Period 1: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 19 - Class Recap

Faraj Adnan, one of the people in the movie Promises that we finished today. The picture can be found here. Also, here is a site that tells you a little bit about what happened right after the movie. Faraj is now 24. Should you feel so inclined, here is Faraj's MySpace, and here is his FaceBook. Also, while you are at it, here is Yarko Solan's FaceBook. I wonder if they are friends? Certainly something that connects cultures and countries - social networking sites! :-)
Good morning class!

Wow, there was definitely a lot to talk about today. Thank you so much for the focus and attention! I really liked what we did with everything. This was really an excellent way to end the unit, as well as reflect upon all the good stuff that we have done throughout. Obviously, we did not get even close to being done with all the things that I was planning for, but that is okay. Next class (there are only EIGHT left - can you believe it?) we will get to all of that. For now, let's go on to the recap together!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? How can the Middle East be stabilized?

Soundtrack: "Let Love In" by Goo Goo Dolls. Lyrics here. Really an excellent song. It can also definitely be related to the conflicts that we are studying!

AGENDA 5/11/09:
News Brief
Finish Promises
Reflections on Goals/Unit/Class
Civil Rights

Homework: Finish any late work – work on your goals! Read blog recap!

Specifically, I would like you to write a little reflection about how you are doing in accomplishing the goals that you set out for yourself at the beginning of the quarter. Also, about the late work/progress report grades: what ended up happening was that I did not feel comfortable speeding through all your wonderful papers and presentations to grade for the Progress Report. Thus, I graded the skill packet (almost everyone got a 10/10), meaning that your grades were virtually unchanged from the quarter grades. Please come see me if you would like an update on where you stand - I am hopeful that I can get everything back to you on Wednesday! Sorry about the wait!

News Brief: After going over the essential questions, soundtrack, agenda, and bowing down to Mr. Chamberlain, I introduced Mr. Paul Copley, the teaching legend at Lewis and Clark who came to watch for the day, and we sung Happy Birthday to Mrs. DeFrance. Then, after settling down a bit, we talked a little bit about the current news of the day. Someone mentioned a story about someone being pushed off a building in the Middle East. Mr. Copley was able to tell me after class that this was probably about the recent 60 Minutes feature on Ashraf Marwan, a secret agent that both Egypt and Israel praises as their own. I do not know anything about the story, but it certainly looks interesting. Here's the link: CBSnews.com - 60 Minutes: Was The Perfect Spy A Double Agent?

We had another update about the swine flu, and how it was related to a man dying in Washington State. Source: OregonLive.com - Washington man's death related to swine flu, state says.

Abe asked about Yasser Arafat, and whether or not he was a terrorist. That question sort of took me aback, because I was (and am) really uncertain about how to answer it. Put it this way, it is exactly like this forced choice prompt that I asked you to think about: "People that fight for their countries freedom are to be commended and encouraged."

I'm simply not sure how to answer it. How do you define "terrorist"? Definitely interesting to think about.

Before Lauren went, I read this article aloud to the class: CNN.com - Saudi judge: It's OK to slap spendthrift wives. Honestly, this was one of those cases where I read this last night as I was making the lesson plan and knew that it would be perfect to bring in to talk about. I liked the responses here! We certainly could have done more with it, but I wanted to make sure that we had enough time for the film.

Lauren brought in this article to talk about: Yahoo! News - Ex-soldier could get death in Iraq rape, slayings. Really interesting and very sad. Certainly another factor to think about in the conflict that the United States is in with Iraq: how do that country's citizens see us?

Abe volunteered to bring in an article for next class on Wednesday. I think I will continue to ask for volunteers, or just pull cards.

Finish Promises: I really loved the thoughts throughout watching this movie. Your class is the easiest to tell that you are into stuff like this, because of all the laughter, exclamations, gasps, tears, etc. I liked how when I stopped the tape right before the kids were about to meet, a lot of people got mad. Good! I'm glad you were in to this! Even more so, I was really excited to hear your thoughts about all of it, especially about the innocence of children and the circumstances that they were born into. This was so related to the rest of the movie and the overall point!

By the way, now that the film is done, here is the trailer for the movie, and you can also watch the entire film on YouTube in 10 parts. That playlist can be found here.

I am very interested to see what you did with these conversations! I think it was a good way to approach watching the film. It is possible that we will do something next class with these as well. Again, thank you for your participation!

Reflections on Goals/Unit/Class: Obviously, we did not get to most of this. I handed back your goals from the beginning of the semester as you were writing about Promises. We will do this activity next class, which I am excited about. Always good to have feedback!

Civil Rights: Yes, did we did not get to any of this. That is okay! A nice clean break with the next unit!
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I cannot believe how much stuff I have to do. This is ridiculous. Because of this, I should be working hard all throughout the rest of the day near the computer and will be able to respond to comments and e-mails in a timely fashion. Other than that, I will be watching the third to last episode of 24 tonight at 9:00, on FOX. Possibly some playoff basketball too. Have a great evening! Continue to work hard! The end of the school year is coming right up!

Period 1: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 18 - Class Recap

One of the promotional images for the film Promises that we are watching in class. Found on the official website, here.
Dear class,

It looks like the mammoth "Turmoil in the Middle East" unit will finally be concluding on Monday! Taking a look at the amount of tape left on the Promises VHS, I would say we probably have about 30 minutes or so to go. I really appreciated the focus on everything today in class. I think some of you were perhaps getting tired, because I saw a few heads going down, but overall, thank you.

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? How can the Middle East be stabilized?

SOUNDTRACK: "SWEET CHILD O' MINE" BY GUNS N' ROSES. Lyrics here. Chosen because we are continuing to watch a film about Israeli and Palestinian children.

AGENDA 5/7/09:
PASS BACK WORK/TURN IN PAPERS
NEWS BRIEF
INTERNALIZING THE DEBATE
PROMISES, PART II

HOMEWORK: TURN IN LATE WORK BY TOMORROW FOR PROGRESS REPORTS. READ BLOG RECAP!

Whew, I don't know if I have ever typed that much in all caps. I feel like I just yelled everything at you! I wrote the agenda today that way to make a little fun of my supposedly bad handwriting on the board. Sorry, but I won't be doing that with any frequency. Seriously, most of the time, it should be fairly legible. If it isn't, please let me know! :-)

Anyway, as I said in class, I need to have your progress report grades in on Friday (tomorrow). Thus, I would like anything that you haven't turned in brought to me ASAP.

Pass Back Work/Turn in Papers: At the start of class, I went over the essential questions, soundtrack, and agenda, and then passed back your notes on the speeches (which again, I found really interesting and liked what everyone had to say!). You got five points of credit for that if I saw it for both days. I also passed back your skills packets, because I needed to have you do something else for me. However, we started by doing the customary...

News Brief: I actually don't think there was that much to talk about here. Abe mentioned a new swine flu death. I noted that there are now KGW.com - 45 swine flu cases confirmed in Oregon. Yep.

Anyway, the real meat of this section was brought in by Jazmyne, who had this article to talk about: CNN.com - Obama: Afghanistan, Pakistan, U.S. working to defeat extremists. Here is what is currently going on with the situation, as the two countries try to defeat the Taliban: CNN.com - Pakistan to scrap peace deal, launch offensive, source says. Okay. There was a lot that I said in class that I want to be able to back up, so here goes.

1). I mentioned that the U.S. provides a lot of aid to Pakistan (in order to help it fight the Taliban and other Islamic extremists in the country), and that last summer a report came out about some of the wasteful spending. Specifically, I mentioned a fleet of cars that Pakistan bought with U.S. money. Here is a great article talking all about that: WashingtonPost.com - U.S. Funding to Pakistan Plagued With Problems, GAO Report Says. A relevant quote:

In one example, the report cited monthly payments averaging $19,000 per vehicle for 20 passenger vehicles used by the Pakistani navy that appeared to contain "duplicative charges," the GAO said. The Pentagon often did not document its basis for evaluating claims and did not check Pakistan's currency conversions, which could have led to overbilling, the report said.

Look, this is not to say that all the aid the United States gives to Pakistan is being spent terribly. I tend to disagree when people make the argument that all the money being put forth to a particular purpose must be not worthy because of individual specific cases of inefficiencies, where money is spent badly. That is the same sort of argument that some people use to say that schools should get less funding, because they waste a lot of money on administrators, or other individual aspects. It just makes no sense in the grand scheme of things.

In fact, check out this current article from just this last Monday: CNN.com - Legislation would triple U.S. non-military aid to Pakistan. Currently, we provide 500 million dollars a year to Pakistan. This bill would up that to $1.5 million. Again, a HUGE reason why paying attention to the Middle East is important. These are our tax dollars! We need to know what is going on, in order to be well informed about why our money goes where it does!

2). Furthermore, I talked about the relationship between Al Qaeda (Osama bin Laden's terrorist group) and Iraq before 9/11. Basically, there was no relationship, and the U.S. government actually has come out and said so: CNN.com - Hussein's Iraq and al Qaeda not linked, Pentagon says. A quote:

The assessment of the al Qaeda connection and the insistence that Hussein had weapons of mass destruction were two primary elements in the Bush administration's arguments in favor of going to war with Iraq.

The Pentagon's report also contradicts then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who said in September 2002 that the CIA provided "bulletproof" evidence demonstrating "that there are, in fact, al Qaeda in Iraq."

Bad times. You can start to see why many people were really angry (and still are) about the U.S. involvement in Iraq. I mentioned that then Illinois State Senator Barack Obama had come out against invading Iraq in 2002, as it was happening. This was one of his trump cards over Hillary Clinton in last years primaries and general election. That speech can be found here: BarackObama.com - Remarks of Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama Against Going to War with Iraq.

3). I noted that the U.S. had helped Saddam Hussein and Iraq fight Iran in the 1980s; in which "weapons of mass destruction" were used. That would take forever (there are entire college courses devoted to just this stuff) to adequately source, but as always, Wikipedia has a great start with collecting information: Wikipedia - Iraq and Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The same Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense in 2002, that I quoted in the CNN article above was the Donald Rumsfeld in this picture, shaking hands with Saddam Hussein in 1983: GWU.edu - National Security Archives. Incredibly interesting website there!

4). Finally, (I know, I know, I'm sorry, but I really get in to this sort of stuff), I noted that the United States provided all sorts of aid to the fighters in Afghanistan against Russia in the 1980s. The U.S. covert operation for this was called Operation Cyclone. A lot of these same people are now fighting against the U.S. Karma, as Abe put it.

Whew! Okay. Thanks for getting that conversation started Jazmyne! Lauren, you are up for next class. Any current news article about anything outside the United States.

Internalizing the Debate: At this point, I asked you to open up your skills packets again, because I actually needed you to answer the questions in the debate part, rather than just copy down what we came up together on the board. We spent about 5 minutes doing this, and then everyone turned them back in. Thanks! Now I can give you credit for doing that! :-)

Promises, Part II: There is a whole bunch that I will say about this film when we are done, but I think I will hold off for now. Next class, we will finish this up, do some reflections on goal setting, give me some feedback about the class, and probably move on to the next unit. Woo hoo!
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My teacher at Lewis and Clark, Paul Copley, will be watching class on Monday, so be prepared for that! He taught for 30 years at Sunset, so he is a pretty amazing guy. Also, Mrs. DeFrance's birthday is Monday! Get her something, if you want! :-)

The Office is on tonight at 9:00 on NBC. The season is almost over! I am sad. Other than that, thanks for checking up on everything! Stay in touch and keep working hard! Have a great, restful weekend!

Period 1: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 17 - Class Recap

The flags of Israel and Palestine, along with the word Peace, written in Hebrew and Arabic.
Good morning amazing students!

Thank you for the class today! I really liked the participation in what we did, as well as all the really interesting news items, feedback on my handwriting (see, another reason why the blog is great), talk about the papers, Kierra's presentation, and your thoughts while watching Promises. We will continue watching the film and discussing our thoughts about it next class. Now, time for the recap!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? How can the Middle East be stabilized?

Soundtrack: "Look into My Eyes" by Outlandish. I read the lyrics out loud to the class, but since I know I blew by them, please check them out again and think about how it relates to the Palestinian perspective! Look into My Eyes Lyrics. Also, you can watch the really interesting and symbolic music video for the song here.

AGENDA 5/5/09:
News Brief
Talking Papers
Student Presentations
Promises

Homework: Turn in late work. Read blog recap!

Also, as we talked about in class, if you want to revise your explanation paper for the creative product, please go ahead and do that. Try to have those in by next class, if possible please!

News Brief: Wow, lots of really interesting things to talk about today! I am not sure if I can remember all of the items of interest that were brought up, but I will try. Tanya talked about a Hispanic man being killed by three white people. I am not sure if this was the event she was talking about, but right now, two white men are on trial for killing an illegal immigrant in Pennsylvania last year. That interesting article can be found here: NYTimes.com - 2 White Youths on Trial in Killing of a Mexican.

I used this to talk about illegal immigration in relation to the swine flu, and how there are some people that are trying to make the case that this flu is some sort of proof that Mexican people should not be allowed into the country, or that they are in some way being used as a biological attack, and that we should immediately close the border with Mexico. A great source for looking at this kind of talk is: MediaMatters.org - Paranoia pandemic: Conservative media baselessly blame swine flu outbreak on immigrants.

Continuing with the swine flu related talk, I pointed out some really interesting (and possibly comedic) international relations that have been strained through the flu fears: FT.com - Mexico hits at China on quarantine policy.

I mentioned that it is Cinco de Mayo today. As always, Wikipedia has a great recap (note all the sources) of the holiday: Cinco de Mayo.

Someone noted that the Portland LumberJax, the professional lacrosse team here in town, will probably be leaving, to Ben's (and a whole lot of other people) dismay. Here's the source on that: OregonLive.com - LumberJax done in Portland, team announces. EDIT: WOW! Talk about random. Look on the sidebar in that article, and there is a post about Westview vs. Southridge Lacrosse! Apparently, here are the highlights from the game on May 2nd! Seriously, EVERYTHING is connected somehow. Ben, what is your number? :-)

We talked some more (surprise, surprise) about the swine flu and the threat of it closing down schools. I maintain that if you want school to be closed because people are getting sick with a potentially dangerous disease, YOU are the one that is really sick. :-) In fact, check out this current article about the practicality of closing schools because of the virus: CNN.com - Officials tell schools not to close for swine flu.

John brought in a news article about some of the reaction to the H1N1 flu virus in the Middle East: CNN.com - Egyptian farmers protest mandatory swine slaughter. I would have to say that I think an order to slaughter every pig, regardless of whether or not they have the flu, is probably an overreaction. That is just me though. At least they are freezing the meat and giving it back to the farmers after the threat is over. Thanks for bringing this in, John!

By the way, Jordon asked what CNN stands for. It actually stands for the really dull "Cable News Network." I noted in class that the "MS" in MSNBC stands for MicroSoft.

I'm sure there was more that we talked about too! Good stuff. I really like it when you guys are paying attention to the world around you and bringing in things to talk about! Thanks for that.

Jazmyne, please bring in a news article to talk about on Thursday. Anything currently going on outside the United States. Thanks!

Talking Papers: I used this point in class to go over what I was looking for in the explanation papers for your creative product. I know that I could have structured this better, but I think that you probably got the main points of why I thought the four papers I read aloud were good. We mentioned "specificity" (hehe), as well as basics of the conflict, a real relation to what your product was actually going to do in it, as well as being thoughtful.

To those that took the papers back to revise, thank you! It is all part of the process of growing together and knowing want each side wants. Please try to have those revised and done by next class, if at all possible.

Then, for some reason, Kierra asked me to write a sentence in all capitals on the board. We will come back to this.

Student Presentations: Kierra was the only one to go today, and reluctantly (at first) showcased her incredible painting of a perspective on the conflict. Then, she really got into it and the class kept seeing more and more symbols in the painting as well! That was fun. Books are like that too. Try telling Mr. Hardin about what you think the symbolic meaning of some of the words in books are - I bet he will be impressed!

After Kierra finished, we came back to my sentence. Apparently, she wanted to see if my handwriting was any better in capitals. It is really difficult to write in all capitals, I found! The point from the class here was well taken - that my handwriting is hard to read (for some people). Thank you for raising that as an issue! I am not particularly sure how I am going to improve on this, other than writing bigger, as well as maybe going more slowly, but hey, it is good to know. Please tell me if you can't read something I wrote! That goes for on the board, as well as any feedback I give you on papers, assignments, etc. Maybe I will have to type everything again, like I did for the Rwanda speech grades. :-)

Anyway, I really love that you guys felt comfortable enough to raise it as an issue. Duly noted. After this unit, I am going to give you back your goal sheets that you did at the beginning of the term, as well as have you do a little evaluation of my teaching and the class, like we did last term. I really value all of your feedback about everything, so thanks for that!

Promises: Okay, can I tell you how much I enjoyed this? I think there was a little confusion from how I designed the "conversation" piece to the assignment - basically, I just wanted you to write as if you were writing to one of the children in the film - but overall, this was fantastic. From what I could tell, everyone knew what was going on, was actively involved in watching the film, and had some incredibly interesting thoughts to share. I am really excited to finish this up next class! Please bring those conversation pieces to class to continue!
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Good times. Sadly, I have no urgent sporting action that I am going to say that I am watching, and the Office update will be for Thursday's class. Thus, it appears that I am out of words. Too bad. Have a wonderful afternoon! See you on Thursday!

EDIT: It looks like I DO have some awesome sporting action to talk about! I found this video on the always amazing BlazersEdge.com - it gave me chills probably 5 different times. On a comedic side, I thoroughly enjoy the slide 1:10 in that reads "Despite of that they are winning a lot of games." That is HILARIOUS. I love it. Watch and enjoy! Think about all the potential that YOU have too! Someday! :-)

[T-10] Portland Trail Blazers - Someday [B2L] from Tom10 on Vimeo.

Period 1: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 16 - Class Recap

The poster I showed the class today. I have had this nailed above my bed since I was in Middle School. A good reminder for not only sports, but life.
Good morning class!

That was an entirely too short day. Further shortened by the assembly schedule (which I forgot about until just before class) and our talking about the news of the day for about 25 minutes. Thus, no outside exploring for us. However, we WILL do that at some point in time - probably a sunny Friday. :-)

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? How can the Middle East be stabilized?

Soundtrack: "Beautiful Day" by U2. Lyrics here. As I told you in class, I made up my mind yesterday that this would be the soundtrack, with either a Blazers win or Blazers loss. I think it worked well, even though we had the latter. I really can't be sad when listening to that song. Some of the lyrics that relate to the interconnectedness around the world:

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out

It was a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
Beautiful day

Also, a bit of trivia: This is the first time that I have repeated an artist for the soundtrack this year. I also played U2's "Pride (In the Name of Love)" before MLK day.

AGENDA 5/1/09:
The Blazers
News Brief
Student Presentations
Exploring the World

Homework: Live, love, listen, laugh – have a great weekend. Read blog recap!

The Blazers: At the start of class, I went over the essential questions, soundtrack, agenda, and homework as usual. Then, I knew that we needed to at least mention the end of the Blazers season, since many of you have been very interested in following along, as I have. Here's what I pointed out:

In the last four seasons, the Blazers record has gone from 21 wins and 61 losses (the worst record in the league), to 32-50, 41-41, and now, 54-28. My point there was that you cannot deny the progress, and how working hard has paid off. They are the youngest team in the league, and have had struggles, but they are believing in themselves and creating something truly great. The way I related this to our class was talking about your own possible struggles with school. As teachers, we realize that high school sometimes stinks. We are here to help you, as "coaches" - there is an incredible team of people at Westview to help you succeed. Furthermore, be there for your "teammates" - all of your peers and especially the people in this class. TOGETHER, we will do amazing things! :-)

News Brief: There was a LOT to say here. Primarily, we talked about the H1N1 virus, commonly known as the swine flu, which it seems like everyone is entirely too paranoid about. My alma mater, Western Oregon University, closed campus through next Monday because of a probable case. We also had another probable case in Multnomah County, as Zach N. helpfully pointed out last night in the comments.

Look, across the entire world as of today, 331 people have been infected and 10 have died, according to the World Health Organization, which has the concrete statistics. Source: WHO.int - Influenza H1N1, update 7. That includes one death and 109 cases in the United States.

Guess how many people there are in the United States? Roughly 306,330,650. Source: Census.gov - U.S. and World Population Clocks. Thus, so far, .0000003% of people (or 3 quadrillionths of 1 percent) in the U.S. have the virus, according to my calculations. Guess how many people in the United States are living with a previous diagnosis of cancer? Try 11,100,000, or 3.6% of the entire U.S. population. Source: CDC.gov - Cancer Prevention and Control.

To be sure, this is not to say that the swine flu is not a big deal and should not be carefully monitored and contained. I think most of the actions taken so far are entirely appropriate. However, the level of hysteria by the media and many others (such as Vice President Biden - see here: CNN.com - Commentary: It's time to end flu hysteria) is not. Calm down. Wash your hands. Pay close attention to most of the other things in life that are dangerous enough as is, like driving. Call it good.

I asked about your thoughts on Obama's press conference on Wednesday. It seemed like maybe a third of the class saw part of it, which is a little depressing, but I am glad that we had at least that much participation. I watched the whole thing through the video in the post below, and thought it was interesting how he responded to a question about the Taliban in Pakistan potentially taking over the nuclear weapons of that country, and what the U.S. response to that would be. If that sounds interesting, watch the video. :-)

Finally, I mentioned that there is likely going to be a new Supreme Court justice appointed by President Obama this summer, as Justice David Souter is retiring. CNN.com - Souter known as low-key, fierce defender of rights. You may not think so, but this is a really big deal. There are only 9 Supreme Court justices, and once they are appointed, they have life terms, or until they retire. It will be interesting to see who Obama chooses! The good odds are on a woman, since there is only one on the court right now (Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is battling cancer).

After all of this, Nicole brought in a really interesting story (I wish we had the time to really go into it) about a young lady in Australia named Belitta. The article is here: UN.org - Belitta's Story. Many Australian aborigines (think like Native Americans) have undergone many hardships. In fact, the Australian government made a formal apology last year. Source: BBC.co.uk - Australia apology to Aborigines. Very interesting stuff. John, you are up for next Tuesday. Any article about something currently happening outside the United States.

I am sure that I am missing other news items that people brought up, but I think that was a fairly good rundown of what happened.

Student Presentations: Thanks for the participation in these today! I really liked most of what we did. Obviously, there were good things and bad things from almost every one, but together, I was pretty pleased. Again, I am really going to be looking in your papers to see how you explain what you did. Next class, I think we may have a few more people left to go, so we will wrap up and move on. Also, heads up that my supervisor, Mrs. Woicke, will be coming in next Tuesday as well. :-)

Exploring the World: This is going to be fun, at some point in time. I'm not going to spoil what I have planned, but it should be good.
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I also wanted to point out my friend Ryan (who you met) has a post up at BikingForObama.com about "Play for Hope" - the organization that wants to use sports to help heal the friction between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda. Exactly what we are talking about in class, right? Anyway, Ryan writes that he will get to go to Kigali, Rwanda this summer with the group and take pictures for them! I will definitely have to find some way to keep you all in the loop on how that goes.

This weekend, I will be totally consumed by grading your papers and projects, getting a haircut, and buying two new tires for my car. That, and watching the NBA playoffs - this Boston/Chicago series is INSANE! Three overtimes last night!

Speaking of hoops, I had fun playing with everyone at lunch! A little too chaotic for me though, and very little defense. Next week, I'm going to make a sign up sheet for the teams, before lunch. Five on five only, games to 11 points, winners take next challengers.

That should just about do it! Have a fantastic weekend!

Period 1: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 15 - Class Recap

Jasper, one of my cats. We learned today from Scout, Morgan, and McKenzie that animals help bring people together! :-)
Hello and welcome to another class recap!

Today was fun! I was super impressed with most of your presentations, though I must confess the real thing that I am looking for it how you are going to connect what you did with the conflict in Israel, which you wrote about in your explanation paper. On Friday, we will continue the presentations, so come prepared please - even if your name got called and you did not have anything today.

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? How can the Middle East be stabilized? - Today was all about answering both of these questions!

Soundtrack: "Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith. Chosen because today had a lot to do with the emotional pull on people, and because it is a great rock song.

AGENDA 4/29/09:
News Brief
Student Presentations

Homework: Watch President Obama's address to the nation tonight (5 PM). Dress to go outside on Friday. Read blog recap!

Today marks 100 days since President Obama took office. While it is a completely symbolic day, mostly generated by the media, the President is addressing the nation at a primetime news conference tonight at 5:00 PM. This will be on just about every network imaginable, including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, CSPAN, Telemundo (actually not sure about that, but I wouldn't be surprised)... you name it. Except for the regular FOX network, which controversially decided to show "Lie to Me" instead. I will be in class at Lewis and Clark (for the last time this year, until summer!) from 4:30 to 7:30, so I will not be able to watch it live, just like most of you, I am guessing. Thus, I will post a link to the video when I get back. Please remember to be noting what the President has to say about our relations with the rest of the world!

UPDATE: Here's the video and here's the transcript to read, if you can't watch it.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I am sort of guessing that we may have most, if not all of the class next time devoted to presentations, but should we be finishing in good time, and it is nice out, we are going to go explore the world a little bit. By "explore the world" I mean probably take a walk out to the football field or baseball diamond, sit down, and do a little creative writing. So please be prepared for that, if it should happen.

News Brief: I really love how this class seems like it is tuned in to the news! We had some good topics brought up, like the swine flu and the "Placebo Effect." I'm sure there were other ones in there too, like the fun event that happened last night and will happen again tomorrow night, but I can't remember at this point. The flu symptoms are starting to kick in... ;-)

Oh! I remember one of those topics, related to the panic over the swine flu. I mentioned that there has been a huge increase in the amount of guns and ammunition bought in America since Barack Obama's election. Because I like to be able to give you sources when I say stuff like that, here it is: ABCNews.com - Demand for Ammo Depletes Stores' Stock.

Thuy brought in this news article to talk about: CNN.com - Sri Lankan army claims key rebel strongholds. Remember that Sri Lanka is an island country just to the south of India. The conflict it was describing was between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government. The quote from the end of the article really struck me:

UNICEF, which called the situation in the north a "catastrophe for children," said the displaced lack food, water and basic medical supplies.
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The rebels estimate the number of civilians still in the territory at more than 160,000.

The Tigers have been fighting for an independent state in Sri Lanka's northeast since 1983. As many as 70,000 people have been killed since the civil war began, and the group has been declared a terrorist organization by 32 countries, including the United States and the European Union.

Just crazy. More than ever, we need to be able to come together and stop conflicts. Luckily, we had the next part of class to start!

Student Presentations: As I said above, generally, I was pretty pleased with these, despite the technical difficulties with some. I am not going to go through and recap them all, but I definitely appreciated everyone's attempts to get people to come together. I am very interested in those connections that you made to the conflict in your explanation paper as well.

For those that were interested in the song that Jazmyne had us dance to, it can be found in the amazing video here.

Remember, at the end of class I asked you to turn in a skills packet (come see me if you need another copy) and the explanation papers. If you need the papers back to help you if you didn't go today, just ask. Also, if you had something tangible (meaning a physical creative product), I want that too. If you did a PowerPoint or something else with the computer, please e-mail me it. Thanks!
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There may or may not be an event that I will be watching tomorrow night at 6:30 on KGW and TNT. Mrs. DeFrance has convinced me to go all out tomorrow as far as our apparel choices at school, and since I have not done that at all for any game this series, I figure it can't hurt. So come see us tomorrow and smile!

Also, The Office will be guaranteed to make you laugh and smile not matter what else happens on Thursday night. It is on at 9:00 PM on NBC.

I think that should about do it! Is this the shortest class recap of all time? I'm sure some of you would not mind if is was! Keep up the enthusiasm and questions in the comments! We are on streaks of 40+ comments for the last three posts!

Have a great day! You are amazing! :-)

Period 1: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 14 - Class Recap

Outside the World Trade Center in downtown Portland, near the waterfront. All sorts of countries and cultures coming together there! Picture taken by Mr. Fritz on April 17th.
Dear class,

I must say, I am getting extremely excited for your presentations and creative products! I think I touched based with all of you today about what you were thinking about and where you were. Thanks for the perfect attendance, too! Great to see. Still a little worried about some of you who insisted that everything was done or at home and did not have anything to do in class, but overall, I think that we have given this enough time. Let's see what we can come up with!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What are the factors to consider in the development of a Palestinian state? - As I said in class, I really love that first question, because it makes everything that we are doing relevant and interesting. Like music? That works. How about sports? That works too. Dance, language, art, drama? Yes. It is such a broad question, but you can make a million different things relate. A great essential question!

Soundtrack: "You Can't Hurry Love" by Phil Collins. Lyrics here, including some great lines that relate to why I chose it for today, after our Blazers lost, and for our work looking at the long standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

You can't hurry love
No, you'll just have to wait
She said love don't come easy
But it's a game of give and take

So good.

AGENDA 4/27/09:
News Brief
Ping Pong Diplomacy
Music in Pyongyang
Project Work

Homework: Final project (paper and creative product), due next class! Read blog recap!

Just so that there are no issues with this assignment that can be immediately be solved by looking at the assignment sheet, please look it over before asking any questions about what I am asking you to do. After that, by all means, fire away! Here's the assignment to download, if needed:

Israel and Palestine Final Project
Remember that you need to type at least one page explaining your creative product. In that explanation, please write about how you addressed the issues at stake in the conflict, the essential questions of the unit, and how your creation is going to help foster collaboration between both sides.

Again, make this fun and interesting for you! This assignment gives you an enormous amount of free choice! Find ways to relate something that you love to this!

Also, if you need anything in particular for me to bring in, or set up for your presentation, please let me know. I will have my laptop (capable of playing DVDs) and a projector with an ELMO ready for use.

News Brief: After talking for a bit about the Blazers game, we also had an interesting discussion about the swine flu outbreak. Go to almost any news website and you will find information about it. Here's one: CNN.com - 73 cases of swine flu confirmed, hundreds more feared.

As we talked about in class, I have no doubts that this is an immediate and pressing concern. However, how come we all too frequently lose sight of much bigger problems that would absolutely benefit from a lot more publicity? For instance, how about the estimated FOUR THOUSAND plus people that have died so far just in 2009, in the United States, as a result of drunk drivers? Source: AlcoholAlert.com - Drunk Driving Statistics. That is an INSANE statistic!

Some of you may have Mr. Hardy for Biology, and as I was getting super worked up about this in the teacher cluster, he completely agreed and said if people would only start paying attention to the fact that the number one cancer by far and away in both men and women is lung cancer, mostly as a result of tobacco use. And that heart disease is the number one killer of adults in the United States. What is really more dangerous? Swine flu that may or may not take over the world, or you smoking cigarettes?

I am hoping to find that article that I mentioned in class about having a steak knife pointed at you while driving, instead of a seat belt strapping you in. I sure would drive much more carefully!

EDIT: Here it is, in the form of the first chapter of an e-book, available online. The Armchair Economist by Stephen E. Landsburg. The quote that I just love:

If you find it hard to believe that people drive less carefully when their cars are safer, consider the proposition that people drive more carefully when their cars are more dangerous. This is, of course, just another way of saying the same thing, but somehow people find it easier to believe. If the seat belts were removed from your car, wouldn't you be more cautious in driving? Carrying this observation to the extreme, Armen Alchian of the University of California at Los Angeles has suggested a way to bring about a major reduction in the accident rate: Require every car to have a spear mounted on the steering wheel, pointing directly at the driver's heart. Alchian confidently predicts that we would see a lot less tailgating.

Landsburg has all sorts of great insights like this one. I would suggest giving that chapter a read if you are at all interested in the seat belt/spear thing.

Anyway, after this fascinating discussion, Zack T. brought in the following article about something going on in the Middle East: AlJazeera.net - Three Killed in Turkey police raids. Very interesting! That is a conflict that I do not know too much about. I do know a little bit about the "May Day" protests and riots that have happened on May 1st in years past, though. Thuy, you are up for Wednesday. Any news current news article having to do with anything around the world outside of the United States.

Ping Pong Diplomacy: Before letting you loose for project work the rest of class, I wanted to show you a couple of really famous instances of creative ways to get countries talking. One of the most interesting that I can remember (and as highlighted by the fantastic movie Forrest Gump) was the "Ping Pong Diplomacy" that happened between the United States and China in the 1970s. This was an HUGE deal. Here's the video we watched in class:



Music in Pyongyang: Aaron helpfully pointed out that the Ping Pong Diplomacy wouldn't really work for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, because neither side wants to make amends. This thought led directly in to a more current situation, with North Korea and the United States, where music was used to bridge long held divides (partially). Here's the video we watched in class about the New York Philharmonic playing in Pyongyang:



I also mentioned an excellent report that Christiane Amanpour did for CNN as a result of the trip, where you get to see some really interesting footage of what life is like in one of the most secretive countries in the entire world. I will post a link to that later, when I can get on YouTube. I am SO excited that teachers will finally be able to access it at school on Wednesday! Update: Here is the link to the first YouTube video in the series - Notes from North Korea (1 of 6).

Project Work: Using the two videos as a sort of a final "pump up" for the final project, we read the key parts of the assignment sheet together. I also told the class to have the skills packet to turn in and be graded on Wednesday.

As I said at the beginning of this post, I liked the work we did in class, and I think I touched base with everyone about their project. Please do not leave the rest of this until the night before! There is way too much to do. I do not want a million comments asking for directions on Tuesday night (though again, I will always be glad to respond to anything you bring up).

Be excited for class on Wednesday! I think this should be interesting and a lot of fun! Let your optimism shine through!
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The Blazers play tomorrow night (Tuesday) in Portland at 7:00 PM on KGW and NBATV. Needless to say, I would rather that we win this game. I think we will, and I actually don't mind our chances to win the next three, but that was just a brutal loss last night. Have hope! 24 is tonight as well, at 9:00, meaning that I will be up until 10:00 to answer any comments or questions. Have a great rest of the day! See you on Wednesday!

Period 1: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 13 - Class Recap

At Game 2, with my friends Scott and Clarke. Standing on the court! So amazing! :-)
Hello Period 1,

As Abe noted in class today, I don't see you guys nearly enough. I swear that we have had about 5 more B day classes since I started teaching you guys. Next week, we will start to recoup these losses. A good day today, though I must confess that I am a little worried about your projects. It seemed liked the time I gave everyone in class was not put to much good use by all. Remember that there are two parts to this assignment - the paper explaining your product and going over the basics of the conflict, as well as the creative product. Please let me know if you are at all confused about what to do or needing help!

Today's agenda recap is brought to you in blue, courtesy of the classroom running out of black markers to use on the white board.

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What are the factors to consider in the development of a Palestinian state?

Soundtrack: "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey. Lyrics here. Chosen because we are continuing to look at aspects of the world that connect countries and cultures together.

AGENDA 4/23/09:
News Brief
Earth Day
Child Marriage in Yemen
Project Work

Homework: Continue to work on the final project (have most of it done by next class). Watch the Blazers game! Read recap on blog!

This weekend, I really want you to be hammering out those projects! The due date is Wednesday because I do not want to stress you out over the weekend, but please be focused on getting this done! Again, if you lost the handout, here is a copy to download:

Israel and Palestine Final Project
The Blazers play tomorrow night (Friday) at 6:30 on KGW (Ch. 8) and ESPN, in Houston for Game 3. No, this isn't actual homework for you to do. Just watch it if you have the free time and come back to the blog for fun comments with your more than slightly obsessed teacher. The Blazers also play Sunday at 6:00, on TNT and KGW.

News Brief: We had a good long conversation about the testing and career fair day yesterday. I am really glad that you guys had the opportunity to do this! I certainly would have found it interesting when I was in high school. Sorry about the super long tests. I definitely know how that goes. Testing is a part of life, though. Hopefully everyone got something out of it!

I also wanted to bring up the really interesting current news topic of torture in America. Someone mentioned in class that former Secretary of State Condolezza Rice gave approval for waterboarding, the tactic we mentioned in class. Here's a good rundown of the basics: Guardian.co.uk - Rice gave early approval for CIA waterboarding, Senate report reveals.

An opinion piece on the whole matter that I think is worth reading can be found here: RealClearPolitics.com - Even If It Works, US Shouldn't Torture.

From the article:

But no matter how hard one tries, one cannot credibly argue that, while waterboarding was a crime when committed by the Japanese in World War II, it is not a crime when committed by the United States in the 21st Century.

One of the opposing views can be found here: WashingtonPost.com - Congress Debates Fresh Investigation Of Interrogations. A quote:

Bush administration veterans, led by Cheney, are poised to renew a high-volume debate over the efficacy of the interrogation methods and, more broadly, the approach to terrorism that Obama's predecessor took after Sept. 11, 2001. Cheney called this week for the release of more memos that he said would demonstrate how effective the tactics were. And in an interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity, he made it clear that he is ready to wage a battle over who is right.

"The threat is there. It's very real, and it's continuing," Cheney said. "And what the Obama people are doing, in effect, is saying, 'Well, we don't need those tough policies that we had.'"

Very, very interesting stuff.

Archana brought in a news story about Pakistan, which can be found here: CNN.com - Pakistan sends troops to area grabbed by Taliban. As I said in class, this was the headline story at CNN.com when I woke up this morning. A really big deal! Lots of conflict in this region of the world! Thanks Arch! Zack T. is up for next Monday. Any current article having to do with anything outside the United States.

Earth Day: Because Earth Day was yesterday, and I think we would be seriously remiss to not at least mention it in a Global Studies class, I brought in some interesting information about the history of the event, as well as what it is trying to accomplish. That can be found here: EarthDay.net. Specifically, the information I read to the class can be found here: History of Earth Day and here (again, note my skepticism about it not citing any sources): Climate Change Fact Sheet.

Child Marriage in Yemen: Next, I passed out an article that I found in last Sunday's Oregonian: Islamists Fight Yemen Law Banning Child Marriage. The link doesn't have the cool "who, what, why" box that was in the article I handed out, but you can see what the point of us reading this was. Having the ability to assess current issues, events, or problems is a really critical skill! I was also careful to mention again that while this may be a problem in some Middle Eastern countries, by no means are women this oppressed across the region.

Project Work: For the rest of class (about 30 minutes), you were supposed to be working on either your paper or your creative product. Please see me for anything you may need, whether it be advice or getting materials. Be sure to e-mail me or comment this weekend if you need help too! :-)
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The Office is on tonight at 9:00 on NBC (yay! except that means that I can't go to bed early). Remember the Blazers games Friday and Sunday. Also, I will be playing basketball tomorrow during second lunch in the gym, should anyone wish to come join. Have a wonderful weekend!

Period 1: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 12 - Class Recap

The Rose Garden. If you are the Rockets tomorrow night, you do not want to enter it. Right? Please? Picture taken by Mr. Fritz over Spring Break.
Hello class!

A very lively day today, I thought. Lots of conversation and debate, as I expected. Hopefully everyone is getting a really clear picture of the skills we are developing through studying the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is definitely a lot to it! Let's get the recap started!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What are the factors to consider in the development of a Palestinian state?

Soundtrack: "The Warmth of the Sun" by The Beach Boys. Lyrics here. Picked because this song is secretly extremely depressing (because of the Blazers loss) and because it is forecasted to be 83 degrees today.

AGENDA 4/20/09:
Pass Back Quizzes
News Brief
Comprehending the Debate
Project Work

Homework: Continue to work on final project (bring in materials next class). Watch the Blazers game! Read recap on blog!

Everyone should have signed up on the "letter of intent" sheet. Basically, I wanted to see what you were thinking. Next class (on Thursday), bring anything that you need to help create the final project. If you are doing a skit, bring ideas for dialogue. If you are doing a collage, bring pictures, etc. Be working on this outside of class! How are you going to incorporate all of these different aspects of the conflict that we have been talking about?

The Blazers play tomorrow night (Tuesday) at 7:00 PM, on KGW (Ch. 8). We must win this game, or the series is essentially over. I will probably be live blogging again in the comments, so come back and follow along, if you like!

Pass Back Quizzes: As I stated in class, the average grade of these was 74.6%, but that is somewhat misleading because there were a few zeros. If you studied for it, I suspect that you did just fine. If you would like to retake it, I will allow you one opportunity. Please come see me if you want to.

News Brief: Aaron brought up the situation with the captain coming home from Somalia, after being held hostage. We also talked a little about President Obama shaking hands with Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela. That meeting, as well as the resulting reactions are nicely summed up here: CNN.com - Shake hands with Chavez but hold smiles, analyst says. All sorts of interesting things happen when you start paying attention to the rest of the world! I really liked how a few of you said you had heard about some of this through NPR (91.5 FM). Sweet! As long as you are interested in what is going on around the world, I am happy.

Comprehending the Debate: At this point in class, I asked everyone to think of something to debate (since I had arranged the room with two desks facing each other). After a few suggestions, we settled on the death penalty to start out with, which was helpful, because I had already prepared a Pro/Con sheet for it, which I handed out. The sheet was made using the amazingly interesting and helpful ProCon.org website. The page on the death penalty can be found here, while the "1 Minute Overview" that we used in class can be found here.

To begin, I told everyone facing the windows to argue the "Pro" position, while everyone facing the hall was "Con." We debated for about three minutes. Though this was a little loud and heated (sorry Mr. Hardin!) I think it was a great start. I then turned the tables and had everyone had to debate the side that they were just arguing against.

After this, I asked why we would do something like this. I really liked the responses! Empathy, perspective, comprehending what the issue is - all of it. Then, we argued another issue, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict! The ProCon.org page for this debate can be found here (that would definitely be a good website to look over for your project, if you have time), and the "1 Minute Overview" that we used in class can be found here.

We debated both sides of the table for three minutes each, and then came back together to write down some of the aspects of both sides. Those can be viewed here:


Some really good questions and thoughts here. Zack asked if the United States recognized (which means that we say that they are a country we will have relations with) Palestine before Israel became a country in 1948. I am still not sure about this, because I do not think that Palestine was (at least since the United States has been around) its own independent country. Once the British Mandate of control (since 1920) expired and Israel became a nation, the U.S. recognized it as independent. Source (with cool photo of President Truman's signature on the document that said we recognized Israel): Press Release - U.S. Recognition of Israel (1948).

Another question was asked about the language of Palestinians. It appears that Palestinians speak almost exclusively their own dialect of Arabic, with some infusions from Israeli Hebrew. Wikipedia - Palestinian Arabic.

Project Work: So again, how the heck are you going to get these two groups of people that have historically completely disagreed with each other, to sit down and realize that they do, in fact, have things in common and should work towards peace? I am hearing some really excellent ideas out there. Basically, I want you to utilize your talents! Are you a good artist? How about an athlete? We have talked a lot about the different things that connect countries and cultures. What do you think connects you to well to other people? I really want you to get in to this assignment!

We set the due date of next Wednesday, 4/29 for the project. After talking it over with Mrs. DeFrance (and thinking about how loud it got today with our multiple conversations), I am thinking that we may, in fact, do the class wide presentations. As you know, my main worry with this is that the presentations are boring. However, with this assignment in particular, there should be no way that you do not feel at least somewhat passionate about what you are doing. Hopefully that will translate.

Please be excited about this, and bring material to work on to class on Thursday! We will devote almost the entire time to working on this!
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Enjoy the beautiful sunny weather! 24 is tonight at 9:00 on FOX, the Blazers play Houston tomorrow night at 7:00 on KGW/NBC. Also, if you feel so inclined, I will be at the after school football meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) at 2:45 in N140. There will be pizza and about 30 minutes of a movie, so anyone that is interested in football next year (and is not in a spring sport) come stop by!

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments! See you on Thursday!

Period 1: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 11 - Class Recap

A picture from my cell phone of the game last night. What a team! I will give away all the food coupons to anyone who comments and wants one! Up for grabs: 1 Chalupa, 2 Whoppers, 2 Apple Fries, and 1 Egg McMuffin. Post a comment telling me something that was interesting, or that you learned, from the class today and the item you want, and it's yours! First come, first serve!
Good morning class! It's a great day to be a Blazer and a Wildcat! :-)

To begin, thank you for the hard work today, when we got down to it. I know that I could have done a better job explaining exactly what we were doing with the developing skills, but I really loved that the class sort of carried me through and bought in to what we were doing. It would have been very easy to say, "Hey Mr. Fritz, this makes absolutely no sense," but you bought in and together (like the new poster on the wall), we made it make sense. Thank you for understanding my hoarse voice and any lack of the usual energy I have too, if that was apparent. As I said in class, the introduction to full time teaching is a huge strain on my ability to get decent amounts of sleep. That, and staying up late to be at a Blazers game...

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What are the factors to consider in the development of a Palestinian state?

Soundtrack: "Get Ready for This" by 2 Unlimited. There are no lyrics for this song, but it is a fantastic pump up "Jock Jam." I wanted everyone to be excited to be coming to the last class before the weekend, and working on your projects. That, and I was still excited from the Blazers game when I was writing the lesson plan at 12:30 AM last night.

AGENDA 4/16/09:
News Brief
Middle East Map Quiz
The Blazers are Proficient
Project Work
Playoff Pump-Up

Homework: Continue to work on the final project. Watch the Blazers game! Read recap on blog!

Again, be thinking about how, exactly, you are going to get your creative product to work! I need you to clear the idea by me before you can begin to work on your masterpieces! Remember that we are working on fostering relationships here. Your product needs to demonstrate this in some way! Please continue to ask me questions, if you have them!

The Blazers will be playing their first playoff game on Saturday at 7:30, on KGW and ESPN. If you want to follow along during the game by posting comments, I will be online at Casa de Fritz and will be posting responses and thoughts during the game in the comments. It might be a fun way to watch it together as a class - so if you get the chance, come back and check in!

Finally, as you should well know by now, please be reading the blog. It should be fairly obvious that I devote a lot of time and effort to it, so please use it to your advantage inside and outside of class.

News Brief: What an exciting start to the class! Not only did we have a light being repaired right in the middle of the room, but we got to talk about the Blazers! I showed you the "TOGETHER" poster that they were giving out before the game, which I posted on the wall. John Canzano of the Oregonian mentioned them in this article, near the end.

Someone mentioned that there were people camping outside the Rose Garden for the tickets that go on sale at noon today. This was something I was going to touch on at the end of class anyway, so I had Blazers Edge loaded and showed the class some pictures of people camping out at 3 AM. That link is here. Simply incredible. Blazermania is back! I also wanted to again point out the "Behind the Blazers Locker Room Door" series that Jason Quick is doing for the Oregonian. Here's the latest installment: Behind the Blazers Locker Room Door: At home with Denver.

It really was a fun game to be at. We were shown on the big screen a couple of times, and my mom is speaking at the rally later today! Lots of fun, exciting happenings going on. Like I said with the "together" thing, I am a big believer in knowing about what is going on in your community and being there for each other. The Blazers are a great example of that, and a team that I really feel proud to root for. Thanks for indulging me, everyone! :-)

Brooke brought in an absolutely FANTASTIC article about women in Afghanistan bonding together and speaking out: NYTimes.com - Afghan Women Protest Law on Home Life. Guys, again, isn't this exactly what we were talking about in class? Take a look at the following quote:

"We want our rights!" one of the women shouted, turning to face them. “We want equality!”

The women ran to the bus and dived inside as it rumbled away, with the men smashing the taillights and banging on the sides.

"Whores!"

But the march continued anyway. About 300 Afghan women, facing an angry throng three times larger than their own, walked the streets of the capital on Wednesday to demand that Parliament repeal a new law that introduces a range of Taliban-like restrictions on women, and permits, among other things, marital rape.

It was an extraordinary scene. Women are mostly illiterate in this impoverished country, and they do not, generally speaking, enjoy anything near the freedom accorded to men. But there they were, most of them young, many in jeans, defying a threatening crowd and calling out slogans heavy with meaning.

Seriously, how many of you wrote about women speaking out as being important? Or uniting together for the cause? Or overcoming a lack of education? I know it may sound silly, but this article put chills down my spine as I read it. I love it so much that I am going to bring it in to talk about in my other classes. Just an excellent look at the struggles of women in Afghanistan and what they are doing to overcome them, and completely relates to what we have been talking about. Brooke, phenomenal job on selecting it. Aaron, you are up for next class, on Monday. Any current event outside the United States.

Middle East Map Quiz: Thank you for being quiet and focused on this. I took a gander (great word) at these, and most of them look okay, at the least! Except there was only one person who remembered the statistic from reading the blog, which is entirely depressing. Hopefully the food incentive will up the readership too. I will have these graded and back to you next class.

The Blazers are Proficient: I loved the question "Mr. Fritz, is there supposed to be a Blazers game recap in this packet?" Why yes, yes there was. I introduced the packet as a way to look at proficiency in Social Studies. This is a lot like Math, except we are looking at things like, "Can you identify and explain the critical components of an event, issue or problem?"

We will be using the rest of the packet (and some additions) to go through and construct your explanation paper and final creative product for the unit. So, to begin explaining the who, what, when, where, and why on an event, issue, or problem, I provided the Associated Press game recap ESPN.com - Outlaw scores 21 as Blazers claim home-court advantage. We read this as a class together and then I asked you to write identify and explain the critical components of the event! A fun transition here.

After that, I asked you to use that same skill to identify and explain the main parts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, using the PowerPoint notes and any other information you know. After some hesitation about exactly what I was asking you to do with each question, I think this went pretty well! Remember, the more that you can explain or put down, the better. If I ask who is involved, it is not enough to say Israelis and Palestinians. What are the characteristics of those two groups?

Hopefully the recap on the board helped you out as well. This is something we are going to continue to explore! We really want to know, do you have this certain skill?

Project Work: I gave the class about ten minutes to get in groups and talk to each other about the project, or work on it. I really liked most of the ideas that were brought up! Next class, I am going to need a definitive statement (we will write it in class) of what you are going to do. Let me know if you have any questions!

Playoff Pump-Up: Finishing the obscenely Blazer-centric day (my serious apologies to those of you that could not care less), I showed the following video to get everyone excited about playing the Rockets, and then sent the class on its way:


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Have a fantastic weekend! Enjoy The Office tonight (9 PM, NBC) and come back here for the Blazers playoff game (7:30 PM, KGW/NBC and ESPN), if you want to have a running conversation! :-)