Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Israel and Palestine, Day 3 - Class Recap


My view of Mt. Hood and Lost Lake on final approach into Portland International Airport on Memorial Day weekend in 2015.

Dear class,

Hello again! I hope you are rested up and ready to finish the year strong. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Communication LT 1: I can use language and style that is appropriate to the content area.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements. Knowledge LT 21: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.

Soundtrack: "Making Memories" by Rush. Selected for today because of the long Memorial Day weekend, and making sure we keep memories alive. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/30/18:
News Brief – Anagha
Promises

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade (updated on StudentVUE) and how to improve it, if possible. All late/missing work is due by next Friday. Keep working on your final project for the year (overview here). Next news brief: Cole.
---
News Brief: Anagha had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: Gizmodo.com - Papua New Guinea to Block Facebook for a Month, Might Launch State-Run Alternative. We found Papua New Guinea in the world map packet and talked about recent issues with Facebook. We also checked in about the weekend and what people were up to.

The next news brief was assigned to Cole.

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):


Promises: Next, we watched the first part of the Promises (2001) documentary, about Israeli and Palestinian children. Here's a link to the note taking guide we are filling out as we watch:


Yes, it is old (about the time you were born)! It is also an incredibly well done look at life for the children in the region and really helps people understand what is going on. We will finish watching this next class.

For homework, you need to be continuing to work on your final project on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here is the information you need for that:


Another resource is this timeline of the conflict:


Let me know if you have any questions about what you need to do! Not long now until the end of the year!
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Friday, May 25, 2018

Israel and Palestine, Day 2 - Class Recap


I hope you have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, everyone! Photo is of the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival in Woodburn, Oregon. Taken in 2015.

Hi everyone,

We are into our last stretch for the school year! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Communication LT 1: I can use language and style that is appropriate to the content area.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements. Knowledge LT 21: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.

Soundtrack: "Look Into My Eyes" by Outlandish. Selected for today because of the obvious connection in the lyrics of the song to the Palestinian view of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

AGENDA 5/25/18:
News Brief – Neel
Perspectives
Final Project Options
Timeline Review

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade (updated on StudentVUE) and how to improve it, if possible. Keep working on your final project for the year (overview here). All late work or revisions due by next Friday. Next news brief: Anagha.
---
News Brief: Neel had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com - Trump says North Korea summit talks continue: 'Could even be the 12th'. We found North Korea in our world map packet and noted we did a news brief story on it again.

The next news brief was assigned to Anagha.

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):


Perspectives: After the news brief, I played this music video, which was the soundtrack for today: "Look Into My Eyes" by Outlandish.


We looked at some of the lyrics to the song, including these lines:

See I've known terror for quite some time
57 years so cruel
Terror breathes the air I breathe
It's the checkpoint on my way to school
Terror is the robbery of my land
And the torture of my mother
The imprisonment of my innocent father
The bullet in my baby brother
The bulldozers and the tanks
The gases and the guns
The bombs that fall outside my door
All due to your funds
You blame me for defending myself
Against the ways of my enemies
I'm terrorized in my own land (what)
And I'm the terrorist?

This song was obviously a Palestinian viewpoint on the war. The other perspective is that of the Israelis, which was demonstrated in this overview video that we watched in class as well (starting from around 7 minutes in):


If you would like to see a similar video from the Palestinian perspective, here it is:


I also shared this story by the Washington Post on what it looks like for the Palestinians that commute to Israel: WashingtonPost.com - A Palestinian’s daily commute through an Israeli checkpoint.

The point here was to learn more about the perspective of each side. Our final project is a simulated peace conference, and it does no good to simply yell at the other side and demand concessions. You have to truly understand each side and what they want, in order to compromise and find a solution that might work.

Final Project Options: At this point in class, I passed out this paper, which goes over a variety of different ways to improve (or maintain) your grade on the five different proficiency learning targets that the final has as available options:


The really important part here is knowing your grade in the class, so that you know what would help improve your grade for finals, or maintain the grade that you want.

Timeline Review: The rest of class was devoted to reading through an in class set of this reading, thinking about how you are going to construct your final presentation or writing:


As students were doing this independently, I talked with everyone in the class about what their current grade is, what learning targets they should focus on for the final, and how they might be able to demonstrate proficiency. I know it seems like the final is a long way away, but there really is not much time left. There is lots of work to do during this time!

Keep working hard! We are almost done! :-)
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Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Demographics, Day 4 - Class Recap

Please Note: I was out today at a training for my new job next year as the Freshmen Success Coordinator, so this is what I wanted to have happen with the guest teacher in my absence.


I was at the state tennis tournament over the weekend for Westview! This photo is of my favorite tennis player, Roger Federer, playing in Eugene, Oregon.

Dear class,

I really appreciate your hard work today in class, as we had a work day to wrap up the demographics unit and check in about grades in order to improve them, if possible. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Sometimes You Can't Make it on Your Own" by U2. Selected for today because we had a work day for me to help students in understanding how to improve their grade in class. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/23/18:
News Brief – Jackson
Demographic Work
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog! Finish your demographic unit work (see below for links) and turn in to the box in front of class. Next news brief: Neel.
---
News Brief: Jackson had the news brief today and selected an article about a current news story to talk about. We found the country in the world map packet and talked about this story, which was breaking news as of this morning.

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):


The next news brief was assigned to Neel.

Demographics Work: The rest of class was spent as work time (hopefully you were able to turn in the whole packet today) for the demographics packet:

Google Drive: Demographics Development Indicators

Students needed to find the statistics for countries on the CIA World Factbook (some of the statistics might be found from other sources, too).

The next assignment was related to the Children of Syria documentary in class.

Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:

Next, we did the End of Poverty reading and assignment last class:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Finally, we watched World in the Balance and did an assignment related to that. Here is the assignment:


And here is the video we watched in class:


All four of the assignments, in order, were what was due today in class. I appreciate your work on this! Please turn in this packet (stapled, please) to the turn in box in front of class.

Work Time: Thank you for working hard! We will continue with Israel and Palestine (our final unit of the year) next class. See you then!
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Monday, May 21, 2018

Israel and Palestine, Day 1 - Class Recap


A sign that was in the hotel I stayed at in 2014 in Amman, Jordan, which was hosting refugees from the ongoing battles in the Gaza Strip.

Hi everyone,

Today, we started work on our final unit for the year, on Israel and Palestine (due to me being out the next two days, so you will still have time to work on the demographics unit). Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Communication LT 2: I can use language and style that is appropriate to the content area.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Knowledge LT 19: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements. Knowledge LT 21: I can explain how religious ideas impact the shaping of societies.

Soundtrack: "Battlefield" by Jordin Sparks. Selected for today because the end of the year feels like a battle, and because the country of Israel is seen as a battlefield by many. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/21/18:
News Brief – Trent
The Lesson of War
Brainstorm
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade and how to improve it, if possible. Next class, we will have a work day on the Demographics unit! Next news brief: Jackson.
---
News Brief: Trent had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about:  BBC.com - Venezuela election: Fourteen ambassadors recalled after Maduro win. We found Venezuela in the world map packet and talked about this story for a bit, 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):

The next news brief was assigned to Jackson.

Westview Wildcat News is here to watch if you missed class or wanted to see it again:



There was a special bonus video today, as well:


Finally, we talked about some updates regarding what I have been up to since we last met! Specifically:

1) I talked about the Country Profile Project grades and status in terms of college credit, as well as some major updates in terms of knowing how credit is earned and such. Stay tuned, as I try and work through all of the issues and get you the information I know you are all wanting!

2) Next year, I will have a new role at Westview! Last week, I interviewed for and was offered the new position of Freshmen Success Coordinator, which is what I will devote about half of my time to. This sounds very much like the type of work that I did with tutoring/mentoring in the Step Up program at Marshall and Madison in Portland before arriving back at Westview. This is a Teacher On Special Assignment (TOSA) position that every high school in the area is creating due to incoming Measure 98 funding. Learn more here, if you are interested: https://highschoolsuccess.org/measure98/

You might be interested to hear that the position is modeled after the pioneering work of Chicago Public Schools in increasing freshmen core class credit attainment, which correlates highly with graduation rates. In fact, it sounds like I might be flown out to Chicago in October to witness Freshmen Success Teaming first hand! Here is one of the studies out of Chicago we have been asked to read in advance of starting: https://ncs.uchicago.edu/sites/ncs.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/tools/NCS_FOT_Toolkit_URAD_SetA_What_Matters.pdf

What this means for you as students: next year, I will only be teaching three classes of American Studies (meaning, I will still be your teacher if you forecast for that class). I will not be teaching other classes here.

Anyway, thank you for your patience with me, as I unexpectedly have trainings on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week that I will be out of the building! You will have Sherri Kurczewski as your guest teacher for both days, which will be focused on demographics.

The Lesson of War: To start the Israel and Palestine unit, we watched this video, about children on both sides of the recent war in the Gaza Strip:

  
60 Minutes - The Lesson of War from The Center Mind-Body Medicine on Vimeo.

I asked students to take notes during this, on what we learned and what questions we still have about the conflict.

Brainstorm: After the video, we brainstormed the conflict in Israel and Palestine by noting what we did know at this point, and questions we still had to learn the answers to.

Here is what the class was able to brainstorm and note:


We have lots to learn about, which is good!

The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: This was a PowerPoint that I went through with the class. I decided to be nice and pre-print all of the notes to hand out, because I know that it has been a challenging last few months, and I wanted to give everyone a break. I did want to make sure everyone focused on the images and words in the presentation, too. Here's the PowerPoint, for those who missed class:


And here are the pre-printed notes that I handed out:


After the presentation, I talked a bit about at what your final project will be, which is a simulation on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. We went through this in class a bit, but basically, you can pick any (or all) of the five learning targets listed at the top of this post to show proficiency on, by either writing a paper to be turned in on finals day, or creating a presentation (which might also involve writing a paper), if you are in big time need of improving your grade. 

There were lots of questions here, which was good. Hopefully, students are starting to understand what I am going to be looking for!

Finally, at the end of class, we watched a VOX video on Israel and Palestine, which does a really good job at explaining a large amount of details about the conflict in 10 minutes. I know this was a lot at once, so turning the captions on is definitely a good idea:


This should give you a solid framework with which to start thinking about how you want to do your final project, and what you should focus on! We will continue to be investigating this in the next few classes. Thanks for your focus today! :-)
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Thursday, May 17, 2018

Demographics, Day 3 - Class Recap


The pathway along a Shinto shrine in Toyko, Japan. Today, we learned about the demographic pressures on Japan's population - especially when it comes to a very elderly population. Photo taken in 2014.

Hi everyone,

It is always nice to see you all in the morning! Today, we watched a documentary about population and demographics. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Battle Without Honor or Humanity" by Tomoyasu Hotei. Selected for today because we learned more about Japan's battle against demographic trends in their population and because you are battling towards the end of the year!

AGENDA 5/17/18:
News Brief – Albert
World in the Balance
Review
Demographics Work

Homework: Read the blog! Next class will be an in class work day to finish all demographic unit work and turn it in at the end of class, so be prepared to do that! Next news brief: Trent.
---
News Brief: Albert had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - Kim Jong-un's warning shot to the US over nuclear talks. We found North Korea (yet again!) in the world map packet and talked about this ongoing story for a bit.

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):


The next news brief was assigned to Trent.

World in the Balance: This was a NOVA documentary that we watched together in class. I was asking students to write about the three countries in the film: India, Japan, and Kenya, and what their population/demographics is like. Here is the assignment that goes with this:


And here is the video we watched in class:


Thank you for your focus and interest in this! As I said before watching it, I think the issues are really interesting and worth our time to learn about. Before moving on, I showed this interesting website that has lots of different population data: Worldometers.info - World Population.

Review/Demographics Work: We did not have much time at the end of class today, but I did want to link to the assignments in the demographics unit, which are as follows:

Google Drive: Demographics Development Indicators

Students needed to find the statistics for countries on the CIA World Factbook (some of the statistics might be found from other sources, too).

The next assignment was related to the Children of Syria documentary in class.

Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:

Next, we did the End of Poverty reading and assignment last class:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Please have all of your demographics work ready to turn in at the end of next class, as I will give work time and also check in about everyone's grades! Thank you!
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Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Demographics, Day 2 - Class Recap


My brother visited Portland recently! Here I am with my sister and brother with my mom in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, over Winter Break 2014.

Dear class,

There was a fair amount of reviewing data and reading today - thanks for following along. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "The End" by The Doors. Selected for today because of "The End of Poverty" reading, and because we are approaching the end of the school year, as well as today being the official end of the Country Profile Project.

AGENDA 5/15/18:
News Brief – Derek
The End of Poverty
Group Work
Finish Demographic Packets

Homework: Read the blog! All Country Profile Project work/revisions due TODAY - Final Deadline! Continue to work on any missing/incomplete assignments to improve your grade! Next news brief: Albert.
---
News Brief: Derek had the news brief today and talked about this story for the news brief: BBC.com - Gaza begins to bury its dead after deadliest day in years. We found found Israel (and Palestine) in the world map and talked for a while in class about this story, along with some of the impacts of the United States moving our embassy to Jerusalem. Thank you for this discussion!

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):

The next news brief was assigned to Albert.

The End of Poverty: This was based on learning more about what life is like in different countries. I asked the class to split up based on how fast students thought they were at reading, and assigned this paper and reading to a group of four:


Here is the reading that goes along with the assignment:


Group Work: We spent a good time in class going through this in groups, and then going over it afterwards. Hold on to these completed assignments, please!

Finish Demographics Work: We did not have the time in class to do much of this, but your demographics work will be due later in the unit, so please finish all of the assignments related to it!

Thanks for your focus and work today in class!
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Friday, May 11, 2018

Demographics, Day 1 - Class Recap

Note: I missed class today due to taking a day off to be at the district tennis tournament (I am one of the boys coaches here), so this is what I hope happened with the substitute.


Photo taken in 2007 at the Denver Aquarium.

Dear class,

We continued looking at demographics today, through the recent documentary "Children of Syria" which does a great job giving a case study of the Syrian refugee crisis. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 9: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Critical Thinking LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Ordinary People" by John Legend. Selected for today because demographics is the study of populations of people.

AGENDA 5/11/18:
News Brief – Esther
Children of Syria
Review
Trends

Homework: Read the blog! Continue working on your Country Profile Project revisions! Next news brief: Derek.
---
News Brief: Esther had the news brief today and selected an article to talk about with the class. Students should have opened up their map packets to note where the story was from.

Here's the link to see the latest one minute update from BBC World News, at any time of day (it will probably be different from what we watched in class):


The next news brief was assigned to Derek.

Children of Syria: This was a fantastic documentary that recently came out (last year - it was nominated for an Academy Award) on PBS Frontline. Part of the learning target for the unit is tying demographics in with current events, so this was perfect. Here is the assignment that I passed out with the movie:


Here is a link to watch the documentary, if you missed class, or wanted to watch it again at home with your family. An hour really well spent:


Review: After the documentary, a few random students were asked to answer questions from the documentary review. Thank you for your input and thoughts here! I hope everyone was really engaged with answering the questions and watching the film.

Trends: At the end of class, it should have been work time to continue to fill out the demographics packet of information. We will continue this next week (it will likely be due later in the week). Thanks, everyone! I will miss you all - have a great rest of the week and weekend!
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Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Religion, Day 8 - Class Recap


Today, we finished the religion unit in class - the last bit of fire has been extinguished on the unit! This is a photo of a pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, taken in 2011.

Dear class,

If you attended class today, you are now done with the Religion unit! I'm glad everyone worked hard and I am looking forward to grading the tests and getting them back to you soon. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 10: I can explain demographic changes in the world and their effects.
Knowledge LT 21: 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: "Oye Como Va" by Carlos Santana. Selected for today because of last weekend being Cinco de Mayo (remembering a famous Mexican victory over the French) and because Carlos Santana is an amazing Mexican-American guitarist. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/9/18:
News Brief – Felice
Religion Test
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog! If you have not turned in your Country Profile Project, please do so immediately. I will be working on getting requested revisions to students who turned it in before the deadline! I will be taking a personal day on Friday to support the boys tennis team at Metro districts and grade, so please be good for the guest teacher in my absence!

Know your grade and how to improve it -  Russian Revolution work (found on this post), World War I work (found in this post). Next news brief: Esther.
---
News Brief: Felice had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - North Korea frees three US detainees ahead of Trump summit. We found North Korea in our world maps and noted that we did a news brief about it. Thanks, Felice.

We did not check in much about what we were up to outside of class, as I wanted to make sure to give as much time as possible for the religion unit test.

The next news brief was assigned to Felice.

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):


Religion Test: After the news brief, we started the test (I hope you did your homework and studied)! This took most of the rest of class, but that is okay. I'm glad students were taking their time and being thorough with their work.

Next class, we will continue learning about demographics and watch a documentary. Thanks for your hard work and focus today in class! Moving on to the last new learning target of the year!
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Monday, May 7, 2018

Religion, Day 7 - Class Recap


Buddhist prayer flags at Boudhanath Stupa in Kathmandu. Photo taken in 2015.

Hi everyone,

I had a lot of fun today, playing Jeopardy to review religion concepts and vocabulary! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 21: 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: "God's Plan (Clean)" by Drake. Selected for today because of persistent student recommendation and because of the title's connection to the religion unit. Lyrics (not clean) here.

AGENDA 5/7/18:
Wildcat News Brief – Max
Crash Course
Jeopardy Review
Study Time

Homework: Read the blog! Study the religion vocabulary for test next class! Know your grade and how to improve it: Russian Revolution work (found on this post), World War I work (found in this post) and finishing Country Profile Project if you have not - revisions needed, as well. Next news brief: Felice.
---
News Brief: Max had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: NYTimes.com - For Putin’s 4th Term, More a Coronation Than an Inauguration. This was a story out of Russia, which we found in the world map packet, and also checked in about what students were up to outside of class.

The next news brief was assigned to Felice.

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):


Finally, here is Westview Wildcat News for today, if you missed class or wanted to see it again:



Crash Course: Before playing Jeopardy, I wanted to show part of a Crash Course video that might help students understand 1) Islam a bit better, 2) How religion impacts society in a variety of ways. It was only the first 4 minutes or so of this video - and there are lots of other Crash Course videos on the history of religion, if you are interested!


Again, just another opportunity for studying, if you want. I like that the videos are closed captioned, because they are very fast paced!

Jeopardy Review: We played "Jeopardy" to review religion unit vocabulary and concepts before the text next class!

I told students that I would put a question from the test on the blog, in the hopes of encouraging students to look, so here it is:

The term that describes a "branch" of a religion is: a) Worship. b) Pillar. c) Secular. d) Sect.

Keep studying!

Study Guide: At the end of class, it was study time for the test. Please note that there will also be a question or two based on some of the religions we talked last class, too! This guide is intended for you to help review your Religion PowerPoint notes. Here it is:


Be aware that Google Drive makes the sheet two pages, whereas the copy I passed out in class is just one page. Study the vocabulary and your notes from the religions we went over last class! The test will be next class! See you then! :-)
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Thursday, May 3, 2018

Religion, Day 6 - Class Recap


The streets of Kathmandu at night are really something. The prayer flags lining the streets in Thamel are a nice touch. Photo taken in March, 2015.

Hi everyone,

I enjoyed today's class, especially because of the interesting nature of what we were discussing. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 21: 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: "Mustt Mustt" by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Selected because this is a representation of Sufism (some consider this to be a branch of Islam), Explanation of the song can be found here.

AGENDA 5/3/18:
News Brief – Claire
ISIS and Sunni/Shia
More Religions/Atheism
Vocabulary Guide

Homework: Read the blog! Know your grade and how to improve it - Russian Revolution (found on this post), World War I work (found in this post) and finishing the Country Profile Project if you have not - revisions needed, as well.  Next news brief: Max.
---
News Brief: Claire had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - Armenia crisis: Protesters bring cities to standstill after vote. We found Armenia on our world maps and talked about this story. We then continued to talk about what people were up to outside of the class, including what people are up to over this weekend.

The next news brief was assigned to Max.

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):


ISIS and Sunni/Shia: To start this section, I asked the class to brainstorm what we knew about ISIS, especially as we have been talking about the group in our news briefs for the entire year so far. I wanted to hear what we remembered and also maybe some assumptions. Next, I asked students to get out paper for notes on the rest of the class and I played this video from VOX, which does a great job of quickly explaining the rise of ISIS and what is going on in the Middle East:


I also talked a bit about the demographics in the Middle East, including showing this map of where two of the main sects of Islam live:


Specifically, I wanted to look in depth at the central role that the two main sects of Islam have in conflict, by watching this video:


One of my main points with this is that we cannot stereotype "all Muslims" in many of the conflicts that the world is in, just as we cannot stereotype "all Christians" or any other religion. If you are really interested in learning a lot more about ISIS, I encourage you to read through this lengthy article: TheAtlantic.com - What ISIS Really Wants.

More Religions/Atheism: Next, we did a sort of blitz through a few other religions that students wrote to me they identified with (I think these are important to cover), along with Atheism (belief that there is no God or gods at all).

Here are the resources we looked at as a class, as students took brief notes (there will be a few questions about these on the test):

Shintoism (based in Japan, focused on ancestral spirits).

Jainism (based in India, focused on nonviolence and sanctity of life).

Taoism (mostly found in China, based on concept of yin and yang).

Sikhism (based in India, focused on one God, rejection of caste system).

Finally, we ended by watching part of this video about Atheism, which is the belief that there is no God or gods, and that faith, being unscientific and not testable, is impossible to prove:


I thought the above videos and articles did a pretty good job explaining the points of view of some important philosophies in a short amount of time. Thanks for hanging in there with me as we looked at all of these!

Vocabulary Guide: At the end of class, I passed out a vocabulary sheet to study for the quiz. Please note that there will also be a question or two based on some of the religions we talked about today in class, too! This guide is intended for you to help review your Religion PowerPoint notes. Here it is:


Be aware that Google Drive makes the sheet two pages, whereas the copy I passed out in class is just one page. Study the vocabulary and your notes from the beliefs we went over today! Next class, we will play PowerPoint Jeopardy to review, then take the religion test the class after that.
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Tuesday, May 1, 2018

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 are feeling excited for the end of the year! I certainly believe you have earned it! It is a very stressful time of the year for everyone, and I am grateful for some time to grade and then relax a bit, as well. Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Knowledge LT 21: 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 5/1/18:
News Brief – Ellie
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 in this post) and finishing Country Profile Project if you have not - revisions needed, as well. Next news brief: Claire.
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News Brief: Ellie had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: CNN.com -  BBC reporter and famed photographer among 31 killed in Afghanistan. We found Afghanistan in the world map and talked about this horrific story, as well as the importance of journalism in covering conflict.

The next news brief was assigned to Claire.

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):


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).

To start, we looked at some information about what Americans currently believe, starting with this link:


Here's another study with more detail:


Then, we watched this opinion/analysis video from The Atlantic, arguing that White Christians are a shrinking number of the people in the United States, and what the impacts of that are and could be:



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


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.

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


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!
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