Short But Eventful

While this was a short week, we packed in a review of the key stories of 2012 and made some predictions for 2013.

 As Congress just passed legislation to avoid the fiscal cliff, members had to decide what it means to be “rich” in America.  We did our own survey in class and many of you picked $100,000 as the level of income that marks the difference between the middle class and the wealthy.  Congress decided to use $400,000 as the dividing line, so those families earning less will not pay new income taxes even though they still have to pay the restored Social Security tax which is 2%.  Make sure to check your pay stubs carefully…if you work for minimum wage you should see an increase as RI’s minimum wage increased January 1.  But if you pay into Social Security you will have to pay an additional 2%.  The median income in Middletown is about $64,000.

A Tale of Two Indias

This week we used our guiding questions to help us understand the UpFront reading on India.  This was an especially interesting article as we had just heard from the NWC Indian officer on December 21.  Your last question asks you to compare the India he spoke about with the India we read about.  We then viewed a slide show from the NYT on outsourcing and watched the PBS award winning show “India Rising,” which prompted us to think about the implications of a fast growing middle class in India and China. After viewing the show, you had the opportunity to write about how the growth of the middle class in India and China will affect your future.  In your argument you had to cite evidence to support your thesis.

Next week we will take a look at Pakistan, a country that has been described by Vice President Biden as the most dangerous country in the world.  We will do a comparison of Al Qaida and the Taliban and look at how the Taliban terrorizes girls and recruits young boys to be suicide bombers.

International Officers

Thank you to all who came to hear the officers from Germany and Bangladesh. The officers make every effort to share with you key information about their countries in an interesting and engaging way.  We are very fortunate to have them visit our school.

World History

This week we continue to practice writing effective thesis statements.  You can do this any time…select a topic, then form an opinion on the topic and support it with three arguments. 

We continued our study of the Industrial Revolution by taking notes on the power point presentation.  You will find that if you read information, write down the information, then talk about the information, you will be better able to recall the information.  Once you have recalled the facts, you will then be able to apply the information for an assessment.  Think midterm exams!

We also started our play on “Farm or Factory?” This in-class play will give you two different sides of the story on what life was like during the Industrial Revolution. This will help you better understand point of view, which will be essential for the task on the Industrial revolution.  You will be doing a document analysis and POV is one of the questions asked about the document.

For homework you need to read Chapter 20 section 3 and answer questions 3, 4, 5, and 6 on page 520.  Many of you have not been doing your homework and you are going to find that it will have a negative impact on your grade.  Homework is an opportunity for you to build your knowledge and skills as well as earn credit.