Period 1: World War I, Day 6 - Class Recap

During today's class, Khushali and I had a "debate" about the weather outside - is it partly cloudy, or partly sunny? Who was right? The answer is that unless someone can bring facts to the debate (being objective), both of us could make good arguments based on our opinions (being subjective). I took this picture on the Caribbean island of St. Maarten in 2009. Partly cloudy? Partly sunny? You decide.

Hi everyone,

So much talking from me today in class! I hope I didn't bore you out of your minds (I don't think I did). We were almost able to get through everything - there are two presentation slides for next class. If you want to review all of the material, this is the recap for you!

Essential Question: Why do wars happen?

Soundtrack: “Enter Sandman” by Metallica. Chosen because it is played when famous Yankees "closer" Mariano Rivera comes into a baseball game to "save" the win. Somewhat like the US entering World War I. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/8/13:

News Brief/Blog Recap

US Entry into WWI

Objective/Subjective

A Flawed Peace

Homework: Read the blog! Review your "CDs" for the final essay!

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News Brief: Ethan G. had the news brief for us today. Here is the article he chose: CNN.com - Tunisia gripped by political uncertainty after killing. I talked about the unrest in Tunisia (North Africa) that started the "Arab Spring" (a major event in recent world history). I mentioned the concept of "self-immolation" as a form of protest - lighting yourself on fire to commit suicide in a very public way. The uprising in Tunisia started with this, and monks in Tibet have been known to do it as well (to protest Chinese rule). Michelle, you have the next news brief, please! Any article about something happening outside the United States.

Blog Recap: I talked about last class, and how I felt that it could have gone better from my perspective. Fortunately, it sounded like the peer review went better than I thought, because nobody wanted to continue with that. The point here was that even though last class was only my fifth as your teacher, I'm always trying to get better and reflect on what happened.

US Entry into WWI: This portion of class was devoted to learning how the United States became involved with the war. Hopefully this made sense - if not, please ask questions in the comments! For your final essay, it will probably be good to know the terms "Lusitania," "unrestricted submarine warfare," and "the Zimmerman Note." Here is the presentation to review if you missed class or want to see it again:

Google Drive: US Entry into World War I PowerPoint

This is the first of two presentations today. Dang! I don't think I've ever done back to back presentations (or at least two in one class). So much to cover!

Objective/Subjective: Again, this started out with Khushali and I debating the weather. The two terms here are objective = facts/concrete details and subjective = opinions/commentary. I went over who wrote the Modern World Textbook in class (were multiple different perspectives engaged in writing it?) and then handed out this sheet of quotes of possible reasons why the United States entered World War I, and had students respond at the end with thoughts:

Google Drive: Why Did The United States Enter World War I Worksheet

Please bring these next class (as well as everything else that we have done during this unit - I will have you turn in a big packet of work, right before writing the final essay).

A Flawed Peace: We did not get all the way through this, so we will finish next class. Hopefully, this was interesting and eye-opening information about the end of World War I. If you want to review (or are interested in seeing the two slides I will go over next class), here it is:

Google Drive: The End of World War I: A Flawed Peace PowerPoint

Thank you so much for your focus on taking notes! I think it will really help you during the prep for the final essay.

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Phew. So much happened today in class! I hope it all made sense. Definitely ask in the comments or via email if it was confusing. Have a great weekend!

Period 1: World War I, Day 5 - Class Recap

The now famous ball of yarn.

Dear class,

Whew. I found that I needed to take a big breath and reflect during lunch today. Simply put, I am struggling with how to do interesting and fun activities (like the ball of yarn), with 43 students. This is not a complaint at all. I continue to be absolutely delighted to have the opportunity to be your teacher. It is just that after a while, it gets tough to either 1) continue to do presentations with me talking and students taking notes/doing worksheets/reading (what I would generally say is somewhat boring) or 2) activities where I feel like students are constantly talking when they should not be or not focused on what I am asking the class to do (difficult in class this large).

In the second area (most of today), I felt like the yarn activity and the peer review could have gone *much* better than I thought it might. The class hung in there with both, but I just sensed that the focus (understandably, since it took most of the class to do the yarn activity) was not there. I will keep thinking about this - I might have to alter the plan my classes tomorrow. In any case, on with the recap:

Essential Question: Why do wars happen?

Soundtrack: "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey. Picked for today because of the yarn activity. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/6/13
News Brief

Class Unity Activity

Peer Review

Homework: Read the blog!
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News Brief: McKenzie had the news brief today, after she graciously said she would do one after I forgot to tell Ethan last class (he has it for next class). Here is the article she chose, with an event in Norway: TNP.no - Man Declared Dead Comes to Life in Norway. Crazy! I would SO not want to be in that situation on either side. Daniel Tailor said that a similar situation happened with the "running of the bulls" event in Spain, and I promised to look it up to post on the blog. I looked for a while and couldn't find anything with 35 people being knocked unconscious, being thought to be dead, then coming back to life. There have been 15 deaths in the main running of the bulls since it started. Feel free to try and find it yourself, Daniel, and post a link in the comments!

I also mentioned two other news events (one was helped by Trae): 1) Part of England's Parliament voted to legalize gay marriage there. CNN.com - UK lawmakers approve same-sex marriage in first vote. This is obviously a big issue here in the US as well. I noted that the US Supreme Court will likely have something to say about it later this year.

2) Trae showed me an article about the big earthquake (then tsunami) last night: Guardian.co.uk - Solomon Islands earthquake triggers tsunami.

Ethan, you have the news brief for Friday. Anything going on around the world outside the United States.

Class Unity Activity: I really enjoy doing this with my classes. First, I think it is cool to get the web of connections. Two, we are all connected to each other in some way! Three, it is the job of the class community to help pick people up who are falling down! I really appreciated your effort here, even though it was hard to focus with 40+ students. If you missed class, I asked students to say their name and how their family came to America/Portland. Other thoughts are above.

Peer Review: Again, I do not think we got even close to as much done here as I was hoping we would. We will pick back up for a bit next class. The main thing is just to help you prepare for the in class final essay for the unit, where I will have you be writing a very similar essay. This whole process was to make you feel ready for that (possibly next week).
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I would love to hear thoughts, questions, or concerns about today's class, or any feedback at all. Post a comment - anonymously if you want. Have a great day - see you on Friday!

Period 1: World War I, Day 4 - Class Recap

Today was the start of a new semester for our class! A dawn of a new day. This is a picture of the streets in Bogota, Colombia in the pre-dawn light on October 4th, 2009.

Hi everyone,

I was SO impressed with how hard you all worked today in class on the essay! Thank you for putting in a lot of effort and asking questions if you needed. Remember that it is homework if you did not finish it in class. Please feel free to comment if you need any help!

Essential Question: Why do wars happen?

Soundtrack: "At The Beginning" from the Anastasia soundtrack. Lyrics here. Chosen because this is our first class together at the start of the second semester! Also, because the Disney movie is somewhat related to the Russian Revolution, which is what we will be studying after (or as a part of) World War I.

AGENDA 2/4/13: 
Semester 1 Grades
News Brief/Blog Recap
Essay Writing

Homework: Finish your essay! Find out how your family came to America. Check the blog.
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Semester 1 Grades: To start the class (as you were walking in), I told everyone that your final semester 1 grades were posted on the wall. There are a few limited exceptions to these, like students who were just added, or those who got very close to passing and need to prove that they deserve credit. I will be talking with those students on an individual basis. Thank goodness we can start afresh now!

News Brief/Blog Recap: Lots to go over, for sure. We talked briefly about the Super Bowl, then I mentioned the news of a former Westview student being found guilty of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction: HuffingtonPost.com - Mohamed Mohamud Guilty Verdict: Oregon Car-Bomb Suspect Convicted of Terrorism. There is obviously a LOT to talk about with this case. I tried to address the main points in class.

I also mentioned the attempted suicide of an Eastern Oregon teenager, which ended with him being taken off life support. Columbian.com - Oregon teen dies in hospital after suicide try. My main point in bringing this up was to just say that if you ever feel like you need to talk to someone, our school community is here to help you. In particular, please feel free to check in with me at any time. Be good to yourselves, your community, and each other. High school can be a really rough time (I know from personal experience). It gets better.

Finally, I brought up this news story from today: NYTimes.com - Bones Under Parking Lot Belonged to Richard III. How crazy is that? Using DNA matching and all sorts of other forensic evidence, researchers were able to find the remains of England's King Richard III, who had been buried in a shallow grave in a church, which later became a parking lot. What a story.

Vincent had the news brief article today. Here is the article he picked to use: CNN.com - Drone ranger: Unmanned plane to spy on rhino poachers. Very interesting article about people in Kenya possibly using drone aircraft to stop animals from being illegally killed. Thanks, Vincent!

I forgot to assign the next news brief in class, so unless I get a volunteer in the comments, or see Ethan Glaze in person before then, I will just bring something in myself.

Essay Writing: The rest of the class was devoted to finishing the World War I essays that I had you start during finals. Remember to use the same format that we talked about in class! If you missed it, or want to review the presentation again, here it is:

Google Docs - Writing Essays in Social Studies PowerPoint

Remember that you will be peer reviewing these essays next class, and I will have you be looking for the correct format and the vocabulary words/terms on the last slide to be used.

All good? Remember to finish those essays and to make sure you know how your family first came to Portland/America!