Period 4: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 3 - Class Recap

A photo of a MAX train going by me on the Steel Bridge, right by the Rose Garden. I took this over Spring Break with my Canon Rebel XTi. 25 second exposure.
Hello and welcome to another class recap!

I liked what we did today, everyone! I wish that we had a little more participation when thinking about these really difficult problems and questions, but from those that I did hear involved and active, I think we had an excellent discussion about a lot of different things. At the risk of being too long, let's get on with the recap!

Essential Questions: In what ways are various cultures and countries interconnected? What impact can women in the Middle East have on policy?

Soundtrack: "Soak up the Sun" by Sheryl Crow. Lyrics here. A very good song for an amazingly bright and beautiful day! I can't tell you how excited I was to get in the car to drive to Westview in the morning and have the sun up! Please enjoy the great weather - I'm sure it will be gone before we know it!

AGENDA 4/21/09:
News Brief
Thoughts on Homework
Michelle Obama
Women's Perspective
Class Unity Activity

Homework: Finish late work. Watch Blazers game! Read blog!

Not too much to worry about, unless you have things missing for either Mrs. DeFrance or me!

News Brief: After watching the Westview news and having an incredibly long conversation about the testing day tomorrow, we talked a little bit about the world. Apparently I did not ask Chris to bring in an article last class (even though I did on the blog), so we had no student news brief today. However, Armando was really good at bringing up great topics for us to talk 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!

Armando also talked a little about the clown protesters to the President of Iran speaking at an anti-racism conference. That recap can be found here: LATimes.com - Iran president's remarks prompt walkout at U.N. conference.

Bobby asked about the trade embargo with Cuba, which President Obama recently began to take small steps to undo. Cuban-Americans can now travel to the island as many times as they want: AFP.com - Cuban-Americans eye freer travel in tough times. As long as you are interested in what is going on around the world, I am happy.

Thoughts on Homework: I did this with my other class after I saw a presentation at Lewis and Clark about the lack of value of assigning homework. Mostly, I wanted you to be able to vent about homework, as well as explain my thoughts about it and how it will work in this class. Remember, the key is effort and getting it in on time.

There were a lot of interesting and good thoughts about how much time homework takes up and why it may or may not be important. Everyone really should be getting lots of good sleep, as well! That is definitely important. Hopefully, all of the homework that I assign you in this class is relevant, interesting, and not overwhelmingly daunting. Please remember to ask questions if you are at all confused with what I am asking you to do!

I did this with my other class after I saw a presentation at Lewis and Clark about the lack of value of assigning homework. Mostly, I wanted you to be able to vent about homework, as well as explain my thoughts about it and how it will work in this class. Remember, the key is effort and getting it in on time.

There were a lot of interesting and good thoughts about how much time homework takes up and why it may or may not be important. Everyone really should be getting lots of good sleep, as well! That is definitely important. Hopefully, all of the homework that I assign you in this class is relevant, interesting, and not overwhelmingly daunting. Please remember to ask questions if you are at all confused with what I am asking you to do!

Michelle Obama: The video we watched in class can be viewed here:

I asked you to recap what Mrs. Obama had to say about women having an impact. We looked at that as a way to lead in to...

Women's Perspective: I think we had some very good thoughts on what is going on around the world in regard to the struggles of women! I asked you to get out your own thoughts one what should be done, as well as your interview notes.

A few things that I noted that I wanted to link to. We talked about the differences in pay across the board between what women make and what men make, even here in America, and even though it is illegal. A good article breaking down the reasons behind how this happens can be found here: About.com - GAO Report: Why Women Still Make Less Than Men. The article cites the U.S. Government as saying that women make about 80 cents for every 1 dollar a man makes. Remember, if you ever feel like you are being discriminated against (for your gender, race, religion, etc), report it as soon as you can. The legislation that President Obama signed on this front was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Furthermore, I cited an article that I remembered reading about how much a stay at home mom would earn if someone really thought about all the things that they do. To my great delight, I was able to find that article here: CNN.com - "Being a mom could be a 6-figure job". The best part:

"Salary.com determined that a stay-at-home mother might be paid as much as $134,121 for her contributions as a housekeeper, cook, day care center teacher, janitor and CEO, among other functions."

The most recent estimate of a stay at home mom's worth can be found here.

Anyway, this was a good discussion. I wish we could have made it a little more intertwined with women in the Middle East, but as long as you are thinking about these really critical issues, I am excited. Remember, participation here is what I am super excited about and looking for!

Class Unity Activity: Ahh yes, the part where we all sit around the campfire. Hopefully we will get the chance to do a lot of these sorts of activities to get us to really know each other! Just know that we have a lot in common with each other and people around the world! That theme will continue next class - it is one of my favorite lessons! :-)
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I will be at the Blazers game tonight (YES!) so I will not be able to post or respond to comments from around 5:00 to 10:30 PM tonight. Remember that tomorrow it is a testing day, along with the career fair, so I will not see you again until Friday. Thus, watch The Office if you get the chance on Thursday night at 9:00 PM on NBC. Always good times. Enjoy the sunny weather! :-)