Genocide in Rwanda, Day 7 - Class Recap

The United Nations negotiating table between South and North Korea. We watched Hotel Rwanda in class today, which also has the United Nations involved. Photo taken in January 2014.

Dear class,

Today was our last Global Studies class together in 2015! I was happy to check in on what everyone was up to during Winter Break and talk more about the world, before starting Hotel Rwanda. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 20: I can identify the critical components of imperialism.
Communication LT 1:  I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing
Behavior LT 3: I can communicate and work effectively within a team or group.

Soundtrack: "Reelin' in the Years" by Steely Dan. Selected for today because the next time we have class together, it will be a new year! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/18/15:
News Brief - Manya
Speech Debrief
Hotel Rwanda
Break!

Homework: Read the blog. Work on any late or incomplete work. Have a great, safe break. See you in 2016! Next news brief: Mr. Fritz.

News Brief: Manya selected this story for the news brief: BBC.com - Russia Turkey: Sukhoi jet black box 'damaged'. We found Russia in our world maps and noted we did a news brief there.

I also talked about this story: NPR.org - Violence Escalates In Burundi; U.S Citizens Urged To Leave.  The reason I chose this should not be a surprise: there are lots of references to Rwanda in this story. I played the audio for the story in class, and scrolled down the transcript, as well. Hopefully, people will be paying attention to Burundi and stop the violence there.

I will also be doing the next news brief, since there is such a long time between classes! I love following what is going on in the world, so it will be easy for me. I hope everyone continues to follow the news over break!

We also talked about what we will be up to over break. I shared that my family will be in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for five days, then I will be going to the Alamo Bowl in Texas on January 2nd to see Oregon play.So there is certainly a lot of travel in the near future for me. :-)

As I said in class, I realize that, for some students, being at home is harder than being at school, so just know that my thoughts are with you all, and that I am excited to see you next year!

Speech Debrief: Before we started watching Hotel Rwanda, I asked for some thoughts about the Rwanda speeches. Thanks for the feedback given! I really enjoy that activity, and as I said in class, I'm always so proud of my classes. Never a doubt in my mind that you would impress the administration in the room!

Hotel Rwanda: The rest of class was spent watching the movie Hotel Rwanda (2004). I normally do not show entire movies in class, but this one is SO good and relevant to the Rwanda unit. Here is the worksheet of questions to answer as we watched:

Google Drive: Hotel Rwanda Questions

We watched 59 minutes in class, and will watch the rest when we get back from break.

At the end of class, I asked again for any revised copies of the Rwanda speech (which I will be grading). If you are needing it to find the rubrics to turn in with your revised paper or work on it over break, here they are:

Google Drive: Individual United Nations Rwanda Speech Assignment

Have a wonderful two weeks off! See you in 2016!

Genocide in Rwanda, Day 6 - Class Recap

A look at the view from the podium in our room for the United Nations speeches about Rwanda!

Hi everyone,

You all did such an amazing job today! I am so proud of you and your effort in these speeches! It was an inspiration to be able to see how well you communicated about the genocide and the learning targets for the unit. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 20: I can identify the critical components of imperialism.
Communication LT 1:  I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing
Behavior LT 3: I can communicate and work effectively within a team or group.

Soundtrack: "Heroes" by David Bowie. Selected for today because you got to be heroes for the people of Rwanda. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/16/15:
News Brief - Tiffany
Setting the Stage
United Nations Speeches
Hotel Rwanda

Homework: Read the blog. Turn in any late or incomplete work, and the individual copy of your United Nations speech ASAP. Next news brief: Manya.

News Brief: Tiffany had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: BBC.com - Paris attacks: French police arrest suspect. We didn't go too in depth on this, due to my wanting everyone to have adequate time to do some final prep before speeches. Thanks, Tiffany!

Manya was selected to do the next news brief. We did not watch BBC World News today, due to the time with speeches, but here it is to watch, if you want to.

Setting the Stage: Right after the news brief, I went over exactly how the speeches would work in class, and talked specifically about a tie that I brought in for students to wear if they wanted, which a friend who went to Rwanda brought back for me. The tie was made by survivors of the genocide, so I thought it was pretty important symbolism as we were talking about needing to prevent it!

After the introduction, I gave about 10-15 minutes for groups to get ready and organized, then we started.

United Nations Speeches: I LOVED these! Again, the vast majority of students did such a good job with this! The basic set up was to have a group come up and line up behind the podium, do their speech in order, then listen as the panel at the front (for your class, it was Vice Principal Aki Mori and fellow Global Studies teacher Pat McCreery, along with myself) gave positive feedback about how your speeches went.

I really appreciated your effort and willingness to speak up about Rwanda! I know that the panel was impressed. I also wanted to make sure and publicly thank Mr. Mori and Mr. McCreery for being willing to give their time to come see you speak. What a cool community we have at Westview!

After the speeches were done, there was not enough time to start Hotel Rwanda, so we will do that next class.

At the end of class, I had everyone (who had not already done so) turn in their individual speeches (five paragraphs) with the rubric attached.

Here's the assignment sheet again, if you are needing it to find the rubrics to turn in with your revised paper:

Google Drive: Individual United Nations Rwanda Speech Assignment

Thank you all so much again for your hard work today and in the build up for it! You totally rock! I am very proud of everyone. See you next class - our last before Winter Break! :-)

Genocide in Rwanda, Day 5 - Class Recap

My mom, Amanda Fritz, giving a speech after she was elected to Portland City Council in 2008. Photo taken by my dad!

Hi everyone,

Today was our last day of preparation for the Rwanda speech in front of the United Nations! Lots of tips and stuff to talk about. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 20: I can identify the critical components of imperialism.
Communication LT 1:  I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Soundtrack: "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson. Selected because you get to "make that change" with your speech, and also, practicing in front of a mirror is a good strategy to prepare for a speech. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/14/15:
News Brief - Ashleigh
Brainstorm Public Speaking
Rwanda Video
Speech Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. The United Nations group speech in front of an administrator is next class! Practice! Dress up (if possible)! Be ready to go with your group! Also, if you haven't turned in your revised/final individual speech, please do so ASAP. Next news brief: Tiffany.

News Brief: Ashleigh had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: CNN.com - French teacher made up story of ISIS attack, official says. We found France in our world maps again, and talked about why this might have happened, and irrational fear based on religion. Thanks, Ashleigh.

Tiffany was selected to do 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

Brainstorm: Public Speaking: We talked in class about some tips for giving a good speech. I used two video clips for this:

The 2014 National Champion of Original Oratory, Andrea Ambam.

I only showed the first two minutes or so of this in class, but the point was hopefully made clear. She does a great job of knowing her material, standing straight, using hand gestures to be engaging, making eye contact, and varying her tone of voice.

As a class, we thought of good public speaking tips. Here's what we came up with:

- If possible, use humor to grab attention
- Hand gestures when appropriate
- Speaking with confidence
- Dramatic pauses
- Use metaphors to relate to audience
- Watch your facial expression (you know something the audience doesn’t)
- Get feedback from others to improve
- Memorization is helpful, try not to pause for umm, or like, or verbal tics
- Don’t just look at one place
- It’s okay if you don’t go word for word (the audience won’t know)
- Make sure your voice is clear and able to be heard
- Be formal with your communication
- Try to keep your inflection the same throughout
- Speak slowly and deliberate

Next, I showed this five minute video from Toastmasters (an organization devoted to helping people with public speaking):

I hope that all of this made everyone feel better, or at least, provide some tips on how to feel better about the speech!

Rwanda Video: Finally, before work time the rest of class, I showed half of this video that an American media company made for Rwanda's tourism department. I wanted to show this to highlight some of the beautiful aspects of Rwanda, as another counter story to what people may typically think.

Group Speech Work Time: The rest of the class was devoted to working on the speech in groups - getting the order down, practicing, and refining. The groups are (some may have six, which means that the group will have four middle speakers on speech day):

Group 1: Samson W, Olivia Q, Hitesh V (absent), John N, Byron D, Josh B

*Group 2*: Mathew M, Tiffany C, Alaina E, Ethan W, Manya J

Group 3: Baylie C, Lisanna S, Kai E, Marquis R, Meher C, Mandy C,

Group 4: Blake H, Alex G, Alex K, Noah B, Britney G, Ashleigh N,

Group 5: Medha P, Ellie H, Edo M, Anthonette M, Natalie R, Queena W,

*Group 6*: Mark K, Juwon E, Malini G, Sim L, Emily T

Here's the assignment sheet again, if you are needing it to find the rubrics to turn in with your revised paper:

Google Drive: Individual United Nations Rwanda Speech Assignment

Please make sure to bring a revised final copy of your speech (if you have not turned it in already), for me to grade, next class! Be prepared and confident in your speech - I know you will all be great! Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help!

Genocide in Rwanda, Day 4 - Class Recap

Fireworks to start the 2011 US Open, held in New York City, which is where the United Nations meets.

Dear class,

I hope that today was productive for you and your group! I certainly enjoyed reading over your speeches and trying to help everyone revise them. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 20: I can identify the critical components of imperialism.
Communication LT 1:  I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Soundtrack: "Somali Udiida Ceb (Somalia, Don't Shame Yourself)" by Maryam Mursal. Selected because Somalia has a direct impact on why the United States was reluctant to do anything to stop the genocide in Rwanda. Listen to the song here.

AGENDA 12/10/15:
News Brief - Anthonette
Hutu Ten Commandments
Peer Review
Group Speech Work

Homework: Read the blog. Revised/edited Rwanda speech due. Bring one copy for me to grade, and your paragraph that your group decided to use for the speech, to work on. The Rwanda resources will help. Next news brief: Ashleigh.

News Brief: Anthoneete had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: BBC.com - Rwanda genocide: Ladislas Ntaganzwa seized in DR Congo. This is so incredibly interesting, since we are studying Rwanda and the genocide! We found Rwanda in our world map packets and I read through the article a bit as a class, because it was so relevant to what we are learning about. Amazing, amazing timing. Thank you, Anthonette!

Ashleigh was selected to do 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 what everyone is up to.

Hutu Ten Commandments: I talked about this right after the news, as yet another aspect in the lead up to the Rwandan genocide that students could write about for the speech:

The Hutu Ten Commandments (1990)

Again, it was not a surprise at all that a genocide occurred, with words like that being used, years in advance. This would count as part of the Polarization stage of genocide.

Peer Review: I passed out a review sheet and went over exactly what everyone should be looking at, as far as their papers being revised. Here it is - if you missed class, please complete it!

Google Drive - Rwanda Speech Peer Review Form

Basically, you need to be sure to talk about the United Nations definition of genocide and the role that imperialism (especially Belgium's classification of Hutus and Tutsis) had in starting the ongoing genocide. Here's the Imperialism PowerPoint again, if you wanted to look in more depth. Hint: you cannot say that Hutus are promoting imperialism against the Tutsis. That's not imperialism at all.

Google Drive - Imperialism PowerPoint

I tried to give feedback on as many papers during class as I possibly could - I apologize for not being able to get through everyone! Fortunately, the groups should have helped a lot in revisions, too.

Group Speech Work Time: The rest of the class was devoted to working on the speech in groups. Next class, you will be refining and practicing your speeches. The groups are (some may have six, which means that the group will have four middle speakers on speech day):

Group 1: Samson W, Olivia Q, Hitesh V (absent), John N, Byron D, Josh B

*Group 2*: Mathew M, Tiffany C, Alaina E, Ethan W, Manya J

Group 3: Baylie C, Lisanna S, Kai E, Marquis R, Meher C, Mandy C,

Group 4: Blake H, Alex G, Alex K, Noah B, Britney G, Ashleigh N,

Group 5: Medha P, Ellie H, Edo M, Anthonette M, Natalie R, Queena W,

*Group 6*: Mark K, Juwon E, Malini G, Sim L, Emily T

I used the Random.org List Generator to make the groups. :-)

While everyone worked in groups, I tried as hard as I could to look at the papers that were turned in and immediately get them back with feedback. Here were the elements I most commonly saw as being needed for addition in the speeches:

1) Need to mention United Nations definition of genocide, made in 1948, after the Holocaust.
2) Need to connect classification of the Hutus and Tutsis to the legacy of Belgium’s imperialism.
3) Asking the United Nations for something SPECIFIC. Not just “do something.” Say “more troops” “more funding” “more awareness – declare this as what it is: genocide.”

Here are the directions, from earlier in the unit:

The final assignment for the unit and before break is a speech before a mock United Nations, in class. You will be pretending that it is April 24, 1994 - the actual date that arguments were ongoing at the United Nations Security Council about how to respond to the conflict in Rwanda.

There are a few steps in the process to prepare for the speech, which will be given on Wednesday, December 16th. The first is to write a persuasive essay (in the form of a speech you could give).. Here's the assignment:

Google Drive: Individual United Nations Rwanda Speech Assignment

As a reminder, this will eventually be a formal speech before break that you give as a part of a group, in front of the class, with myself and another teacher and/or administrator (like Dr. Franco) listening. You are going to need to persuade us to act and do something!

To prepare for this, I passed out a class set of copies of three things:

1) The United Nations definition of genocide, as agreed to by the world in 1949. This is helpful, because if you can persuade the United Nations that genocide is occurring in Rwanda, they HAVE to act (because that's what they agreed to).

2) The Eight Stages of Genocide. I read over the stages, but not all of the content describing them. There is a lot of information that might help you craft your speech! You can certainly talk about every stage of genocide, occurring in Rwanda, up to April 24, 1994. Here are some hints on how to do this.

3) A reading that goes over more of the history in Rwanda, what happened during the genocide, and the end. Remember, you can't talk about anything after April 24, 1994, but you can make predictions as to what will happen if the United Nations refuses to act! The reading is pages 5-10 here:

Google Drive: Rwandan Genocide Speech Preparation Materials

Another resource that might help could be your Cornell Notes from last class, which was on this presentation:

Google Drive: Genocide in Rwanda: The Basics PowerPoint

Please be sure to ask me if you have any questions or need help in any way! I'm really excited to see what you can come up with! :-)

Genocide in Rwanda, Day 3 - Class Recap

A young Egyptian guy, who wanted me to take his picture in front of the pyramids in Cairo. Photo taken in 2014.

Hi everyone,

Two more weeks of work until a nice break! Lots to do - today, we looked more into Imperialism and Privilege, as I asked students to think about how they may have impacted Rwanda. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 20: I can identify the critical components of imperialism.
Communication LT 1:  I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Critical Thinking LT 1: I can explain multiple perspectives and viewpoints.

Soundtrack: "Africa for Norway" by SAIH - The Norwegian Students’ and Academics’ International Assistance Fund. I was projecting this video as students walked in - it is a humorous look at stereotyping, and how Norwegians should not stereotype Africans, because what if the opposite happened. I read the reasoning behind the video in class.

AGENDA 12/8/15:
News Brief - Mandy
Imperialism
Privilege
Speech Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. Rwanda speech due - bring two copies, typed. The Rwanda resources will help. Next news brief: Anthonette.

News Brief: Mandy had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: BBC.com - Donald Trump's Muslim US ban call roundly condemned. Mandy related this to outside the United States by mentioning that the article says UK and French leaders were also saying Trump was wrong for wanting to ban Muslims from entering the country. I mentioned that, although Donald Trump is leading the Republican polls right now, he remains pretty unpopular with most Americans. We found the UK on the world map packet and noted we did a news brief there.

Anthonette was selected to do 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 what everyone was up to. I shared about going to Columbus, Ohio to watch the Portland Timbers win the MLS Cup championship!

Imperialism: Next, I went over the concepts of imperialism and colonialism, in the form of a PowerPoint. Students took notes (if you took Cornell Notes, all the better) on the presentation.

Google Drive - Imperialism PowerPoint

One of the learning targets associated with this unit is Knowledge LT 20: I can identify the critical components of imperialism. This presentation was to help students understand how to do that, especially in regards to how Belgium had an impact in Rwanda, long after the independence in 1962.

Privilege: Another component of how we look at people in the world is the concept of privilege. Specifically, white privilege - a system of advantages some people get over others, that are often not even recognized. Here is the reading we went through, by Peggy McIntosh (this was an abbreviated version of the full article):

Google Drive - White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

As part of this reading, I used the male privilege example of the Men's National Team of the United States playing on grass (which they prefer) over turf, and the women being forced to play on turf. Here's an article about that: FiveThirtyEight.com - U.S. Men’s Soccer, But Not Women’s, Gets To Play All Its Games On Grass.

Basically, I am asking everyone to think about how our privilege here in America (of being a world superpower) relates to our study of Rwanda. Specifically, I think that race has a lot to do with it. We did a quiet activity with this document, which I think was pretty powerful (the Westview teachers recently did this, too). Thank you for your participation here.

As part of this section, I also provided some counter stories to the negativity surrounding Africa. In particular, I highlighted these:

BloombergView.com - It Isn't Just Asian Immigrants Who Thrive in the U.S.

This was about how the highest levels of educational achievement in the United States are from African immigrants.

TheEconomist.com - Why does Kenya lead the world in mobile money?

Since some people believe that Africa is very far behind in technology (and to be certain, some places are), I pointed out this story, which is about how Kenya has a system that is the best in the world for sending payments on the go.

I also showed RisingAfrica.org, which has lots of stories about the positive sides of Africa, and went into some detail about the African Union, as well as the effort to help Rwanda during the genocide.

Finally, as a challenge assignment for the TAG students in the class, I read the first part of this long article on Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda. If you want to learn more about why the balance in assessing Kagame is so tricky, and enjoy a reading challenge, here's the entire article:

NYTimes.com - The Global Elite's Favorite Strongman

The first part has to do with how clean and safe Kigali is now, which is related to the counter stories I was trying to present.

Speech Work Time: The rest of the class (about 15 minutes) was devoted to working on your speech. Here are the directions, from last class:

The final assignment for the unit and before break is a speech before a mock United Nations, in class. You will be pretending that it is April 24, 1994 - the actual date that arguments were ongoing at the United Nations Security Council about how to respond to the conflict in Rwanda.

There are a few steps in the process to prepare for the speech, which will be given on Wednesday, December 16th. The first is to write a persuasive essay (in the form of a speech you could give). This is due in class (TWO COPIES, typed) next class - Thursday, December 10th. Here's the assignment:

Google Drive: Individual United Nations Rwanda Speech Assignment

As a reminder, this will eventually be a formal speech before break that you give as a part of a group, in front of the class, with myself and another teacher and/or administrator (like Dr. Franco) listening. You are going to need to persuade us to act and do something!

To prepare for this, I passed out a class set of copies of three things:

1) The United Nations definition of genocide, as agreed to by the world in 1949. This is helpful, because if you can persuade the United Nations that genocide is occurring in Rwanda, they HAVE to act (because that's what they agreed to).

2) The Eight Stages of Genocide. I read over the stages, but not all of the content describing them. There is a lot of information that might help you craft your speech! You can certainly talk about every stage of genocide, occurring in Rwanda, up to April 24, 1994. Here are some hints on how to do this.

3) A reading that goes over more of the history in Rwanda, what happened during the genocide, and the end. Remember, you can't talk about anything after April 24, 1994, but you can make predictions as to what will happen if the United Nations refuses to act! The reading is pages 5-10 here:

Google Drive: Rwandan Genocide Speech Preparation Materials

Another resource that might help could be your Cornell Notes from last class, which was on this presentation:

Google Drive: Genocide in Rwanda: The Basics PowerPoint

Please be sure to ask me if you have any questions or need help in any way! I'm really excited to see what you can come up with! :-)

Genocide in Rwanda, Day 2 - Class Recap

The results for our class when I asked students to think about five things that come to mind when we think about Africa. I mean, the comparison with Europe makes the differences pretty startling, right?

Dear class,

Today is always one of my favorite days to teach. Not because it is particularly fun to talk about genocide, but because it is SO important that we stop ignoring it, and especially the continent of Africa. If I ignored it, when would you hear about it? What associations would you continue to make? Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 20: I can identify the critical components of imperialism.
Communication LT 1:  I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.
Critical Thinking LT 1: I can explain multiple perspectives and viewpoints.

Soundtrack: "My Generation" by The Who. Selected for today because it is your generation that can change the world for the better. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/4/15:
News Brief – Britney
Debrief Pop Quiz
Scream Bloody Murder
United Nations Speech

Homework: Read the blog, and look at for Rwanda resources, and continue working on your United Nations speech. Next news brief: Mandy.

News Brief: Britney had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: BBC.com - Boko Haram crisis: Cameroon troops 'free 900 hostages'. This is a good news story out of Africa! Hopefully, more hostages will be freed soon. We found Cameroon on the world map packet and noted we did a news brief there.

Mandy was selected to do 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 what everyone is up to. I will be in Columbus, Ohio, watching the Timbers play for the MLS Cup! I will be back to school on Tuesday.

Debrief Pop Quiz: I always enjoy looking at what we know when it comes to Europe and Africa. Here is the PowerPoint with the combined results for your class answers:

Google Drive: Period 5 Europe vs. Africa Pop Quiz Results PowerPoint

It was only fair that I showed my own results, from when I was given this quiz when I was in graduate school, and I said much the same thing. Here's my actual paper from 2008:

As I tried to forcefully point out in class: isn't this stunning? We know that Africa is a place of enormous need. Why don't we know much more about it, then? Why don't we help our fellow human beings, instead of ignoring them and not learning anything about the continent? Taking this quiz inspired me to make sure to talk about the Rwandan genocide (which was only 20 years ago) in my Global Studies classes. It's why it is my favorite unit of the year and one that I have a lot of emotional investment in. I care, and I think it's important that students care about people in the world.

Scream Bloody Murder: This was a section of a documentary from CNN, that aired in 2008 (not so coincidentally, right as I was about to teach this unit for the first time). Here are the three videos I showed in class (caution: some of the material is graphic and difficult to watch and/or listen to):

United Nations Speech: I hope that you watched those videos and felt frustrated, angry, and upset. The fact that the United Nations (the global community of countries) and the United States (as the most powerful country in the world) did little, if anything, to prevent or stop the worst genocide in modern world history, is awful.

So, the final assignment for the unit and before break is a speech before a mock United Nations, in class. You will be pretending that it is April 24, 1994 - the actual date that arguments were ongoing at the United Nations Security Council about how to respond to the conflict in Rwanda.

There are a few steps in the process to prepare for the speech, which will be given on Wednesday, December 16th. The first is to write a persuasive essay (in the form of a speech you could give). This is due in class (TWO COPIES, typed) next Thursday, December 10th. Here's the assignment:

Google Drive: Individual United Nations Rwanda Speech Assignment

As a reminder, this will eventually be a formal speech before break that you give as a part of a group, in front of the class, with myself and another teacher and/or administrator (your class will most likely have Westview Vice Principal Aki Mori) listening. You are going to need to persuade us to act and do something!

To prepare for this, I passed out a class set of copies of three things:

1) The United Nations definition of genocide, as agreed to by the world in 1949. This is helpful, because if you can persuade the United Nations that genocide is occurring in Rwanda, they HAVE to act (because that's what they agreed to).

2) The Eight Stages of Genocide. I read over the stages, but not all of the content describing them. There is a lot of information that might help you craft your speech! You can certainly talk about every stage of genocide, occurring in Rwanda, up to April 24, 1994. Here are some hints on how to do this.

3) A reading that goes over more of the history in Rwanda, what happened during the genocide, and the end. Remember, you can't talk about anything after April 24, 1994, but you can make predictions as to what will happen if the United Nations refuses to act! The reading is pages 5-10 here:

Google Drive: Rwandan Genocide Speech Preparation Materials

Another resource that might help could be your Cornell Notes from last class, which was on this presentation:

Google Drive: Genocide in Rwanda: The Basics PowerPoint

There is definitely a LOT to think about here. I am confident that you can write a five paragraph essay in a week! Next class, I will go over the concept of imperialism and colonialism more, and then give the rest of the class as prep time. The typed copy of your individual speech will be due the following class.

Please be sure to ask me if you have any questions or need help in any way! I'm really excited to see what you can come up with! :-)

Genocide in Rwanda, Day 1 - Class Recap

A look at your responses for "Name five things that come to your mind when you think about Europe" question on the pre-assessment quiz today. Next class, I'll show you the Africa responses, as well. What do you think it will look like?

Hi everyone,

Welcome back! Now we have a fast paced dash to Winter Break for the next few weeks. We have a lot to pack in, for sure! Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 20: I can identify the critical components of imperialism.
Communication LT 1:  I can communicate effectively, both verbally and in writing.

Soundtrack: "Storms in Africa, Pt. 2" by Enya. Selected for today because we started talking about Rwanda, which is a country in Africa. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 12/2/14:
News Brief – Byron
Review Tests/Grades
Hook/Textbook Hunt
Rwanda

Homework: Read the blog. Turn in any missing work ASAP. Review your notes from the PowerPoint on Rwanda. Next news brief: Britney.

News Brief: Byron had the news brief today and selected an article about this story: BBC.com - Syria conflict: Russia accuses Erdogan of trading oil with IS. We found Russia on our world map packets and continued to talk about the situation in Syria. I told the class that I was trying to explain it at dinner over the break, to someone who was curious! :-)

Britney was selected to do 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 break and what everyone was up to.

Review Tests/Grades: Thanks to the grading day Monday and the long weekend, I am now completed with all grading and late work, so your class grades should be updated! I passed out the culture unit work, government tests, forced choice reflections (graded for two learning targets, both in class discussion and with your written reflection about multiple perspectives and the role of government), and any other missing work. If you are concerned about anything related to grades, please come see me at lunch, before school, or after school. Or, send me an email!

Hook/Textbook Hunt: I will sit down tomorrow and type up a list of what everyone said in response to the questions (we just did 1-16). I know there were a lot, so thanks for hanging in there with me. Like I said in class, I took this exact same quiz at Lewis and Clark (as part of the class where I learned how to be a teacher) and was absolutely amazed about what I did and did not know. I'll share your responses next class.

The textbook hunt: I'm not sure if all of you understood what I was saying, so here it is again. In our Modern World History textbook, which was published in 2005 (11 years after the genocide in Rwanda) there are TWO in text mentions (a one sentence recap for each) of the genocide, each citing ethnic violence between the Hutu's and the Tutsi's and 500,000 people dying, while there is ONE other picture, with two small paragraphs beneath it, citing a number of 1,000,000 dead. So again, the textbook barely had anything at all to say about the genocide, and when it did, it couldn't even be consistent with the number of people killed. Why do you think this might be?

Genocide in Rwanda: Finally, the presentation:

Google Drive: Genocide in Rwanda: The Basics PowerPoint

A few things about this. One: most of the statistics I used in the first few slides are found here: CIA World Factbook - Rwanda. Now by NO MEANS are those statistics solid hard facts. I know of plenty of other sites that will give different numbers. However, since these are the official US government statistics, I think that it will be useful for your upcoming assignment (which I will reveal next class).

Two: I found the picture of the propaganda, "beat the cockroaches" on Wikipedia, here: Rwandan Genocide. Now as most of you know, NEVER use Wikipedia as a source in a paper or for anything else. However, it can be used as a good start to researching something for yourself - just find the sources the article links to at the bottom and go from there. As Michael Scott from The Office once said: "Wikipedia... is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject, so you know you are getting the best possible information."

No, it is not. But it is a funny quote nonetheless!

Much less humorous information: The horrific picture of the Hutu man (who did not support the genocide) that lived after being hacked multiple times by machetes can be found here: Salon.com: Inferno.

Please review the PowerPoint and your notes for next class, as we will be going more in depth! Thank you for your focus and questions today. I know this may not be the most fun subject to learn about, and it is so important to not ignore. See you next class.