Farewell to 2010

While we had a short week at school, the outside world gave us many newsworthy events that we all need to be on top of. First the most exciting news…congratulations to the UCONN Women’s basketball team for being the first team in history to win 89 games in a row. When ESPN commentators were talking about the success of this program they kept coming back to work ethic. This is a team that plays 110% whether they are up by one point or thirty points. A strong work ethic and doing one’s best under all circumstances are great attributes as you go forward in life. It is comforting to look back on events and know you tried your best.

Meanwhile, our Congress has been cranking out legislation that had been stalled for several months. On Tuesday, the Senate voted to lift the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” rule from our military forces. Many believe this will go down as the great civil rights legislation of this decade. The Senate also approved a treaty with Russia to limit nuclear weapons and provide for inspections of nuclear facilities, and it approved a special trust fund to help first responders from 911 deal with medical bills.

But not all the news was good. Tensions mounted on the terrorist front. Over a dozen suspects were arrested in London, and there were reports of small-scale plots to poison US salad bars and takeout counters. There is speculation terrorists may be shifting their strategy from attempting massive attacks like 911 to orchestrating smaller strikes that would cause the West to “hemorrhage.”

South Asia

We concluded our study of South Asia by working in groups with multiple texts and videos to help us respond to two questions: Is Pakistan a dangerous country? And what should the US relationship be with this country? You had excerpts from your UpFront magazine, Newsweek, and the New York Times as well as a video clip on pop musicians in Pakistan, a TED video on suicide bombers, and a CNN interview with Greg Mortensen, author of “Three Cups of Tea.” This wealth of information gave you a wide ranging perspective on this country but ultimately you have to make a decision. Is Pakistan dangerous, and how should the US relate to this country? This in class writing assignment was worth 10 points.

Task

Congratulations to all of you who handed in the task. Many of you met or exceeded the standard and therefore the task can go in your portfolio. For those who nearly met standard, you were still able to earn in-class credit. To help you improve the next time you are asked to do a reflection I shared with you a brief PowerPoint that went over strong and weak sentences from actual student essays. I hope you found it useful. My advice is to think before you write, give yourself time to rewrite and be specific…avoid generalities.

Enjoy

Now we have all earned some rest and relation time. No homework was assigned over the break but let me remind a few of you that revisions are due on January 3. I know you will keep up with the news and what is happening in the outside world.

A Time to Say Thank you

There are many who help make this blog an interesting, useful and helpful source of information for students and parents. I want to thank BABM, KLM, and MLM who give me the student’s point of view on the entries. They are especially good at pointing out the need for a consistent positive message no matter what the challenges are. They also provide technology support when I have goofed up an entry or inserted the wrong size picture. I also want to thank LEM who has been my faithful editor. His insistence on word choice and good grammar have made me a better writer. He has also been a constant source of encouragement when some weekend mornings I consider not writing an entry... “What, no blog?! Say it’s not true!” Finally, thank you to my faithful readers both near and far. While this is the last posting for the year, stay tuned for a special New Year’s kickoff!

An Exciting Finish

It is that time of year when everyone has one eye on the calendar counting down to our December break. Congress is no different and you saw a new sense of urgency this week as they tried to wrap up some key legislation before adjourning for the session. Congress conducts business for two years. A new session will begin in January with the swearing in of newly elected members. The session between the election in November and adjournment is referred to as a lame duck session. Members who were not reelected fully participate, but the party who “wins” in November has little incentive to conclude business, knowing that come January they will have many new members. This is acutely felt in the House this year as the Democrats have lost the majority and come January the Republicans will take over. The big bill on everyone’s mind was the tax bill. Congress finally decided to keep tax rates steady for another two years. Republicans interpreted this as good for the economy as it gave the wealthiest individuals money they could invest while many Democrats were critical of continuing the lower tax rates for the wealthy as a contributor to the deficit. Hidden among the thousands of pages of rules and regulations was a one year reduction in the Social Security tax. So keep on the lookout for a 2% raise in your paycheck come January when the FICA (Social Security tax) is reduced.

Happy Bill of Rights Day!

We took time off from our busy schedule to celebrate Bill of Rights Day on December 15. This is a great time to pause and think about how fortunate we are to live in a country that respects and promotes individual liberty. It is amazing that so many people do not know their basic rights, but you did a great job outlining our five essential freedoms under the First Amendment: freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition. Bill of Rights Day was formally declared in 1941 when President Franklin Roosevelt asked all Americans to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the passage of the Bill of Rights. So when you walk into room 246 and see the bright lights you know it is time to celebrate!

South Asia

We used our chapter 25 worksheet to help build background on India and to use the vocabulary that helps tell the store of this country. Much of the history we learned about India was reinforced by our speaker, Captain Sexana. His PowerPoint presentation walked us through the rich history of his country and gave us a sense of the size and diversity of his nation. We also saw a clip from the NYT on outsourcing and interviews with young Indians and how they view their future. Our reading from The Economist gave us a well written argument on how India’s growth could outpace China’s. We took the opportunity to make a list of factors that would support investment in India, what the challenges are, and where we would invest money for future growth: India or China.

Our finally video was “India Rising,” an Emmy award winning documentary by PBS NOW. The video points out the reasons for a fast growing middle class in India and its impact on your life style. The growth of the middle class is causing prices for all commodities to increase. Are we on a seesaw? As India rises does it mean our own standard of living will decrease?

As we completed our study of India, we started on a quick preview of some of the statistics that help tell the story of Pakistan. This country has been described by Vice President Biden as the “most dangerous country in the world.” We will look at the statistics, do some reading and watch a few videos and then you can make up your mind…is Pakistan a dangerous country?

To add to the mystery of Pakistan and the US relationship with this “dangerous” country, the CIA announced on Thursday that they were pulling their top spy out of the country as his cover was blown by the Pakistan military intelligence agency. This is becoming a real cloak and dagger story with many twists and turns.

Naval War College Guest Speaker Series

Our speaker series started off with two dynamic and engaging speakers: Commander Sene from Senegal and Captain Sexana from India. Their PowerPoint presentations covered the history of their countries and brought us up to contemporary times. You could quickly see that both officers are enthusiastic supporters of their homelands. Their vivid descriptions and positive attitude make me want to apply for a visa and book the next flight.
As an audience, I want to compliment you on your attention and great listening skills. Speakers appreciate a good audience and I know our two international officers will go back to the Naval War College with glowing reviews. Next time, let’s work on questions. Speakers always enjoy thought provoking questions as it shows you were listening and it gives them the opportunity to bring out additional points. Our next speakers will be February 14 from Kazakhstan and Germany.

Current Events

This is an ongoing assignment and by now you should be earning high scores. You have a week to do the assignment so that is plenty of time to find an article and write your two paragraphs. When you need an event from a certain region let me remind you again that you can’t just go to the computer and type in the region. We must use our text and your map work to determine which countries are in the region of study. Some search engines put Afghanistan in South Asia while our text considers it part of Southwest Asia. By doing the regional map as your first assignment on the syllabus you know which countries are part of the region we are studying. I will return the assignment and you have the opportunity to revise.

Wrap Up

We are just about at the end of our 2010 school year and my goal is to finish our South Asia syllabus and return the tasks to you prior to our break. If we can finish our multiple text study of Pakistan (that will require you to do the few pages of reading in your text this weekend or on Monday evening) then we can all go home for the break without any formal homework. Yes, I know...keeping up with current events, watching the news, and knowing what is happening in the outside world are ongoing tasks, but it would be nice not to have any formal worksheets, papers or assignments, so let’s put in that extra effort.

On Task

While the President and Congress wrangled over tax cuts, and the world looked on as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was jailed, and the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the imprisoned dissident Liu Xiaobo, your efforts were focused on the “It’s My World” task. You had nine days to think about the prompt and to collect and analyze 3 articles on an international topic of your choosing. We went over the rubric twice and explained each requirement in an effort to prepare you for the assignment. Many of you came into the computer lab ready to write...congratulations for good time management skills! Those who were ready to write completed the task within the two-day allotment, while those who were still collecting articles had difficulty meeting the deadline. This was a very manageable task as it was just what you have been doing with your regular current events assignments only in an expanded form. One student even entitled the essay “Just a Big Current Event”... that made me laugh! The task was also your major project for second quarter.

South Asia

This week we also continued with our study of South Asia. You have completed your map and have taken notes from “The World Today.” You were able to use your map and notes for the quiz, so many high grades were earned. Many of you also started the worksheet for Chapter 25 which focuses on India. Some classes will complete the quiz next week.

As you could see from the photos we looked at in class, this is a complex region. We have the mountain kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan, the largest democracy in the world, India, and Pakistan, which has been described “as the most dangerous country in the world.” President Obama recently returned from a trip to this region and spent several days in India in an effort to boost our trade with a country that can help keep the balance of power in a region that is being encroached upon by China. It is crucial that India continue to be closely aligned with the US. A year ago, President Obama signaled to the world that our relationship with India was unique by holding his first state dinner honoring Prime Minister Singh. A White House State Dinner is an elegant and unique function reserved for the most important alliances. The President spoke eloquently about our relationship with India and Gandhi’s impact on our own Martin Luther King. Our contemporary culture honors India with the popularity of many Indian films including “Monsoon Wedding,” “Slum Dog Millionaire,” and “The Namesake.” A former Rhode Islander, Jhumpa Lahiri, winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, bases much of her writing on her experiences growing up in a household with parents who were from India. If you are looking for quality short story fiction, I highly recommend any of her books.

The current event for South Asia is due next week (12/13 for periods A, B, D, and E; 12/14 for period C). By now you should be earning high grades for this assignment. You have clear expectations and ample time to find and analyze an article. Make sure your current event is from a country in this region...some students type “South Asia” into Google and get different results...you must have an event from a country in the region as designated by our map work.

Guest Speakers

On December 17 we will be having an in-school field trip in room 212 during advisory to hear from the Naval War College International Officers from India and Senegal. This is a unique opportunity to hear about far off countries from a leading military officer of the country. Let me remind you that you are expected to arrive on time and to listen to our guests. This is the time when your best manners are on display. Time will be allotted for a question and answer period. We will be doing some background reading to prepare for the event. An in-class writing assignment will be assigned after the talk.

Check out the Newport Daily News student column for today...E.H. wrote a great article entitled “Students Go Global.”

Intraterms

Intraterms are due next week so we will take class time to update our status of assignment sheet and figure out your score as of December 15. Your task will count for the second half of the quarter.

When You’re Absent

While we have gone over the expectations and they are outlined in your room management plan, I want to remind you that when you are absent, you must arrange time (before or after school or during advisory) to come by and make up the work. You have 5 days to complete the work. If you do not make arrangements then you will receive no credit for the assignments. It is up to you!

Time For A Task

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).