Ladakh Final, Day 1 - Class Recap

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C. Photo taken in 2011.

Dear class,

Despite widespread internet issues, we started looking at your final for the semester, which is sort of a "Choose Your Own Adventure" style piece of writing on the case study of the Ladakh. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 18: I can explain how and why world societies organize themselves and how power is established and maintained.
Critical Thinking and Analysis LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Pride (In The Name of Love)" by U2. Selected for today because the song is about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We have Monday off of school to honor Dr. King, and I showed this website in class to encourage students to do some sort of community service on Monday (as the day has increasingly been about). Lyrics here.

AGENDA 1/16/15:
News Brief – Emory
Start Ladakh Final

Homework: Read the blog. Check your updated grades and know what to do to improve! All missing/late/make up/incomplete work due to me by TUESDAY (1/20). Please read and take notes on the Ladakh reading handout to prepare for your final! Next news brief: Asha

News Brief: Emory selected an article about this story for the news brief today: CNN.com - Belgian operation thwarted 'major terrorist attacks,' kills 2 suspects. We talked about the ongoing issues in Europe with terrorism and how this might be connected to what happened in France.

Asha was selected to do the next news brief.

Start Ladakh Final: I know this was an abrupt shift from learning about the Holocaust (which we will most likely get back to after finals next week). That said, this final offers students a ton of options for making up credit and being able to demonstrate a range of proficiency standards from throughout the year so far. This is basically how it works:

1) I passed out this document, which gave the different options for learning targets on the final. Everyone will do at least LT 6, because we haven't actually had an assignment graded for it yet (although we have done a lot of work with geography):

Google Drive: Ladakh Final Test Overview and Rubric

What's great about this is that it offers a LOT of choices for students. On finals day, you will select the targets you need to demonstrate and write a short essay about the Ladakh (like a DBQ) to try and get your grade up. It is also nice, because Mr. Lathrop is going to count it (if you want) as a Writing Process score - so all the brainstorming and prewriting you do will also count towards a grade in his class.

2) After I explain the assignment, we watched this documentary on the Ladakh culture in India. I remember watching this in high school, as well - it is OLD (1993). That said, it's a really great case study for our learning targets of geography, culture, and government, as they relate to traditional and modern society. Here's the documentary to watch, if you missed class or wanted to take more notes (or had difficulty paying attention in class):

ancient futures - learning from ladakh 528x400 from Unmani on Vimeo.

Students took notes on all of the learning targets addressed in the final.

3) On finals day (here is the schedule for finals this semester), you will write a short essay on the topics you need to demonstrate proficiency on. You will have a DBQ style test - your notes from today and your notes from the homework reading will help you prepare!

I know this may be somewhat complicated, so I am happy to answer any questions about how it is all going to work! Basically, I just want to give you one last chance to demonstrate proficiency with the learning targets of the semester.

See you on Wednesday, when we will take the final!