Government, Day 5 - Class Recap

The Statue of Liberty in New York, which is a symbol of immigration to the United States. 

Photo taken in 2011.

Dear class,

Welcome to your weekend! Thanks for doing your homework and checking in on the blog to see what we are up to. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 17: I can explain how and why world societies organize themselves and how power is established and maintained.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Soundtrack: "Kings and Queens" by 30 Seconds to Mars. Selected for today because of the connection to monarchy, and this song gets me fired up because it reminds me of watching ESPN tennis tournaments. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 11/20/15:
News Brief – Jennie
Finish "Who Rules?"
Government Test
Lost!

Homework: Read the blog. Have a great Thanksgiving! Next news brief: Jennifer.

News Brief: Jennie had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: BBC.com - Palestinian attacks in Israel and West Bank kill five. We found Palestine/Israel on the world map (in the Middle East) and a bit about the situation there (we will probably end the year with a unit on Israel and Palestine, as it encompasses so much of what we talk about with the targets this year). We also talked about the upcoming weekend, and sang Happy Birthday to Naki! :-)

Jennifer 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):

BBCNews.com - One-minute World News

Who Rules?: Before the government test, I wanted to give the class time to review the reading and answers in the packet:

Google Drive - Who Rules? Reading and Questions

I gave about five minutes before the test for study of the PowerPoint notes, as well.

Government Test: I do not think this was especially difficult, if you have been in class and following along with what has been going on the last few days! Obviously, I have lots to grade, with culture and forced choice, as well, but it is likely that these will be on your progress report grades, which are due after Thanksgiving.

Lost!: At the end of class, we had a little fun with a scenario inspired by "Lord of the Flies" and the TV series "Lost." I asked everyone to get back into the same groups as last class, based on the forms of government being analyzed and skits performed, and then passed out one of these papers to each group, which contain the scenario and questions for the group to answer:

Google Drive - Lost Island Government Group Activity

We will continue with this next class and talk about the different group proposals, then probably have some fun. :-)

See you next week!