Fireworks over the 2008 Holiday Bowl, on December 30th. The Oregon Ducks ended up beating the Oklahoma State Cowboys - a great night! Picture by Mr. Fritz - chosen for today because it is almost time to celebrate the end of the year!
Dear class,
Only one more day to go of your Global Studies careers! This is all coming to an end really fast. I hope you enjoyed today's class - thanks for the attention, even with multiple things going on during the lesson. Please remember to finish out the year strong with the paper and any revisions that we asked you to do. Also, come see me or e-mail about any late work you may have to do! Let's go out on a high note!
Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? How did the concept of nonviolence develop and become implemented?
Soundtrack: "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong. Lyrics here. As I said in class, this is one of my favorite songs ever, and the one that I picked to best describe myself when I was a sophomore in high school.
AGENDA 6/10/09: News Brief What We Hope to Be Letter to Self Class Reflections
Homework: Finish any late work/revisions on the paper! Read the blog and ask questions!
Really, that is about all there is to it! Many of you have missing assignments that would absolutely boost your grade to get in (or revise). Most of you are probably going to want to revise your final paper as well. I am here to help - let me know if you have any questions or concerns!
News Brief: I specifically wanted to make this short because we had so much other stuff to get to, but we did have a few items of interest that I wrote down to post about:
Someone (I think it was Brandon) mentioned that the search for people from the Air France crash is continuing, and BBC.co.uk - Nuclear sub joins Air France hunt. It will be interesting to see if it will be able to actually find the "black boxes" from the flight - probably the only chance of actually knowing with certainty what happened on Flight 447.
Archana volunteered to bring in the last news brief of the year on Friday, though anyone can feel free to do so as well. The more stuff to talk about, the better!
Finally, I ended the news brief section by talking a little bit about my friend Ryan Bowen, who came to visit the class earlier this year. He is currently in Rwanda, trying to bring people together through sports! He took some really interesting and horrific pictures of the results of the genocide on his blog for the trip (which I showed in class). That can be found here: PlayForHope.org - Ryan's Blog - recently updated with new pictures since this morning, so check it out!
What We Hope to Be: As I pointed out, I got very little sleep last night because of grading your papers, so I did not get to do anything fancy with your "be the change" assignment that I had you do last class - as in a PowerPoint or something. However, I think it was almost as good just to be able to read them aloud and have you write about what your fellow classmates said. Here is a picture of what we came up with as far as noticing what everyone said:
I know this may have been a little boring, but I really thought it was cool to see what everyone said. Stay true to your hopes and dreams!
Letter to Self: For this portion of class, I handed back the letters that you wrote to yourselves from the beginning of the year as well as a reflection piece to do on them. Mrs. DeFrance and I have read a few of these reflections so far, and they were really interesting! Thanks for doing such great, thoughtful work here! I hope you enjoyed the process!
During this time, Mrs. DeFrance and I checked in with everyone that wrote us a paper, to suggest revisions and go over everything. I will repeat - if you did not check in with either of us today, that means that something seriously wrong is happening - I need your paper e-mailed to me ASAP - luke_fritz@beavton.k12.or.us - thanks!
Class Reflections: For the last ten minutes of class, I asked you to reflect on the year of Global Studies. I am looking forward to reading all of these and showing everyone what they thought of class this year! Thank you for all of the honest feedback! ---
Whew! I had no idea how insanely busy teachers are at the end of the year. Throw in coaching football, and I have just an incredible amount of stuff to do. Please pardon me if I do not post comments or e-mail back immediately, but I will get to it! Finish out strong! Remember to bring a great attitude (and food, if you want) for Friday's class! Have a wonderful evening and keep in touch!
At my Lewis and Clark graduation yesterday! From left to right, my dad, my brother, Mrs. DeFrance, me, my mom, my grandma, and my grandpa (my dad's parents). Fun times! It was a way too fast weekend! Time to finish out the end of the year!
Good morning class!
It's just another Manic Monday! My last ever with you guys! Sad times. I hope that today was productive and interesting! I always like talking about what is going on in the world and how we can hope to have a positive impact on everything. Because really, what bigger calling in life is there?
Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? How did the concept of nonviolence develop and become implemented? - We looked at multiple angles of the answers to these questions today!
Soundtrack: "If You're Out There" by John Legend. Lyrics here. The verse that I especially wanted to highlight is:
If you're ready we can save the world Believe again, it starts within We don't have to wait for destiny We should be the change that we want to see
Great song! I am going to try to bring in the very best for you this week! :-)
AGENDA 6/8/09: News Brief Example Paper Talking About Gandhi Be the Change
Homework: Finish and turn in any late work/revisions. Read the blog and ask questions!
As I said at the start of class, please come see me to check in and make sure there is nothing you can do to get your grade higher! There is really no downside to doing this, so why not? I will be available during both lunches for the rest of the week (except for second lunch on Friday), as well as after school and before school. Make sure you finish the year strong!
Also, if you have not given either Mrs. DeFrance or me your paper, please do so ASAP, either in person or by e-mail: luke_fritz@beavton.k12.or.us - thanks!
News Brief: Lots to talk about, as usual! Here's what I wrote down to link to, after we talked a little about how your last weekend as a Freshman was:
Brandon talked a little about the two American journalists in North Korea, who have been tried and convicted of "crimes" that will put them in a labor camp for 12 years. Crazy stuff. You can read all about that here: WashingtonPost.com - North Korea Convicts 2 U.S. Journalists.
Abe noticed the really interesting story of a couple that is accused of working for 30 years to pass U.S. secrets to Cuba. James Bond stuff, for real! Here is that story: NYTimes.com - U.S. Charges Couple With Spying for Cuba.
Furthermore, as I mentioned for in the last blog NYTimes.com - Addressing Muslims, Obama Pushes Middle East Peace - President Obama had an enormously big speech in Cairo, Egypt last week. He was talking to Muslims in the Middle East. Some of it was almost EXACTLY the same as what you guys did for your Israeli-Palestinian project! Specifically, I wanted to show the class what he had to say about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and nonviolence (tying the last two units together):
I also showed the end to the speech, when the President tried to say that Islam, Judaism, and Christianity all had the goal of promoting peace in the world. This was very much like C.J., Carson, and Zack T.'s presentation for the Israeli-Palestinian unit! The video we watched can be found here.
I was reminded to have Ben do his news brief article for the day, which can be found here: Yahoo! News - Shootout kills 16 gunmen, 2 soldiers in Acapulco. The article talks a little bit about authorities thinking that the violence is possibly related to drug wars. I talked in class about how people don't really realize that the drugs people buy in the United States directly fund criminals in all sorts of countries. Yet another reason why illegal drugs are just plain stupid to use.
Thanks for the news brief Ben! Would anyone like to volunteer for next class? :-)
Example Paper: After this extremely long news brief section, I showcased an example of a really good research paper, done by a student in one of my other classes. It was all about chocolate, and how it has an impact on the economy, health, and happiness! See, that is the power of a thesis statement - I didn't even have to look that up. Because the student had a really memorable thesis and paper, it is easy for me to recall what she was talking about. Hopefully, showing her paper to the class was something that everyone learned from!
Talking About Gandhi: I asked everyone to volunteer a few things that Gandhi tried to do in order to better society through nonviolence. The class mentioned his hunger strikes as well as resisting temptation and living simply. This was good! After a brief discussion, we watched a biography (if you can call a three minute video a biography) of Gandhi and his philosophy on nonviolence, which you can watch again here.
Be the Change: At the end of class, I wanted everyone to really be thinking about how they want to have a positive effect on the world. To get you thinking about this, I showed this video (one of the most popular on YouTube):
I then asked the class to write about how you want to be the change you wish to see in the world (a Gandhi quote). How are you going to leave a lasting positive impact? We shared a few of these aloud, then everyone turned them in. We will be doing something with these next class, I suspect. Thanks for the participation here! ---
I will be at Westview until at least 7:00 tonight, as I have to coach at football practice from 5-7. However, I will be available to post comments and respond to e-mails both before and after practice. Please keep in touch! Have a great day!
Because today is 6/4, I figured I could use a picture of me as senior in high school, posing with my #64 football jersey. I wasn't joking when I said that I could never root for Lincoln. :-)
Dear students,
Thank you for another fun and interesting class, as always! It was great to get to check in with everyone about your papers and talk about the issues of the day. It was also a class full of thinking about the future, and what we should aspire to do with our lives! I cannot believe we only have three more classes together! Let's get on with the recap!
Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? How did the concept of nonviolence develop and become implemented?
Soundtrack: "China Grove" by The Doobie Brothers. Lyrics here. This song has really nothing to do with China (see here), but I needed something to relate to what we were doing today (and talking about the Tienanmen Square anniversary), so here it is. A good song, too!
AGENDA 6/4/09: News Brief Who Was Gandhi? First Draft Check-In The Old Man
Homework: Finish and turn in any late work/revisions. Read the blog and ask questions!
There are many of you with assignments that need to be made up or revised. Almost everyone has the final paper to revise as well. Thank you for all the participation here on the blog, too! 80 comments is really amazing! Way to go!
News Brief: The class really did not have that much to talk about in regards to the news (or at least, I did not write anything down to come back to), but that was okay, because I definitely had a few items to go over.
I mentioned that the Nike SPARQ testing yesterday was a fun event and it was good to see C.J., Carson, and Zack T. there. After that, I had to drive over to Lewis and Clark to pick up my graduation stuff! The commencement ceremony I am in is this Sunday, at 10:00 AM. You can see all of my teaching friends and me! Woo hoo! Here is a link to watch the ceremony live online: Lewis and Clark Commencement 2009. Apparently, the webcast launches at 9:45 AM and changes to live feed at 10 AM. Let me know in the comments if there is a consensus about a signal I can do for you guys! I suppose I could do the touching the nose thing if all else fails. If you don't know when I will be coming up, it is alphabetical by degree. I will be getting my Masters of Arts in Teaching. :-)
I also wanted to point out that the NBA Finals starts tonight, and if you want Mr. Hardin to be sane tomorrow when he is teaching you guys, you had better be rooting for the Lakers. That will air at 6:00 PM on ABC.
In other news, President Obama had an enormously big speech today in Cairo, Egypt. He was talking to Muslims in the Middle East. Some of it was almost EXACTLY the same as what you guys did for your Israeli-Palestinian project! Here's how he addressed the conflict:
For decades then, there has been a stalemate: two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive. It's easy to point fingers -- for Palestinians to point to the displacement brought about by Israel's founding, and for Israelis to point to the constant hostility and attacks throughout its history from within its borders as well as beyond. But if we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth: The only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security. (Applause.)
That is in Israel's interest, Palestine's interest, America's interest, and the world's interest. And that is why I intend to personally pursue this outcome with all the patience and dedication that the task requires. (Applause.) The obligations -- the obligations that the parties have agreed to under the road map are clear. For peace to come, it is time for them -- and all of us -- to live up to our responsibilities.
Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and it does not succeed. For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America's founding. This same story can be told by people from South Africa to South Asia; from Eastern Europe to Indonesia. It's a story with a simple truth: that violence is a dead end. It is a sign neither of courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus. That's not how moral authority is claimed; that's how it is surrendered.
AHH! Is this not EXACTLY WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT IN CLASS? Seriously, stuff like this makes me smile. What we do in class really has a real world impact for the rest of your life, I promise.
Read how President Obama ended the speech:
It's easier to start wars than to end them. It's easier to blame others than to look inward. It's easier to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share. But we should choose the right path, not just the easy path. There's one rule that lies at the heart of every religion -- that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. (Applause.) This truth transcends nations and peoples -- a belief that isn't new; that isn't black or white or brown; that isn't Christian or Muslim or Jew. It's a belief that pulsed in the cradle of civilization, and that still beats in the hearts of billions around the world. It's a faith in other people, and it's what brought me here today.
We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written.
The Holy Koran tells us: "O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another."
The Talmud tells us: "The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace."
The Holy Bible tells us: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." (Applause.)
The people of the world can live together in peace. We know that is God's vision. Now that must be our work here on Earth.
Thank you. And may God's peace be upon you. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.)
I also pointed out that New Hampshire became state number 6 to legalize gay marriage (with a lot of protections for religious people who do not want to have anything to do with it). An article on that can be found here: NYTimes.com - New Hampshire Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage. As I pointed out in class, it is pretty unbelievable how fast this whole thing is moving. In the past 3 months, four states have legalized gay marriage. Here is a great map of which states have legalized it and which states (like Oregon, have passed laws to ban gay marriage in the state Constitution - though Oregon offers rights to gay couples through something called "civil unions"): NPR.org - State By State: The Legal Battle Over Gay Marriage. As you can see, most of the country has banned gay marriage. A very interesting topic!
Finally, I wanted to make sure to note that today was the 20th Anniversary of the Tienanmen Square protests being broken up. Read all about the event here. This is the video I showed in class (just the first part, until the credits roll):
After this played, I showed this video of the unknown "tank man" standing up to block the Chinese military. A very important date in history!
Is there anyone that would like to bring in a news brief for next class? Pretty please? Volunteer in the comments! :-)
Who Was Gandhi? For this section, I had you write for a little bit (as I passed out an article) about what you would do for a "bucket list" if you knew you only had six months to live, to somehow better society. I really liked the responses that I heard, and I want to hammer home the point - why don't we live like this more often? Why aren't we doing more to help third world countries, for instance? I think a large part of it is that almost everyone is afraid that they will die and wants to deny that they eventually will. Part of coping with this is that we do not realize how we can truly have a long lasting positive impact on the world! Leaving a good legacy!
Gandhi was someone that definitely did leave a long lasting legacy. I had you read this article on Gandhi and look for ways that he tried to have an impact. It is a really interesting (but long, I know) article, so I hope you liked it! We will be talking more about it next class. TIME.com - Person of the Century, Runner-Up - Mohandas Gandhi.
First Draft Check-In: During the time when you were reading the article, Mrs. DeFrance and I were checking papers and asking many of you to continue revising. If we asked you to do this, please bring your revised copy to class on Monday to turn in, thanks!
The Old Man: With about 20 minutes left in class, I showed the Seinfeld episode "The Old Man" because it talks about having an impact through volunteering, and about Gandhi for a little bit. It is also really funny and I thought it was a good reward for all of your hard work so far on the paper. Keep it up! ---
Tomorrow is a crazy long senior assembly schedule day, so it is possible that Mr. Hardin and I might open up the doors between the classes during second period to watch a movie or something. Heads up about that! Please continue to be working hard on your papers and asking if there is anything I can do to help!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler.
An Air India 747-400 at Newark on Sunday. If not for Gandhi, it is possible that Air India would not even exist today!
Good afternoon colleagues,
We are really getting down there to the end of the year! I think today went fairly well, though I must say that I am probably going to have to rethink what we are doing with the paper because many of you were not prepared with sources or notes. Next class, please come prepared with your homework, and we will talk one on one about how everything is going.
Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? How did the concept of nonviolence develop and become implemented?
Soundtrack: "Bomb the World" by Michael Franti and Spearhead. The lyrics, which I showed on the projector and read aloud in class because I thought that they were really interesting, can be found here. This song was suggested to me by Ms. V'Marie. I played it today because of the nuclear bomb test in North Korea, which we talked about in the News Brief section.
AGENDA 5/27/09: News Brief - Exploding Nuclear Bomb (and Possible War) Edition MLK and Gandhi Paragraphs and Citing Sources Rubric and Work
Homework: Notes #4 due (all other sources as well) and completed bibliography to be checked off. Read the blog and ask questions if needed!
Seriously, if you are having any questions or problems with this paper and the research, or how to do the bibliography, please ask away! I will be available on here in the comments, by e-mail, or in person!
News Brief: At the start of class, I went over the essential questions, soundtrack, agenda, and homework, then asked the class about what they did for the long Memorial Day weekend! Andrew talked about playing soccer in Florida, Jazmyne mentioned the packing up process for her, and I talked about how I was super sick over the weekend in Princeton. Still, good to have the rest!
After some good conversation here, we went on to talk about the enormous news of the weekend. I found it absolutely incredible that in both of my Global Studies classes yesterday, nobody had heard that North Korea had detonated a nuclear bomb as a test over the weekend. North Korea has also said that it will not continue to agree to the peace deal "armistice" that it signed with South Korea in 1953. Bad times. You can read all about that on really any news site. CNN.com has a special section dedicated to it, which you can find here: CNN.com - News & Videos about North Korea.
Finally, I mentioned that President Obama had selected Sonia Sotomayor to be on the Supreme Court. She has to be confirmed by the Senate now, but seems likely to be the first Hispanic (her parents were born in Puerto Rico) on the court, as well as the third woman. This is another HUGE deal, that is all over the news. Her biography can be found here: CNN.com - Who is Sonia Sotomayor?.
Zack T. volunteered to bring in a news article for Friday. Thanks!
MLK and Gandhi: I actually think this went well, though I was a little worried before class about how it would all work out. First, I had you get out your Civil Rights notes and think again about Martin Luther King Jr.'s philosophy. Then, we watched this video:
We talked about how there were aspects of his philosophy in that short video. I then handed out this article to read together: SFGate.com - Gandhi's Influence on King.
Finally, to complete the media section here, I played this video of MLK talking about Gandhi:
After all of that, we came back together and tried to identify aspects of philosophy that Martin Luther King Jr. said that he borrowed from Gandhi, while I had everyone write on the board one thing they knew about Gandhi.
This was a really productive and interesting conversation, thanks!
Paragraphs and Citing Sources: For this part of class, I had you get into base groups to talk about how things are going with the historical investigation, while Mrs. DeFrance and I went around to check off the sources that you brought in. After that, we talked about how to write a body paragraph in Social Studies, with an Introductory Statement, a Concrete Detail, another Concrete Detail, a Commentary, and a Concluding Statement. Mrs. DeFrance talked about her own investigation and body paragraph, which she did as an example on global warming.
We also talked about citing sources inside the text (for about 2 minutes, before having to do the lock down drill). Basically, my point here was that if you have the author of the article (or book) that you are working with, when you are writing your paper you need to cite them inside your paper to give them credit when you quote them or use facts from their work. For instance.
"Westview is the coolest school ever." (Fritz, 3) - In this case, I am citing myself! Remember that it goes (Author, page number). If you do not have the author of the article, it needs to be ("Title of Article"). If you do not have the page number, do not put anything in. I will try to explain this more next class.
Rubric and Work: I was able to hand out the rubric as you left the class after the drill, but we will come back to this. Read it, please! ---
I am excited for the Lakers-Nuggets game tonight (6:00, ESPN)! Other than that, I have about a million things to get done, so I will be hard at work trying to accomplish them all. I hope that you are doing the same! See you on Friday!
At the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial in Cambridge, England. The inscription on the cross reads: "Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms known but to God" - it is a grave of a soldier whose remains could not be identified. I took this picture when I visited the cemetery in the summer of 2007, during my study abroad time in England. I put a feather on top of the cross to give it another artistic angle.
I thought that class today was a little scattered, but generally, I think (and hope) that we got some good work done today on figuring out a research question and writing notes on sources. I hope that it all made sense! Please be letting me know how I can best be helping you out and getting you excited about finding out information for your paper!
Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? How did the concept of nonviolence develop and become implemented? - As Abe noted, the second question is a new one. We did not really have the time to start exploring the answers to it today, but it will come back next class!
Soundtrack: "Making Memories" by Rush. Lyrics here. A great song about traveling (which I will be doing this weekend). I selected it by searching my iTunes for songs that could relate to Memorial Day.
AGENDA 5/21/09: News Brief Scheduling Taking Notes MLK and Gandhi
Homework: Continue to find sources and take notes on the papers! Develop your paper! Check the blog – have a great weekend!
Remember, the schedule that we made today in class says that Note/source pages 1, 2, and 3 are due next class. This will be explained in greater detail below, so keep reading!
News Brief: The first news story that was brought up was from Brandon (who was all over the news today, way to go!), who said something about finding Laci Peterson's body (though I am not sure about that, since it was found in 2003).
EDIT: Wow! It looks like we messed up my Peterson wife murderers, with Scott instead of Mike (no relation, I am pretty sure)! Here is the story that Brandon was talking about, which think we all confused with the story above and below: CNN.com - Autopsy finds little on body found near homes of missing women.
Continuted from above: We had a discussion about the impacts of this case, as Laci Peterson was seven and a half months pregnant at the time of her death. Her husband, Scott Peterson was convicted and sentenced to death for both Laci AND the unborn child's deaths. Obviously, this brings up the topic of abortion, which I do not particularly want to start a debate about in this class, for a variety of reasons - chief amongst them being that it really does not relate to Global Studies and it is frequently a really unproductive debate because neither side wants to even consider the other points. However, it is a really interesting case to study. After the killings, Congress passed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act in 2004.
Abe asked if abortion is legal in the United States. Ever since the incredibly controversial Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, yes, it is. However, since this is such a really big debate, there have been decisions that limit this - more specifically, some states ban late term abortions, which was upheld by the recent case Gonzales v. Carhart. I mentioned in class that there is also a debate about what to do in cases where the health of the mother is in jeopardy because of the fetus. Yes, this is all really complicated, I know. Definitely something to know about, because it will remain an issue, probably forever.
Finally, Brandon volunteered to bring in this article about the current situation in Sri Lanka: CNN.com - Sri Lanka: We're providing enough for refugees. I talked a little bit in class about the 25 year long conflict in Sri Lanka between the government and the Tamil people, frequently named the "Tamil Tigers." Apparently, the civil war is finally at an end.
Russel volunteered to bring in an news article for next class, on Wednesday. Thanks!
Scheduling: For this section of class, I had everyone take a schedule and write out what we will be doing in class for the rest of the year. Here is what I put down on the board, for those of you that were not in class or lost the schedule:
May 21 (today): Research Questions and quiet work on notes. May 27 (next class): Notes on sources 1-3 due. Work on citing in paper. May 29: Notes 4 due. Check off bibliography in class. June 2: Peer Review in class - rough draft due. June 4: Paper Due. June 8: Paper pass back for revisions. June 10: Final draft of paper due, to be graded. June 12 (last day of the year): Paper pass back.
I went over all of these dates and what I will be checking off and looking for in class. We had a lot of questions about these dates, as well as about what we will be doing for the finals period. Like I said, I have some ideas, but am not willing to share them at this point. :-)
Taking Notes: For this section of class, I had everyone come up and take 4 sheets of paper for your notes on your sources to put in your folders. I talked about the awesome system for writing the paper. Take one of these papers and write #1 on the top, then write #1 on your first source. Write your research question in, then look at the "cheat sheet" in your folder to find out how to correctly cite your source for the bibliography. Finally, use the three smaller sheets that Mrs. DeFrance and I showed you how to take notes on (quotes/summarizing sentences/summarizing the entire source), and use those to create your notes for each source!
I know that this sounds complicated, but I feel fairly confident that I explained this well in class. I saw lots of nods and agreement here, which was great. Again, if this is not making sense, PLEASE ask me to clarify! There is simply no way that I can know how to best explain it if you do not tell me what you are confused about.
After this explanation, I had everyone get in to "base groups" of 3 people (there was one group with 4), to talk over what your research questions are about and what sources you have. You will continue to be in these base groups for the rest of the year, writing the paper! I have found that it is really nice just to have people to check in with, who know what you are writing and bring good ideas to the table.
For the rest of class, people were working on their research questions (running them by Mrs. DeFrance or me), as well as writing notes about your sources. Again, try to have at least two direct quotes per source! This will make writing the paper so much easier, I promise!
As I said at the end of class, I am not sure how productive this whole period of time was, because there seemed to be a lot of talking and not a lot of writing. We will see what happens for next class, when I am asking you to bring in three sources with notes on each source! :-)
MLK and Gandhi: We did not get to this, but I am sure we will eventually. Really a pretty interesting connection. ---
As I stated in class, this weekend I will be visiting my brother at college in Princeton, New Jersey to help him pack up to come home for the summer. I am really excited! I am flying out on Friday morning and getting back on Sunday night. If you are at all interested, you can track my flights in the air here: Portland to Seattle (Horizon Air Flight 2172, 9:30 AM PST Friday), Seattle to Newark, New Jersey (Continental Airlines Flight 1680, 11:45 AM PST Friday), Newark to Phoenix, (US Airways Flight 77, 4:35 PM EST Sunday), and Phoenix to Portland (US Airways Flight 94, 8:10 PM MST Sunday).
Also, if you would like to see that really awesome website I showed the class during the Nigeria unit that has all of the flights I have ever taken in my life mapped out, check out this: FlightMemory.com - Ml007. I love flying! Looking forward to putting that Newark-Phoenix route on that page later! If you end up doing this (I know that Zack T. and Scout already have), post a link to yours in the comments! I would love to see where everyone has flown to!
Whew! With all of that being said, I still should be fairly easy to communicate with this weekend, though it may not be as fast as you are used to. Please keep in touch and ask questions, post comments, or e-mail me with anything I can help you with! Enjoy the long weekend and Memorial Day, and thanks for being so great! :-)
EDIT: Friday, 7:30 AM - Is there anything better than sitting at Horizon's A Gates at PDX, connected to free wireless, about to read the Bill Simmons ESPN.com - The NBA playoffs mailbag, Part I? I say no.
EDIT 2: Friday, 10:50 AM - It turns out I was wrong. Being in the exclusive Alaska Airlines Board Room in Seattle (which is roughly 1000 times better than the Board Room in Portland), getting free food and drinks with an incredible view of the airport, reading the Simmons ESPN.com - The NBA playoffs mailbag, Part II is much better. My flight memory page is already updated for the PDX-SEA flight, which was on N403QX. Now I have to take some more pictures and run over to the Continental gates! Catch everyone in New Jersey! :-)
One of the photos that we talked about today in class. The African-American girl in the photo is Elizabeth Eckford, of the so called "Little Rock Nine." You can read a really fascinating account of her life here: Vanity Fair - Through a Lens, Darkly.
Hello and welcome to another class recap!
Generally, I liked how today went. I enjoy the fact that I can trust you guys with a completely random (for the most part) seating chart! I really liked what we did with the pictures of the civil rights movement. I am not sure how clear the talk about the bibliography and your research question for your final paper was, so I am thinking that we will devote most of the class on Thursday to writing notes about your sources and continuing to write the paper.
Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? What are civil rights?
Soundtrack: "Amazing" by Kanye West. Lyrics here. Selected because I keep hearing it for the NBA playoffs commercials, and because you guys are amazing. :-)
AGENDA 5/19/09: News Brief Recap and Gallery Walk Final Paper Bibliography Research Questions
Homework: Have research question formulated for next class, begin work on writing paper! Read blog recap!
If anyone would like help with formulating a good question, please post a message in the comments with your topic (something that you are interested in studying), and I will try to make it work! Your fellow classmates can help with this too!
News Brief: I don't know about you, but the start of class seemed to drag on for me. This was partially because I had to pass back about 40 papers, and partially because it seemed like we did not have too much to talk about. Sure, there was the Los Angeles earthquake, President Obama speaking at Notre Dame University, and the swine flu cases nearing 10,000. There is definitely so much more going on though! Remember to keep paying attention to everything!
We used this same article to talk about how to write a bibliography for a website later in class. Mainly, I wanted to point out that President Obama met yesterday with Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to talk about exactly what we have covered in class! What should Israel do about the threat of Iran? Should there be a two state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Again, I try to make everything that we learn about relate to what is currently going on in the world!
So, if anyone would like to step up to do the news brief for next class, on Thursday, in the comments, I would much appreciate it. Thanks!
Recap and Gallery Walk: For this part of class, I asked everyone to get out your note sheets on civil rights and what Martin Luther King Jr. had to say about how to get them. I wrote a few ideas on the board that we talked about last class, using excerpts from MLK's speeches. Then, I had everyone go around the room and look at the pictures from the African-American fight for civil rights in the United States. I asked you to choose four, and write down how they were (or were not) visual representations of MLK's philosophy.
I thought the class discussion on these, using the ELMO to look at a few with everybody, was really fantastic. Look, those were pictures that were supposed to be pretty controversial and get a response out of you! It is no wonder that there was some great thoughts about how the pictures were possible representations of non-violent philosophy. Thanks for this!
Final Paper Bibliography: For this section of the class, I talked about how to create an easy bibliography, using the "cheat sheets" that were stapled in your folders. I used the aforementioned CNN article as an example. Remember, for your final paper, you need to have at least four different sources, and three of them have to be a newspaper article, magazine article, and a book. Wikipedia is NOT a source, but it does frequently link to sources at the bottom of each page!
Research Questions: Abe and I handed out a bright yellow sheet to help you with formulating a good research question. We brainstormed on the board the aspects of a great question, like: being specific, testable, interesting, and easy to follow. For the last 10 minutes or so, we worked in class on developing your questions. Again, please see me if you want any help with it! Begin researching and answering your question! This should be a fairly lengthy paper - about 3-4 pages by the time you are all done. We will continue to talk about great ways to take notes and accomplish all the other objectives for the paper, next class. ---
Whew. That is a lot. I am guessing that a lot of it still does not make much sense, or is really stressful if it does. Let's continue working on this all together! Have a great rest of the day, and please make sure to stay in touch!
The Wordle for what everyone likes about the class. I was really glad to see that most everyone had a positive view of what we do! Thanks again for your thoughts here!
Welcome to your weekend!
First off, thank you for reading the blog. I guess it kind of hit me last night how much effort and time I really do have to devote to it. That was the first time I had really thought about calculating how many pages each recap must be. For the last one to be four pages, that means I have typed around 200 pages for your class alone! I know that is a TON of reading for you to do, but I truly believe that by reading, you will do better in class, and even more importantly, succeed in knowing more about the world. So thanks for checking it out, and thanks for the great class today! I was really happy with how everything went. :-)
Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? What are civil rights?
Soundtrack: "Get Up, Stand Up" by Bob Marley. Lyrics here. A fantastic song for thinking about civil rights! I am sad that Robert wasn't in class to hear it today - he has been wanting some Bob Marley for the soundtrack all year!
AGENDA 5/15/09: News Brief Debrief Class Reflections Martin Luther King Jr. Final Paper Note Taking
Homework: Bring sources (at least one more) for next class. Continue to work on research! Read blog recap!
I was really disappointed that we only had about 7 people actually bring in an article for the class today. It ended up being okay, because we did not have time to use them in class (that would have been the next step after Mrs. DeFrance's talk), but seriously, that was one of the easiest homework assignments ever: find something that you are interested in about the world, search Google News, print off an article. You didn't even really have to read it! Next class, I want everyone on the ball please.
News Brief: At the beginning of class, I went over the essential questions, soundtrack, agenda, and homework, then talked a little bit about my friend Ryan, who came in to visit the class, and his trip to Rwanda coming up! We are hoping that we can do some sort of webchat or something, to really tie everything together for the year! Super cool. Here is his post on Biking for Obama about it. Again, exactly what we are talking about in class, with connecting cultures through sports and other similarities!
I also pointed out that The Office season finale was amazing, that Mr. Hardin's Lakers lost (Game 7 on Sunday at 12:30 on ABC), and that the weather is amazing. After that, I started handing back your grades for the Israeli-Palestinian projects. Again, if you did not get something from me today, that means something is wrong and I need you to give me something else. Way too many "somethings" in that sentence. Anyway, please come see me!
A couple really interesting points from the class discussion during the news brief. Again, this section is only as good as you make it! It is your turn to bring up interesting things to talk about!
I have a couple of notes from this. One, was Aaron asked why the United States continues to fund other countries, even though our economy (like everyone else's) is terrible right now. I pointed out that our national debt (click on that link if you are at all interested in this - it is fascinating) is on the upswing again, as we have to borrow more and more money to pay for things. Further, I noted that China holds most of the debt that we owe to foreign governments. A really interesting article about the recent consequences of that in today's economy can be found here: Forbes.com - China's U.S. Debt Quandary.
I'm not sure who asked (it might have been Zack), but there was a question about which country in the world has the most debt. That's sort of a complicated question to answer, because it depends how you look at answering the question. Is the debt as a percentage of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product, which basically means ALL of goods and services within a country in a year)? If so, Zimbabwe is not looking too hot. Source: CIA World FactBook - Country Comparisons - Public Debt.
A lot of mumbo jumbo that you almost certainly do not care about, but the basic gist of it all is this: The United States economy is over three times bigger/richer than the next biggest economy, which is Japan. You can see why when the U.S. has economic problems, the world does too, to a large extent.
Anyway, I know I am a huge nerd for getting into that stuff. Here's something that Abe was excited about bringing in to talk about: CNN.com - Myanmar democracy leader facing trial after American's swim. Honestly, this is a really amazing story. I'm not sure if you guys got all of what I was saying in class about it, so it is really worth a read! Wow, to think I would have had no clue at all about this if I had not been listening to OPB's "The World" on the way home from school yesterday, on 91.5 FM, from 3:00-4:00! Man, I love learning. :-)
I did not assign anyone for next class to do a news brief, so if you would like to bring something in for next Tuesday, please let me know in the comments. Otherwise, I guess I will just do it myself!
Debrief Class Reflections: As I think I said in class, I was up until about 12:30 AM doing this last night (and that wasn't even including the MLK stuff, which kept me up until 1:00). I was really glad to be able to do this, though, as it is always incredibly interesting!
If you missed what I said, or want to see all the answers again, here they are:
1) What do you like about this class? (What about the structure gets you excited to come in the morning?)
Easy, not strict, fun x 3, debates x 2, discussions x 4, news brief x 6, soundtrack x 8, something different, topics x 4, people x 10, community x 2, nothing (too freaking tired), Mr. Fritz (smile) x 5, no homework due (usually) x 2, atmosphere x 3, "wakes me up in the morning," energy x 3, learning x 2, relevance, understandable, "not going to Hardin’s class" and "Hardin is funnier, but overall I’d much rather be in this class," everything, essays, relaxed x 2, the Blazers, work, projects x 2, never boring, activities
2) What could the class improve on?
Being more involved (participation), nothing x 2, too cold, music too loud, turning in homework x 6, quietness x 6, tardiness x 2, "stop shouting random comments," respect x 3, attitude, explanation, community x 2, participate more on blog, nicer to Mr. Fritz, annoyingness, listening, "people starting side conversations" x 3, staying on topic x 2, less essays and papers, more group work
3) What do you like about Mr. Fritz as a teacher?
Not strict/lenient x 4, enthusiastic x 13, energy x 4, approachable x 3, potential, positive attitude x 2, optimistic x 2, lets us revise, effort, reaches out, different topics x 3, fun x 2, interesting, nice x 2, no tests, learn a lot, taste in music, effort on blog x 2, understanding x 2, relatable, manliness, cool x 2, plays basketball x 2 "like Michael Jordan," dedication, love, passionate x 2, awesome, "get us to care," motivated, "wants people to do good," ideas, creativity, minimal homework, "not a harsh grader," "makes learning better," activities, "always has something as a visual to explain what you're doing" movies x 2, "relaxed unless you need to get mad," calm, relaxed, helpful
4) What can Mr. Fritz improve on?
Too much time on one topic (news brief, Blazers), explanation x 8, student engagement, nothing x 10, strictness x 2, "not so many projects that make us get up in front of class," "get a job here," "punishing for late work, so people will do it," class outside x 2, quieting down the class x 2, enthusiasm, handwriting x 2, less strict, give more time on projects, not talk about uncomfortable topics (like rape), more movies, "I think you need to make the class respect you more. At times, it’s a little too 'buddy buddy' and we forget that you are our teacher. Which is good, but we still need to know you are our teacher." "talking maybe a little quieter," hands on activities, make homework worth more, keep on topic --- Thanks again for participating in this activity! I really think it is a great way to see how class is going.
Martin Luther King Jr.: For this section, I asked you to get out your notes on civil rights from last class. I then proceeded to hand out a sheet of excerpts from three different speeches, which can be found (along with many others) at MLK Online - Speeches.
The speeches that I quoted from were "Letter from Birmingham Jail," "Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech," and "I See the Promised Land." All incredibly powerful speeches, with some amazing context for when they were given! For instance, check out this excerpt from the end of the last speech he ever gave, "I See the Promised Land":
If that does not give you chills, I do not know what to tell you.
After reading through these excerpts, I asked the class (using volunteers and playing cards) to tell me a little bit about the philosophy behind what MLK was saying. How was he trying to get civil rights? I thought that this was an incredibly productive conversation to have (I took notes on the board and asked you to copy them down). It was a little shorter than I wanted, but that is the nature of things for the rest of the year, since we also have the following section to work on!
Final Paper Note Taking: Mrs. DeFrance had you write down your research topics on the board, and most of them looked absolutely great! I am excited to see what you guys come up with for them! Mrs. DeFrance and I explained the strategy that she really likes for taking notes, using her folder system. She asked me after class if this made sense when she was writing on the overhead, and I told her with 100% confidence that it did. It really is a great system and easy to use! We talked about using the three colored sheets in the folder. One is for a sentence/short thought, the second is for paragraphs and chunks, and the third is for the entire article.
Thanks for listening and being great note takers, during the note taking part of the lesson! Let me know if you were at all confused about this. Again, next class I want you to bring in sources to take notes on! ---
Have a stupendous weekend! Enjoy the great weather! I know that I am ready for a rest. This week has been totaly exhausting. Only 4 days of school next week, and then I am flying off for the long weekend to New Jersey to see my brother at Princeton and help him pack up! Super excited for that. By the way, speaking of airplanes, I will be at the airport tonight working at UPS, seeing some friends (for possibly the last time, as the company I work for out there is losing the contract at the end of May - sad times!). Thus, I will not be able to post or respond to comments from about 4:00 to 10:00 tonight (Friday).
Thank you for being such amazing students. I was not lying when I said that you guys make all of the work worthwhile when I see you in the morning. Please work hard for me too! :-)
EDIT: Just checked, and without the picture and video, in Times New Roman size 12 font, this blog post is exactly four pages long. Whew!
Earth, as seen from the Apollo 17. This is probably the most famous image of Earth from space, and is sometimes referred to as the "Blue Marble" picture. Found on the consistently incredible (bookmark and come back every day) NASA.gov - Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD).
Hello everyone!
That sure does feel nice, to type a new unit title! Thank you for participating in everything today. I get the feeling that the rest of the year, every day will be crammed full of stuff to do. We accomplished a lot today! I know there is probably a lot to clear up and write about as well, so let's get on to the recap!
Essential Questions: How does conflict arise and in what ways have various people responded? What are civil rights? - The first one is from an earlier unit (we have now talked about every essential question that the Westview Social Studies department wants us to), and the second is one for the lesson today.
Soundtrack: "Say It Right" by Nelly Furtado. Lyrics here. I'm not sure if anyone really knows what this song is about, including Ms. Furtado, but man, is it catchy. As I said in class, it reminds me of a California road trip I took in 2007! Chosen for today because I searched my iTunes for "right" and this was the best song that came up.
AGENDA 5/13/09: News Brief Reflections on Goals/Unit/Class Civil Rights The Final
Homework: Decide on what topic you want to do (for your research project), bring a source to take notes on next class. Read blog recap!
This will be talked about a little more in "The Final" section. Basically, I want you to decide on what you want to investigate for your final paper, and bring one source in (like a news article, book, magazine, etc) that relates to your topic and that you can take notes on. We will help you do this in class! All I need for you to do is to pick a topic, and choose something to take notes on about.
For anyone that was not in class today, or that has lost (already) the assignment sheet, here it is to download:
Again, we will be talking about this much more. In fact, for the rest of the year, this is what we will be doing. As I noted in class, I am thinking that we will have about half the time devoted to this new unit, and the other half to developing this paper.
News Brief: We really did not have that much to talk about today, for any number of reasons, but that is totally fine. Just so long as you are paying attention to what is going on in the world!
Specifically, Lauren talked about China remembering the one year anniversary of an incredibly deadly earthquake. Source: USA Today.com - A year later, China vows to rise from quake. That was certainly a huge event that will effect that region for a long time to come. I wanted to post a picture of school desks holding up the ceiling of a building that had otherwise completely collapsed. Here is your evidence:
That was after the 1985 Mexico City Earthquake. Though I will admit that this is a pretty unlikely outcome, given a really strong earthquake, at least it is better than nothing. We do those earthquake drills for a reason! :-)
Abe said he will bring something in next class on Friday for us to talk about. Thanks!
Reflections on Goals/Unit/Class: At the start of this section, I had you pull out your goal sheets from the beginning of the semester, that I gave you back last class. I asked you to write a little reflection about how things are going, what you can improve or continue to work on, etc. I read all of these, and generally, I am glad that you are participating on this! It is really important to set goals for yourself, and come back to those goals from time to time. On one paper, someone even wrote something like "I completely forgot about this, but I was right. I have to work harder, starting now!" Good stuff.
I then asked you to get out another sheet of paper to do the activity that we had done at the end of last semester. The questions that I wanted you to respond to were: 1) What do you like about this class? (What about the structure gets you excited to come in the morning?) 2) What could be improved about the class? 3) What do you like about Mr. Fritz as a teacher? 4) What can Mr. Fritz improve on?
To be honest, I have not read all of these yet, but I did glance at them, and I am really thankful for your honest feedback. It really does help me out (and in theory, you as well)!
Civil Rights: To start this section of the class, I asked you to get out another sheet of paper and I projected this quote for you to reflect on (like Mr. Hardin's class): "A small body of determined spirits fired by an unquenchable faith in their mission can alter the course of history." - Mohandas Gandhi.
After a really great period of focused work (I could tell you guys were used to doing this), I had everyone come up and write one example or thought you had that came to mind as you were thinking about the quote. I thought all of these were really interesting! We had 9/11/2001, The Blazers, Revolutionary War, 300, V for Vendetta, amongst others. The point to doing this was as a warm up to think about the fight for civil rights.
Next, I asked you to help me brainstorm about what, exactly, civil rights were. To be honest, I think I could have done this portion of the class better. I noticed that a lot of people were tuning out, and at some level, I can't blame you. However, I was really happy with those that participated in this. We had the right to love, live, vote, own land, free speech, and some other good thoughts! Zack T. noted that there is a limit on some of these, like in this instance: ESPN.com - Ovechkin, Caps putting threat behind them. Yes!
As I went and got Mrs. DeFrance, I asked you to take notes on our brainstorming session. Next class, we will work with this! :-)
The Final: As I think Mrs. DeFrance and I said in class, this "historical investigation" project is one that every freshman at Westview is working on, as part of the common assessment for Social Studies. If you remember, the first semester version of this was the visual metaphor. Thus, this is a really big deal!
Mrs. DeFrance talked about her really amazing folder system for helping you write papers. Seriously, if I had this in high school, I think I would have written 10 page long papers with ease. It is really a pretty incredible way to keep track of everything. Please keep everything in that folder - including all the sheets of paper tucked inside!
I linked to the final paper assignment sheet above. We read that together in class, as I tried as best as I could to introduce this as something that you do not have to stress out about. Make it interesting to you! After reading everything together, we started brainstorming ideas for "issues of global significance" on the board. I took a picture of the results:
Pick one of these, or any other issue for your homework, and bring in something to start you off on the project on Friday! I want you to be excited at finding out information about the world, that you may not have really had the chance to learn about in class this year!
Put it this way, there are entire college courses devoted to just these topics. In fact, I was in one last year at Western Oregon University! It was called History 492: World Problems. I ended up writing a 10 page paper on the search for Osama bin Laden. It was a really interesting class!
If you are still totally unsure about what to do, try a Google search for "world problems" or "globalization" or something along those lines. If none of that sounds interesting at all, come talk to me and I am sure we can get you started. :-)
Finally, at the end of class, I read an article about the Pope (the head of the Catholic Church) visiting Jerusalem and calling for peace. Here is that article: CNN.com - Pope visits Jerusalem's holiest sites. I wanted to read this off as an example of an issue of global significance, directly relating to what we just learned about!
By the way, I just found this article: AP - Pope in Bethlehem endorses Palestinian homeland, which I think is really a fantastic example of why everything we learned about in class is important. I think almost all of you will understand everything in it now! Woo hoo! :-) ---
For anyone that is accustomed to reading the blog right after (or during) school, sorry about getting this up late. It kind of reminds me of before I started being at Westview full time! Very relaxing and easy to write the blog at home, I must say. Seriously, I am very busy lately. Here is what I did after class today, for anyone interested:
Put away projector and put files, folders, and laptop on desk. Enter attendance for class on eSIS. Complete grading the Israeli-Palestinian projects before lunch (by the way, these are all done, if you provided me with both a paper and the creative product, if possible). Create lesson plans for Periods 2 and 4 tomorrow. Make copies of final assignment sheets for both. Make copies of Promises conversation assignment for Period 4. File away everything for easy retrieval tomorrow. Enter grades for everything I have recently graded on eSIS. Read goal sheets we did today in class. Do quick update on blog. Miscellaneous grading of late work. Help Mrs. DeFrance with a PowerPoint question. Finish reading and responding to Period 2's Promises conversations.
Yeah. I was busy. I'm sure I am forgetting stuff there too. Thanks for bearing with me, if this is a little late!
Other news of interest: Brandon Roy was selected to the All-NBA Second Team! This is a really huge honor! The first time a Blazer has made All-NBA since Clyde Drexler in 1992. Source: BlazersEdge.com. Brandon Roy is simply incredible. What a guy.
The Office Season Five finale is tomorrow night (Thursday)! It is totally worth checking out, even if you have never seen it. The fun starts at 9:00 PM, on NBC (Channel 8 for most of you). The Office is my favorite television show of all time. I am really quite sad that the season will be over and we will have to wait until the fall for a new episode! Every year this happens, and there is a huge cliffhanger, and it just kills me.
There is a TON of sporting action going on. I am sure that Westview's spring sports are all worth checking out. Add to that two Game Sevens in the NHL, the Lakers-Rockets and Celtics-Magic series in the NBA (both Game Sixes), and Major League Baseball, all tomorrow. Wow. It is a great time to be a sports fan!
Whew! That was quite the recap! It took me much longer than usual to put together. The life of a teacher, rolls on! Have a great evening! Come see me if you want to see your grade or need any help at all! Feel free to continue the conversation in the comments. See you on Friday! Thanks for being amazing! :-)
