Religion, Day 7 - Class Recap

Buddhist prayer flags at Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu. This week was full of difficult news and updates from Nepal, which also relates to our unit on religion.

Hi everyone,

I had a lot of fun today, playing Jeopardy to review religion concepts and vocabulary! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 22: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. Selected for today for three reasons. 1) It is Spirit Week next week. 2) I was correctly assuming that there would be a spirited competition with Jeopardy. 3) Nirvana is a Buddhist concept of working towards enlightenment. Lyrics (good luck trying to understand them just listening!) here.

AGENDA 4/30/15:

News Brief – Nikki
Crash Course
Jeopardy Review
Study Time

Homework: Read the blog! Study the religion vocabulary for test next class! Know your grade and how to improve it - Russian Revolution (found on this post), World War I work (found on this post) and finishing Historical Investigation if you have not - revisions needed, as well (if you want to turn in a revised copy, please give me the original graded copy for review, as well). Next news brief: Jose.

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News Brief: Nikki had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Nepal earthquake: Teenager pulled alive from rubble on Day 6. The updated count of people that have been killed as a part of the earthquake is over 5,500 at this point. Lots of international aid efforts going on, which we talked about, along with the difficulty of knowing how to help, and the need for 50,000 tents.

We also watched VICE News for the day, before moving on.

The next news brief was assigned to Jose.

Crash Course: Before playing Jeopardy, I wanted to show part of a Crash Course video that might help students understand 1) Islam a bit better, 2) How religion impacts society in a variety of ways. It was only the first 4 minutes or so of this video - and there are lots of other Crash Course videos on the history of religion, if you are interested!

Again, just another opportunity for studying, if you want. I like that the videos are closed captioned, because they are very fast paced!

Jeopardy Review: Here is the PowerPoint we went through, playing Jeopardy to review - this should help, along with going over your notes and asking others to help quiz you!

Google Drive - Religion Jeopardy Review PowerPoint

I told students that I would put a question from the test on the blog, in the hopes of encouraging students to look, so here it is:

The term that describes a "branch" of a religion is: a) Worship. b) Pillar. c) Secular. d) Sect

Keep studying over the weekend!

Study Guide: At the end of class, it was study time for the test. Please note that there will also be a question or two based on some of the religions we talked last class, too! This guide is intended for you to help review your Religion PowerPoint notes. Here it is:

Google Drive: Major Religions Vocabulary Study Guide

Be aware that Google Drive makes the sheet two pages, whereas the copy I passed out in class is just one page. Study the vocabulary and your notes from the religions we went over last class! The test will be next class! :-)

Religion, Day 6 - Class Recap

The streets of Kathmandu at night are really something. The prayer flags lining the streets in Thamel are a nice touch. I have obviously been thinking a lot about my time in Nepal over Spring Break, since the enormous earthquake that killed 4,000+ people over the weekend. Photo taken in March, 2015.

Hi everyone,

I hope you enjoyed the long weekend! I did a ton of grading on Friday and felt very accomplished at the end of a long day here at Westview, then really enjoyed my time at the Oregon Coast with my girlfriend the rest of the weekend. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 22: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Mustt Mustt" by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Selected because this is a representation of Sufism (some consider this to be a branch of Islam), Explanation of the song can be found here.

AGENDA 4/28/15:

News Brief – Asha
ISIS and Sunni/Shia
More Religions/Atheism
Vocabulary Guide

Homework: Read the blog!  Know your grade and how to improve it - Russian Revolution (found on this post), World War I work (found on this post) and finishing Historical Investigation if you have not - revisions needed, as well (if you want to turn in a revised copy, please give me the original graded copy for review, as well). Next news brief: Nikki.

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News Brief: Asha had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Nepal quake: Death toll passes 3,200 as nation struggles with devastation. This story has dominated international news, and I obviously feel a personal connection to this, as I was just in Kathmandu, Nepal last month for Spring Break. I showed this article (which has some stunning before/after images) in class, to talk about the religious impact of the earthquake: CNN.com - How Hindus and Buddhists view Nepal's devastating earthquake. I also showed some Facebook posts, of places in Kathmandu that I stayed or went to - it seems like the people I interacted with are fine, but the devastation is extreme.

We also watched VICE News for the day and talked about our weekends, before moving on.

The next news brief was assigned to Nikki.

ISIS and Sunni/Shia: To start this section, I asked the class to brainstorm what we knew about ISIS, especially as we have been talking about the group in our news briefs for the entire year so far. I wanted to hear what we remembered and also maybe some assumptions. Next, I asked students to get out paper for notes on the rest of the class and I played this video from the New York Times: NYTimes.com - The Evolution of ISIS. I also talked a bit about the demographics in the Middle East. Specifically, I wanted to look in depth at the central role that the two main sects of Islam have in conflict, by watching this video:

One of my main points with this is that we cannot stereotype "all Muslims" in many of the conflicts that the world is in, just as we cannot stereotype "all Christians" or any other religion. If you are really interested in learning a lot more about ISIS, I encourage you to read through this lengthy article: TheAtlantic.com - What ISIS Really Wants.

At the end of this section, we watched the short video called FIVE, looking at children in the five major religions we talked about with the PowerPoint slides:

Five from The Mercadantes on Vimeo.

More Religions/Atheism: Next, we did a sort of blitz through a few other religions that students wrote to me they identified with (I think these are important to cover), along with Atheism (belief that there is no God or gods at all).

Here are the resources we looked at as a class, as students took brief notes (there will be a few questions about these on the test):

Shintoism (based in Japan, focused on ancestral spirits).

Jainism (based in India, focused on nonviolence and sanctity of life).

Taoism (mostly found in China, based on concept of yin and yang).

Sikhism (based in India, focused on one God, rejection of caste system).

Finally, we ended by watching part of this video about Atheism, which is the belief that there is no God or gods, and that faith, being unscientific and not testable, is impossible to prove:

I thought the above videos and articles did a pretty good job explaining the points of view of some important philosophies in a short amount of time. Thanks for hanging in there with me as we looked at all of these!

Vocabulary Guide: At the end of class, I passed out a vocabulary sheet to study for the quiz. Please note that there will also be a question or two based on some of the religions we talked about today in class, too! This guide is intended for you to help review your Religion PowerPoint notes. Here it is:

Google Drive: Major Religions Vocabulary Study Guide

Be aware that Google Drive makes the sheet two pages, whereas the copy I passed out in class is just one page. Study the vocabulary and your notes from the beliefs we went over today! Next class, we will play PowerPoint Jeopardy to review, then take the religion test next week.

Religion, Day 5 - Class Recap

Arabic calligraphy that surrounds the entrance to the Taj Mahal, in India. We learned about Islam today in class - this is a famous example of Islamic architecture in the world! Photo taken over Spring Break, 2015. 

Hi everyone,

I hope you are feeling excited for the prospect of a three day weekend! I certainly believe you have earned it! It is a very stressful time of the year for everyone, and I am grateful for some time to grade and then relax a bit, as well. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 22: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum. Selected for today because of our ongoing religion unit. The lyrics also mention Jesus, who we talked about today and last class in regards to Christianity.

AGENDA 4/23/15:

News Brief – Brian
Is America a Christian Nation?
The Pluralism Project
Islam

Homework: Read the blog! Enjoy the long weekend - you have earned it! Know your grade and how to improve it - Russian Revolution (found on this post), World War I work (found on this post) and finishing Historical Investigation if you have not - revisions needed, as well. Next news brief: Asha.

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News Brief: Brian had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Al Qaeda hostage, American Warren Weinstein, killed in operation. This is a tragic story about two aid workers who were taken hostage years ago, and killed earlier this year in Pakistan. It is a somber reminder that we are still at war with Al Qaeda and various related terrorist groups.

We also watched VICE News for the day, before moving on.

The next news brief was assigned to Asha.

Is America A Christian Nation?: This was not meant as a debate question in class, but rather a look at how religion impacts and shapes our own society (relating, as always, to the learning target for the unit). I had students create a YES/NO t-chart on a piece of paper to look at both sides of this. To start with this, we watched the video clip from this story from nearby in Washington:

KGW.com - Clark County building will display 'In God We Trust'

This was meant as a call back to earlier in the year, when we had a Forced Choice debate on whether or not the phrase In God We Trust should be removed from our currency. It was also meant to show how fired up both sides were, and how religion impacts our society.

Next, we watched a short clip of President Obama saying that the United States is no longer a Christian nation, which upset a lot of people at the time.

Then, we watched this debate on the TV show Hardball in 2009, between an Atheist and a Christian, talking about the origins of the United States government and the role religion should play in our lives (again, students were supposed to note both sides of the debate):

Finally, I showed some more Pro/Con quotes. Again, this was not a debate we had in class - I just wanted everyone to see that it IS a debate, and be able to identify some different perspectives.

The Pluralism Project: Next, I passed out this in-class assignment, which is a reading and some questions on the back:

Google Drive: Harvard University - The Pluralism Project

The point here was to see that there are a variety of different religions (and people who don't believe in religion) in the United States, which the article makes the case is a reason our society has been shaped (get it - the learning target again!). Students were expected to read the article and answer the three questions on the back. I called on students randomly to talk about the answers.

Islam: Next, we continued with the religion notes, using the Cornell Notes format. Here is the PowerPoint again:

Google Drive: Major Religions of the World PowerPoint

Today, we finished the last religion in the PowerPoint - Islam. I appreciated your focus on it! I enjoyed, as always, explaining and trying to answer questions from the class. It was also great to have students be able to share and explain more about their own faiths!

Have a wonderful long weekend!