Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Weird Weeks

We are well into the second round of ISTEP, and it's a little bit difficult to teach new content during this time because so many students are in and out of the classroom.

In class, we finished teaching about World War II, and I went back yesterday to touch on some of the aspects of Buddhism I hadn't covered well enough.

For the next two days, though, we're going to review.  After all, the most important ISTEP test is coming up soon: social studies.  Don't let the media fool you.  The social studies ISTEP is where it's at.

In the mean-time, I wanted to post a couple examples of student work.  In dealing with World War II, we discussed Japan's Invasion of Manchuria (and later, China.)  





Japan invaded these lands for the same reason England colonized India.  Japan wanted land, and natural resources.  Maybe you're saying that the way Japan took Manchuria, China, and all else they took in South East Asia isn't the same as the way England took India.  ...England took it through trade, and worked with the Indians.  ...Maybe.  But British policy is responsible for the death of 17 million Indians.  (Would you please take a moment to reread that last sentence?)

And really, during World War II, Germany was saying it was just doing the same thing England had been doing to other parts of the world for centuries.  Germany was just colonizing Europe, rather than some other continent.

So, I gave the students this progression:  Demand for natural resources - Exploration - Colonization - Human Exploitation.  I asked them to draw the progression as pictures.  Here are a couple examples:
















Students may earn extra credit if they read and discuss the blog with an adult.  Have them write a paragraph about their discussion.  Does the adult agree or disagree with this progression?  Can you think of instances where this is not the case?

Have the adult sign the extra credit, proving it was actually discussed.

To those of you who do this:  Thanks.

Turn it in tomorrow in the extra credit tray.  (Make sure your name is on it.)

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