Period 1: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 17 - Class Recap

The flags of Israel and Palestine, along with the word Peace, written in Hebrew and Arabic.
Good morning amazing students!

Thank you for the class today! I really liked the participation in what we did, as well as all the really interesting news items, feedback on my handwriting (see, another reason why the blog is great), talk about the papers, Kierra's presentation, and your thoughts while watching Promises. We will continue watching the film and discussing our thoughts about it next class. Now, time for the recap!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? How can the Middle East be stabilized?

Soundtrack: "Look into My Eyes" by Outlandish. I read the lyrics out loud to the class, but since I know I blew by them, please check them out again and think about how it relates to the Palestinian perspective! Look into My Eyes Lyrics. Also, you can watch the really interesting and symbolic music video for the song here.

AGENDA 5/5/09:
News Brief
Talking Papers
Student Presentations
Promises

Homework: Turn in late work. Read blog recap!

Also, as we talked about in class, if you want to revise your explanation paper for the creative product, please go ahead and do that. Try to have those in by next class, if possible please!

News Brief: Wow, lots of really interesting things to talk about today! I am not sure if I can remember all of the items of interest that were brought up, but I will try. Tanya talked about a Hispanic man being killed by three white people. I am not sure if this was the event she was talking about, but right now, two white men are on trial for killing an illegal immigrant in Pennsylvania last year. That interesting article can be found here: NYTimes.com - 2 White Youths on Trial in Killing of a Mexican.

I used this to talk about illegal immigration in relation to the swine flu, and how there are some people that are trying to make the case that this flu is some sort of proof that Mexican people should not be allowed into the country, or that they are in some way being used as a biological attack, and that we should immediately close the border with Mexico. A great source for looking at this kind of talk is: MediaMatters.org - Paranoia pandemic: Conservative media baselessly blame swine flu outbreak on immigrants.

Continuing with the swine flu related talk, I pointed out some really interesting (and possibly comedic) international relations that have been strained through the flu fears: FT.com - Mexico hits at China on quarantine policy.

I mentioned that it is Cinco de Mayo today. As always, Wikipedia has a great recap (note all the sources) of the holiday: Cinco de Mayo.

Someone noted that the Portland LumberJax, the professional lacrosse team here in town, will probably be leaving, to Ben's (and a whole lot of other people) dismay. Here's the source on that: OregonLive.com - LumberJax done in Portland, team announces. EDIT: WOW! Talk about random. Look on the sidebar in that article, and there is a post about Westview vs. Southridge Lacrosse! Apparently, here are the highlights from the game on May 2nd! Seriously, EVERYTHING is connected somehow. Ben, what is your number? :-)

We talked some more (surprise, surprise) about the swine flu and the threat of it closing down schools. I maintain that if you want school to be closed because people are getting sick with a potentially dangerous disease, YOU are the one that is really sick. :-) In fact, check out this current article about the practicality of closing schools because of the virus: CNN.com - Officials tell schools not to close for swine flu.

John brought in a news article about some of the reaction to the H1N1 flu virus in the Middle East: CNN.com - Egyptian farmers protest mandatory swine slaughter. I would have to say that I think an order to slaughter every pig, regardless of whether or not they have the flu, is probably an overreaction. That is just me though. At least they are freezing the meat and giving it back to the farmers after the threat is over. Thanks for bringing this in, John!

By the way, Jordon asked what CNN stands for. It actually stands for the really dull "Cable News Network." I noted in class that the "MS" in MSNBC stands for MicroSoft.

I'm sure there was more that we talked about too! Good stuff. I really like it when you guys are paying attention to the world around you and bringing in things to talk about! Thanks for that.

Jazmyne, please bring in a news article to talk about on Thursday. Anything currently going on outside the United States. Thanks!

Talking Papers: I used this point in class to go over what I was looking for in the explanation papers for your creative product. I know that I could have structured this better, but I think that you probably got the main points of why I thought the four papers I read aloud were good. We mentioned "specificity" (hehe), as well as basics of the conflict, a real relation to what your product was actually going to do in it, as well as being thoughtful.

To those that took the papers back to revise, thank you! It is all part of the process of growing together and knowing want each side wants. Please try to have those revised and done by next class, if at all possible.

Then, for some reason, Kierra asked me to write a sentence in all capitals on the board. We will come back to this.

Student Presentations: Kierra was the only one to go today, and reluctantly (at first) showcased her incredible painting of a perspective on the conflict. Then, she really got into it and the class kept seeing more and more symbols in the painting as well! That was fun. Books are like that too. Try telling Mr. Hardin about what you think the symbolic meaning of some of the words in books are - I bet he will be impressed!

After Kierra finished, we came back to my sentence. Apparently, she wanted to see if my handwriting was any better in capitals. It is really difficult to write in all capitals, I found! The point from the class here was well taken - that my handwriting is hard to read (for some people). Thank you for raising that as an issue! I am not particularly sure how I am going to improve on this, other than writing bigger, as well as maybe going more slowly, but hey, it is good to know. Please tell me if you can't read something I wrote! That goes for on the board, as well as any feedback I give you on papers, assignments, etc. Maybe I will have to type everything again, like I did for the Rwanda speech grades. :-)

Anyway, I really love that you guys felt comfortable enough to raise it as an issue. Duly noted. After this unit, I am going to give you back your goal sheets that you did at the beginning of the term, as well as have you do a little evaluation of my teaching and the class, like we did last term. I really value all of your feedback about everything, so thanks for that!

Promises: Okay, can I tell you how much I enjoyed this? I think there was a little confusion from how I designed the "conversation" piece to the assignment - basically, I just wanted you to write as if you were writing to one of the children in the film - but overall, this was fantastic. From what I could tell, everyone knew what was going on, was actively involved in watching the film, and had some incredibly interesting thoughts to share. I am really excited to finish this up next class! Please bring those conversation pieces to class to continue!
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Good times. Sadly, I have no urgent sporting action that I am going to say that I am watching, and the Office update will be for Thursday's class. Thus, it appears that I am out of words. Too bad. Have a wonderful afternoon! See you on Thursday!

EDIT: It looks like I DO have some awesome sporting action to talk about! I found this video on the always amazing BlazersEdge.com - it gave me chills probably 5 different times. On a comedic side, I thoroughly enjoy the slide 1:10 in that reads "Despite of that they are winning a lot of games." That is HILARIOUS. I love it. Watch and enjoy! Think about all the potential that YOU have too! Someday! :-)

[T-10] Portland Trail Blazers - Someday [B2L] from Tom10 on Vimeo.