Friday, February 9, 2018

World War I, Day 3 - Class Recap


Today's talk about writing essays included a bunch of pictures of Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco. Here's a picture of the city from that trip (Spring Break in 2011).

Dear class,

I realize that there has been a lot of me standing and talking to the class this last week! I apologize - hopefully it will not stay that way. I am simply guessing that you would rather hear all of this information personally explained to you, rather than copy notes from the textbook. On to the recap:

Learning Targets: 
Critical Thinking and Analysis LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems, and concepts.
Knowledge LT 20: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements.

Soundtrack: "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand. Selected for today because of the band name (of course), and because Franz Ferdinand was taken out to start World War I. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/9/18:
News Brief - Derek
Read Letters
The Most Important Skill
Graphic Organizing

Homework: Read the blog! Keep working on your World War I essay (we will continue to work on it in class the next two days, too). Next news brief: Jackson.

News Brief: Derek had the news brief today and selected this article to talk about: BBC.com - Winter Olympics 2018: South and North Korean athletes unite during opening ceremony in Pyeongchang. We found South Korea in our world map packets and discussed this story, before moving on to talk together about what is going on outside of class for everyone.

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):


Read Letters: A few students volunteered to read their "letters from the trenches" aloud as a class. I really enjoyed these, and thought the students that shared did a great job of incorporating some of the vocabulary and concepts that we talked about, along with creatively writing about the subject. Way to go! Keep these - you will be turning them in at the end of the unit.

The Most Important Skill: I said this in class and I really believe it: the ability to write (especially a good essay) is the most important skill that you will need in order to be successful in high school and college. Thus, this lecture was something I hope you paid very close attention to. Please see the PowerPoint below (it is also linked to on Google Classroom):


The basics: every essay needs to start out with a "thesis statement" in the first paragraph (the introduction). Each of the three paragraphs after that should contain one main point you are trying to make. The format (or recipe) for those "body" paragraphs are like this: topic sentence, concrete detail/fact, concrete detail/fact, commentary/opinion, and then a concluding sentence. Finally, after the three body paragraphs, you will write a conclusion that restates the thesis. This is a LOT of information to try and learn, I know. That is why I am having you practice in class before I ask you to write me a real one at the end of the World War I unit.

Graphic Organizing: Based on the essay question on the last slide of the PowerPoint, I gave three different examples of "graphic organizing" your essay. I asked you to use one of these examples to start up your essay. If you missed class, here is one of the examples that you can use to start thinking about your essay:


Along with this, I gave the class a good format for writing a thesis (and even included one on World War I to start you off, if you were having trouble):


Hopefully this made sense. It is okay if it does not right away. That is why we are practicing!

For the rest of class, I had you start up your essays using your graphic organizers - then the actual writing if you finished that. Here are the prompts that we were using (the last slide of the PowerPoint): 

Question: Why did World War I start and what happened at the beginning of it?

Words to use: militarism, alliances, imperialism, nationalism, Franz Ferdinand, Sarajevo, Triple Alliance, Triple Entente, June 28th 1914, trenches, Eastern Front, Western Front.

Use your notes! Cite my presentation as (Start of World War I Notes) for any concrete details directly from me. You can also use the textbook, if you like.

Again, we will continue working on this in class. The essay itself is not homework to fully complete - I want to help you through each step this time. Next time, it will be an actual assignment/test. You will be including your work here with that final assignment - so it is not like this work will not count.

Phew! I know that is a lot. Please let me know if you have any questions! See you next class!
Posted by at No comments:
Labels:

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

World War I, Day 2 - Class Recap


My Great-Grandfather, Joseph Herbert "Bert" Frank, who was a medic for Great Britain during World War I. Photo courtesy of a conversation with my grandmother in 2007!

Hello everyone,

Thanks for another great class! I appreciate your willingness to listen and participate in what is going on! Here's what happened today in class:

Learning Targets: 
Critical Thinking and Analysis LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems, and concepts.
Knowledge LT 20: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements.

Soundtrack: “Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer. Selected for today because the world definitely changed as a part of World War I. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/7/18:
News Brief - Trent
Review Notes/Answers
Europe Explodes
My Connection
Life in the Trenches

Homework: Read the blog! Finish your letter from the trenches if you did not in class. Next news brief: Derek.

News Brief: Trent had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - Taiwan earthquake: Deaths confirmed amid rescue effort. We found Taiwan in our world maps and talked about this story as a part of the news brief. I also asked about what students were up to outside of class.

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):


Review Notes/Answers: This was the part of the process for Cornell Notes, in grouping terms, adding questions about the material, and summarizing what the presentation was about (on the MAIN causes of World War I). Thanks for your participation on this! I think it will help you remember! We also reviewed the answers from the Franz Ferdinand assassination reading, and found vocabulary words to review.

Europe Explodes: During this section, I showed the class the map animations about what happened at the start of World War I here:


 I asked the class to take general notes about what the maps dealt with - especially in regards to the "Western Front" and "Eastern Front" relating to Germany. These are two very famous terms that you will hear about later in life, I am sure. It is important to learn about all of the different "dominoes" that fell in terms of alliances at the start of the war, as well.

My Connection: This section was a short and sweet (I hope) presentation about my great-grandfather's involvement in World War I as a medic. I did not ask the class to take notes. In case you missed class, or wanted to see the pictures again, here it is:


I hope it was interesting, and I hope that you ask about your own family history! It was fascinating for me to learn about it from my grandmother over tea. :-)

Life in the Trenches: This section consisted of two parts. First, I showed the class a few minutes of a documentary on World War I (in color!) that talked about how awful the war was from the perspective of those who fought in it. That video can be found here (I started it at 7:49 and stopped it about 11:30 or so into it):


After watching the video clip, I talked a little more about conditions in the trenches, which were long lines dug out in the ground, not far away from each other. Over the course of the war, not much progress was made in the battles, since any advance by the opposition was fairly easy to stop. I believe I called the whole idea "stupid" quite a bit in class. It totally was.

I handed out a worksheet of letters home (also on Google Classroom) from soldiers on in the trenches, and then had the class imagine they were in the same position. This was what the work was for the rest of the class - making up your own letter on the back of the worksheet. If you missed class, you can download the worksheet and create your letter here:


Thank you for your work on this. We will continue to talk about these letters next class. See you then!
Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels:

Monday, February 5, 2018

World War I, Day 1 - Class Recap


Your anonymous feedback for what you like about this class! :-) 

Hello everyone,

Welcome to a new semester and a new unit to study! Today, we started looking at World War I and making connections to what we have already learned about as far as imperialism in Rwanda, the Holocaust and the rise of Hitler, and everything else we have talked about. Here's what happened today:

Learning Targets:
Critical Thinking and Analysis LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems, and concepts.
Knowledge LT 20: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements.

Soundtrack: "Brand New Day" by Sting. Selected for today because it is a brand new semester and a chance to start again! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/5/18:
News Brief - Albert
Review Class Feedback
Ominous Beginnings PowerPoint
Murder of the Archduke

Homework: Read the blog and post a comment again! Finish the reading questions if you did not in class. Next news brief: Trent.

News Brief: Albert had the news brief today and selected an article about this story to talk about: BBC.com - Juan Barros case: Chile sex abuse letter contradicts Pope over 'cover-up'. We found Vatican City on the world map and talked about this story for a bit, before moving on.

Trent was selected to do the next news brief.

As usual, we checked in about what students were up to outside of class (I hope finals went well!). I showed my reaction to the Philadelphia Eagles winning the Super Bowl. I was pretty excited. :-)

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):


Review Class Feedback: We looked at the anonymous feedback that students gave me before the Ladkah semester final about how the class was going, and how I am doing as a teacher. Here it is again if you want to check it out:


Some observations:
1) It looks like students really love what we learn about in class, as well as the discussions we have, which is awesome to see!
2) The class knows it could get better at notes and having everyone participate.
3) The class likes that I am helpful, passionate, and engaging.
4) However, some students feel like I could do a better job of going slower (or faster) with material (if anything at all).

As I also noted in the last slide, we have lots of work to do in the second semester, which will probably be more challenging for most students than the first semester. We will be discussing this more in class, but you have the opportunity to earn college credit in Global Studies this year by completing a research project, which will will start in March. Lots to get to, for sure.

Ominous Beginnings PowerPoint: To start up the World War I unit, I showed this recent clip from the BBC about what millennials know about it.

I went over the definition of "ominous" and used the example of music in a scary movie: you know something bad is about to happen. The rest of the PowerPoint was about the M.A.I.N. causes of World War I. The class took notes (Cornell Notes would be awesome!) on each slide - which will come in handy at the end of this unit. Please review the presentation if you missed class, or did not have enough time to finish up your notes:


Thank you so much for your focus during this part of class! You all seemed to really be getting what I was talking about, which is great to see.

Murder of the Archduke: I passed this document around (or had students access it on their Chromebooks), and read it aloud to the class, trying to describe what happened in the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. - Borijove Jevtic: The Murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo, 28 June 1914. This is the story of how World War I started. I had the class answer the analysis questions at the end, as well. It is such an important event in history - all set up by the MAIN causes of World War I. The questions at the end were what we finished class with. We will start next time by going over the answers together.

This was what we ended class with! Thank you for your participation and focus today! :-)
Posted by at 10 comments:
Labels:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)