Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Chapter 22 Assessment

Chapter 22 Assessment (p.476):
  • Lesson Review: #1, 3, 7, 8
  • 21st Century Skills: #9, 10
  • Exploring the Essential Questions: #11
  • Analyzing Historical Documents: #12 & 13
Extra Questions:
  • What was the most interesting section of World History?  Why?
  • What was the least interesting section of World History?  Why?
  • What would you like to do different if we were going to start over?

Monday, November 21, 2016

Write a Historical Fiction Story

Your homework from Friday was:
  • HOMEWORK: Write a short story including world history.  The type of story is up to you, but it should take place during the time we have been studying.  You could write a science fiction story (time travel, for example) or a story about a Jewish person living in Nazi Germany or Poland or a story about a Japanese American being put into a camp or a story about the wife of an American soldier being alone in America -- or anything else that connects your characters to history.  Write neatly so I can read your story.
Now that you have had a weekend to think about the story -- or maybe you have written your draft -- it's time to build upon your story.

To get into the mode of historical fiction, think about it like this:  You are entering a time machine to go and witness history during the era you have chosen. Close your eyes. Step into the time machine and listen to the machine's whirring hum as you are transported through space and time, back, back, to the most fascinating place you can imagine! This place and time has intrigued you...and there you are! You climb carefully out of the time machine. You look around. Whom and what do you see? What do you hear? What are people doing? What confuses you about your new surroundings? Remember as many details as you can, so that you can share your observations in a story about that time in history.
  • Characters:All characters must behave in realistic ways.
  • Problem:The characters are involved in a dilemma that is realistic for that period.
  • Description:Places and events are vividly described.
  • Setting:The setting is a definite time in history and a very real place.
  • Plot:Real events are mixed with fictional happenings. The plot makes sense and ends with a logical solution.
  • Dialogue:The characters' words reflect what people knew and thought about in those times.
Could you write a story about trying to change history?  A story about what it's like to be a child living during that time?  An alternative history where something changes the outcome [good or bad] such as Abraham Lincoln being saved, the South inventing better weapons to win the war, Germany developing the bomb first, etc.?  Maybe it's a love story or a drama about someone losing a family member?
  • Today you will brainstorm and outline your story [or build upon what you already have]
  • Rework your story to incorporate historical events from your text book
  • Write out your story.  
  • When it's finished, have a classmate read your story and write some notes/suggestions on your paper -- then have them sign next to their suggestions.  
    • Students who leave feedback on a classmates paper [if I can read their signature] will receive Extra Credit.  
    • If you get feedback from TWO of your classmates [or more], then YOU will get extra credit as well.
  • Your homework is to take home your story and feedback/suggestions, and neatly rewrite your story.  [Make sure you attach your original with classmate feedback tomorrow!]

Be creative and start with some brainstorming.  I suggest using a Story Arc.
Another way of looking at it:

Supplemental: Sci-Fi Take on History

One common sci-fi take on history is "alternate history".  "What if?" scenarios including topics like, "What if Hitler made it into art school?" or "What if Japan had decided against attacking America?" or "What if Lincoln hadn't gone to the play on his last night?"  Here are a couple examples of that:

The Man in the High Castle is from a novel by Phillip K. Dick in which the Axis powers won WWII:
CSA: The Confederate States of America is a "mockumentary" based on the idea that the South won the Civil War.
Another common theme in science fiction or fantasy is revisiting the Holocaust, finding ways to go through time and kill Adolf Hitler, or showing what made Hitler become the villain he was.  Here are some interesting takes on that theme for you to watch in your own time.

One interesting article explains why you can't go back in time and kill Hitler: http://io9.com/why-you-can-t-travel-back-in-time-and-kill-hitler-1267520777

Another article is called, "Time Travellers: Please Don't Kill Hitler" and it makes some interesting points: http://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2014/feb/21/time-travellers-kill-adolf-hitler

Another example of time travel to change the future involves going back to save President Kennedy.  http://www.avclub.com/article/back-and-to-the-right-17-alternate-retellings-of-t-105801

The Twilight Zone: Season 1 Episode 5: Cradle of Darkness:

The Twilight Zone: Season 3: Episode 9: Deaths' Head Revisited

Death's-Head Revisited (Dir. Don Medford, 1961) from CAJ on Vimeo.

The Twilight Zone: Season 1, Episode 49 Profile in Silver

The Twilight Zone (Radio Drama): Back There

Twilight Zone: No Time Like the Past

Twilight Zone: No Time Like the Past
Twilight Zone: No Time Like the Past

Friday, November 18, 2016

22.2: Social Challenges in the Modern World

22.2: Social Challenges in the Modern World
  • Taking Notes (p.461): World Hunger
  • Geography Connection (p.462): #1 & 2
  • Reading Progress Check (p.463): How are problems of poverty and world hunger related?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.463): What effect has the Universal Declaration of Human Rights had on the movement for human rights around the world?
  • Charts/Graphs (p.464): #1 & 2
  • Reading Progress Check (p.465): What role do transnational and non-governmental organizations play on the international arena?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.465): How are grassroots organizations related to NGO's?
  • Lesson 2 Review (p.465): #1, 2, 3, 4


Friday Funny: Where will you sit?

When you get on the roller coaster that we call life, you have to decide where you will sit.
I see this picture as an example of this idea, and I relate it to what you decide to do with your life.  For example:
  • The fourth row is sitting back and collecting a check from the government. 
  • The 3rd row is an entry level (i.e. fast food) job that gets you by.
  • The 2nd row is a good job with benefits and some vacation time. 
  • The front row is getting paid to do something you love, every day of your life. 
You don't realize it now, but life is much shorter than you think.  Find your passions and figure out how to work that into your career.  Work hard now and then coast through life enjoying the ride.

Thursday, November 17, 2016

22.1: Political Challenges in the Modern World

Chapter 22.1: Political Challenges in the Modern World
  • DBQ (p.454): What will be the biggest challenge facing megacities?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.457): How do the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council differ?
  • DBQ (p.457): Why does the Director General argue that stopping nuclear terrorism requires a global effort?
  • Critical Thinking (p.458): What was the immediate response to the attacks of September 11, 2001?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.459): How have governments responded to terrorism since September 11, 2001?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.460): How did governments and international organizations respond to the conflicts in Rwanda and Darfur?
  • Lesson 1 Review (p.460: #1, 3, 4, 5, 6
Research Project:

  • Begin thinking about one specific topic or person from our World History standards (https://www.tn.gov/assets/entities/education/attachments/std_ss_world_history_geography.pdf) that you are interested in and will become an "exper"t in.  You will spend some time researching this topic and taking notes, so if you were asked to "tell me about _(your topic)_ you could spend 5 minutes or so speaking.  No -- I won't make you get up in front of the class to speak.
  • Pick a specific topic (i.e. the Magna Carta, Henry Bessemer, Armenian genocide in Turkey, the Treaty of Versailles, Apartheid, the rise of ISIS, the life of Vladimir Putin, etc.).  If you pick a topic that is too broad (i.e. World War II) you will never get a handle on the information available.
  • We will turn your research projects into a PowerPoint presentation -- and maybe some more, depending on the time we can spend.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

21.4: Regions After the Cold War

21.4: Regions After the Cold War
  • Taking Notes (p.446): Chart
  • Reading Progress Check (p.447): How are the uprisings in Egypt and Libya similar?  How are they different?
  • Critical Thinking (p.447): What words would you use to describe the demonstrators?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.449): What role has religion played in recent African conflicts?
  • Critical Thinking (p.449): Write a sentence or two that describes the scene in this photograph.
  • Critical Thinking (p.450): Why do you think jobs in the automobile industry have moved to India?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.450): What political changes have India and Pakistan experienced in recent decades?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.451): How do the Mexican drug cartels traffic in drugs?
  • Lesson 4 Review (p.451): #1, 3, 4, 5, 6
Chapter 21 Assessment:
  • Lesson Review (p.452): #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
  • Analyzing Historical Documents (p.452): 14, 15

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

21.3: China, Japan and the Koreas

Chapter 21.3: China, Japan and the Koreas
  • Taking Notes (p.441): Chart
  • Critical Thinking (p.442): Why do you think the Chinese government responded with such overwhelming force?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.442): What is the "fifth modernization," and how has China failed to achieve it?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.443): What negative effects has rapid economic change had on China?
  • Critical Thinking (p.444): Do you think the damage at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will limit the development of new nuclear power plants in the United States?  Why or why not?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.444): What factors have affected Japan's economy since the 1990s?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.445): What has led to increased tensions between North Korea and South Korea in recent decades?
  • Lesson 3 Review (p.445): #1 - 6

Monday, November 14, 2016

Extra Credit: Holiday Ornaments

I've been considering putting up a holiday tree, but I want to make it history-focused.  I will give extra credit for someone making a history-based tree ornament.













I have "doll pins" in limited quantity (30) for students to make historical figures (Presidents, civil rights leaders, etc.) but the ornaments don't have to be made of doll pins -- or even be a specific person.













21.2: Western Europe and North America

Chapter 21 Lesson 2: Western Europe and North America
  • Vocabulary (p.437)
  • Critical Thinking (p.438): Why was the Berlin Wall such a potent symbol of the Cold War?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.439): What role did the economy play in U.S. presidential administration in the first two decades of the 2000s?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.440): Why has the spread of American popular culture led some critics to be concerned about U.S. cultural imperialism?
  • Lesson 2 Review (p.440): #1, 2, 4

Friday, November 11, 2016

21.1: End of the Cold War

Chapter 21 Lesson 1: End of the Cold War
  • Look at the map on page 431.  Why do you think Russia might be interested in taking the Ukraine back?  Which other countries might be on Russia's acquisition list?  Why?
  • Vocabulary (p.432)
  • Reading Progress Check (p.433): How did Gorbachev's reforms affect Soviet foreign relations?
  • Critical Thinking (p.433): What different factors contributed to Walesa's success?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.434): What role did protesters play in the new government that formed after the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe?
  • Analyzing (p.434): Why was President Gorbachev arrested on August 19, 1991?
  • Geography Connection (p.435): #1 & 2
  • Reading Progress Check (p.435): What were the effects of Russia's transition to a market economy?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.436): What role did NATO play in the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia?
  • Lesson 1 Review (p.436): #1, 3, 4, 5, 6

Thursday, November 10, 2016

20.3: The Asian Rim

  • Vocabulary (p.425)
  • Taking Notes (p.425): Chart
  • Geography Connection (p.426): #1 & 2
  • Reading Progress Check (p.426): How did the Japanese "miracle" occur?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.427): During the initial post-World War II period, in what ways were the "Asian tigers" similar?
  • Lesson 3 Review (p.427): #1, 2, 3, 4

Listen to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'" and answer the following questions:
  • To whom was Bob Dylan directing "come gather 'round people?"
  • What did Dylan mean when he wrote "admit that the waters around you have grown?"

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

20.2: Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union

  • Vocabulary (p.420)
  • Taking Notes (p.420): Chart
  • Analyzing Historical Documents (p.421): #1 & 2
  • Reading Progress Check (p.422): How were U.S.-Soviet relations different during the Kruschev and Brezhnev regimes?
  • Critical Thinking (p.423): What is the symbolic importance of the fallen statue?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.424): Why was Yugoslavia different from other Eastern European countries during the Cold War?
  • Lesson 2 Review (p.424): #1, 3, 4

Monday, November 7, 2016

20.1: Western Europe and North America


Look at the picture on page 411 and read "The Story Matters...".
  1. What did the U.S. Government hope to achieve by implementing "Duck and Cover" drills? 
  2. Why did "Duck and Cover" drills eventually get phased out?
Let's look at the map on page 413.  Notice that the Northern Hemisphere looks very different from this project [above the North Pole] -- and that the "Soviet Union" (now Russia) is closer than they appear on a world map.  This is one reason that the Soviet Union being able to launch a payload into space [and, at the same time developing the Atomic Bomb] caused concern to Americans.
  • Vocabulary (p.414)
  • Geography Connection (p.416): #1 & 2
  • Reading Progress Check (p.416): How was the Fifth Republic in France different from the Fourth Republic?
  • Critical Thinking (p.417): What do you think was the effect of the March on Washington?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.418): In the United States how was the decade of the 1970's a reaction to the 1960's?
  • Drawing Conclusions (p.418): What is the significance of the Voting Rights Act of 1965?
  • Reading Progress Check (p.419): What was a goal of the women's liberation movement?
  • Critical Thinking (p.419): Interpret the meaning of the signs carried at the rally.
  • Lesson 1 Review (p.419): #1, 3, 4, 5
Watch the Martin Luther King Jr. speech and answer the following questions:
  • Discuss whether or not this is a Primary Source.
  • When did the event(s) take place?
  • Describe how this document is a significant part of the Civil Rights movement.
  • According to the speech, to whom did the Emancipation Proclamation give hope?
  • How is the Emancipation Proclamation connected to the I Have a Dream Speech?
  • What do you think Dr. King means when he says that time can be used destructively or constructively? 
  • Why did he believe that the Civil Rights Movement was an example of using time constructively?
Watch the clip about Women's Liberation and answer the following questions:
  • What was most surprising about the clip?
  • Did women achieve equality in American society?  Why/why not?