And the sweet "Mamaka" name by Abraham!
Hello and welcome to another class recap!
Generally, I really liked today's class! As I said during it, I really love this lesson and showing the videos. The earthquake/fire drill somewhat messed up the timing on all of it, but overall, it was good. However, I am still having a lot of issues with the focus here. Having your cell phone out while your group is working or while I am talking is disrespectful to everyone else around, whether you think it is or not. Also, please listen up and "respect others" as your own rules state! On to the recap!
Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What impact can women in the Middle East have on policy? - Today we really looked at finding out the answers to both of these questions!
Soundtrack: "A Whole New World" by Brad Kane. Music Video from "Aladdin" can be viewed here. Lyrics can be found here. Song chosen because we were talking about the entire world today, and what brings us together. I have a lot problems with the way that Disney portrays some of their characters, but I have to admit, that is one catchy song, especially first thing in the morning. Sorry for my terrible singing voice at the start of class, I couldn't help it. :-)
AGENDA 4/24/09:
News Brief
Wonder Women
Globalization
Commonality
Homework: Mandatory activity that you love. Read blog recap!
I am serious about your homework. All too often, we do not really engage in activities that we love to do, or if we do, we forget why we enjoy it in the first place. This assignment is based on you getting out there in the world and enjoying it. Please remember to keep your activity safe and legal! Post a comment explaining what you did and why you love it, if at all possible.
If you are reading this, thanks for doing the second part of your homework! :-)
News Brief: Chris brought in a really interesting article about China: NYTimes.com - China to Unveil Nuclear Submarines. A relevant quote for the class today:
The naval show comes at a time of growing confidence on the part of the Chinese military. Senior Chinese officials have said China would like to acquire an aircraft carrier to better defend its territory. The Chinese government has sent warships to pirate-infested waters off the coast of Somalia to help defend freighters against attacks.China and Somalia! It is all interconnected, right? Thanks for this great topic Chris! Maren, you are up for next class, on Tuesday. One current article or news topic, about anything going on in the world outside the United States.
Wonder Women: This was fun, especially with the really talented artists that we have in our class! I asked the class to collaborate with a group to create a visual representation of a wonder woman, using all of the characteristics that you thought that women needed to have in order to impact policy decisions in the Middle East (or in general). It sure sounds like a lot as I type it, and maybe the class struggled a bit with this because of that (and the ridiculous amount of cell phone usage, which as I stated in class, needs to stop ASAP). I posted Maren's at the top of this post, but every other group had really interesting ways to represent your ideas! A really fun exercise to do and to see the results of what everyone thought was important in a woman's ability to have an impact on policy. I love all the creative talent in the room! Thanks for the participation! :-)
Globalization: I then handed out a worksheet, guessing about a "miniature earth" and how lots of different factors were related. This concept was if the entire world was reduced to 100 people, representing the rest of the world. So, if there are 13 North Americans in the 100 people, that means that in reality, 13% of the world is North American. Got it? Here's the video we watched:
I really liked the response to this too! I'm hope that everyone thought this was interesting. Please watch it again if you have the time - we will be doing an activity with your results from that worksheet next week! The song in the video is "Mad World" by Michael Andrews (made for the Donnie Darko soundtrack, it is a cover of a song). Lyrics here.
After watching the video, which can be found at miniature-earth.com (with a different soundtrack), I asked about some of the guesses that you had that were completely off. Interesting stuff!
Commonality: So we had a little bit of depressing, real world stuff to think about. In order to send you out on the weekend on a high note, I asked about what all humans have in common. I had some pretty sugary responses (hehe), but I really liked "laughter" and "dancing" the most. We ended class by watching this video (props to my Lewis and Clark classmate Megan for showing it to me), which, as I stated in class, is positively real, shot on location:
I would highly recommend going to the actual YouTube site and clicking "HD" on the side of the video - it makes it all the more better. The guy in the video is Matt Harding, who runs a website called "Where the Hell is Matt?" - I think my favorite part is the blog, where he currently has a really funny video up, explaining how he purposely tried to get people to believe that the video was a hoax (but he made the reasons completely ridiculous), and they ended up believing him. Quality comedy, seriously. Check that out here: Matt Reveals the Hoax is a Hoax at MacWorld. Some good background about who he is there too - sponsored by Stride gum, apparently! That is an incredible life!
This is one of those videos that I watch and just feel inexplicably happy about. Yes, the world has a lot of problems. However, dance is one of those things that goes across all cultures. Please, go out and enjoy the world this weekend, and come back refreshed and ready to go. :-)
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The Blazers play in Houston for Game 3, tonight at 6:30 PM, on KGW (Ch. 8) and ESPN. They also play again on Sunday, at 6:00 PM on KGW and TNT. I am super excited! Other than that, I will be really immersed in getting things done for Lewis and Clark, so most of the time I will be at the computer, if you have any comments or questions. Thanks for the fun class today!
What i like to do is been with my parents and go somewhere like in every place we love it because I get to know new places and its really fun for me thats what I really enjoy to do:} i saw all the videos all over again it was grate thaks
ReplyDeleteMaritza,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you enjoyed the videos! I really think that both are incredibly interesting. I want to go to all of those places in the dancing one too! Life is too short! :-)
A thing that I love to do is play softball and tonight I had a game against Jesuit. We lost 5-3, but I still had fun. Have a great weekend Mr. Fritz.
ReplyDeleteHaley,
ReplyDeleteNice! I'm glad you got to enjoy the weather. Shake off the loss, you will get them next time!
my mandatory fun thing was i performed at pre-battle for battle of the bands. i'm the new bassist in Times New Roman. we did pretty good considereing i joined three days earlier.
ReplyDeleteMike,
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for checking in.