WWII: The Toll, The Hope

The three big ideas I wanted students to get today:

1: Demand for natural resources - human exploitation

• Demand for natural resources led to 
• Exploration which led to
• Colonization which led to 
• Human exploitation

2:  Japan was with us in WWI... what changed before WWII?

• Economic depression - Japan needed natural resources
• Japan invaded Manchuria (for land and natural resources)
• Russia (China's neighbor) sided with China
• Russia was allied with England (and probably eventually the U.S.)
• Japan bombed Pearl Harbor

3:  The toll WWII took on the world was not insignificant.

For that last one, we watched a video.  It's a bit long, but I recommend it.  If you even just watch the first 7 minutes, it's worth it.  If you're class didn't get to see the end, watch that for extra credit.

If students watch it and discuss it with an adult, they may earn extra credit.  To get the credit, they should write a paragraph telling about the discussion.  Have the adult they discussed with sign the paper, and turn it in on Monday.

Here's the video:

WWI and WWII

Yesterday I asked my students if they had heard of World War I before.  Almost universally, students told me that they had.

I asked them to tell me about it.  Anything.  Who was it fought between, why it was fought, when, major battles, sides, places... anything.

I think 2 students out of 150 or so could list a single accurate aspect of this, The "Great" War.

So, here's what happened:

I asked students if they knew the term, "I got your back" means.  Yes, of course they did.  They even taught me some new, hip ways of saying it.  I won't repeat them here, because I prefer to use terms like, "hip."

They went around the classroom building alliances:

Then I offered something small: a candy bar.  I offered it to a petite lady in the class.  It was hers, but if somebody could beat her in arm-wrestling, they could have it.

I then chose the strongest looking guy with his hand up.

Obviously, that wasn't fair - so she called up member of her alliance.  Maybe all of them.

Then, the guy didn't think that was fair, so he called up all the members of HIS alliance.

Then alliance members called other people they were allied with, until the whole classroom was up at the front fighting over something very few actually cared about, or were invested in.

We discussed how the catalyst for WWI was something relatively small - Gavrilo Princip assassinating Franz Ferdinand.  (Of course, assassinations are a big deal, but ultimately millions and millions of people ended up dying in WWI.)  Then, the system of alliances took off - and that's where we got the war.

Today, we've already moved into WWII.  You can check out things I've posted about it HERE, or HERE.

If you want extra credit for reading and discussing the blog, write two paragraphs about the discussion you had.  Have the adult you read with sign the paper.  Turn it in tomorrow.  (Make sure your name is on it.)

Carrying On

Well, here in class we're on to World War II.  We're focusing on Japanese Imperialism, but the Queen's poster showed up during the Crash Course video:

I can't imagine how difficult it was for the British, but I'm glad they didn't panic.

We spent quite a bit of time working on the bellwork.  You can get a copy of it HERE.  It's called Japan Invades Manchuria.

As a class, we didn't go into great detail about the horrors of the Japanese invasion - and it was horrific.  I did point out that the stemmed from a demand of natural resources.

If you weren't here today, you should probably watch these two videos:






and this one - your favorite.






If you want the extra credit, read and discuss the blog.  If you weren't here today and you want the extra credit, you need to do the bellwork.  If you were here, you should discuss today's entry with an adult.  If you've done that, write two sentences from the discussion.

Either way, when you're finished turn the paper in tomorrow.  Put it in the extra credit tray.

DON'T FORGET!  WE HAVE A MAJOR TEST COMING UP ON WEDNESDAY!