Reincarnation - Google Drawings

Although we're now disucussing the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict, we spent some time yesterday figuring out how google drawings work.  I'm sure there will be a lot of ways I could use them in class.  As with everything, there's a lot of potential - if I could just figure out how to access it.

Students could make diagrams, flowcharts, posters, etc... from various topics we've studied throughout the year.  I had them start off with the reincarnation cycle.  I didn't take it for a grade, because we were figuring it out together.

Some students shared with me what they did.  I'll put those up here for you to look at.  Tell me what you think.

If students want extra credit, they should have read and discussed the blog with an adult.  Which of the diagrams do you like the best?  Why?  What are the strengths and weaknesses of each one?  If you were in class today, you could tell them a little bit about the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict.

Write down your thoughts from the conversation on a scrap of paper.  Have the adult you read and discussed with sign it.  Then turn it in tomorrow for extra credit.

It took Gandhi (and the Indian National Congress, etc...) a long time before they gained independence from the British.  I'm not expecting to fully understand google docs or drawings overnight.  But I want to be sure to use whatever tools I have at my disposal in order to be the best teacher I can be.

  (As long as those tools are genuinely enhancing the education of my students.)

Caste System

Well, things got pretty heated today - let me tell you.

We've been studying Hinduism and are currently focused on the Caste System.  Yesterday we read an article and watched a video on Dalits - the group formerly referred to as Untouchables.  (There is a lot of readily available information on this group of people.)

The main point of both the video and the article is that the caste system, although illegal, still influences India today. And, the Dalits are heavily discriminated against.

I draw parallels to discrimination in our own country - that even though we have anti-discrimination laws, many groups still face discrimination here.

Today though, we looked at the Indian Social Structure Pyramid (also called the Caste System Pyramid) and I asked the question, "Is there a caste system at CJHS?  If so, what does it look like?"

(Here's the Indian Social Structure Pyramid, by the way:)

I received many answers, but the two that came back most often dealt with authority and popularity. 

In the authority version, the principal or superintendent is on the top, and the students are on the bottom.

In the popularity version, you've got the popular kids at the top, and the unpopular kids at the bottom with various "castes" making up the pyramid, determined by the author/artist.  (Are "Preppy Kids" at the top?  Athletic?  Artistic?  Intelligent?)   ...This is where the class got heated.  Some students contended this was a Hollywood contrivance - that we're all more complicated than this.  True enough, there are kids who are involved in athletics, music, the arts, etc...  So, where would they go?  Others said that yes, it's overdone by Hollywood, but cliques still exist in Jr. High.

I don't have time to mention all the ideas that came up: castes by grade level, or one that had the students at the top, because everything is about them.  Concord is a student-centered school.  We're here to meet the needs of the students.  (While that may be true, I don't think it address the social structure of our school.)

What do you think?  If you've read and discussed this with an adult, write down a paragraph based on your discussion.  Write down thoughts pertaining to India's former (remember it was outlawed in 1947) caste system and the social make-up of CJHS.

Then, once you've written the paragraph, have the adult you read and discussed with sign the paper - proving that you've read and discussed it.