Period 4: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 8 - Class Recap

Armando's picture of our class unity activity, which was an idea given to me by my Lewis and Clark friend Alexis. I would remember her name, if I were you. :-)
Dear class,

A lot of fun today, with some good content and substance mixed in. Hopefully we are feeling much more together than last class, when we had a lot of intense debate on some very powerful issues. Thank you for the participation - though my goodness, it is difficult to get some of you to listen up and pay attention to others. Always things to work on and improve!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What is the impact of religion on policy in the Middle East?

Soundtrack: "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin. Lyrics here. Kashmir is a region in between Pakistan and India. Learn more about it here. As I said in class, this is another one of those regions in the Middle East where there is a LOT of conflict about who should control it. "Kashmir" is also used in some of the Portland Trail Blazers introduction videos at the Rose Garden, and P. Diddy made a remix of it for the movie Godzilla. Now THAT is a versatile song selection!

AGENDA 5/6/09:
News Brief
Class Unity Activity
Mapping the Middle East
Late Work

Homework: Study for Middle Easy map quiz (Friday). Read blog recap!

There will be a Middle East map quiz on Friday, so please be studying for that. The countries you are required to know are: Iran, Iraq, Israel, Sudan, Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Any other countries that you can identify could also help your grade. Remember that the map I will use is a little bit different from the map I handed you to study off of! See the "Mapping the Middle East" section below for more information.

News Brief: I think we are gradually starting to get the hang of this part of class. Generally, I want to welcome you and hear what is going on in your lives, as well as things going on around the world. I just think it is incredibly important to stay connected to what is going on around you. Thus, I like to do this at the start of every class.

After some good stories (Maddie is getting a new dog! Maren's grandma picked up a snake! Bobby's dad(?) set traps for rats!), we talked a little bit about the swine flu, and Egypt killing pigs. Source: CNN.com - Egyptian farmers protest mandatory swine slaughter. I would have to say that I think an order to slaughter every pig, regardless of whether or not they have the flu, is probably an overreaction. That is just me though. At least they are freezing the meat and giving it back to the farmers after the threat is over.

Martin brought in this article to talk about: UPI.com - Eight arrested in Turkish wedding massacre. Wow! As Brenan noted, that is kind of like the plot of the Kill Bill movies! Definitely related to what we were talking about today, as far as the Middle East, too! Thanks Martin!

Diego, you are up for a news article on Friday! One current article about anything around the world happening outside the United States.

Class Unity Activity: This was really interesting, fun, and hopefully a good way to remind each other that we are all in this class together, despite any differences of opinion. We threw a ball of string around, while holding on to a bit of it. Each person had to explain a little bit about what they knew about their heritage. We all had really interesting and different backgrounds! I have to give credit for the idea and the yarn to my friend Alexis, who is currently in the same program as I am at Lewis and Clark. Good times. Thanks for your participation, and remember that we are all interconnected! When someone stumbles, it is up to the rest of us to help them back up! A big thank you to Maren and everyone else that helped me roll the ball of yarn up again - no joke, that took me 3 hours to do by myself last time. :-)

Mapping the Middle East: Again, so everyone is clear on exactly why I am having you do this, we read this article in class from the projector: CNN.com - Study: Geography Greek to young Americans. Simply incredible statistics, especially because the United States is currently in the midst of two wars in the Middle East. In 2006, only 12 percent of 18-24 year olds could place Afghanistan on a map, and only 37% could place Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Simply unacceptable. Let's improve those numbers a bit, shall we?

Late Work: I then gave you the rest of class (about 25 minutes) to complete the blank maps that I handed out to study up for the quiz next class, as well as any late work that you had. Hopefully I was able to touch base with everyone that has missing work. If you are concerned about your grade and what you have missing, please see either me or Mrs. DeFrance at lunch or after school, and we would be more than happy to let you know what to get in. Thanks for working on this! Please remember to comment or e-mail me if you need any help with anything!
---

Remember that we are having the quiz next class! Other than that, be sure to watch The Office tomorrow night (Thursday, 9 PM, on NBC), because it is always hilarious. Have a wonderful rest of the day, and thanks again for checking in! You guys are the best! :-)