Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Israel and Palestine, Day 3 - Class Recap


My view of Mt. Hood and Lost Lake on final approach into Portland International Airport on Memorial Day weekend in 2015.

Dear class,

Welcome back from your long Memorial Day weekend! I hope you are rested up and ready to finish the year strong. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Communication LT 1: I can use language and style that is appropriate to the content area.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements. Knowledge LT 21: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.

Soundtrack: "Making Memories" by Rush. Selected for today because of the long Memorial Day weekend, and making sure we keep memories alive. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/31/16:
News Brief – Eric K.
Weekend Check In/Questions
Skype with Aunt Katy
Promises

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade (updated on StudentVUE and on by ID number on the wall) and how to improve it, if possible. Keep working on your final project for the year (overview here). Next news brief: Cece.
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News Brief: Eric K. had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: AlJazeera.com - Paris mayor announces plan to create refugee camp. We found France in the world map packet and talked about this story (especially how it related to the Syria documentary that we watched recently).

The next news brief was assigned to Cece.

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


Weekend Check In/Questions: After the news brief, we checked in about the weekend, and then generated questions to ask my Aunt Katy about her recent experience visiting Palestine to help teach there. The questions were:

What is the situation like, right now, inside the West Bank?
Is it as bad as the media makes it seem?
What is the quality of life like in the West Bank?
What sort of security did you see in Israel (especially with flights)?
What were your first impressions of the West Bank?
How does Palestine compare to other places you have been to?
How was it to teach in Palestine?
Were there any times that you felt unsafe in Palestine? What is the most unsafe you have ever felt while abroad?
What is your viewpoint on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Do you have any ideas about what should happen?

Skype with Aunt Katy: This was so fun for me to do! I rarely get to see my Aunt Katy (being as she lives outside London, England), and it was great for me to be able to bring her in to share a bit about her time in Palestine recently, as well as answering your questions! We had a video chat on Skype for about 15-20 minutes before we moved on. Thanks for your interest and engagement, everyone!

Promises: Next, we watched the first part of the Promises (2001) documentary, about Israeli and Palestinian children. Here's a link to the note taking guide we are filling out as we watch:


Yes, it is old (about the time you were born)! It is also an incredibly well done look at life for the children in the region and really helps people understand what is going on. We will finish watching this next class.

For homework, you need to be continuing to work on your final project on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here is the information you need for that:


Here is the overview of what the roles are:


Another resource is this timeline of the conflict:


Let me know if you have any questions about what you need to do! Not long now until the end of the year!
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Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Israel and Palestine, Day 2 - Class Recap


Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, everyone! Photo is of the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn, Oregon. Taken in 2015.

Hi everyone,

Today was the last time for almost a week that I get to see you all! It is a very nice and long upcoming weekend. I hope that you take advantage of the last major rest period before our final push to finals and the end of the year! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Communication LT 1: I can use language and style that is appropriate to the content area.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements. Knowledge LT 21: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.

Soundtrack: "Look Into My Eyes" by Outlandish. Selected for today because of the obvious connection in the lyrics of the song to the Palestinian view of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

AGENDA 5/25/16:
News Brief – Athen
Perspectives
Final Project Options
Timeline Review

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade (updated on StudentVUE and on by ID number on the wall) and how to improve it, if possible. Keep working on your final project for the year (overview here). All late work or revisions due by tomorrow (Thursday). Next news brief: Eric K.
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News Brief: Athen had the news brief today, but was not in class at the start, so I filled in and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Obama apologizes for Okinawa incident. We found Japan in our world map packet and noted we did a news brief story on it. I mentioned that President Obama is likely to visit the scene of one of the areas that an atomic bomb was dropped on his visit, which prompted an interesting discussion in class.

The next news brief was assigned to Eric K.

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


Perspectives: After the news brief, I played this music video, which was the soundtrack for today: "Look Into My Eyes" by Outlandish.


We looked at some of the lyrics to the song, including these lines:

See I've known terror for quite some time
57 years so cruel
Terror breathes the air I breathe
It's the checkpoint on my way to school
Terror is the robbery of my land
And the torture of my mother
The imprisonment of my innocent father
The bullet in my baby brother
The bulldozers and the tanks
The gases and the guns
The bombs that fall outside my door
All due to your funds
You blame me for defending myself
Against the ways of my enemies
I'm terrorized in my own land (what)
And I'm the terrorist?

This song was obviously a Palestinian viewpoint on the war. The other perspective is that of the Israelis, which was demonstrated in this overview video that we watched in class as well (starting from around 7 minutes in):


If you would like to see a similar video from the Palestinian perspective, here it is:


I also shared this post that my British Aunt Katy wrote about working and teaching inside Palestine recently. I'm hoping for her to to be able to Skype with the class soon!


The point here was to learn more about the perspective of each side. Our final project is a simulated peace conference, and it does no good to simply yell at the other side and demand concessions. You have to truly understand each side and what they want, in order to compromise and find a solution that might work.

Final Project Options: At this point in class, I passed out this paper, which goes over a variety of different ways to improve (or maintain) your grade on the five different proficiency learning targets that the final has as available options:


The really important part here is knowing your grade in the class, so that you know what would help improve your grade for finals, or maintain the grade that you want. Again, here is the overview of what the roles are, which I passed out last class:


Timeline Review: The rest of class was devoted to reading through an in class set of this reading, thinking about how you are going to construct your final presentation or writing:


As students were doing this independently, I talked with everyone in the class about what their current grade is, what learning targets they should focus on for the final, and how they might be able to demonstrate proficiency. I know it seems like the final is a long way away, but next week, we are watching a documentary in class, then there is 3 more days before the actual final day. There is lots of work to do during this time!

Have a great long weekend and keep working hard! We are almost done! :-)
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Monday, May 23, 2016

Israel and Palestine, Day 1 - Class Recap


A sign that was in the hotel I stayed at in 2014 in Amman, Jordan, which was hosting refugees from the ongoing battles in the Gaza Strip.

Hi everyone,

Welcome back from the weekend, for a short 4 day week, followed by a 4 day weekend, followed by another short 4 day week! Today, we started work on our final unit for the year, on Israel and Palestine. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Communication LT 2: I can use language and style that is appropriate to the content area.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements. Knowledge LT 21: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.

Soundtrack: "Battlefield" by Jordin Sparks. Selected for today because the end of the year feels like a battle, and because the country of Israel is seen as a battlefield by many. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/23/16:
News Brief – Natalie
The Lesson of War
Brainstorm
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade (updated on StudentVUE and on by ID number on the wall) and how to improve it, if possible. Start working on your final project for the year (overview here). Next news brief: Athen.
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News Brief: Natalie had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Obama lifts U.S. arms ban on Vietnam. We found Vietnam in the world map packet, and talked about why this is a big deal (the legacy of the Vietnam War, as well as the United States wanting to help other countries stand up to China, especially with the South China Sea). We also checked in about the weekend before moving on.

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

The next news brief was assigned to Athen.

The Lesson of War: To start the Israel and Palestine unit, we watched this video, about children on both sides of the recent war in the Gaza Strip:

I asked students to take notes about what was happening in the war and how each side was impacted.

Brainstorm: After the video, we brainstormed the conflict in Israel and Palestine by noting what we did know at this point, and questions we still had to learn the answers to. Here is what your class came up with:


We have lots to learn about, which is good!

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: This was a PowerPoint that I went through with the class. I decided to be nice and pre-print all of the notes to hand out, because I know that it has been a challenging last few months, and I wanted to give everyone a break. I did want to make sure everyone focused on the images and words in the presentation, too. Here's the PowerPoint, for those who missed class:


And here are the pre-printed notes that I handed out:


After the presentation, I passed out the first look at what your final project will be, which is a simulation on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. We went through this in class in detail, but basically, you can pick any (or all) of the five learning targets listed at the top of this post to show proficiency on, by either writing a paper to be turned in on finals day, or creating a presentation (which might also involve writing a paper), if you are in big time need of improving your grade. Here's the handout (note that the second page is the backside) that I passed out:


There were lots of questions here, which was good. Hopefully, students are starting to understand what I am going to be looking for!

Finally, at the end of class, we watched a VOX video on Israel and Palestine, which does a really good job at explaining a large amount of details about the conflict in 10 minutes. I know this was a lot at once, so turning the captions on is definitely a good idea:


This should give you a solid framework with which to start thinking about how you want to do your final project, and what you should focus on! We will continue to be investigating this in the next few classes. Thanks for your focus today! :-)
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