Culture, Day 6 - Class Recap

A pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. This was right across the street from where my friend Clarke lived for a while. Photo taken in 2011.

Hi everyone,

Today, I introduced the Culture Project to the class (probably due at the end of next week) and we continued the Time For School series of videos. Here's the recap for today:

Learning Targets:
Communication LT 1: I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Critical Thinking LT 1: I can explain multiple perspectives and viewpoints.
Knowledge LT 15: I can explain how culture both reflects and shapes society.
Behavior LT 1:  I can manage my responsibilities as a student.

Soundtrack: "Rhapsody in Blue" by Leonard Bernstein. Selected for today because a student in Period 1 suggested it, as an example of American culture, due to being in Fantastia, by Disney. No lyrics, but listen here.

AGENDA 10/26/15:
News Brief – Josh
Culture Project
Time for School 3
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Continue working on the Culture Project! Next news brief: Mark

News Brief: Josh had the news brief today and talked about this story with the class: NBCNews.com - Puisseguin Crash: 43 Dead in Crash Between Bus, Truck in France. We found France on our world maps (in Europe) and talked about the tragic event, which I'm not sure I (or anyone else in the class) would have heard of if it were not for Josh bringing it in to talk about. Mark was selected to do the next news brief.

We also watched the one minute BBC World News update (shout out to Lucy Hockings for the reply on Twitter!). 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 checked in about the weekend (I am still quite sore from my half marathon!), and anything else that was happening, as well.

Culture Project: This is one of the main assignments for the culture unit, and I hope it is interesting for students to work on! There are a lot of options of what to do - it could be writing, a visual, a presentation, or something else. Here's the assignment:

Google Drive - Culture Project Assignment

This will be due in class next week (probably Thursday), so be working on it at home, bring work into class to do, and ask questions if you need help!

Time For School: We continued Time For School 3 today. If you missed class and the handout, here it is:

Google Drive - Time For School Documentary Handout

Again, the point to this was to analyze how we see surface culture and what deeper culture is like in different areas around the world.

Here are both parts to the documentary. I stopped Part 2 at about 18:30 in, when it finished talking about Nanavi.

PBS.org - Time For School 3 (Part 1) Documentary

PBS.org - Time For School 3 (Part 2) Documentary

Next class, we will finish with this and continue working on the culture project.

Work Time: The rest of class (about 20 minutes or so) was devoted to starting up the Culture Project, as I went around the class and answered questions about it, or brainstormed ideas. Please continue to be working on this at home! See you next class. :-)

Culture, Day 5 - Class Recap

On the football field at Westview, later this past summer. Athletic events are a big part of Westview culture!

Hi everyone,

We continued learning about culture today and I enjoyed hearing the Nacirema stories students came up with, as well as beginning the Time For School series of videos. Here's the recap for today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 15: I can explain how culture both reflects and shapes society.
Behavior LT 1:  I can manage my responsibilities as a student.

Soundtrack: "Represent" by Weezer. Selected for today because we were talking about how people in different cultures represent themselves. This was also a pump up song for the 2010 World Cup. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 10/22/15:
News Brief – Alex G.
Share Nacerima Stories
Culture Checklist
Time for School 3

Homework: Read the blog. Turn in missing/incomplete geography work ASAP. Next news brief: Josh.

News Brief: Alex G. had the news brief today and talked about this article with the class: TheGuardian.com - Typhoon Koppu death toll reaches 54 as Philippines battles devastating floods. We found the Philippines on our world maps (in Asia) and talked about what a typhoon is (vs. a hurricane). Thanks, Alex G.! Josh was randomly drawn as the next news brief.

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 checked in about the upcoming weekend, and anything else that was happening, as well.

Share Nacirema Stories: I was glad to see that most students did their homework and were prepared to share their stories in small groups! I had fun listening in on the six groups, and then each group selected their best example, and had a student read it aloud as the rest of the class tried to guess what it was about. The point of this was to be able to look from an outsiders perspective at our own culture, so that we can more easily understand why other cultures might be different.

Culture Checklist: This is a new way of tracking assignments and your proficiency self-assessments on the unit, rather than the big rubrics at the end (which are connected to this). Here is the checklist that I passed out in class:

Google Drive - Culture Unit Checklist

As we progress through the culture unit (we are about halfway through), you should be writing down assignments and looking at your progress, so that you feel comfortable by the end about

Time For School 3: I really like this documentary as part of our unit on culture, because it is especially interesting to me to see how school is a part of different cultures around the world. Here was the handout that I gave to students to fill out as we were watching:

Google Drive - Time For School Documentary Handout

Again, the point to this was to analyze how we see surface culture and what deeper culture is like in different areas around the world.

We got about 38:00 in to the following video, if you missed class and need to catch up, or simply want to review it again:

PBS.org - Time For School 3 (Part 1) Documentary

I hope you are finding this interesting and engaging! See you next week! :-)

Culture, Day 4 - Class Recap

I really like this picture I took of a kid (I have no idea who it is) at Trillium Lake by Mt. Hood, last summer. Fishing could be a part of his family culture!

Dear class,

We are now really getting into the culture unit! An exchange student visited our class today to talk about their culture, to help with understanding our own. Here's what happened today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 15: I can explain how culture both reflects and shapes society.

Soundtrack: "Abc" by Jackson 5. Selected because it relates to the theme of school and culture, which we learned more about today with the exchange students! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 10/20/15:
News Brief – Lisanna
Review Cornell Notes
Exchange Students
The Nacirema

Homework: Read the blog. Continue working on the Nacirema assignment (see below). Check your grade in Student VUE and improve it, if possible. Next news brief: Alex G.

News Brief: Lisanna brought in an article about this story to talk about for the news brief today: BBCNews.com - Syria crisis: Turkey downs 'drone' on Syria border. We found Turkey in the world map packet (the Middle East map) and continued to talk about the situation with Syria, and Russian/U.S. drones there. I also talked about Canada electing a new Prime Minister last night. Thanks, Lisanna! Alex G. was randomly drawn as the next news brief.

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 checked in about the weekend, and anything else that was happening, as well.

Review Cornell Notes: Last class, we went through a PowerPoint on culture. Today, we returned to our notes as part of the AVID process of Cornell Notes, and made questions about the material, as well as summarizing information. There were two handouts that went with this (from last class):

Google Drive - Cornell Notes Process

Google Drive - Cornell Notes Template

Again, here's the PowerPoint on culture that I wanted notes to be taken on:

Google Drive - The Iceberg Model of Culture

Thanks for trying this way of taking notes!

Exchange Students: We were very fortunate to have an exchange student at Westview present about their culture today in class: Leticia from Brazil! I really enjoyed hearing abouther culture and perspective on our culture. Thank you for your focus and great questions during this time! If you see Leticia around Westview, be sure to say hi and thank her again for coming in! :-)

Here was Leticia's presentation that she went through in class:

Google Drive - Leticia's Presentation on Brazilian Culture

So cool!

The Nacirema: At the end of class, we returned to the Nacirema reading and assignment from last class, as students tried to make their own versions of the Nacirema stories.

Google Drive - The Nacirema Reading

Here's the assignment that has to do with the with the Nacirema reading:

Google Drive - The Nacirema Assignment

Remember, you are trying to identify something about our own culture, that, when described from an outsider's perspective, would actually seem pretty strange. We will finish this next class and share a few!