Welcome back to a new school year and to our new blog for 2009. I know the first question you may have is why I named the blog MHSCOTW. I believe that all of us should start viewing ourselves as “Citizens of the World.” If we thought of ourselves as parts of a bigger community than Middletown, or Rhode Island, or even America itself, our world would benefit. I think this global thinking would lead to less strife and more cooperation. This idea truly hit home when my son graduated from an American university and was hired by a German bank that immediately sent him to London, then on to New York City, India and Tokyo. His story is not that unusual for recent college graduates as more businesses have an international presence.
The blog is a way for us to review what we worked on during the week and to provide additional information on a variety of topics through links. You will notice that the entries include highlighted words which are active links to other sites where you can read further about a particular topic. For reasons of time and space, the blog is not an all inclusive wrap-up of the week, and because five different classes will be using the blog, it cannot provide detailed information about homework.
I hope you enjoy reading the blog. Please feel free to offer recommendations.
Contemporary World Issues (CWI)
This week we spoke about how all of our lives are affected by other countries. Just by doing a quick check of your shoes, shirts and jackets you quickly realized that most items are made overseas. Our economic and political relationship with other countries helps determine what you can purchase and what type of work our own citizens are engaged in or not engaged in.
You have been given the current events assignment and rubric. We practiced finding articles about international issues and we spoke about writing the first paragraph to summarize key facts and the second paragraph to offer your own thoughts on the subject. Just as we discussed regarding President Obama’s speech to students, you may have to overcome obstacles to do this assignment. Maybe you don’t have a paper at home... maybe you don’t have a computer or printer... maybe you work on the weekends... these are all potential obstacles, but you can surmount them. Make sure to take advantage of the school library or the public library on West Main Road. You can use this assignment to start the school year off with great success! Your assignment is due Monday.
You will find that your understanding of the issues we discuss in class will be greatly enhanced by watching the news or reading a daily paper. Next week we are scheduled to start receiving UpFront, a magazine produced by The New York Times for high school students. This is a major investment on the part of the District and I know you will appreciate having this opportunity to read a world class publication. As good thinkers and policy makers, we will also be consulting other sources, such as The Wall Street Journal, the international press, and news web sites. If you have a favorite, please bring it in and we will add it to our list of resources.
Honors World History
This week we started by reading President Obama’s speech to students. You quickly identified the key ideas of working hard and being persistent.
We also talked about the major units of study for the year. After hearing your concerns about repeating some of the material you already covered at Gaudet, the Social Studies teachers will be making some changes to better align your interests and introduce new units of study. Your ideas were very helpful as we discussed these new units.
We will do a brief overview of the Greeks and you have your 3-2-1 assignment for Chapter 5 section 1. You want to look for the 3 big ideas, make 2 connections, and come up with 1 question. This is a good reading strategy you can use in any content area.
Supplies
Each student needs to have a 3 ring binder, a pocket folder, a small box of colored pencils and pens/pencils for daily use. Please be ready with your supplies next week as we all want to work on staying organized.
In Closing
We are fortunate to be members of the Middletown school community. We have a great school with wonderful students and a supportive faculty and administration. I know we are going to have a great year. Please do not hesitate to see me if there is anything I can do to help you have a fun, safe and productive year.
The blog is a way for us to review what we worked on during the week and to provide additional information on a variety of topics through links. You will notice that the entries include highlighted words which are active links to other sites where you can read further about a particular topic. For reasons of time and space, the blog is not an all inclusive wrap-up of the week, and because five different classes will be using the blog, it cannot provide detailed information about homework.
I hope you enjoy reading the blog. Please feel free to offer recommendations.
Contemporary World Issues (CWI)
This week we spoke about how all of our lives are affected by other countries. Just by doing a quick check of your shoes, shirts and jackets you quickly realized that most items are made overseas. Our economic and political relationship with other countries helps determine what you can purchase and what type of work our own citizens are engaged in or not engaged in.
You have been given the current events assignment and rubric. We practiced finding articles about international issues and we spoke about writing the first paragraph to summarize key facts and the second paragraph to offer your own thoughts on the subject. Just as we discussed regarding President Obama’s speech to students, you may have to overcome obstacles to do this assignment. Maybe you don’t have a paper at home... maybe you don’t have a computer or printer... maybe you work on the weekends... these are all potential obstacles, but you can surmount them. Make sure to take advantage of the school library or the public library on West Main Road. You can use this assignment to start the school year off with great success! Your assignment is due Monday.
You will find that your understanding of the issues we discuss in class will be greatly enhanced by watching the news or reading a daily paper. Next week we are scheduled to start receiving UpFront, a magazine produced by The New York Times for high school students. This is a major investment on the part of the District and I know you will appreciate having this opportunity to read a world class publication. As good thinkers and policy makers, we will also be consulting other sources, such as The Wall Street Journal, the international press, and news web sites. If you have a favorite, please bring it in and we will add it to our list of resources.
Honors World History
This week we started by reading President Obama’s speech to students. You quickly identified the key ideas of working hard and being persistent.
We also talked about the major units of study for the year. After hearing your concerns about repeating some of the material you already covered at Gaudet, the Social Studies teachers will be making some changes to better align your interests and introduce new units of study. Your ideas were very helpful as we discussed these new units.
We will do a brief overview of the Greeks and you have your 3-2-1 assignment for Chapter 5 section 1. You want to look for the 3 big ideas, make 2 connections, and come up with 1 question. This is a good reading strategy you can use in any content area.
Supplies
Each student needs to have a 3 ring binder, a pocket folder, a small box of colored pencils and pens/pencils for daily use. Please be ready with your supplies next week as we all want to work on staying organized.
In Closing
We are fortunate to be members of the Middletown school community. We have a great school with wonderful students and a supportive faculty and administration. I know we are going to have a great year. Please do not hesitate to see me if there is anything I can do to help you have a fun, safe and productive year.
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