Government, Day 2 - Class Recap

Winter time is coming! Photo taken outside my house in 2008.

Dear class,

It was so nice to see you all again today! Our only full week before Thanksgiving during November! Again, I really enjoyed the discussion today. Here's what happened in class:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 17: I can explain how and why world societies organize themselves and how power is established and maintained.
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Critical Thinking LT 1: I can explain multiple perspectives and viewpoints.
Behavior LT 3: I can communicate and work effectively within a team or group.

Soundtrack: "Get Up, Stand Up" by Bob Marley. Selected for today because students were standing up for what they believed in, in terms of the Forced Choice questions. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 11/13/17:
News Brief – Liam
DBQ Grades
Forced Choice
Reflection

Homework: Read the blog. Catch up on any late/incomplete/missing work. Next news brief: Ryan O.

News Brief: Liam had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - Iran-Iraq border earthquake is deadliest of 2017. This was a huge story that just happened last night, with hundreds of people killed. We found Iran in our world maps and noted that a news brief was done on the story. Thanks, Liam!

Ryan O. was selected to do the next news brief.

I also asked about the weekend and what people were up to, before moving on.

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):

BBCNews.com - One-minute World News

Finally, we watched Westview Wildcat News at the start of class. Here it is if you missed class or wanted to watch again:

DBQ Grades: If you submitted your Culture DBQ online on Google Classroom, you would have seen that I posted the grades and my comments over the weekend. If you wrote out your DBQ on paper, I passed them back today in class. I highlighted your thesis statement (if I could find one), documents referenced, and your scores on the grading rubric. Your grades have been posted in StudentVUE! Thank you for your hard work!

I also passed back work from the Culture Unit, which could have been used as notes for the DBQ. I gave these assignments a collective Behavior Target grade for managing responsibilities as a student. In the grade book, this means:

CI: Consistently and Independently - the student turned in everything from the unit, completed and on time.
G: Generally - the student turned in most of the work from the unit, completed and on time
R: Rarely - the student did not turn in much (if anything) from the unit.

These were based on the following assignment:

1) Surface culture worksheet (National Geographic photos PowerPoint)
2) Cornell Notes on Culture definitions/iceberg PowerPoint
3) Nacirema writing (neatly written or typed, 200 words minimum)
4) Time for School Notes/Answers

Please turn in your work if you have not yet!

Forced Choice: This is one of my favorite activities of the year. I had the class answer the following questions and choose YES or NO to each of them. Then, we split up the class so that two sides were facing each other. With each question, students moved to the side they felt best represented their opinion on the matter. These are difficult ethical questions and I am glad that we have the type of classroom culture that students feel able to talk about them! The questions were:

1. Giving up some of our rights (like our phones being listened to without a warrant) is necessary for our own protection.
2. People in the United States should be able to have firearms if they want.
3. Government officials should have to approve/sign off on marriages that they are against on religious grounds.
4. Marijuana should be legalized everywhere for recreational use.
5. Public schools should strictly enforce a standardized dress code.
6. Organized prayer in public schools should be allowed.
7. The government of a country should be able to make decisions that the majority of the people do not support.
8. Should the motto “In God We Trust” be removed from our currency?
9. I agree with the death penalty option for convicted murderers.
10. Confederate monuments should be taken down/removed from display.

Today, we did questions 2, 4, and 5 (the class was a really talkative and engaged group today!). Lots of interesting questions and critical thinking! Thank you for your responses and participation. It was not possible to get to every hand that was up in every discussion, for which I apologize. I am glad that students were engaged!

Here is one article on reducing gun violence that I shared in class:

NYTimes.com - How to Reduce Shootings

If you had any other articles or links to share to back up what you shared in class, please post them in the comments!

Reflection: With about 10 minutes left in class, we stopped the debate, so I could give the assignment, which is important, because we spent most of two days on this activity.

Write a one page reflection on the activity. What was the most difficult or controversial question for you (if no question was difficult, what were you most passionate about)? Why? How do these sorts of questions relate to the study of government?

We will do a short debrief on the activity next class, then move on to learning about the basics of government around the world.

Thanks! See you next class!