Period 4: Historical Investigation, Day 9 - Class Recap

This is my friend Beri, who is from Kurdistan, which is a region that contains parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran (all countries in the Middle East). We were hiking with my great friend Clarke (Beri's boyfriend) in Vietnam and saw this buffalo in the forest!

Hi everyone,

Woo hoo! Today was the day we have been looking forward to, even before Spring Break! Hopefully you are feeling quite accomplished with turning in your historical investigation. If you did not, please get it in to me as soon as possible. My last day as your teacher has been changed to next Friday.

Essential Questions: What brings people together? What tears people apart?

Soundtrack: “We Are The Champions” by Queen. Selected for today because you should feel like a champion for completing the historical investigation! If you did not, I definitely do not think you are losers, as the song says! Please just keep working on it and turn it in ASAP. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/19/13:
News Brief
Editorial Analysis
Study for Middle East Map Quiz

Homework: Study for Middle East Map Quiz next class! Check the blog. Next news brief: Zoey, Joe, Zakeiba, Enrique.

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News Brief: Seriously SO MANY news articles brought in today. Four, by my count. Saul, Nathan, Susmitha, and Jisu selected these to talk about:

1) CNN.com - Message in a bottle found after 28-year trip from Canada to Croatia

2) CNN.com - Billionaire Saudi prince tweets support for women driving

3) ABC.net.au - NZ legalizes same-sex marriage

4) IBTimes.co.uk - India: Woman and Daughter Left to Die by Busy Road As Motorists Ignore Pleas For Help

This week was just packed full of major international and national news. So much to talk about and be aware of! We also talked about the latest news from Boston and the region of Chechnya in Russia, which is possibly connected. Two more days of classes left, two more news brief sections!

Editorial Analysis: To start this, I played a four minute clip of the Michael Moore film Fahrenheit 9/11, which talked a bit about the lead up to the Iraq invasion by the United States. Then, I asked students to get into groups of four and analyze one of the editorial articles linked to here:

Google Drive: Reasons for the Iraq War Editorials

Then, the class tried to come up with as many reasons as possible for why the United States invaded Iraq. We came up with a really good list! This activity was to again show the class that there are many different perspectives of history. You might be asked to give your own editorial on the US involvement in the Middle East next class.

Study for Middle East Map Quiz: For the last part of class, I passed out blank maps of the Middle East and explained how I remember where each one goes. Here it is to download if you want another copy:

Google Drive: Blank Middle East Map

The countries that you will need to know for next class (the quiz will look very similar to the map above - I will give you the country names, as well) are: Iran, Iraq, Israel, Sudan, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Remember that the reason we are doing this is that a study in 2006 found that 88% of Americans aged 18-24 could not find Afghanistan (a place where over 2,000 US soldiers have died) on a map. 

Be ready for the map quiz at the start of next class! Get your historical investigations in if you did not turn it in today in class!

Period 4: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 15 - Class Recap

The picture in Hsuan-Ting's PowerPoint today that had everyone really interested and talking. Really cool way to look at a response to the conflict!

Hello Period 4!

Let me just say that I very much enjoyed today and thought that it was WAY better than last class. Thank you for your focus, having your presentations ready to go (for those that did them), as well as the work on the research project. It was so very much appreciated. Hopefully we can continue to focus on getting all of this done until the end of the year!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected?
How can the Middle East be stabilized? - This was the last day of the unit, for answering these questions! Thank you for doing your best to try and do this!

Soundtrack: "Takin' Care of Business" by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Lyrics here. Selected for today because we really needed to take care of business when it came down to this paper and presentations and with finishing the year strong.

AGENDA 5/28/09:
News Brief
Student Presentations
Conferences

Homework: Find sources for your research project! Read the blog and ask questions!

At the end of the class, we had you pick up different colored sheets of paper for each source that you are going to find for writing your paper. For the weekend, I would try to find at least three different sources. Remember, I know that the book may be hard to find. Concentrate on finding newspaper and magazine sources. Use Google News to search online! If you really cannot find anything, please post a comment and I would love to try and help you out!

News Brief: Partly because I am so tired, but I do not remember much of what we had to say here. Also, there really wasn't too many people involved in actually bringing news items in to talk about. Luckily, Tyler was there with a news source to bail us out: CNN.com - Cancer death rate dropped nearly 20 percent in 15 years. This was mainly talking about the United States, but it is a really interesting article! We talked about a lot of it in class. Cool to see that new technology is really helping people overcome these diseases.

Also, I tried to remember a quote that Kanye West had about Magic Johnson, since we had a discussion about if HIV/AIDS was curable now or not. It is in the song "Roses" and it goes something like this: "If Magic Johnson got a cure for AIDS/and all the broke [people] passed away/You telling me if my grandma was in the NBA/right now she would be okay?"

Interesting thoughts! Brenan, you are up for a news article next Monday. Anything currently going on around the world, outside the United States. Thanks!

Student Presentations: As I said above, I thought that most of these were absolutely fantastic. Way to go! At the end of all of the presentations (if you did not do one, please come and talk to me about how you are going to make up the credit), I had everyone turn in: the notes, the skills packet, your explanation paper, and finally, your presentation (if it was something that was able to be turned in, like a collage, or a PowerPoint). Hopefully this all made sense. I will try to get these back to you as soon as I can, but like I said at the start of class, it does take me quite a while to get through them all, since I want to respect your hard work with all the comments I can give.

Conferences: At this point in class, I had everyone get into "base groups" - you will be in these for the rest of the paper work - to conference on how the paper is going, what help you need, and finally, really be thinking about your research question and possible sources of information for it. I am not sure how well you used this time to actually be writing, but I am sure everyone is on top of this paper.

Until the end of class, Mrs. DeFrance and I tried to do a one-on-one conference with everyone. We did not get to some of you, but I do know that it was really awesome to get to talk to the people about how everything was going! We really tried to help you out with a research question and tell you exactly how you were doing in the class, along with possible ways to improve your score. Again, if you are at all interested in keeping in touch about this sort of stuff, please be coming to see either of us!

Generally, it was a good, productive day. I know that you probably feel like you have a lot of work ahead of you this weekend, but don't stress! I am here to help! Ask me if you are having trouble with the sources! :-)
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I am becoming increasingly busy it seems, but should be mostly available to post and respond to comments over the next few days. This week has been absolutely exhausting! Let's keep working hard together to finish the year! Have a wonderful evening!

Period 4: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 14 - Class Recap

The flags of Israel and Palestine, with the word "Peace" in both Arabic and Hebrew.
Good afternoon class,

Wow. This class seems to be about half full of students that care, and half with those that have completely checked out of school mentally. I feel bad for the latter half, and I promise to keep trying my hardest to help and get you to succeed, but at some point, you have to be willing to take ownership of your own destiny. Only you can make that decision!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? How can the Middle East be stabilized?

Soundtrack: "Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith. Chosen, as Brenan guessed, because your presentations today were geared around appealing to emotion in trying to get Israelis and Palestinians to come together.

AGENDA 5/26/09:
News Brief (Exploding Nuclear Bomb Edition)
Student Presentations
Research Questions

Homework: Continue to work on final paper for the year, develop a research question! Finish any late work! Read blog recap!

For those of you that did not do the Israeli-Palestinian presentation today, I will expect to see them on Thursday. If not then, I am sorry, but I really cannot help you.

News Brief (Exploding Nuclear Bomb Edition): At the start of class, I went over the essential questions, soundtrack, agenda, and homework, then asked the class about what they did for the long Memorial Day weekend!

After some good conversation here, we went on to talk about the enormous news of the weekend. I found it absolutely incredible that in both of my Global Studies classes today, nobody had heard that North Korea had detonated a nuclear bomb as a test over the weekend. You can read all about that on really any news site. CNN.com has a special section dedicated to it, which you can find here: CNN.com - News & Videos about North Korea.

I also mentioned: FT.com - Tehran puts block on Facebook access as election date looms. Apparently, Iran's government recently restored access, but it is interesting to see nonetheless!

CNN.com - California high court upholds same-sex marriage ban - this was the "Proposition 8" topic that I mentioned would be decided at 10 AM today. Basically, the Supreme Court sided with the voters in California that elected to ban gay marriage last November, but also that the people that got married when it was legal for a short time last year (about 18,000 people, including Ellen DeGeneres) still have valid marriages in the State of California. So basically, neither side of the debate is happy. The debate continues!

Finally, I mentioned that President Obama had selected Sonia Sotomayor to be on the Supreme Court. She has to be confirmed by the Senate now, but seems likely to be the first Hispanic (her parents were born in Puerto Rico) on the court, as well as the third woman. This is another HUGE deal, that is all over the news. Her biography can be found here: CNN.com - Who is Sonia Sotomayor?.

Tyler, you are up for next class for a news brief. Anything going on around the world outside the United States.

Student Presentations: I really do not think I need to recap these, but I will say that I was very excited for the people that did do them today, who I have down as Mitchell and Maddie, Cameron and Tyler, Brenan and Chris, and Haley. If your name is not listed there, you will be expected to go Thursday. No exceptions.

The link to Brenan and Chris's video can be viewed online here (WARNING: Graphic Images).

Please remember that I need your explanation paper (with the basics of the conflict, sides to the debate, and what your product is going to do about it), your presentation (if it can be turned in), and your skills packet. I also will eventually need your notes on the presentations as well. Lots of credit to give out!

Research Questions: We used the rest of class (about 10 minutes or so, plus a few minutes that I held you after), to talk about what a good research question looks like, because it is your homework for tonight to design one for your final paper. Here are some of the aspects that we talked about for a good research question:
- Specific (Is it defined to a particular area or areas? What, exactly, are you studying?)
- Testable (Can you actually find out information about it?)
- Hypothesis (Can you make an educated guess about what you are going to investigate?)
- Relates to the topic (Something of "global significance" - please ask if you are confused about if a topic will work or not)
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There you have it! Hopefully this all made sense! Have a wonderful evening, see you on Thursday!

Period 4: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 13 - Class Recap

Faraj Adnan, one of the people in the movie Promises that we finished today. The picture can be found here. Also, here is a site that tells you a little bit about what happened right after the movie. Faraj is now 24. Should you feel so inclined, here is Faraj's MySpace, and here is his FaceBook. Also, while you are at it, here is Yarko Solan's FaceBook. Certainly something that connects cultures and countries - social networking sites! :-)
Good afternoon, Period 4!

That was a really interesting class - it showed me how nice it would be if class sizes were small all the time! I appreciate all of you that came, and for those of you that elected to do the walk-a-thon for autism, way to go! Hopefully we will have everyone checking out this post, as there is a lot going on to talk about and go over! Let's get to it!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? How can the Middle East be stabilized?

Soundtrack: "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N' Roses. Lyrics here. Chosen because we finished watching a film about Israeli and Palestinian children today in class.

AGENDA 5/20/09:
News Brief
Finish Promises
IP Project Work
Final Paper Bibliography

Homework: Israeli-Palestinian projects/presentations AND explanation papers due next class! Read blog recap!

We talked about this in class, but yes, your presentations and explanation papers will due in class next Tuesday. I feel no sympathy if anyone was surprised be this, considering it has been your homework for the last two weeks to be continuing to work on. For those needing the assignment again, here it is to download:

Israeli-Palestinian Project Assignment Sheet
For those needing further clarification about what I am asking you to do:

For the paper, please type at least a page, and show your understanding of the conflict. This can best be accomplished by using the "who, who, when, where, why" and sides to the debate that we wrote in class in your skills packet. Then, tell me how your creative product (below) is related to the conflict and will make people come together. Explain it to me!

For the product, you have hopefully picked an activity or some sort of presentation that you can use to come before the class and explain how Israelis and Palestinians should come together and connect (building off of the essential question for the unit). This needs to have some sort of emotional response to the conflict and be able to actually be used. It should also last for at least 2-3 minutes. You will be presenting in class next Tuesday!

So, to recap: I need your paper, presentation, and skills packet turned in during class on Tuesday. Let me know if you need any help with this at all!

News Brief: Chris (I think) led this off with a crazy story about a child being found buried in a playground in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Here is that story: CNN.com - Police release composite photo of boy buried in playground sand. Wow.

There were other stories, but nothing I wrote down to post about. Armando brought in the following news article, talking about people in Great Britain: DailyMail.co.uk - Middle-class debt epidemic: Wealthy plunged into crisis by recession.

Really interesting! I talked about how the world economy is very much impacted by what happens here in the United States, and gave some statistics that I would love to back up here.

Basically, don't start knocking on the United States, yet. Here are some lists of the biggest GDP (Gross Domestic Product - basically, the value of every good and service in a country for one year). Sources: Wikipedia - List of countries by GDP (PPP) and Wikipedia - List of countries by GDP (nominal).

A lot of mumbo jumbo that you almost certainly do not care about, but the basic gist of it all is this: The United States economy is over three times bigger/richer than the next biggest economy, which is Japan. Which is what I put up on the board - the nominal GDP statistic. Bobby asked what is the third richest country in the world. That looks to be either China or Germany, depending on what list you believe. You can see why when the U.S. has economic problems, the world does too, to a large extent.

Tyler, you are up to bring a news article about anything going on around the world (outside the U.S.) for next class on Tuesday. Thanks!

Finish Promises: I'm glad everyone participated in this! Even more so, I was really excited to hear your thoughts about all of it, especially about the innocence of children and the circumstances that they were born into. This was so related to the rest of the movie and the overall point!

By the way, now that the film is done, here is the trailer for the movie, and you can also watch the entire film on YouTube in 10 parts. That playlist can be found here.

I am very interested to see what you did with these conversations! I think it was a good way to approach watching the film. It is possible that we will do something next class with these as well. Again, thank you for your participation! I really liked all of the thoughts that we put on the board at the end of this as well! Thanks!

IP Project Work: For the rest of class, we discussed the Israeli-Palestinian project, which I recapped in some detail in the "homework" section above. Please look at that if you have any questions about what I am asking you to do, or if you need a particular thing for next class. If anyone is doing something electronic, I would appreciate if you e-mailed me the project so I know it is good to go.

Final Paper Bibliography: We did not get to this, but frankly, I am okay with it because I did not want to confuse you about what your main task for this weekend should be. We will come back to this next week.
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As I stated in class, this weekend I will be visiting my brother at college in Princeton, New Jersey, to help him pack up to come home for the summer. I am really excited! I am flying out on Friday morning and getting back on Sunday night. If you are at all interested, you can track my flights in the air here: Portland to Seattle (Horizon Air Flight 2172, 9:30 AM Friday), Seattle to Newark, New Jersey (Continental Airlines Flight 1680, 11:45 AM Friday), Newark to Phoenix, (US Airways Flight 77, 4:35 PM Sunday), and Phoenix to Portland (US Airways Flight 94, 8:10 PM Sunday).

Also, if you would like to see a really awesome website that has all of the flights I have ever taken in my life mapped out, check out this: FlightMemory.com - Ml007. I love flying! Looking forward to putting that Newark-Phoenix route on that page later! If you end up doing this, please post a link in the comments! I would love to see where you have flown to! :-)

Should be a great weekend. I will try to be available as much as possible to post and respond to comments or e-mails. However, try searching around the rest of the blog for answers if you can - there is a lot here!

Have fun out there, see you on Tuesday!

Period 4: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 12 - Class Recap

One of the promotional images for the film Promises that we are watching in class. Found on the official website, here.
Dear Period 4,

That certainly was an interesting class. I am not sure what it was about today, but there seemed to be an almost class-wide lack of focus. Possibly because it was a Monday after a sunny weekend. Possibly because the class just was not all that interesting (which I have a hard time believing, but could totally be true). Whatever the reason, I really had a difficult time quieting everyone down, making sure that people were paying attention to what was going on, being prepared, and other aspects of class that should really be entirely up to you guys. Take some ownership of class! It simply just will not work if I have to do it all. That, as we saw today, would take up most of the class.

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? How can the Middle East be stabilized?

Soundtrack: "Beautiful Day" by U2. Lyrics here. Chosen because it really is a beautiful day outside! Some of the lyrics that relate to the interconnectedness around the world:

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the Bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colors came out

It was a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
Beautiful day

AGENDA 5/18/09:
News Brief
Promises, Part II
Final Paper Note Taking

Homework: Bring sources (at least one more) for next class. Continue to work on research and on your IP project! Read blog recap!

As I said in class, we have two different projects that we are working on. The Israeli-Palestinian project, which will probably be due next week, which can be downloaded here:

Israeli-Palestinian Project
That project is designed to make each side come together for a common purpose (which you have to decide).

Secondly, the final research paper for the entire class, which is an historical investigation about anything of global significance (your choice). That will be due at the end of the year. You can download the assignment sheet for that here:

Historical Investigation Project - Overview
Get it? Got it? Good. :-)

News Brief: We had a few good topics to talk about this morning, but none that I actually took note of to post on the blog. However, I did have a couple of items to point out in class and on here. The first was this article: CNN.com - Woman elected in Kuwait says gender in politics is 'history'. Super interesting article, I thought! Exactly what we were talking about at the beginning of this unit with how women can have an impact in the Middle East. Yay, progress!

I also pointed out that President Obama is meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today. Here is a recap of what they talked about, supposedly: HuffingtonPost.com - Obama, Netanyahu Meeting: Obama Says Israel Must Stop Expanding Settlements. Again, EXACTLY what we are talking about in class! Cool to see how it all relates, right? :-)

Abraham brought in this article TheStar.com - Tamil Canadians hold vigil outside U.S. consulate. I talked a little bit in class about the 25 year long conflict in Sri Lanka between the government and the Tamil people, frequently named the "Tamil Tigers." Here is an article about that Associated Press - Sri Lanka military cuts off rebel sea escape.

Generally, interesting news! Armando, you are up for next class. A news article about anything going on around the world outside the United States. Thanks!

Promises, Part II: We watched the film until about 20 minutes left in class, pausing to stop and write questions and conversations to the kids in the movie. I would say that we have about 30 minutes left of this for Wednesday. Hopefully, everyone can see why this documentary is so important to watch! Keep your heads up and eyes focused, please!

Final Paper Note Taking: During the final few minutes in class, I had everyone go up to the board and write down what their idea for their final research project is. I was not expecting a really concrete idea, but many of these seemed entirely too vague or not thought through enough. Again, your homework was to think of something and bring in a news article about it! That is your homework for tonight as well!

For the rest of class, I had you take notes on three separate sheets of paper in your folders. Here is exactly what I typed on my laptop, for future reference:

YELLOW SHEET:

Quotes. One sentence quotes: put quote in quotation marks "quote" in parenthesis (author, page number)

Bigger Quotes: Indent quote and single space --> for multiple sentences and paragraphs (author, page number)

RED SHEET:

Summarizing paragraphs or chunks.

Put the author's words into your own words (do NOT just rearrange the words)

PURPLE SHEET:

Summarizing entire articles.

Main points --> what is the general purpose of the source?

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We finished with these thoughts. Please be using these to take notes on your articles! Your paper will write itself, if you do this correctly!

Have a great day! Enjoy the sunny weather, but please make sure to keep working hard in all of your classes (and especially mine). The year is almost over! Let's get there together please! :-)

Period 4: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 11 - Class Recap

Outside the World Trade Center in downtown Portland, near the waterfront. All sorts of countries and cultures coming together there! Picture taken by Mr. Fritz on April 17th.
Hello class!

I think that was a generally good class! There really has to be some way to cut down on the side chatter and lack of focus at times, but that has been an issue all year with you guys. Other than that, I think that this was a really interesting and good day. A whole lot to talk about, so let's get on with the recap!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What are the factors to consider in the development of a Palestinian state?

Soundtrack: "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey. Lyrics here. Chosen because we are continuing to think about what brings people together.

AGENDA 5/14/09:
News Brief
Ping Pong Diplomacy/Music in Pyongyang
Promises
Final Paper Folders

Homework: Continue to work on your Israeli-Palestinian project. Decide on what topic you want to do (for your research paper), bring a source to take notes on next class. Read blog recap!

This will be talked about a little more in the "Final Paper Folders" section. Basically, I want you to decide on what you want to investigate for your final paper, and bring one source in (like a news article, book, magazine, etc) that relates to your topic and that you can take notes on. We will help you do this in class! All I need for you to do is to pick a topic, and choose something to take notes on about.

For anyone that was not in class today, or that has lost (already) the assignment sheet, here it is to download:

Historical Investigation Research Project - Overview
Again, we will be talking about this much more. In fact, for the rest of the year, this is what we will be doing. As I noted in class, I am thinking that we will have about half the time for the rest of this unit (and projects), and the other half to developing the paper.

News Brief: After a slow start to this section, Maritza started us off well by saying that she had heard something about the President of Guatemala. This was with good reason - there is a huge outrage in that country because he is believed to have ordered the killing of a lawyer! Interesting story! Here's your source: AP - Guatemala president seeks support at home, abroad.

Maddie wanted to know about the laws in Mexico about emigration (if people are moving OUT of a country, that is called "emigration" - if they are moving INTO a country, that is "immigration"). This appears to be a good breakdown of the situation: A Primer on Mexico’s Immigration and Emigration Laws.

Nikola talked about China remembering the one year anniversary of an incredibly deadly earthquake. Source: CNN.com - China marks earthquake anniversary. That was certainly a huge event that will effect that region for a long time to come. I wanted to post a picture of school desks holding up the ceiling of a building that had otherwise completely collapsed. Here is your evidence:


That was after the 1985 Mexico City Earthquake. Though I will admit that this is a pretty unlikely outcome, given a really strong earthquake, at least it is better than nothing. We do those earthquake drills for a reason! :-)

I also talked (for whatever reason) about me being in a "Stop Plate Tectonics" club in high school. I will try to remember to wear the T-Shirt tomorrow, if I can find it!

Abraham, you are up for next class on Monday. Any news article about anything currently going on outside the United States.

Ping Pong Diplomacy/Music in Pyongyang: Before watching Promises and talking about the final paper, I wanted to show you a couple of really famous instances of creative ways to get countries talking (which is what your Israeli-Palestinian project is about). One of the most interesting that I can remember (and as highlighted by the fantastic movie Forrest Gump) was the "Ping Pong Diplomacy" that happened between the United States and China in the 1970s. This was an HUGE deal. Here's the video we watched in class:



Maddie helpfully pointed out that the Ping Pong Diplomacy wouldn't really work for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, because neither side wants to make amends. This thought led directly in to a more current situation, with North Korea and the United States, where music was used to bridge long held divides (partially). Here's the video we watched in class about the New York Philharmonic playing in Pyongyang:



I also mentioned an excellent report that Christiane Amanpour did for CNN as a result of the trip, where you get to see some really interesting footage of what life is like in one of the most secretive countries in the entire world. Here is the link to the first YouTube video in the series - Notes from North Korea (1 of 6).

Promises: We watched about 20 minutes of this movie, pausing from time to time to write down thoughts and questions to the children in the film. From what I could tell, everyone knew what was going on, was actively involved in watching the film, and had some incredibly interesting thoughts to share. I am really excited to continue this up next class! Please bring those conversation pieces to class!

Final Paper Folders:As I think Mrs. DeFrance and I said in class, this "historical investigation" project is one that every freshman at Westview is working on, as part of the common assessment for Social Studies. If you remember, the first semester version of this was the visual metaphor. Thus, this is a really big deal!

Mrs. DeFrance talked about her really amazing folder system for helping you write papers. Seriously, if I had this in high school, I think I would have written 10 page long papers with ease. It is really a pretty incredible way to keep track of everything. Please keep everything in that folder - including all the sheets of paper tucked inside!

I linked to the final paper assignment sheet above. We read that together in class, as I tried as best as I could to introduce this as something that you do not have to stress out about. Make it interesting to you! After reading everything together, we started brainstorming ideas for "issues of global significance" on my laptop, which I projected. Here are your results:

• Heritage of people
• Climate Change
• Genocides
• War
• Peace
• Sports
• Children across the world
• Music
• Homelessness
• AIDS/Diseases
• Education system
• Medicine
• Science
• Resources – oil, water
• Cars
• Industry
• Technology
• Government
• Art
• Religion
• Communication
• Fashion

Pick one of these, or any other issue for your homework, and bring in something to start you off on the project on Monday! I want you to be excited at finding out information about the world, that you may not have really had the chance to learn about in class this year!

Put it this way, there are entire college courses devoted to just these topics. In fact, I was in one last year at Western Oregon University! It was called History 492: World Problems. I ended up writing a 10 page paper on the search for Osama bin Laden. It was a really interesting class!

If you are still totally unsure about what to do, try a Google search for "world problems" or "globalization" or something along those lines. If none of that sounds interesting at all, come talk to me and I am sure we can get you started. :-)
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Other news of interest: Brandon Roy was selected to the All-NBA Second Team! This is a really huge honor! The first time a Blazer has made All-NBA since Clyde Drexler in 1992. Source: BlazersEdge.com. Brandon Roy is simply incredible. What a guy.

The Office Season Five finale is tonight (Thursday)! It is totally worth checking out, even if you have never seen it. The fun starts at 9:00 PM, on NBC (Channel 8 for most of you). The Office is my favorite television show of all time. I am really quite sad that the season will be over and we will have to wait until the fall for a new episode! Every year this happens, and there is a huge cliffhanger, and it just kills me.

There is a TON of sporting action going on. I am sure that Westview's spring sports are all worth checking out. Add to that two Game Sevens in the NHL, the Lakers-Rockets and Celtics-Magic series in the NBA (both Game Sixes), and Major League Baseball, all tonight. Wow. It is a great time to be a sports fan!

With that, I think I will sign off! I hope everyone is doing well! Have a wonderful weekend! Keep in touch and keep working hard on everything we are doing!

Period 4: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 10 - Class Recap

Independence Hall, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The founders of our country debated here to create the Constitution! Picture by Mr. Fritz, May 23, 2008.
Period 4,

That was an interesting class today, in a number of ways. I think that we had some really good thoughts about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict come out, but I also think that the overwhelming amount of people that were just plain unprepared (see rule #2 that you guys made for the class) or not willing to participate (rule #3) was really disheartening. At some point, I guess I have to be willing to say that some of you simply just do not care and there is very little I can do to stop that. For those that were prepared and participating in class, I really appreciate your efforts, despite those that were not. On to the recap!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What are the factors to consider in the development of a Palestinian state?

Soundtrack: "Talk" by Coldplay. Lyrics here. Picked because it is a great song for talking and debating, as we did in class today.

AGENDA 5/12/09:
News Brief
Proficiency Packet
Comprehending the Debate
Project Work

Homework: Continue to work on final project. Read blog recap!

If you have lost your assignment sheet for the Final Project (I would not be surprised, considering the amount of people that lost the PowerPoint notes), it can be downloaded in the post below. Basically, I want you to continue thinking about ways to relate to people, and connect cultures and countries!

News Brief: A few interesting items to note, after we watched the "Wildcat News" and I handed back your Middle East Map Quizzes (again, you can retake this once for more credit, if you want). First, we had a story about places around Portland that are haunted. I cannot really find a news source for that one.

Someone mentioned the story of a baggage container getting sucked into an aircraft's engines. Here's the source for that: MSNBC.com - Airliner engine sucks in luggage container. Crazy picture there too! This was a Japan Airlines 747, in Los Angeles. Airplanes definitely connect cultures and countries! I really love everything to do with aviation, so this was a cool story.

Finally, I noted a follow up to Morgan's article a week or so ago about the Iranian-American reporter that was convicted of spying and sentenced to 8 years in an Iranian prison, after a one day trial. Fortunately, the diplomatic pressure was enough to free her today. Source: Reuters.com - Freed U.S.-born reporter says to rest, be with family.

Nikola, I need you to do the news article for next class, on Thursday. Please remember and come prepared. Thank you.

Proficiency Packet: I introduced this packet as a way to look at proficiency in Social Studies. This is a lot like Math, except we are looking at things like, "Can you identify and explain the critical components of an event, issue or problem?"

We will be using the rest of the packet (and some additions) to go through and construct your explanation paper and final creative product for the unit. So, to begin explaining the who, what, when, where, and why on an event, issue, or problem, I provided the Associated Press game recap ESPN.com - Outlaw scores 21 as Blazers claim home-court advantage. We read this as a class together and then I asked you to write identify and explain the critical components of the event! A fun transition here.

After that, I asked you to use that same skill to identify and explain the main parts of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, using the PowerPoint notes and any other information you know. After some hesitation about exactly what I was asking you to do with each question, I think this went pretty well! Remember, the more that you can explain or put down, the better. If I ask who is involved, it is not enough to say Israelis and Palestinians. What are the characteristics of those two groups?

Hopefully the recap on the board helped you out as well. This is something we are going to continue to explore! We really want to know, do you have this certain skill? Thanks for participating in this!

Comprehending the Debate: At this point in class, I asked everyone to think of something to debate (since I had arranged the room with two desks facing each other). We ended up debating the death penalty, using a handy sheet in your packet. The sheet was made using the amazingly interesting and helpful ProCon.org website. The page on the death penalty can be found here, while the "1 Minute Overview" that we used in class can be found here.

To begin, I told everyone facing the windows to argue the "Pro" position, while everyone facing the hall was "Con." We debated for about three minutes. I think it was a great start. I then turned the tables and had everyone had to debate the side that they were just arguing against.

Then, we argued another issue, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict! The ProCon.org page for this debate can be found here (that would definitely be a good website to look over for your project, if you have time), and the "1 Minute Overview" that we used in class can be found here.

After this, I asked why we would do the debate in class. I really liked the responses! Empathy, perspective, comprehending what the issue is - all of it. We debated both sides of the table for three minutes each, and then came back together to write down some of the aspects of both sides. Using this list, I had you do a five minute response to the questions in your skills packet. Remember to keep this handy! It will definitely help you in writing your paper, and you do need to turn it in as well!

Then, it was the end of class! We definitely did a lot today (normally the skills would be on two different days). Thank you for working hard on this! You will be turning these packets in to me, so make sure that they are constructed well!

Project Work: Unfortunately, we ran out of time and did not have any to devote to working on your projects in class. That is okay, because I know you are making good use of your time outside of class! :-)
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That should just about do it. Have a lovely evening! I will be here at school for football meetings until about 7:00 tonight (Tuesday), but should be pretty good at getting back to any comments or e-mails in a timely fashion. Let's come to class with a renewed sense of purpose on Thursday, please! :-)

Period 4: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 9 - Class Recap

The United States provides Israel with an average of 3 billion dollars a year in military aid. Source: NYTimes.com - U.S. and Israel Sign Military Aid Deal.
Good afternoon and welcome to the weekend!

Lots of interesting information and content to go over today. Generally, I liked how class went! We still have to work on listening to each other when someone is talking, as well as some focus issues. However, I especially loved all the ideas you were coming up with at the end of class! Let's keep it going!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What are the factors to consider in the development of a Palestinian state? - The second question is a new one, built off of our final project (which just so happens to be based off the first essential question).

Soundtrack: "Dear Mama" by 2Pac. Lyrics here. Chosen because it is Mother's Day on Sunday! This is an excellent song - it is the ringtone for when my mom calls me! :-)

AGENDA 5/8/09:
News Brief
Middle East Map Quiz
The Israeli-Palestinian Problem
Final Project

Homework: Come to class with an idea ready to work on for final project. Read blog recap!

I would like you to bring in one concrete idea for what you are going to do for your final project. This will be recapped in great detail below in the Final Project section.

News Brief: As I said in class today, this was pretty much exactly what I am looking for in the "News Brief" section. I want people to bring in interesting things that are happening in their lives and around the world! Lots to go over today, so let's get to it.

Someone mentioned the fire in Santa Barbra, California. Here's a link to an article about that: Reuters - California fire sends 20,000 fleeing, burns 75 homes. Pretty crazy, considering it is the beginning of May. This stuff is becoming way too common.

I think it was Maren who mentioned that there is widespread flooding in Brazil! Interesting! I actually hadn't heard about that yet, so this article was a good read: CNN.com - At least 31 dead, 50,000 homeless in Brazil flooding.

Someone mentioned that a swine flu vaccine is being made. Here's an article about the efforts behind that: Reuters - US FDA scientist sees challenges in H1N1 vaccine.

Diego's news brief was about him hearing that the swine flu started in India. Not this time, at least. Source: The Times of India - India remains free of H1N1 flu as US sees second death. However, the BIRD flu has been a big problem there in recent years: CNN.com - Bird flu scare hits northeast India.

Thanks for that start to class, everyone! Nikola, you are up next class. One current news article, about anything outside the United States.

Middle East Map Quiz: Thank you for being quiet and focused on this. I took a gander (great word) at these, and most of them look okay, at the least! Remember that it is so important to know where these places are, especially when the United States is fighting wars in two countries in the Middle East! I will have these graded and back to you on Tuesday.

The Israeli-Palestinian Problem: This section of class was devoted to learning a little more about the conflicts in Israel. I handed out the notes from the PowerPoint (please come see me if you were not in class for this) and went through this presentation, asking you to take notes about things that were interesting (or in some cases, what I had just told you to write down):

The Israeli-Palestinian Problem PowerPoint
I am not sure if I like how my handing out the PowerPoint notes relates to a seeming lack of attention to the presentation. Today we were much better than the last time, but still, I would really appreciate your attention and focus when I give you a break and do not make you take enormous amounts of written notes for each slide to stay focused. I realize that some of you doodle to stay focused, but please know that I might be calling on you to see if you understand what I am saying if I don't see that I have your attention.

Something that came up during the PowerPoint was my love for the Olympics, and how the recent Opening Ceremony in Beijing was one of the most incredible performances I have ever seen. Here is a video of it, or at least, the first few minutes.

Final Project: Transitioning from the presentation and using all of the information we have learned about different cultures across the Middle East, I handed out the final project for this unit, which can be downloaded here:

Israel and Palestine Final Project Handout
We read this together as a class, and as promised we will go through many different aspects of what I am asking you to do over the next few class days. Again, your homework is to think of an idea that you can bring in to start working on (and get my approval) for next class. I want you to have fun with this! Do something that you really enjoy doing and will look forward to sharing with the class!

As I said in class, the main point of this assignment is not to try and determine a Middle East peace plan between Israel and Palestine. There are some classes that do that exercise, and while I think it can be incredibly valuable, I want our class to create something that can help get us to that point. I heard many good thoughts in class today, and I also listed out a few options in the assignment. Please come see me or ask away in the comments or e-mail me if you have any questions about this project!

I was glad to see that we ended up with a good 15 minutes or so to think of ideas for the project. Most of this was good work, but please remember to stay on task when I give you time to work on assignments. :-)
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Treat your mothers well this weekend! I know that they are all amazing, because they helped make you into the wonderful people you are today! :-)

Tonight (Friday), I will not be able to post or respond to comments or e-mails from about 4 to 10. However, I will be grading for almost the entire weekend, as well as creating lesson plans, so please fire away any time in the comments or on e-mail, and I will probably get back to you quite quickly! Enjoy your weekend! Thanks for being great students!

Period 4: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 8 - Class Recap

Armando's picture of our class unity activity, which was an idea given to me by my Lewis and Clark friend Alexis. I would remember her name, if I were you. :-)
Dear class,

A lot of fun today, with some good content and substance mixed in. Hopefully we are feeling much more together than last class, when we had a lot of intense debate on some very powerful issues. Thank you for the participation - though my goodness, it is difficult to get some of you to listen up and pay attention to others. Always things to work on and improve!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What is the impact of religion on policy in the Middle East?

Soundtrack: "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin. Lyrics here. Kashmir is a region in between Pakistan and India. Learn more about it here. As I said in class, this is another one of those regions in the Middle East where there is a LOT of conflict about who should control it. "Kashmir" is also used in some of the Portland Trail Blazers introduction videos at the Rose Garden, and P. Diddy made a remix of it for the movie Godzilla. Now THAT is a versatile song selection!

AGENDA 5/6/09:
News Brief
Class Unity Activity
Mapping the Middle East
Late Work

Homework: Study for Middle Easy map quiz (Friday). Read blog recap!

There will be a Middle East map quiz on Friday, so please be studying for that. The countries you are required to know are: Iran, Iraq, Israel, Sudan, Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. Any other countries that you can identify could also help your grade. Remember that the map I will use is a little bit different from the map I handed you to study off of! See the "Mapping the Middle East" section below for more information.

News Brief: I think we are gradually starting to get the hang of this part of class. Generally, I want to welcome you and hear what is going on in your lives, as well as things going on around the world. I just think it is incredibly important to stay connected to what is going on around you. Thus, I like to do this at the start of every class.

After some good stories (Maddie is getting a new dog! Maren's grandma picked up a snake! Bobby's dad(?) set traps for rats!), we talked a little bit about the swine flu, and Egypt killing pigs. Source: CNN.com - Egyptian farmers protest mandatory swine slaughter. I would have to say that I think an order to slaughter every pig, regardless of whether or not they have the flu, is probably an overreaction. That is just me though. At least they are freezing the meat and giving it back to the farmers after the threat is over.

Martin brought in this article to talk about: UPI.com - Eight arrested in Turkish wedding massacre. Wow! As Brenan noted, that is kind of like the plot of the Kill Bill movies! Definitely related to what we were talking about today, as far as the Middle East, too! Thanks Martin!

Diego, you are up for a news article on Friday! One current article about anything around the world happening outside the United States.

Class Unity Activity: This was really interesting, fun, and hopefully a good way to remind each other that we are all in this class together, despite any differences of opinion. We threw a ball of string around, while holding on to a bit of it. Each person had to explain a little bit about what they knew about their heritage. We all had really interesting and different backgrounds! I have to give credit for the idea and the yarn to my friend Alexis, who is currently in the same program as I am at Lewis and Clark. Good times. Thanks for your participation, and remember that we are all interconnected! When someone stumbles, it is up to the rest of us to help them back up! A big thank you to Maren and everyone else that helped me roll the ball of yarn up again - no joke, that took me 3 hours to do by myself last time. :-)

Mapping the Middle East: Again, so everyone is clear on exactly why I am having you do this, we read this article in class from the projector: CNN.com - Study: Geography Greek to young Americans. Simply incredible statistics, especially because the United States is currently in the midst of two wars in the Middle East. In 2006, only 12 percent of 18-24 year olds could place Afghanistan on a map, and only 37% could place Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Simply unacceptable. Let's improve those numbers a bit, shall we?

Late Work: I then gave you the rest of class (about 25 minutes) to complete the blank maps that I handed out to study up for the quiz next class, as well as any late work that you had. Hopefully I was able to touch base with everyone that has missing work. If you are concerned about your grade and what you have missing, please see either me or Mrs. DeFrance at lunch or after school, and we would be more than happy to let you know what to get in. Thanks for working on this! Please remember to comment or e-mail me if you need any help with anything!
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Remember that we are having the quiz next class! Other than that, be sure to watch The Office tomorrow night (Thursday, 9 PM, on NBC), because it is always hilarious. Have a wonderful rest of the day, and thanks again for checking in! You guys are the best! :-)

Period 4: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 7 - Class Recap

My friends Scott (left) and Clarke (middle) with me before Game 2 of the Blazers playoff series! So much fun!
Good afternoon Period 4!

First off, let me say that I am really sorry that many of you were unable to access the blog! Someone definitely should have sent me an e-mail. It should be fixed now - it was a matter of HTML coding not synced up right. Class today went well, though that definitely was a long time of talking, me asking people to listen, and some students not paying any attention at all to what was going on. For those of you that actively participated and listened, thank you!

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What is the impact of religion on policy in the Middle East?

Soundtrack: "A Dios le Pido" by Juanes. Lyrics here. Juanes is the man. Song chosen because we are continuing to look at the role of religion in the Middle East (the translation for the title of the song is "I ask of God") and because I wanted to bring in some Spanish, because Cinco de Mayo is tomorrow.

AGENDA 5/4/09:
News Brief
Forced Choice
Debrief Discussion
Class Unity Activity

Homework: Finish any late work! Read blog recap!

There are only 11 students in the entire class that have every assignment in so far. Those students get the night off. For everyone else (if you don't know, please ask me), I need you to be finishing up and turning in late work. Thanks!

News Brief: After talking a little about the swine flu (the big topic of discussion in all of my classes - go figure), Morgan brought in this news article: USA Today - Iran: Case of convicted U.S. journalist will get fair review. This was SO interesting! Really worth reading and knowing about, because it definitely relates to both the United States and our relationship with Iran, as well as women in Iran. Thanks so much for bringing this in! Martin, you are up for next class. Any current article (yes, appropriate to share please) about anything currently going on outside the United States.

Forced Choice: Now, THIS was a lot of fun. Thank you for being willing take a stand for what you believe in! I created these statements purposely to be divisive, so that we could see multiple perspectives on an issue. Specifically, I wanted all of the questions to somehow relate to the Middle East and what we are studying. I know this was somewhat difficult! That was the point! I really liked all the thoughts and raised hands and dialogue, even though I heard from a few students in Mr. Hardin's class that they could hear me yelling for quiet through the wall!

One of the facts that I brought up in class was that the death penalty costs much more than life in prison, due to all the costs of lawyers and prosecution and such. Because I like to try to back up claims like that as much as possible so that you do not think I just made it up, an interesting little article was recently done on this by National Public Radio (which is AMAZING by the way - I would highly recommend listening to "The World" on OPB's station, 91.5 FM, from 3:00-4:00 some day after you get out of school): Opponents Focus On Cost In Death Penalty Debate.

The Oregonian recently had a cover page story on the costs of the death penalty in this state: OregonLive.com - Can Oregon afford the dealth penalty? So, is it worth it? The choice was up to you!

I was also really excited to see all different thoughts. There were many reasons for each side, even though some people wanted to creep toward the middle. I thought that some of the most interesting debates were over the question of women in government and for the "eye for an eye" philosophy of killing someone for killing someone else. I was glad to see some questions that had only a few people on one side stand up (literally) for what they believed in. That to me shows that there was a lack of being naive, at the very least.

This took a lot of time (in fact, the entire rest of the class), but I think it was really fun and incredibly interesting - though as I stated above, I think many of you were tuning out or losing focus way too easily. I am going to try similar activities in the future. Definitely leave any thought about how that process went, or defend your opinion, below in the comments! Think about all the conflict we had just in that class - translate that to the Middle East, and you begin to see why it is such a region of turmoil.

Debrief Discussion: I was happy to hear that many of you thought this was worthwhile too. Again, I am concerned about those that may not have thought it was interesting or informative at all. Good to have the feedback, though!

Class Unity Activity: We did not have the time to get to this, which is actually pretty funny, because I always seem to be running out of time for this particular activity. Hopefully we will devote a good portion of time next class to it. I wanted to do it right after the forced choice, so that we could try to repair any rifts in the room, but it will have to wait. Plus, I am sure that you guys are fine.
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Have a great night! See you on Thursday! Please keep checking up and asking questions or posting comments! :-)

Period 4: Turmoil in the Middle East, Day 6, Class Recap

A 2006 version of the McDonald's Dollar Menu. How many of you could live on a bottled water and a double cheeseburger, for the ENTIRE day? Especially day after day? Great article on the effects of the dollar menu in today's economy: CBS.com - Cheap Food Trumps Healthy Dining During Recession.

Good afternoon class!

Thanks for another interesting day! I hope that really delving into learning some content on the Middle East was an enjoyable experience! I know that there are times when PowerPoints and lectures are really boring and that you do not see the point. However, I can assure you that it is all very much related to what we are doing in class and you personally. There is really SO MUCH there to think about and consider, especially when you think about our essential questions for the day.

Essential Questions: In what ways are cultures and countries interconnected? What is the impact of religion on policy in the Middle East? - Question for those that are diligent in actually reading this: what is one thing that we talked about today that connects countries?

Soundtrack: "It Takes Two" by Zac Efron. Chosen, like I said in class, because I went into my iTunes folder and searched for "two" - and also because I wanted to appeal to some of the fans of musicals in the class. This song is from the Hairspray soundtrack.

AGENDA 4/30/09:
News Brief
The (Two) Dollar Menu
Middle East PowerPoint
Women in Afghanistan
Brandon Roy

Homework: Review PowerPoint notes. Watch Blazers game! Check blog!

First, look over the PowerPoint below and your notes, because it is very much related to what we will be doing in the next few days!

I will talk about this a little more in the "Brandon Roy" section, but again, with the late work: please, please do not lose hope or give up on getting things revised and turned in. I am absolutely here to help and work with you on everything. Come in and see me during your lunch period, after school, before school, or even easier, e-mail me at luke_fritz@beavton.k12.or.us and I will get back to you ASAP.

News Brief: Austin brought in an article about relations between the United States and the United Arab Emirates: CNN.com - Torture tape delays U.S.-UAE nuclear deal, say U.S. officials. This led into a really interesting discussion about torture in the United States, and the press conference President Obama held last night, on the 100th day of being in office.

I mentioned in class that former Secretary of State Condolezza Rice gave approval for waterboarding, the tactic we talked about in class. Here's a good rundown of the basics: Guardian.co.uk - Rice gave early approval for CIA waterboarding, Senate report reveals.

An opinion piece on the whole matter that I think is worth reading can be found here: RealClearPolitics.com - Even If It Works, US Shouldn't Torture.

From the article:

But no matter how hard one tries, one cannot credibly argue that, while waterboarding was a crime when committed by the Japanese in World War II, it is not a crime when committed by the United States in the 21st Century.

One of the opposing views can be found here: WashingtonPost.com - Congress Debates Fresh Investigation Of Interrogations. A quote:

Bush administration veterans, led by Cheney, are poised to renew a high-volume debate over the efficacy of the interrogation methods and, more broadly, the approach to terrorism that Obama's predecessor took after Sept. 11, 2001. Cheney called this week for the release of more memos that he said would demonstrate how effective the tactics were. And in an interview with Fox News's Sean Hannity, he made it clear that he is ready to wage a battle over who is right.

"The threat is there. It's very real, and it's continuing," Cheney said. "And what the Obama people are doing, in effect, is saying, 'Well, we don't need those tough policies that we had.'"

Very, very interesting stuff. Austin, thanks for bringing in that article! Morgan, you are up for next class. Any article about something currently going on outside the United States.

The (Two) Dollar Menu: I asked the class to get out the homework on living on a dollar a day and share them with a partner. Then, I asked for volunteers to share what they wrote with the class. We made a list of things that we would be difficult to do. Hygiene was huge, along with finding ways to get the essentials of life: food, water, and shelter. Many people had examples of homeless people getting help from others around them. What does that say? What amount of people living on $2 a day or less have to depend on more wealthy people for assistance? Further, what can the United States do about it? All good questions that come up after this.

As part of the discussion, I wrote down two things that I wanted to link to: The shocking video of a 91 year old man being beaten up and nobody around helping him as he was on the ground, which can be found here. This is a really interesting sociological dynamic - break free of it! Help people!

Also, I said that Portland was the least diverse city in the United States. Turns out, I was wrong - it is merely the least diverse city in the Western United States. A fascinating article on this can be read here: OregonLive.com - In a changing world, Portland remains overwhelmingly white.

Hopefully by putting some serious thought into this, you saw that it would be ridiculously difficult to live on two dollars a day, somewhere in the world.

Middle East PowerPoint: Thank you for paying attention (for the most part) to this! I was a little wary about giving the class the entire PowerPoint in a handout (if you were not in class, please see me for a copy), but I think (and hope) that doing so helped you out, rather than distracted your attention. The PowerPoint can be viewed here:

Turmoil in the Middle East PowerPoint
The main point of this was to look at the role of religion and oil (a non-renewable resource) in the Middle East. Not so coincidentally, this was exactly what the essential questions are based on. Hopefully, you have a little better understanding of the region. Some topics that came up during this part of class, that I said I would try to find out for the blog:

Women in Afghanistan: This is a country that is extremely difficult to control. Russia invaded Afghanistan and got bogged down in a never ending war, when the United States supplied the fighters in Afghanistan. Today, the United States is involved in a long war there, with no real prospects of "victory" any time soon. However, we do support the new government we have installed, with President Hamid Karzai at the helm. Which makes the following video (if you can't watch the video, read this article: CNN.com - Afghanistan 'rape' law puts women's rights front and center) all the more incredible, especially when we assess the state of women's rights in the Middle East:



As I made sure to note in class, it is not as if all countries in the Middle East (or all Islamic countries) have such restrictive measures on women. Turkey would be a good example of a country that has a relatively great record on women's rights: Wikipedia - Gender Equality in Turkey.

One of the comments I made on a lot of the women in the Middle East paper that you turned in (or should have) was "what if women are killed for speaking up?" All too often, I think we put the blame on women for not doing anything, or needing to do this or that. Well, how? I handed out an article that a student in my Period 1 class brought in that was absolutely amazing for talking about all of these same issues. The article can be found here: NYTimes.com - Afghan Women Protest Law on Home Life. Check out the following quote from near the beginning:

"We want our rights!" one of the women shouted, turning to face them. “We want equality!”

The women ran to the bus and dived inside as it rumbled away, with the men smashing the taillights and banging on the sides.

"Whores!"

But the march continued anyway. About 300 Afghan women, facing an angry throng three times larger than their own, walked the streets of the capital on Wednesday to demand that Parliament repeal a new law that introduces a range of Taliban-like restrictions on women, and permits, among other things, marital rape.

It was an extraordinary scene. Women are mostly illiterate in this impoverished country, and they do not, generally speaking, enjoy anything near the freedom accorded to men. But there they were, most of them young, many in jeans, defying a threatening crowd and calling out slogans heavy with meaning.

As I pointed out in class, how much in that article was stuff that we had JUST talked about? Speaking out. Unity and building a coalition. Education. Persistence. Religion. All of these and more came into play in that situation. Pretty amazing, right?

After reading the article to the class and getting some great thoughts on it and the relation to women making a difference from a few students (thank you for speaking up, by the way), we moved on to...

Brandon Roy: I read a selection from this article: OregonLive.com - Roy takes notes at facility's opening. The point of pointing out Mr. Roy's learning disability and path to stardom was to ask everyone in the class to not give up on themselves. The start of a new quarter is here, and there is a lot of work to be done until the end of the year, and I know that life is stressful just being in high school. I am here to help, along with everyone else at Westview! I am a big believer in a two way street of hard work in school. Teachers work incredibly hard (this blog should be a good piece of evidence) to help you succeed in school and in life. Work hard for us too, please!
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Thanks for the fun class! I really liked our discussion and all the interest (at least, I think there was interest) in what we are doing. Let me know what you thought, or anything else you want to talk about, in the comments!

Have a wonderful evening!