Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Culture, Day 9 - Class Recap


A clock in a park in Hanoi, Vietnam. Next class will used for your DBQ essay final! Today, students took a look at the documents and began to think of possible responses for the essay. Photo taken in 2011.

Hi everyone,

Today was your first chance to look at the DBQ unit final on Culture. Next class, you will be writing an essay on the prompt "How does culture both reflect and shape society?" Here's what happened in class:

Learning Targets:
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Critical Thinking LT 1: I can explain multiple perspectives and viewpoints.
Knowledge LT 15: I can explain how culture both reflects and shapes society.
Behavior LT 1:  I can manage my responsibilities as a student.

Soundtrack: "Born in the U.S.A." by Bruce Springsteen. Selected for today because the song is typically seen as representing patriotic themes, but a closer look at the lyrics (as we did in class) show that the song is really about a deep dissatisfaction with American culture.

AGENDA 11/3/15:
News Brief – James
How to DBQ
Document Analysis
Prep Time

Homework: Read the blog. Have a plan of action in mind for writing the DBQ essay in class. Bring ALL of your culture unit work (to be turned in next class as a collection of evidence for LT15):

1) Surface culture worksheet (National Geographic photos PowerPoint)
2) Cornell Notes on Culture definitions/iceberg PowerPoint
3) Nacirema writing (neatly written or typed, 200 words minimum)
4) Exchange student presentation notes (optional to include)
5) Time for School Notes/Answers
6) Culture Project (this is the big one - due next class).
7) Culture unit checklist and self-assessment form.

Next news brief: Grant

News Brief: James had the news brief today and chose an article about this story to talk about: TheGuardian.com - Vast Amazon wildfire destroys forest in Brazil and threatens uncontacted tribe. We found Brazil in the world map packet, talked about the impact of deforestation on the world, and also shared some stories from the Halloween weekend and other current events.

Grant was selected to do the next news brief.

We also watched the one minute BBC World News update. Here's the link to see the latest one minute update, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):


How to DBQ: Since this is your first DBQ in high school, I wanted to give as much preparation time as possible. So today was spent analyzing the actual documents on the test and writing out answers to five of the eight document questions. Next class, you will use three of the five documents you analyzed in order to construct your essay (due in class).

We went through a guide together in class, learning about how to write a DBQ. Again, I think this is going to be a really helpful resource for you in planning what to write (especially the graphic organizers on pages 8 and 9):


Remember as well to have this check list completed, as well:


Document Analysis/Work Time: The rest of the class was devoted to work time on looking at the test (I am not posting it online, obviously) and analyzing your culture unit documents to try and answer the question of: How does culture both shape and reflect society? This is what you will be doing next class as the final! Lots of work to be done before then! Make sure you are on top of everything and ready to turn in your culture work next class!

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