Religion, Day 5 - Class Recap

Arabic calligraphy that surrounds the entrance to the Taj Mahal, in India. We learned about Islam today in class - this is a famous example of Islamic architecture in the world! Photo taken over Spring Break, 2015. 

Hi everyone,

I hope you enjoyed the long weekend! I did a ton of grading on Friday and felt very accomplished at the end of a long day here at Westview, then really enjoyed my time at the Oregon Coast with my girlfriend the rest of the weekend. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 22: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum. Selected for today because of our ongoing religion unit. The lyrics also mention Jesus, who we talked about today and last class in regards to Christianity.

AGENDA 4/27/15:

News Brief – Anakin
Is America a Christian Nation?
The Pluralism Project
Islam

Homework: Read the blog!  Know your grade and how to improve it - Russian Revolution (found on this post), World War I work (found on this post) and finishing Historical Investigation if you have not - revisions needed, as well (if you want to turn in a revised copy, please give me the original graded copy for review, as well). Next news brief: Aditya.

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News Brief: Anakin had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Nepal quake: Death toll passes 3,200 as nation struggles with devastation. This story has dominated international news, and I obviously feel a personal connection to this, as I was just in Kathmandu, Nepal last month for Spring Break. I showed this article (which has some stunning before/after images) in class, to talk about the religious impact of the earthquake: CNN.com - How Hindus and Buddhists view Nepal's devastating earthquake. I also showed some Facebook posts, of places in Kathmandu that I stayed or went to - it seems like the people I interacted with are fine, but the devastation is extreme.

We also watched VICE News for the day and talked about our weekends, before moving on.

The next news brief was assigned to Aditya.

Is America A Christian Nation?: This was not meant as a debate question in class, but rather a look at how religion impacts and shapes our own society (relating, as always, to the learning target for the unit). I had students create a YES/NO t-chart on a piece of paper to look at both sides of this. To start with this, we watched the video clip from this story from nearby in Washington:

KGW.com - Clark County building will display 'In God We Trust'

This was meant as a call back to earlier in the year, when we had a Forced Choice debate on whether or not the phrase In God We Trust should be removed from our currency. It was also meant to show how fired up both sides were, and how religion impacts our society.

Next, we watched a short clip of President Obama saying that the United States is no longer a Christian nation, which upset a lot of people at the time.

Then, we watched this debate on the TV show Hardball in 2009, between an Atheist and a Christian, talking about the origins of the United States government and the role religion should play in our lives (again, students were supposed to note both sides of the debate):

Finally, I showed some more Pro/Con quotes. Again, this was not a debate we had in class - I just wanted everyone to see that it IS a debate, and be able to identify some different perspectives.

The Pluralism Project: Next, I passed out this in-class assignment, which is a reading and some questions on the back:

Google Drive: Harvard University - The Pluralism Project

The point here was to see that there are a variety of different religions (and people who don't believe in religion) in the United States, which the article makes the case is a reason our society has been shaped (get it - the learning target again!). Students were expected to read the article and answer the three questions on the back. I called on students randomly to talk about the answers. As part of this, we looked at the U.S. Census Population Clock to see how many people are in America.

Christianity: Next, we continued with the religion notes, using the Cornell Notes format. Here is the PowerPoint again:

Google Drive: Major Religions of the World PowerPoint

Today, we finished the last religion in the PowerPoint - Islam. I appreciated your focus on it! I enjoyed, as always, explaining and trying to answer questions from the class. It was also great to have students be able to share and explain more about their own faiths!

Thanks for your continued hard work! Only six more weeks left until the end of the year! Let's keep at it!