This was a week for congratulations: to our football team that beat Rogers and now goes on to the Super Bowl; to our wonderfully talented thespians who are putting on “Our Mr. Brooks” this weekend; and to our budding movie producers who have posted “Show Me Your Town” on the web. Was that our own S.A. holding the Dell’s cup?
Meanwhile out in the outside world, the FIFA (the organization that runs world soccer) has announced that the World Cup in 2018 will be played in Russia and the 2022 games will be played in Qatar. In their formal announcement, the FIFA, said “we go to new lands...” All I could think of was our study of new lands and how many all over the world are trying to see us as all citizens of the world.
It was a difficult week for Secretary of State Clinton as she was on the phone to world leaders trying to assure them of our respect and support even though WikiLeaks has released some damaging secret correspondence that describes world leaders in some very unflattering terms. This is a reminder to all of you that any correspondence can make its way to the web. Be careful!
“Over a Barrel”
This week you had an on demand writing assignment based on your reading of the UpFront article “Over a Barrel.” You were able to use your worksheet from the reading so if you had good responses to the guiding questions, you should have had a clear idea as to how to react to Tom Friedman’s quote. Clear thinking is the key to clear writing!
Afghan Profile
Using your text, the UpFront reading and the Goode’s Atlas, you developed a statistical profile of Afghanistan. I especially like Goode’s Atlas as the maps give us a great deal of information visually. Using the atlas you could discover the amount of clean water available in Afghanistan (about 22% of the population has clean water), you saw that the country has negligible exports, the people are suffering from malnutrition and only about 30% of the population is literate. You can see why the Taliban, an organization that offers food, clothing, shelter – and some degree of hope – to young people can be appealing. TED features a video on how the Taliban recruits youngsters to become suicide bombers and next week we will watch a clip.
Afghan Star
We watched a good portion of this documentary that shows you life in Afghanistan before, during and after the rule by the Taliban. The movie allowed you to see first hand what the country looks like and how the people are trying to restore their culture after years of Taliban censorship. You can also see that the show “Afghan Star,” modeled after “American Idol,” is teaching people about democracy. Afghans are encouraged to vote for the best singer, not the one from their region or tribe. We also witnessed one of the female singers who performed a simple dance on stage roundly condemned by the viewers. Her life was threatened so she immediately sought the safety of her family. The TV show is now in its fifth season and over 11 million people watch it each week.
Final Assessment
You had your announced final assessment this week. You had an open ended question and you were allowed to use your map to help you with your thinking. If you were absent, you have 5 days to make up the work. Don’t delay...come by and make plans to do the assessment during advisory or after school. Please note that after school help will now be available on Tuesday as our faculty meetings have been switched to Mondays.
Task
This week you received your portfolio task. You must select an international issue to research. You must have 3 current event articles to attach to your reflective essay. Your topic must be preapproved. While many of you were ready with a topic on the assigned day, some students still need to have an approved topic. The sooner your topic is approved, the sooner you can start collecting the news articles that you will need for the essay. I was out on Friday, so D period will have topics approved on Monday. We will go over the rubric again next week. Writing will take 2 days in the computer lab. This is a great opportunity to complete a portfolio task AND receive class credit as this will be your major project for second quarter. I have not assigned any homework since giving out the task so that you could spend your time finding the articles, reading and summarizing. To meet standard, your reader is going to look for your ability to synthesize and analyze the issue and come up with a solution or recommendation. You must also include why this issue is important to you and its impact on the world community.
And now we are off to India and Pakistan
You have received the new syllabus for our next unit on South Asia. The syllabus has been punched with 3 holes so you can put it in your binder. Staying organized is a critical step in meeting the stress and challenges of school – and beyond! We will start with a map and some reading to acquaint you with this area of the world. Hopefully you watched President Obama on his recent trip to India. Watching the evening news is a great way to prepare for your CWI class.
Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences
Thank you to all who came by to talk about the CWI class and student progress. It helps when we are all on the same page. If you were unable to get a time slot, please feel free to ask for a conference. I am usually available most afternoons (except Monday).
Meanwhile out in the outside world, the FIFA (the organization that runs world soccer) has announced that the World Cup in 2018 will be played in Russia and the 2022 games will be played in Qatar. In their formal announcement, the FIFA, said “we go to new lands...” All I could think of was our study of new lands and how many all over the world are trying to see us as all citizens of the world.
It was a difficult week for Secretary of State Clinton as she was on the phone to world leaders trying to assure them of our respect and support even though WikiLeaks has released some damaging secret correspondence that describes world leaders in some very unflattering terms. This is a reminder to all of you that any correspondence can make its way to the web. Be careful!
“Over a Barrel”
This week you had an on demand writing assignment based on your reading of the UpFront article “Over a Barrel.” You were able to use your worksheet from the reading so if you had good responses to the guiding questions, you should have had a clear idea as to how to react to Tom Friedman’s quote. Clear thinking is the key to clear writing!
Afghan Profile
Using your text, the UpFront reading and the Goode’s Atlas, you developed a statistical profile of Afghanistan. I especially like Goode’s Atlas as the maps give us a great deal of information visually. Using the atlas you could discover the amount of clean water available in Afghanistan (about 22% of the population has clean water), you saw that the country has negligible exports, the people are suffering from malnutrition and only about 30% of the population is literate. You can see why the Taliban, an organization that offers food, clothing, shelter – and some degree of hope – to young people can be appealing. TED features a video on how the Taliban recruits youngsters to become suicide bombers and next week we will watch a clip.
Afghan Star
We watched a good portion of this documentary that shows you life in Afghanistan before, during and after the rule by the Taliban. The movie allowed you to see first hand what the country looks like and how the people are trying to restore their culture after years of Taliban censorship. You can also see that the show “Afghan Star,” modeled after “American Idol,” is teaching people about democracy. Afghans are encouraged to vote for the best singer, not the one from their region or tribe. We also witnessed one of the female singers who performed a simple dance on stage roundly condemned by the viewers. Her life was threatened so she immediately sought the safety of her family. The TV show is now in its fifth season and over 11 million people watch it each week.
Final Assessment
You had your announced final assessment this week. You had an open ended question and you were allowed to use your map to help you with your thinking. If you were absent, you have 5 days to make up the work. Don’t delay...come by and make plans to do the assessment during advisory or after school. Please note that after school help will now be available on Tuesday as our faculty meetings have been switched to Mondays.
Task
This week you received your portfolio task. You must select an international issue to research. You must have 3 current event articles to attach to your reflective essay. Your topic must be preapproved. While many of you were ready with a topic on the assigned day, some students still need to have an approved topic. The sooner your topic is approved, the sooner you can start collecting the news articles that you will need for the essay. I was out on Friday, so D period will have topics approved on Monday. We will go over the rubric again next week. Writing will take 2 days in the computer lab. This is a great opportunity to complete a portfolio task AND receive class credit as this will be your major project for second quarter. I have not assigned any homework since giving out the task so that you could spend your time finding the articles, reading and summarizing. To meet standard, your reader is going to look for your ability to synthesize and analyze the issue and come up with a solution or recommendation. You must also include why this issue is important to you and its impact on the world community.
And now we are off to India and Pakistan
You have received the new syllabus for our next unit on South Asia. The syllabus has been punched with 3 holes so you can put it in your binder. Staying organized is a critical step in meeting the stress and challenges of school – and beyond! We will start with a map and some reading to acquaint you with this area of the world. Hopefully you watched President Obama on his recent trip to India. Watching the evening news is a great way to prepare for your CWI class.
Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences
Thank you to all who came by to talk about the CWI class and student progress. It helps when we are all on the same page. If you were unable to get a time slot, please feel free to ask for a conference. I am usually available most afternoons (except Monday).
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