conversations), I am thinking that we may, in fact, do the class wide presentations. As you know, my main worry with this is that the presentations are boring. However, with this assignment in particular, there should be no way that you do not feel at least somewhat passionate about what you are doing. Hopefully that will translate.

Please be excited about this, and bring material to work on to class on Thursday! We will devote almost the entire time to working on this!
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Enjoy the beautiful sunny weather! 24 is tonight at 9:00 on FOX, the Blazers play Houston tomorrow night at 7:00 on KGW/NBC. Also, if you feel so inclined, I will be at the after school football meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) at 2:45 in N140. There will be pizza and about 30 minutes of a movie, so anyone that is interested in football next year (and is not in a spring sport) come stop by!

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments! See you on Thursday!