The Holocaust, Day 4 - Class Recap

A quote on the wall of the Miami Holocaust Memorial. Our discussion today in class had a large part to do with whether or not we believe something like this could happen again. Photo taken in 2011.

Dear class,

This was a somewhat challenging day for me as a teacher, to try and give control over to student discussion. Although there were points where it was very quiet and awkward, I still think almost everyone did well and that the conversation was productive. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 18: I can explain how and why world societies organize themselves and how power is established and maintained.
Critical Thinking and Analysis LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Talk" by Coldplay. Selected for today because most of the class was made up of students talking about the rise of Hitler and whether or not it could happen again. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 1/30/15:
News Brief – Jesus
Class Feedback
Socratic Seminar
Reflection

Homework: Read the blog. Next news brief: Edbert

News Brief: Jesus (eventually) selected an article about this story for the news brief today: CNN.com - UK summons Russian envoy after bombers fly over English Channel. I talked about where the English Channel is and a little bit about what happened with this story. We also watched the Wildcat News for today.

Edbert was selected to do the next news brief.

Class Feedback: I always try to do this at least once during the middle of when I am teaching a class, because it is important to see what is going well and what needs to improve. The questions (which I asked students to anonymously respond to and turn in) were:

What do you like about this class? What do you think you as students are good at?
What does this class (you, as students) need to improve at?
What do you like about Mr. Fritz as a teacher? What is Mr. Fritz good at as a teacher?
What does Mr. Fritz need to improve at as a teacher?

I am looking forward to sharing the results with everyone!

Socratic Seminar: This was the first time we have attempted to do this in class, so it is understandable that it took a while to get set up, started, and for students to engage in the discussion. That's okay - we will get better!

This was the reading that we were discussing in class:

Google Drive - Rise of Hitler Reading

The questions and answers that I wanted the class to do in preparation for the discussion on this were:

1) What happened so that Hitler could get power?

2) Make three discussion questions (not yes or no answers) about the reading. Try to base your questions on specific quotes from the reading.

I passed out this form for assessing how the discussion went, with each person being responsible to monitor their partner, who was inside the ring of desks:

Google Drive - Socratic Seminar Partner Assessment

I explained that I wanted the discussion to be student led and directed, and then I tried to get out of the conversation as much as possible. As I wrote above, this started slowly and I had to jump in at points to make sure everyone was being heard and to redirect the conversation to issues the article brought up. Overall, though, I was pleased with the conversation and I think you touched on some really important issues and questions! Thanks for being willing to participate. We will talk more about this next class.

Have a wonderful weekend!

The Holocaust, Day 3 - Class Recap

The Boston Holocaust Memorial was one of the most powerful I have seen. As you walk through the glass, steam comes up from the grates, and names of people that were killed in various concentration camps are on the sides of the glass. Photo taken in 2013.

Hi everyone,

I hope you enjoyed your long weekend and recovered from finals! It's time to get back with learning about the Holocaust. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
Knowledge LT 18: I can explain how and why world societies organize themselves and how power is established and maintained.
Critical Thinking and Analysis LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems and concepts.

Soundtrack: "Brand New Day" by Sting. Selected for today because today is the start of a new semester in Global Studies! Wipe the slate clean - it's time to get back to work! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 1/28/15:
News Brief – Santiago
Final Grades
Stanford Prison Experiment
Rise of the Nazis

Homework: Read the blog. Finish reading the Rise of the Nazis article and making 3 discussion questions for next class. Next news brief: jesus

News Brief: Santiago had the news brief today and selected this article to talk about: CNN.com - First lady Michelle Obama shakes hands with Saudi king. So? Lots going on here, with global diplomacy, the new Saudi king, culture and customs, and women's rights!

Jesus was selected to do the next news brief. I also showed the VICE News clip for the day.

Final Grades: After the news, I passed back the Ladakh final DBQ grades, and explained why I gave the scores that I did. Most students did okay with this - I know it was somewhat complicated! In order to get them all graded before final grades were due, I did not write many comments back - please see what I highlighted in the rubric for details on why you received the score(s) you did. Also, final grades from the first semester are posted in the room, by student ID number. I will take them down after next class, so we can start anew.

Stanford Prison Experiment: Before showing this famous clip, I asked if students had any personal stories about World War II or the Holocaust from their family history. It was really interesting to hear these!

I noted that yesterday was Holocaust Memorial Day, and it is the 70th Anniversary of Auschwitz being liberated (or freed) by the Allies. With that, I showed this CNN feature on some of the survivors, and played the first video for the class:

CNN.com - Voices of Auschwitz

Then, I asked how this was possible, and if we could consider something like this happening to us - either as the Nazis or the persecuted people. I think it is hard to consider ourselves capable of such horrific acts. Which is why the Stanford Prison Experiment is so famous. Basically, it was a psychological experiment based on assigning roles to Stanford students (really smart people) - either as "prison" guards or prisoners. The prisoners were taken and not allowed out for six days (until the experiment ended early). Basically, the prison guards turned into awful, terrible people. Here's the clip we watched in class (there are many others out there - do a search if you want to learn more):

After the clip, I came back to the idea of wondering if something like the Holocaust could happen again. It's a difficult question for historians, and for people in general. We want to believe that people are good. If we aren't careful about learning the history and psychology to combat it, I think there is a better chance of something like this happening again.

Rise of the Nazis: With that idea, I passed out this reading, which has to do with how the Nazi political party and Hitler came to power in Germany:

Google Drive - Rise of Hitler Reading

The questions and answers that I wanted the class to do in preparation for a discussion next class on this were:

1) What happened so that Hitler could get power?

2) Make three discussion questions (not yes or no answers) about the reading. Try to base your questions on specific quotes from the reading.

The rest of class was devoted to reading the article and preparing discussion questions. Next class, I am hoping that we can have an interesting, student led discussion on the article and the questions it generates - specifically about if this could possibly happen again.

Thank you for your hard work, everyone! It's good to be back and have a new beginning. :-)

Ladakh Semester Final - Class Recap

Congratulations! If you passed the class, you have completed a semester of Global Studies! Photo taken at Niagara Falls in 2010.

Dear class,

Today was finals day in class and, as promised, we did a DBQ style test on the Ladakh, with multiple different possibilities for learning targets to address. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets:
KN LT 6 - Location and Region
KN LT  11 - Human and Physical Systems
KN LT 16 - Culture
KN LT 18 - Structures of Power

Soundtrack: "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin. Selected for today because Ladakh is located in Kashmir, India. A classic song! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 1/22/15:
News Brief – Sarah
Ladakh DBQ Final
Quiet Work Time

Homework: Read the blog. See you next week! Next news brief: Santiago.

News Brief: Sarah selected an article about this story for the news brief today: CNN.com - ISIS gaining ground in Yemen, competing with al Qaeda. We talked a little about the importance of Yemen, as the leadership (allies of the United States) is under threat from rebels.

I was proud of Kendall for watching the State of the Union speech on Tuesday! Way to go! Lots of important international issues were covered. If you missed it, watch it here or read it here.

Santiago was selected to do the next news brief.

Ladakh DBQ Final: This was the assignment for the rest of class. As promised, I let students use notes from the previous class(es) on Ladakh. The test itself was six documents (all the questions needed to be answered), followed by a short response essay. The essay was structured to be one paragraph, following an analytical structure that Mr. Lathrop and I want you to use. There were four different learning target possibilities that the final addressed (written out above). This final could also count towards a writing process score for Mr. Lathrop's class. I am looking forward to reading these over and assessing where you are at!

Quiet Work Time: If students finished early, there was time to quietly work in class.

Final grades for the semester are due by Tuesday morning. Thanks for your hard work, everyone! See you next week! :-)