Wednesday, May 30, 2018

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,

Hello again! 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 5/30/18:
News Brief – Zion
Promises

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade (updated on StudentVUE) and how to improve it, if possible. All late/missing work is due by next Friday. Keep working on your final project for the year (overview here). Next news brief: Manny C.
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News Brief: Zion had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - 'Murdered' Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko turns up alive. We found Ukraine in the world map packet and talked about this amazing story for a bit. We also checked in about the weekend and what people were up to.

The next news brief was assigned to Manny C.

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):


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:


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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Friday, May 25, 2018

Israel and Palestine, Day 2 - Class Recap


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

Hi everyone,

We are into our last stretch for the school 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 5/25/18:
News Brief – Kaylee (Mr. Fritz)
Perspectives
Final Project Options
Timeline Review

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade (updated on StudentVUE) 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 next Friday. Next news brief: Zion.
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News Brief: Kaylee had the news brief today and, but was absent at the start of class, so I filled in and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Trump says North Korea summit talks continue: 'Could even be the 12th'. We found North Korea in our world map packet and noted we did a news brief story on it again.

The next news brief was assigned to Zion.

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 story by the Washington Post on what it looks like for the Palestinians that commute to Israel: WashingtonPost.com - A Palestinian’s daily commute through an Israeli checkpoint.

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.

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 there really is not much time left. There is lots of work to do during this time!

Keep working hard! We are almost done! :-)
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Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Demographics, Day 4 - Class Recap

Please Note: I was out today at a training for my new job next year as the Freshmen Success Coordinator, so this is what I wanted to have happen with the guest teacher in my absence.


I was at the state tennis tournament over the weekend for Westview! This photo is of my favorite tennis player, Roger Federer, playing in Eugene, Oregon.

Dear class,

I really appreciate your hard work today in class, as we had a work day to wrap up the demographics unit and check in about grades in order to improve them, if possible. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own" by U2. Selected for today because we had a work day for me to help students in understanding how to improve their grade in class. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/23/18:
News Brief – Jaden S.
Demographic Work
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog! Finish your demographic unit work (see below for links) and turn in to the box in front of class. Next news brief: Kaylee
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News Brief: Jaden S. had the news brief today and selected an article about a current news story to talk about. We found the country in the world map packet and talked about this story, which was breaking news as of this morning.

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 Kaylee.

Demographics Work: The rest of class was spent as work time (hopefully you were able to turn in the whole packet today) for the demographics packet:

Google Drive: Demographics Development Indicators

Students needed to find the statistics for countries on the CIA World Factbook (some of the statistics might be found from other sources, too).

The next assignment was related to the Children of Syria documentary in class.

Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:

Next, we did the End of Poverty reading and assignment last class:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Finally, we watched World in the Balance and did an assignment related to that. Here is the assignment:


And here is the video we watched in class:


All four of the assignments, in order, were what was due today in class. I appreciate your work on this! Please turn in this packet (stapled, please) to the turn in box in front of class.

Work Time: Thank you for working hard! We will continue with Israel and Palestine (our final unit of the year) next class. See you then!
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