Our Eyes Turn to the East

This week you wrote your reflection letters and shared your success or challenges with your family. I was impressed with your ability to express your strengths and weaknesses as you established goals for second quarter. How do we know we have reached our destination if we don’t start off with a goal? Every day is a new opportunity to work towards a positive outcome. This is your friendly reminder that extra support is available after school every day except Tuesday (faculty and department meetings). Take advantage of all of the different avenues you have to be successful.

Thank You

Parent, teacher, student conference night was a big success. Thank you to all that came by and learned about the content, strategies, and habits of mind that we have been working on this year.

CWI

Our President has had a whirlwind week as he visited Japan, Korea, and China. He had the difficult job in China of balancing the United States’ dependency on foreign capital against concern for greater human rights. He wanted to maintain our strong ties with Japan while urging even greater cooperation with China. Only a few years ago, China was seen as a large poverty stricken country with an oppressive government. Times are changing and China has risen rapidly on the world stage. It has the largest military force in the world, has the third largest economy, and holds much of the United States’ debt. We will be turning to our study of China in December. Having visited China this past summer gives me a greater appreciation for the drive, ambition and focus of this huge country.

We continued our study of South West Asia as we finished our “Seeds of Peace” activity that promotes peaceful relations between the Israelis and Palestinians. Stereotyping can lead to conflict but getting to know and understand people can help relieve tension. We concluded that while we may not always agree with another person, we can still respect them. A good lesson for all of us.

We also read two articles about “Growing up Saudi.” These UpFront articles described the life typical Saudi teenagers and pointed out the strict guidelines that all young people, but especially young women, must follow. Our video clips on “Lifting the Veil,” however, showed that times are also changing in this tradition-bound country. With 70% of the population under 30, rules and regulations will be challenged. We also heard from Robert Lacey, author of “In the Kingdom.” He clearly outlined the three reasons why the Saudis “hate” Americans: our support for Israel, our fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan against fellow Muslims, and our decadent society as illustrated by our television shows and manner of dress. Lacey also recommended that the one way we could forge a better relationship was through education. Both countries need to better understand the other country’s culture and beliefs. A great reason for you take CWI!

One class had an accountable talk activity on Growing Up Saudi. Accountable talk gives us the opportunity to explore our thinking and the thinking of others. We need to ask questions...we need to press for understanding...we need to integrate our readings as a way to support our positions. It is also a time to learn how to listen and to make time for all to speak. You may think that as long as you are talking you are earning points but you can also earn points by integrating others into the conversation. No one wants to hear from just two or three people...we want everyone to have an opportunity to state their ideas. These are all great skills that you can use as you head out into the world.

Your next current event is due on Monday November 23 and it needs to be about Afghanistan. You have the current event rubric and if you follow it you can earn full credit. As you can see from the first quarter grades, those students who take the time and put in the effort can earn lots of points with quality summaries and comments.

We will be concluding our study of South West Asia next week and our final assessment will ask you to integrate your current events, class activities, and readings into a coherent on-demand piece of writing.

World History

We continued our study of The French Revolution this week and watched a video about Napoleon.

Our group activity focused on analyzing two primary sources found in your text on pages 1010 and 1011. We stressed the importance of vocabulary as you cannot understand a document if you don’t understand the words. Take the time to look up words so you can gain a full understanding of the text. Working in a group gives everyone support as long as you are actively engaged in trying to construct your own meaning of the document. We spend a great deal of time with primary sources as that is what historians do and you will be asked to do document analysis as part of the graduation tasks that will be offered in the coming weeks.

You had a “quiz” on the causes of The French Revolution and many of you did a great job. Make sure to take the time to review each evening to prepare for the next day of class.

We also used another reading strategy to better understand how daily life during the Revolution changed. By taking the bold headlines in your text and converting them into a question, it helps guide you as you gather information. For example, we turned the headline “Changes in Daily Life” into a question: How did daily life change during the Revolution? We then wrote the top five changes on the board and debated each one, making changes until we agreed on the top five. This is another strategy you can use to rank the importance of information. While we have learned numerous strategies to improve reading and comprehension, they are only useful if you use them. Too many students had blank or incomplete worksheets when it came time to review “The Age of Napoleon Begins.”

The video helped us visualize much of the information in the text and gave us the opportunity to listen for key information. You should get in the habit of taking enough notes to gain understanding but not so many that you miss the visual impact of the story. This is an art that is learned by practicing your listening and note taking skills.

Your current event on any national or international story is due November 24. The current events assignment is a great way to build up points. You have the rubric and by now should be earning 9 or 10 on the assignment.

Next week we will have a map assignment so bring your colored pencils. You will also be given a study guide for the test, and as we agreed you will use it to study but it will not be collected and evaluated.

Extra Credit

When should a person be considered an adult? Come in with a response and be able to explain your reasoning....happy thinking!