Showing posts with label demographics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label demographics. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Demographics, Day 4 - Class Recap

Please Note: I was out today at a training for my new job next year as the Freshmen Success Coordinator, so this is what I wanted to have happen with the guest teacher in my absence.


I was at the state tennis tournament over the weekend for Westview! This photo is of my favorite tennis player, Roger Federer, playing in Eugene, Oregon.

Dear class,

I really appreciate your hard work today in class, as we had a work day to wrap up the demographics unit and check in about grades in order to improve them, if possible. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own" by U2. Selected for today because we had a work day for me to help students in understanding how to improve their grade in class. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/23/18:
News Brief – Jaden S.
Demographic Work
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog! Finish your demographic unit work (see below for links) and turn in to the box in front of class. Next news brief: Kaylee
---
News Brief: Jaden S. had the news brief today and selected an article about a current news story to talk about. We found the country in the world map packet and talked about this story, which was breaking news as of this morning.

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):


The next news brief was assigned to Kaylee.

Demographics Work: The rest of class was spent as work time (hopefully you were able to turn in the whole packet today) for the demographics packet:

Google Drive: Demographics Development Indicators

Students needed to find the statistics for countries on the CIA World Factbook (some of the statistics might be found from other sources, too).

The next assignment was related to the Children of Syria documentary in class.

Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:

Next, we did the End of Poverty reading and assignment last class:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Finally, we watched World in the Balance and did an assignment related to that. Here is the assignment:


And here is the video we watched in class:


All four of the assignments, in order, were what was due today in class. I appreciate your work on this! Please turn in this packet (stapled, please) to the turn in box in front of class.

Work Time: Thank you for working hard! We will continue with Israel and Palestine (our final unit of the year) next class. See you then!
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Thursday, May 17, 2018

Demographics, Day 3 - Class Recap


The pathway along a Shinto shrine in Toyko, Japan. Today, we learned about the demographic pressures on Japan's population - especially when it comes to a very elderly population. Photo taken in 2014.

Hi everyone,

It is always nice to see you all in the morning! Today, we watched a documentary about population and demographics. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" by Tomoyasu Hotei. Selected for today because we learned more about Japan's battle against demographic trends in their population and because you are battling towards the end of the year!

AGENDA 5/17/18:
News Brief – Ellie
World in the Balance
Review
Demographics Work

Homework: Read the blog! Next class will be an in class work day to finish all demographic unit work and turn it in at the end of class, so be prepared to do that! Next news brief: Andrew.
---
News Brief: Ellie had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - DR Congo Ebola outbreak spreads to Mbandaka city. We found the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the world map packet and talked about this ongoing story for a bit.

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):


The next news brief was assigned to Andrew.

World in the Balance: This was a NOVA documentary that we watched together in class. I was asking students to write about the three countries in the film: India, Japan, and Kenya, and what their population/demographics is like. Here is the assignment that goes with this:


And here is the video we watched in class:


Thank you for your focus and interest in this! As I said before watching it, I think the issues are really interesting and worth our time to learn about. Before moving on, I showed this interesting website that has lots of different population data: Worldometers.info - World Population.

Review/Demographics Work: We did not have much time at the end of class today, but I did want to link to the assignments in the demographics unit, which are as follows:

Google Drive: Demographics Development Indicators

Students needed to find the statistics for countries on the CIA World Factbook (some of the statistics might be found from other sources, too).

The next assignment was related to the Children of Syria documentary in class.

Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:

Next, we did the End of Poverty reading and assignment last class:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Please have all of your demographics work ready to turn in at the end of next class, as I will give work time and also check in about everyone's grades! Thank you!
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Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Demographics, Day 2 - Class Recap


My brother visited Portland recently! Here I am with my sister and brother with my mom in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, over Winter Break 2014.

Dear class,

There was a fair amount of reviewing data and reading today - thanks for following along. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "The End" by The Doors. Selected for today because of "The End of Poverty" reading, and because we are approaching the end of the school year, as well as today being the official end of the Country Profile Project.

AGENDA 5/15/18:
News Brief – Zachary
The End of Poverty
Group Work
Finish Demographic Packets

Homework: Read the blog! All Country Profile Project work/revisions due TODAY - Final Deadline! Continue to work on any missing/incomplete assignments to improve your grade! Next news brief: Ellie.
---
News Brief: Zachary had the news brief today and talked about this story for the news brief: BBC.com - Gaza begins to bury its dead after deadliest day in years. We found found Israel (and Palestine) in the world map and talked for a while in class about this story, along with some of the impacts of the United States moving our embassy to Jerusalem. Thank you for this discussion!

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):

The next news brief was assigned to Ellie.

The End of Poverty: This was based on learning more about what life is like in different countries. I asked the class to split up based on how fast students thought they were at reading, and assigned this paper and reading to a group of four:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Group Work: We spent a good time in class going through this in groups, and then going over it afterwards. Hold on to these completed assignments, please!

Finish Demographics Work: We did not have the time in class to do much of this, but your demographics work will be due later in the unit, so please finish all of the assignments related to it!

Thanks for your focus and work today in class!
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Friday, May 11, 2018

Demographics, Day 1 - Class Recap

Note: I missed class today due to taking a day off to be at the district tennis tournament (I am one of the boy's coaches here), so this is what I hope happened with the substitute.


Photo taken in 2007 at the Denver Aquarium.

Dear class,

We continued looking at demographics today, through the recent documentary "Children of Syria" which does a great job giving a case study of the Syrian refugee crisis. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Ordinary People" by John Legend. Selected for today because demographics is the study of populations of people.

AGENDA 5/11/18:
News Brief – Sean
Children of Syria
Review
Trends

Homework: Read the blog! Continue working on your Country Profile Project revisions! Next news brief: Zachary.
---
News Brief: Sean had the news brief today and selected an article to talk about with the class. Students should have opened up their map packets to note where the story was from.

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


The next news brief was assigned to Zachary.

Children of Syria: This was a fantastic documentary that recently came out (last year - it was nominated for an Academy Award) on PBS Frontline. Part of the learning target for the unit is tying demographics in with current events, so this was perfect. Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:


Review: After the documentary, a few random students were asked to answer questions from the documentary review. Thank you for your input and thoughts here! I hope everyone was really engaged with answering the questions and watching the film.

Trends: At the end of class, it should have been work time to continue to fill out the demographics packet of information. We will continue this next week (it will likely be due later in the week). Thanks, everyone! I will miss you all - have a great rest of the week and weekend!
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Thursday, March 22, 2018

Country Profile Project, Day 2 - Class Recap

Another picture from my Spring Break trip to Washington, D.C. in 2010: this is the National Archives building, where the original copies of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution are held.

Hi everyone,

Our last official class before Spring Break! Lots to do, for sure. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Research LT 1: I can effectively conduct and apply research.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.
Knowledge LT 10: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.

Soundtrack: "Marry The Night" by Lady Gaga. Selected for today because it was super dark out the past few weeks in the morning, for Daylight Savings Time. Now getting a little better! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/22/18:
News Brief - Andrew
Demographics
Citing Sources
Current Events

Homework: Read the blog! Finish your demographic indicators packet (just the definitions and data for your chosen country). Work on your Current Event for the Country Profile Project over Spring Break by finding two articles and writing up notes and analysis - check the calendar to see when it is due! Next news brief: Mr. Fritz.
---
News Brief: Andrew had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about: CNN.com - Hundreds of rebels begin evacuating Syria's Eastern Ghouta. We found Syria on our world maps and discussed this story together.

We checked in about what people were up to outside of class, before moving on.

I will do the next news brief, as it is after Spring Break.

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):


Demographics: Because a key point of the Country Profile Project is to understand the human geography and economics of your selected country, it is important to understand demographics, which is data that relates to population and groups of people. Here is the presentation that we went through in class:


With this information, I then passed out copies of this packet (most students accessed it using Google Classroom):


Today in class, students used the CIA World Factbook website for their chosen country and started filling out the definitions in the first column on the left, and the statistics for their chosen country on the far right column.

This information will help in understanding what the human geography and economics are like in your country. Treat this as homework to finish (just the definitions and statistics for your country - we will do the rest later in the semester) outside of class.

Citing Sources: Please cite your sources in a separate Works Cited page at the end of your Current Event. Use MLA format - an easy way to get this citation for use in your paper is to use EasyBib.com.

Current Events: The rest of class was spent trying to identify a good Current Event for your Country Profile Project, and finding two sources that address the topic. As a reminder, students are using this note taking sheet to do this, which notes how geography and economics are addressed:


The assignment sheet and example for how to fill out the notes can be found here:


Over the break, students need to be writing up their Current Event. Here is the Willamette Promise rubric for how this will be graded as a part of the college credit component:



Finally, if you are looking for an example Current Event, Mr. McCreery helpfully wrote one up, here:


Let me know if you have questions or need help with this over the break - I will respond to emails when I can! :-)

Have a great Spring Break, everyone!
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Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Country Profile Project, Day 1 - Class Recap

Today we started the Country Profile Project, which is about countries around the world. You cannot pick the United States, but here is a symbol of our country: the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.! I took this picture during Spring Break in 2010.

Hi everyone,

Today was the start of a really big assignment: the research project at all freshmen need to do at Westview (most sophomores will, as well). Here's what happened in class:

Learning Targets:
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Research LT 1: I can effectively conduct and apply research.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.
Knowledge LT 10: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.

Soundtrack: "At the Beginning" from Anastasia. Selected for today because of the movie's connection to the Russian Revolution, and our work starting on the Country Profile Project. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 3/20/18:
News Brief - Dahson
The Country Profile Project
Current Event
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog! Look at the CPP Calendar. Continue your Current Event research and writing! Andrew has the next news brief.
---
News Brief: Dahson had the news brief today and selected this article to talk about: WashingtonPost.com - France’s Sarkozy detained over allegations of taking money from Libya’s Gaddafi. We found France in the world map packet and noted we did a story about it, as we talked about what is going on with this story.

We checked in about the weekend and what people were up to.

Andrew was selected for 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):


The Country Profile Project: Alert, alert! This is the start of a massive assignment that you have the opportunity to earn college credit for. Here is what I passed out in class today (or had students go through on Google Classroom with me):

1) The overview of the assignment with each part/step laid out (this corresponds to the calendar):


2) Instructions for how students will be able to complete the dual credit requirements for the college credit through Willamette Promise (which most students are registered for at this point):


3) The calendar for what we will be working on for the next month (at least, this is what I THINK we will be following - having never taught this particular version of the research project, it is possible things could change):


We went through both of these thoroughly (at least 20 minutes) in class. Basically, the assignment consists of multiple parts that will be due throughout the next month.

In class, I asked students to research possible countries from this list and come up with a Top 5, before we selected in class. Here are the possible countries to choose from and student selections:


As I was saying in class: if you want to do well on this project (and you should, considering it is one of the biggest assignments of the entire year), you will probably have to be working on it at home, as well as working very hard in class on it.

Current Event: Today's assignment was to start working on finding a current event from your chosen country, after we selected them in class.

Here is the overview for the Current Event portion of the assignment (about 25% of the value of the assignment when it is graded for college credit):


We talked in class about identifying important information, analyzing the information, and evaluating the source (which we recently did in class with the OPVL activity). Here is a template for students to be using in writing notes on their current event:


Finally, here are two teacher examples of completed Current Events, so students can see what the final product should look something like:



Work Time: For the rest of class, we worked in class using Chromebooks to start researching our countries and choosing a current event to begin analysis.

Please let me know if you have questions, comments, or concerns! I would be happy to help you begin this project. I am confident that all of you will do well on this! We will continue working on this as we approach Spring Break - the Current Event will be due after the break.
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Monday, May 22, 2017

Demographics, Day 5 - Class Recap


I was at the state tennis tournament over the weekend for Westview! This photo is of my favorite tennis player, Roger Federer, playing in Eugene, Oregon.

Dear class,

I really appreciate your hard work today in class, as we had a work day to wrap up the demographics unit and check in about grades in order to improve them, if possible. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own" by U2. Selected for today because we had a work day for me to help students in understanding how to improve their grade in class. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/22/17:
News Brief – Madison
Demographic Work
Grade Check
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog! Finish your demographic unit work (see below for links). Next news brief: David.
---
News Brief: Madison had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - India schoolgirls on hunger strike to fight sexual harassment. We found India in the world map packet and talked about this story, as well as the importance of taking a stand against harassment.

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):


The next news brief was assigned to David.

Demographics Work: The rest of class was spent as work time (hopefully you were able to turn in the whole packet today) for the demographics packet:

Google Drive: Demographics Development Indicators

Students needed to find the statistics for countries on the CIA World Factbook (some of the statistics might be found from other sources, too).

The next assignment was related to the Children of Syria documentary in class.

Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:

Next, we did the End of Poverty reading and assignment last class:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Finally, we watched World in the Balance and did an assignment related to that. Here is the assignment:


And here is the video we watched in class:


All four of the assignments, in order, were what was due today in class. I appreciate your work on this!

Grade Check/Work Time: As students were working, I called everyone in class up to talk with me, one by one, so I could go over every grade, along with what was missing (if anything) and needing to be turned in or revised ASAP. You should have a plan of action for what you need to do, if you need to do work for me! If you have everything in, rest up and get ready for the final unit of the year, which we will start next class!
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Thursday, May 18, 2017

Demographics, Day 4 - Class Recap


The pathway along a Shinto shrine in Toyko, Japan. Today, we learned about the demographic pressures on Japan's population - especially when it comes to a very elderly population. Photo taken in 2014.

Hi everyone,

It is always nice to see you all in the morning! Today, we watched a documentary about population and demographics. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" by Tomoyasu Hotei. Selected for today because we learned more about Japan's battle against demographic trends in their population, and because it is Election Day, and because you are battling towards the end of the year!

AGENDA 5/18/17:
News Brief – Eric
World in the Balance
Review
Demographics Work

Homework: Read the blog! Next class will be an in class work day to finish all demographic unit work and turn it in at the end of class, so be prepared to do that! Next news brief: Madison.
---
News Brief: Eric had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: Independent.co.uk - India cancelling huge coal power station because it wants to focus on renewable energy. We found India in the world map packet and talked about this story, along with some of the impact of increasingly cheaper solar energy.

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):


The next news brief was assigned to Madison.

World in the Balance: This was a NOVA documentary that we watched together in class. I was asking students to write about the three countries in the film: India, Japan, and Kenya, and what their population/demographics is like. Here is the assignment that goes with this:


And here is the video we watched in class:


Thank you for your focus and interest in this! As I said before watching it, I think the issues are really interesting and worth our time to learn about. Before moving on, I showed this interesting website that has lots of different population data: Worldometers.info - World Population.

Review/Demographics Work: We did not have much time at the end of class today, but I did want to link to the assignments in the demographics unit, which are as follows:

Google Drive: Demographics Development Indicators

Students needed to find the statistics for countries on the CIA World Factbook (some of the statistics might be found from other sources, too).

The next assignment was related to the Children of Syria documentary in class.

Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:

Next, we did the End of Poverty reading and assignment last class:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Please have all of your demographics work ready to turn in at the end of next class, as I will give work time and also check in about everyone's grades! Thank you!
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Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Demographics, Day 3 - Class Recap


My brother visited Portland recently! Here I am with my sister and brother with my mom in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, over Winter Break 2014.

Dear class,

There was a fair amount of reviewing data and reading today - thanks for following along. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "The End" by The Doors. Selected for today because of "The End of Poverty" reading, and because we are approaching the end of the school year.

AGENDA 5/16/17:
News Brief – Sanjana
The End of Poverty
Group Work
Finish Demographic Packets

Homework: Read the blog! Continue to work on any missing/incomplete assignments to improve your grade! Next news brief: Eric.
---
News Brief: Sanjana had the news brief today and talked about this story for the news brief: CNN.com - What you need to know about North Korea's missile test. We found North Korea in the world map packet and talked about this story, including why North Korea continues to develop missile technology and what the options are for the world community in response. After the news brief, we checked in about the weekend.

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):

The next news brief was assigned to Eric.

The End of Poverty: This was based on learning more about what life is like in different countries. I asked the class to split up based on how fast students thought they were at reading, and assigned this paper and reading to a group of four:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Group Work: We spent a good time in class going through this in groups, and then going over it afterwards. Hold on to these completed assignments, please!

Finish Demographics Work: We did not have the time in class to do much of this, but your demographics work will be due later this week, so please finish all of the assignments related to it!

Thanks for your focus and work today in class!
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Friday, May 12, 2017

Demographics, Day 2 - Class Recap

Note: I missed class today due to taking a day off to be at the district tennis tournament (I am one of the boy's coaches here), so this is what I hope happened with the substitute.


Photo taken in 2007 at the Denver Aquarium.

Dear class,

We continued looking at demographics today, through the very recent documentary "Children of Syria" which does a great job giving a case study of the Syrian refugee crisis. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Happy" by Pharrell Williams. Selected for today because being happy could actually be considered a demographic indicator. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/12/17:
News Brief – Carter
Children of Syria
Review
Trends

Homework: Read the blog! Continue working on your demographics packet! Next news brief: Sanjana.
---
News Brief: Carter had the news brief today and selected an article to talk about with the class. Students should have opened up their map packets to note where the story was from.

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


The next news brief was assigned to Sanjana.

Children of Syria: This was a fantastic documentary that recently came out (last year - it was nominated for an Academy Award) on PBS Frontline. Part of the learning target for the unit is tying demographics in with current events, so this was perfect. Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:


Review: After the documentary, a few random students were asked to answer questions from the documentary review. Thank you for your input and thoughts here! I hope everyone was really engaged with answering the questions and watching the film.

Trends: At the end of class, it should have been work time to continue to fill out the demographics packet of information. We will continue this next week (it will likely be due later in the week). Thanks, everyone! I will miss you all - have a great rest of the week and weekend!
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Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Demographics, Day 1 - Class Recap


A Vietnamese man and his son, in the streets of Hanoi, 2011.

Hi everyone,

A lot of work today, with the start of our new unit on demographics! We also reviewed the religion test and then started up work on the demographic indicators packet. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 10: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Ordinary People" by John Legend. Selected for today because demographics is the statistical study of people. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/10/17:
News Brief – Alex W.
Demographics
Indicators
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog! Finish one column (all four pages) of data for the country on the demographics profile (your personal copy is linked to on Google Classroom). If you have not turned in your Historical Investigation, please do so immediately. Be good for the substitute on Friday as I am away at tennis districts! Next news brief: Carter (then Sanjana next Tuesday).
---
News Brief: Alex W. had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - South Korea's new president wants to reverse its North Korea policy. We found South Korea in the world map packed and noted that we did a news brief story about it. As usual, I asked the class if they were up to anything fun or interesting outside of class - especially with it being Mother's Day weekend.

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):


The next news brief was assigned to Carter, then Sanjana for Tuesday.

I also talked about the short answer question on the back of the religion test. If you did poorly on this test, you will have the opportunity to retake it with the final project.

Demographics: Our next unit is on demographics. We started this section of class by watching this video about population, health, and income over time, which I think is an amazing way to visualize all that data:


Demographics really help in determining what a country is like, when it comes to the people inside of it. We will be doing a lot of work with data and statistics in this unit!

Indicators: To further explain the concept of demographics, I went through this PowerPoint and asked students to take quick notes about what demographics are:


Hopefully, you are beginning to get an understanding about how demographics work and why they are useful in determining what is going on with people in a country.

After the presentation, I passed out this assignment, which we did today in class using the links on Google Classroom:

Google Drive: Demographics Development Indicators

To get the information needed to complete this (I asked students to just split the columns up for people to work on, like one person taking the United States), students needed to find the statistics for countries on the CIA World Factbook (some of the statistics might be found from other sources, too). Students should complete the last column with a country of their choice (possibly the country from the historical investigation?).

Work Time: The rest of the class was spent working on finding different development statistics on the US, Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip in class using Chromebooks. Again, please have one full column (all four pages) completed for next week, when I will provide some time to finish (not in the computer lab) before we discuss the data and what it means.

Thanks for your continued hard work! Keep working on getting your grades up, if at all possible! :-)
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Thursday, May 19, 2016

Demographics, Day 5 - Class Recap


I will be gone at the state tennis tournament tomorrow (Friday) for Westview! This photo is of my favorite tennis player, Roger Federer, playing in Eugene, Oregon.

Dear class,

I really appreciate your hard work today in class, as we had a work day to wrap up the demographics unit and check in about grades in order to improve them by next Thursday, if possible. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own" by U2. Selected for today because we had a work day for me to help students in understanding how to improve their grade in class. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/19/16:
News Brief – Blake
Election Review
Demographics Work
Grade Check

Homework: Read the blog! Finish your demographic unit work (see below for links). The last day I will accept any late/missing/revised work for the semester is next Thursday. Next news brief: Natalie.
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News Brief: Blake had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - EgyptAir Flight 804: Wreckage found, airline official says. We found Egypt in the world map packet and talked about this story, as it was breaking news as of this morning. It does sound like some of the wreckage has been found now.

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):


The next news brief was assigned to Natalie.

Election Review: For this part of class, I went over the results from the Oregon primary election on Tuesday! The main page that I showed can be found here:


Here is the link for Multnomah County election results. My mom, Amanda Fritz, has won re-election to her job as Portland City Commissioner. Yay!

In the primary for local positions (like my mom's), a candidate needs over 50% of the vote in order to be declared the overall winner (no further election needed). If no candidate gets to 50%, then the top two candidates face off in the general election in November. We went over lots of different results in class together. Yay, democracy!

Demographics Work: The rest of class was spent as work time (hopefully you were able to turn in the whole packet today) for the demographics packet:

Google Drive: Demographics Development Indicators

Students needed to find the statistics for countries on the CIA World Factbook (some of the statistics might be found from other sources, too).

The next assignment was related to the Children of Syria documentary in class.

Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:

Next, we did the End of Poverty reading and assignment last class:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Finally, we watched World in the Balance and did an assignment related to that. Here is the assignment:


And here is the video we watched in class:


All four of the assignments, in order, were what was due today in class. I appreciate your work on this!

Grade Check: As students were working, I called everyone in class up to talk with me, one by one, so I could go over every grade, along with what was missing (if anything) and needing to be turned in or revised by next week. You should have a plan of action for this weekend, if you need to do work for me! If you have everything in, rest up and get ready for the final unit of the year, which we will start next week! Have a great weekend, everyone!
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Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Demographics, Day 4 - Class Recap


The pathway along a Shinto shrine in Toyko, Japan. Today, we learned about the demographic pressures on Japan's population - especially when it comes to a very elderly population. Photo taken in 2014.

Hi everyone,

It is always nice to see you all in the morning! Today, we watched a documentary about population and demographics. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" by Tomoyasu Hotei. Selected for today because we learned more about Japan's battle against demographic trends in their population, and because it is Election Day, and because you are battling towards the end of the year!

AGENDA 5/17/16:
Election Night News Brief – Gavin
World in the Balance
Review
Demographics Work

Homework: Read the blog! Finish your demographic unit work (see below for links). The last day I will accept any late/missing/revised work for the semester is next Thursday. Next news brief: Blake.
---
Election Night News Brief: Gavin had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: NBCNews.com - China Is Not Celebrating Cultural Revolution's 50th Anniversary. We found China in the world map packet and talked about this story, along with some of the impact of the the Cultural Revolution.

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):


The next news brief was assigned to Blake.

We also talked about following the results from the entire state of Oregon, which can be found here (starting at 8:00 PM tonight):


Here is the link for Multnomah County election results, if you would like to join my family in rapidly refreshing the page at 8 PM to see if my mom, Amanda Fritz, has won re-election to her job as Portland City Commissioner:


In the primary for local positions (like my mom's), a candidate needs over 50% of the vote in order to be declared the overall winner (no further election needed). If no candidate gets to 50%, then the top two candidates face off in the general election in November.

World in the Balance: This was a NOVA documentary that we watched together in class. I was asking students to write about the three countries in the film: India, Japan, and Kenya, and what their population/demographics is like. Here is the assignment that goes with this:


And here is the video we watched in class:


Thank you for your focus and interest in this! As I said before watching it, I think the issues are really interesting and worth our time to learn about. Before moving on, I showed this interesting website that has lots of different population data: Worldometers.info - World Population.

Review/Demographics Work: We did not have much time at the end of class today, but I did want to link to the assignments in the demographics unit, which are as follows:

Google Drive: Demographics Development Indicators

Students needed to find the statistics for countries on the CIA World Factbook (some of the statistics might be found from other sources, too).

The next assignment was related to the Children of Syria documentary in class.

Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:

Next, we did the End of Poverty reading and assignment last class:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Please have all of your demographics work ready to turn in at the end of next class, as I will give work time and also check in about everyone's grades! Thank you!
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Monday, May 16, 2016

Demographics, Day 3 - Class Recap

NOTE: I was at the Metro League tennis tournament for Westview on Friday, so I missed class. Here is the recap of what was supposed to happen.


My brother visited Portland this past weekend! Here I am with my sister and brother with my mom in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, over Winter Break 2014.

Dear class,

There was a fair amount of reviewing data and reading today - thanks for following along. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

AGENDA 5/13/16:
News Brief – Josh (P1), Sim (P5)
The End of Poverty
Group Work
Finish Demographic Packets

Homework: Read the blog! All late/missing/incomplete/revised work is due next Thursday, May 26. This is the last time I will accept any work from the semester before the final. Next news brief: Gavin (P1), Meher (P5).
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News Brief: Josh (P1) and Sim (P5) had the news brief today. The next news brief was assigned to Gavin (P1) and Meher (P5) before class.

The End of Poverty: This was based on learning more about what life is like in different countries. I asked the class to split up based on how fast students thought they were at reading, and assigned this paper and reading to a group of four:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Group Work: We spent a good time in class going through this in groups, and then going over it afterwards. Hold on to these completed assignments, please!

Finish Demographics Work: Your demographics work will be due later this week, so please finish all of the assignments related to it!

Thanks for your focus and work today in class!
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Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Demographics, Day 2 - Class Recap


Photo taken in 2007 at the Denver Aquarium.

Dear class,

We continued looking at demographics today, through the very recent documentary "Children of Syria" which does a great job giving a case study of the Syrian refugee crisis. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Happy" by Pharrell Williams. Selected for today because being happy could actually be considered a demographic indicator. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/11/16:
News Brief – Rebecca
Children of Syria
Review
Trends

Homework: Read the blog! Finish your demographics packet! Be good for the sub on Friday! Next news brief: Josh (then Gavin on Tuesday).
---
News Brief: Rebecca had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: NYTimes.com - Turkish Border Guards Accused of Attacking Syrian Refugees. This was a perfect news story to talk about, since the documentary today showed a little bit of what it was like at the Turkish border in the refugee camps. We found Turkey in the world map packet and noted we did a current event on the country. I also showed some of the geography of the region, before asking about what students were up to outside of the classroom, as always! :-)

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):


The next news brief was assigned to Josh. As I noted in class, I will be missing my first A day all year on Friday, to attend the district tennis tournament. I showed the class what I was hoping to have students do, in getting in groups of four and reading about four different countries. The hope is that you will learn more about how demographics impact quality of life in countries! Thank you in advance for being good for the sub!

Children of Syria: This was a fantastic documentary that recently came out (like, within a month) on PBS Frontline. Part of the learning target for the unit is tying demographics in with current events, so this was perfect. Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:


 Review: After the documentary, I selected a few random students to answer questions from the documentary review. Thank you for your input and thoughts here! I was glad to see that almost everyone was really engaged with answering the questions and watching the film.

Trends: Next class, if you have any time remaining after the reading and group work, please use the time to work with your partners on writing down the demographic trend information for the USA, Israel, West Bank, and Gaza Strip in the packet we worked on last class. Thanks, everyone! I will miss you all - have a great rest of the week!
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Monday, May 9, 2016

Demographics, Day 1 - Class Recap


A Vietnamese man and his son, in the streets of Hanoi, 2011.

Hi everyone,

A lot of work today, with the start of our new unit on demographics! We also reviewed the religion test and then went to the Computer Lab. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 10: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Ordinary People" by John Legend. Selected for today because demographics is the statistical study of people. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/9/16:
News Brief – Eric C.
Demographics
Indicators
Computer Lab N210

Homework: Read the blog! Finish your one column (all four pages) of data for the country on the demographics profile. If you have not turned in your Historical Investigation, please do so immediately. Next news brief: Rebecca.
---
News Brief: Eric C. had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - Shock as Austrian Chancellor Faymann quits. We found Austria in the world map packed and noted that we did a news brief story about it. As usual, I asked the class if they were up to anything fun or interesting outside of class - especially with it being Mother's Day weekend.

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):


The next news brief was assigned to Rebecca.

I also talked about the short answer question on the back of the religion test, and how I used that as another opportunity to show proficiency on Critical Thinking LT 2 (another historical investigation target). If you did poorly on this test, you will have the opportunity to retake it with the final project.

Demographics: Our next unit is on demographics. We started this section of class by watching this video about population, health, and income over time, which I think is an amazing way to visualize all that data:


Demographics really help in determining what a country is like, when it comes to the people inside of it. We will be doing a lot of work with data and statistics in this unit!

Indicators: To further explain the concept of demographics, I went through this PowerPoint and asked students to take quick notes about what demographics are:


Hopefully, you are beginning to get an understanding about how demographics work and why they are useful in determining what is going on with people in a country.

After the presentation, I passed out this assignment, which we did today in the Computer Lab:

Google Drive: Demographics Development Indicators

To get the information needed to complete this (I asked students to just split the columns up for people to work on, like one person taking the United States), students needed to find the statistics for countries on the CIA World Factbook (some of the statistics might be found from other sources, too). Students did not need to do the last column (another country of choice).

Computer Lab N210: The rest of the class was spent working on finding different development statistics on the US, Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip in the Computer Lab. Again, please have one full column (all four pages) completed for next class, when I will provide some time to finish (not in the computer lab) before we discuss the data and what it means.

Thanks for your continued hard work! Keep working on getting your grades up, if at all possible! :-)
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