Threat List

What are the greatest threats facing the United States today?

We are social studies.  It's everywhere.  The land we live on.  The people we elect to lead us.  The way we use money.  It's what we believe about God or gods, and how we relate to our friends.  It's the culture in the TV shows we enjoy, and the headlines we pick up from... well... wherever we pick them up from.

It makes sense to teach social studies using what's going on in the world.  A respected colleague of  mine has had a lot of success teaching this way.  His students love him.

One of the things he has done in the past is keep a running "QV List."  I've often wanted to try that, but I was never quite sure how to go about it.

So this year, for the first time, I found myself keeping multiple lists with the classes, depending on the topic.  But one list has taken center-stage: The Threat List.

It's a running list of threats facing These United States.  They often have ties (sometime loose ties) to what we're talking about, or will be talking about.  Geography, government, the economy, religion...  Here's the list as it stands today:

In case the images are blocked, it reads:

• North Korea
• ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria)
• Disease (None pressing, as Ebola or Zika were recently)
• Opioid epidemic
• Forest fires (west)
• Hurricanes (major ones)
• Afghanistan
• Terrorism
• International (Outside our country)
• Domestic (Inside our country)
• Non-terroristic "Lone Wolf" attacks
• Crumbling infrastructure
• Russia's misinformation campaign
• Pollution

I wasn't sure what form this list would take.  It seems like we're adding things I hadn't thought of every other week.  I'm noticing differences in the ways we approach different threats.  Different political tones. While we studied the economy, I wondered about the economic toll these threats placed on our country.  When we study government, I'll be sure to bring up the primary purpose of government: keep it's citizens safe, and protect their rights.

We don't bring up the list everyday, but it has brought something new to the classroom.  I'm hoping that it will be a reminder to my students when they're older that America has always faced threats.  That when they grow up and people talk about how much better, and safer the world was when they were kids, they'll be able to recognize that we always faced threats, we always had problems, but we also worked to overcome and solve them.

And they're at the age where they'll start hearing about these things outside of the classroom.  As they get older, parents are sheltering them less and less.  While we can never be fully mentally prepared for the threats we as a nation face, acknowledging that they are there is a step.

Students can earn extra credit by reading and discussing the blog with an adult.  After you've read and discussed it with them, answer the following questions with that adult on a scrap of paper: What do you think about the list?  Should anything be added?  Should anything be removed?  Sign and date the scrap of paper, and have the adult do the same.  Turn it in tomorrow in the extra credit tray.

Culture to Standard of Living to Economy to Human Capital

There is no perfect path to teaching social studies.

I want to review culture, and the cultural ingredients:

• food
• dress
• religion
• language
• standard of living
• the arts
• government
• values
• customs
• ethnicity

But I also want to dig deeper into understanding them.  But digging deeper takes time.  Take standard of living, for instance.

To understand that, we've got to understand the economy.

And to understand the economy, we have to know what GDP is.

And when I teach economy, I want to teach human capital, because they tie together so well.

...But now we're many degrees of separation from culture.

So, Monday we're going to fly back to culture, and hope that we don't all forget the lessons on economics.

If you want credit for reading discussing the blog today, find a scrap of paper and define human capital on it.  (We did this today in class.)  If you were absent, and need to make up the points, go to the "human capital" link.  Figure out what human capital is from that.  Write it on a scrap of paper, and turn it in tomorrow.

Odd Man Out

What is an American?

We're spending a decent amount of time studying cultures in my class right now.  Our social studies department gives 8-10 examples of "ingredients" of culture.  For instance, here are the ones I use:

• Food
• Dress
• Language
• Religion
• Government
• The Arts
• Customs
• Ethnicity
• Values
• Standard of Living

There are more, of course.  (Sports, history, architecture, etc...)  And perhaps some don't belong - is government an ingredient/part of culture or is it something that influences/creates culture: like climate or weather?

Either way, it is perhaps important to note "odd man out."  I feel like this is especially true in America.

When I went to China or when I lived in Haiti, it was evident early on that I was a minority ethnically.  I remember times in Haiti where people would want to touch my hair because they'd never seen hair like mine before.  (My brother got this even more than me because his hair wasn't just blond when he was a kid, it was white.  Our Haitian friends called him, "Blanc Blanc.")  In China people snuck pictures of us, and there were multiple occasions where people asked to take pictures with us, or especially with our daughter because they'd never seen a white person in the flesh before.

We weren't from those cultures, and it was evident.  Our language, our mannerisms, our food preferences...  Most everything screamed, "FOREIGNER!" even though we were trying to embrace the culture we were in.

That said, we can be a part of a culture, and still be the "odd man out."  For instance, although the Han Chinese make up 92% of the Chinese population, there are other ethnic groups that are also Chinese.  And those other ethnic groups are Chinese as well.

I'm pausing to note that there is a difference between culture and sub-culture.  And I'm also acknowledging that within nations there are often multiple cultures.  But lets not get distracted.

There are times you can be part of a culture - completely part of a culture - and still not embrace certain ingredients of that culture.

I believe this to be especially true in America.  In fact, I believe one of America's cultural traits to be diversity.  Even though the majority religion in America is Christianity, there are non-Christians who are part of America's culture.  Even though American cultural food includes McDonalds, there are some who enjoy Pad Thai.  America's ethnicity has always been diverse - more so now that ever.

I have a confession to make: I don't like baseball.  I struggle to watch games when I'm with friends who understand the intricacies of the game.  And I know that baseball is American culture.  It's America's Pastime.   

But I'm still American.  And I still embrace American culture.  But when it comes to baseball, I'm the "odd man out."

Students can earn extra credit by reading and discussing the blog with an adult.  In order to prove that they've read and discussed the blog, they need to write down one example (other than baseball) of how someone can be an American, but be the "odd man out" with certain cultural ingredients.

Spanish Lunch

We're at the end of the school year.  Everyone has taken the final.  They are graded, and the grades are entered.  We're winding down, and really, the kids are ready to be done.  I want to start off this post by thanking all the students and parents for pushing me to be an even better teacher.  It's been a good year, and that's on you as much as it's on me.

As it's the end of the year, I don't have anything content related to share, per se...  But I wanted to give a shout out to some students who have been helping me out.

If you remember the beginning of the year, one of the big topics of our class was culture.  We listed 10 ingredients of culture: food, dress, religion, language, customs, etc...  You get the idea.  The past nine weeks, I've invited some of my students who are fluent in Spanish to help me learn.  Any student who was fluent, or was interested in learning Spanish (and had 3rd lunch) was invited to have lunch with me.

The rules (though they were sometimes broken) were that they could only speak Spanish unless I asked them for a translation.  I had to speak Spanish as much as I could, and English when I couldn't.

I invited students who weren't fluent as well.  But I didn't want them to just show up with no intent to learn.  They had to prove they were trying to learn as well.  I've been using the free app, Duolingo.  It's not perfect, but it's really helped as well.  Alas, only a couple students started to learn, and they quickly dropped out.  No hard feelings though, we're all busy.

Still, in a class where we discussed culture, language, loss of language, and increasing human capital, I thought it was worth sharing that I'm trying to practice what I preach.

If you want extra credit for reading and discussing the blog, tell me if you've ever considered learning another language.  Are you planning on taking one next year?  How do you plan on continuing to increase your human capital over the summer?  Write your responses on a scrap of paper, and have the adult you read and discussed with sign the paper.

Put your name, date, and hour on it.  Turn it in tomorrow or Thursday.

Life is Unfair

I started off today by asking my students to draw the caste system pyramid from memory.  Then, they had to explain why Gandhi was against it.  Here it is the picture I made, by the way:

*Side note*:  Before break, I wanted to show students how a lot of other people made the caste system pyramid - with the "untouchables" as part of the pyramid itself, and how I drew them as not part of the pyramid, but rather the ground around it - not even worth of being part of the society.  But when I searched google, I found this:

But THEN... I saw that my picture was showing up under searches, but NOT on my site.  (For instance, you can find it HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE... to name a few...)  I didn't know whether I should be annoyed or thrilled.  So I chose thrilled.  I was happy that none of them came with the comment, "this is the worst rendition of the caste system I have ever seen..."  *End of side note*

Many students told me that Gandhi was against the caste system because it was unfair.  ...This is true.  But why was it unfair?  It was unfair because at the time, people couldn't move from caste to caste.  Where you were, you stayed.

I told students a story (common to many kids, I'd bet) about my dad.  I asked him if I could go to my friend's house.  

"No," he replied.

"But that's not fair."

"Life's not fair."

"But everyone else is going."

"I'm not every one else's dad.

"But! But!"

"Hey... you should have thought of that when you were in the dad aisle picking which dad you wanted.  #sorrynotsorry."

And we get it, right?  We can't pick our parents, our race, which culture we're born in...  There's so much that's out of our control.

Here in the US in 2017, we're striving toward equality of rights.  Gandhi understood that life is inherently unfair.  I can't help that I was born into a super-rich family (lie) any more than my friend could help being born into a super-poor family.  But we can go to school, increase our human capital, and try to work our way up and out.  In India, in Gandhi's day, this was not possible.  And that's why Gandhi fought against it.

If you want extra credit for reading and discussing the blog today, you should discuss it with an adult.  How is being born poor today similar to being born an untouchable in Gandhi's time?  How is it different?  Is it a fair comparison?  What are some things you can do now to help ensure you have more money later in life?  Write your answers to some of these questions on a piece of paper, and have the adult you read and them with sign the paper.  Turn it in tomorrow.

The Election is Here

Welcome back to the blog.  Thanks for checking it out.

Perhaps you've heard that it's a presidential election year.

We haven't discussed the topic much in class, as it's not exactly part of our standards.  We've been focusing on latitude and longitude, culture, globalization, industrialization, and most recently, the economy.

Still, as a social studies teacher, I couldn't let today pass without saying SOMETHING.

One of the things we discussed today were political ads.  I said that there are basically two types: "Vote for me, I'm good."  And, "My opposition is bad, so vote for me."

Most people who have studied above 7th grade know that it's more complex than that, but I didn't have time to get into appeals to authority, glittering generalities, etc...

But I did show students four political ads for presidential candidates, four for governor, and two for senate.  

For president, I tried to show an example of each kind for each candidate:  I'm good: vote for me.  They're bad: vote for me.

I'm posting them here, so you can see what we watched.  If students want extra credit, they're supposed to read and discuss the blog post with an adult.  If they did that, they should write at least 2 sentences from the discussion, and have the adult sign it.  Turn the paper in tomorrow.

Maybe talk about whether or not you voted, and why...

Clinton: Anti-Trump Ad

Trump:  Anti-Clinton Ad





Clinton:  Pro-Clinton Ad





Trump:  Pro-Trump Ad




Holcomb ad:





Gregg ad:




Holcomb ad:





Gregg ad:





Bayh ad:




Young ad:

Globalization and Technology

This has been our progression:

The world (latitude, longitude, geography...) → cultures → cultural borrowing/cultural diffusion → globalization → technology's influence on globalization.

There have been other topics interspersed.  We've introduced industrialization (with Industralia) and some negative consequences of globalization (the loss of culture).

We learned about standard of living, and the September 11th attacks.  But in general, the progression holds.

The past couple days I've tried to hit home how much smaller the world is - or at least seems.  When we say that technology is shrinking the world, we mean that the world seems smaller.  Various classes have had google hangouts with people from all over the country and world.  In order to get the extra credit today, watch 5 minutes of one of the following videos.  When you're done, write at least 3 sentences about what you watched, and how it shows technology shrinking the world.

Technology has, and continues to shrink the world.  I think we should do some more of these.

The Hunger Games and Culture and Goat Cheese

On Monday, I had all the students in the computer lab.  They were looking for examples of culture in the book.  They had to list the ingredient of culture, page number, and give a quote.

First hour found more than any other class, so I thought I'd give them a little treat.

The book mentions goat cheese quite a few times.  (One of the characters, Prim, owns a goat.)

One of the ingredients of culture is food.  And, although I bought the goat cheese at Martins - which is part of our own culture - many of my students had never tried it before.  So, this morning I brought it in for my first hour class to try.

Here's one of the quotes from the book, "Gale spreads the bread slices with the soft goat cheese..."  So, I got them bread as well.  As expected, some students liked it, and some didn't.

True story:  before I left for a year on my own in Croatia, my father would sit me down and have me try random foods that I'd never tried before.  I was practicing being polite, and respectful of what the someone from an other culture had prepared for me.  Maybe it wasn't what I was accustomed to, but I knew to be appreciative of their generosity.  Hopefully I helped pass that mentality on to my students.

As we've been working with culture, I had students draw pictures of each ingredient.  Here are 10.  Each class is represented.  In order to get credit for reading and discussing this blog with an adult, look at the pictures and see if you can determine which ingredient of culture it's supposed to represent.  When you have them listed, have the adult you've read and discussed the blog with sign your paper.

Turn it in Monday in the extra credit spot.  (Also, don't forget the "Made in _______" tags that you may also bring in for extra credit.)  Here are the pictures:

Culture: Values

We have been discussing culture, and it's ingredients in here the past several days.  I give students 10 ingredients I want them to know.  They're on a bulletin board in the back of my room:

Pretty sweet, right?

Some of the ingredients are easy to understand: food, dress, language.  Others get more complicated: government, religion, ethnicity.

And certainly there are more than 10 ingredients of culture.  What about holidays?  Where do they fit?  Sports?  Should government be on there?  Or is that something that influences our culture - like geography?  I remember a time I boarded a plane at JFK International Airport in NYC.  It was snowing so hard.  I was all bundled up.  We were lucky to even make it to the airport.  And we got of the plane in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.  101°.  Maybe geography should be up there...

One that trips up students every year, though, is values.  The definition I give is, "something a culture esteems as good or worthy.  Ideals they try to live up to."  That's an admittedly weak definition.

Students continually confuse values and valuables.  I just had students draw pictures for each of the ingredients of culture.  Every year I have students draw diamonds, or gold earrings for values.  ...Not what we're looking for.

So, I told students values are what you want your kids to become when they grow up.  No parent tells their kid, "today at school, I want you to be as lazy as possible.  Try to sleep in every class if you can.  We want you to live with us until you're 40."  Or "Make sure to be a bully today, honey.  Pull a kid's hair, if you get a chance.  Hopefully you'll get suspended."

We want our kids to be hard workers, honest, helpful, brave.  Trustworthy, empathetic but not whiny, genuine.  Those are values.

Students may receive extra credit if they read and discuss this blog post with an adult.  To prove that they read and discussed it, please write 5 values that the adult wants to instill in the student.  Have the adult sign the paper - proving they read and discussed.  Then, make sure the student's name, date, and hour are on it.  Turn it in tomorrow in the extra credit tray.

Troublesome: Globalization

Yesterday, upon arriving back to class after spring break, I decided to give my students a little review sheet for bellwork.  When they had finished, and graded the sheet, I tallied up how many students missed each question in each class.

Most students did well - even thought they hadn't thought of school in over a week.  For instance, here are the numbers of students who missed a question about the British Empire in each class: 4, 1, 4, 5, 5, 3.

One question question (on human capital) came out like this: 3, 6, 3, 6, 14, 5.  So, I know I need to review with the class that had 14 students miss that one.

But two questions really stood out to me: one was on globalization, and one was on urbanization.

Here are the numbers: globalization:  17, 14, 20, 13, 19, 8.  Urbanization: 18, 21, 24, 15, 25, 19.

A SIGNIFICANT number of students missed those questions.  The globalization question is especially troubling, because we spent quite a bit of time covering it.  (...Although I didn't always tie the topics - such as cultural borrowing, cultural diffusion, etc... back to the term globalization.)

The two parts to globalization that students really need to know are world culture and international trade.  And even though they didn't get the answer on the test, my gut is they understand the concept.

The urbanization question had even worse results, but the students explained why they got it wrong.  I gave them a definition: "the increasing growth and spread of cities all all over the planet."  They had to come up with the term urbanization.

Several students pointed out that the definition I'd given them before was, "people moving to the city - usually for better paying jobs."

It didn't take long to point out that these definitions were essentially the same thing: if people move to the city for better paying jobs, what is going to happen to that city?  It's going to grow.

It's a continual struggle for teachers to get students to understand ideas and concepts rather than just memorize facts and definitions.

We've been studying Hinduism.  But, with ISTEP coming up, and the results of the globalization question on that review, I'm going to continue to review globalization while teaching Hinduism.

Today, we started in on a series by NPR.  It's worth checking out.  Here's what we watched today:

If you want extra credit for reading and discussing the blog with an adult, write a paragraph about your discussion.  Explain the two parts of globalization (world culture and international trade).  Have the adult you read the blog with sign the paper.  Turn it in tomorrow in the extra credit tray.

Overwhelmed: People and Time

I've written about this before, and it's worth checking out.

I was driving home on Sunday and my wife asked me if everything was okay.  I had been staring out the window of the van.  My kids were in the back.

I was really trying to see Goshen in a way I hadn't before.  Notice all the businesses.  All the houses beyond houses on the streets I've never driven down, because... why would I?

So many people I've never met, and probably never will.  Houses beyond houses beyond houses.

I asked my students to think about what they did yesterday.  Then think about what they did Sunday.  Then Saturday.  Friday. Thursday.  Wednesday.  Just one week - but they had to really think about it.  Could they remember what they did every day?  It was taxing for them, as it would be for many of us.

Imagine if we could think about the days before that.  If we could remember the days of our 6th grade year.  And 3rd.  Preschool.

How many days before we were born?

And to think, that looking around the room, there were 30 different Wednesdays of last week.  Different students with different individual lives.  Different individual concerns and different individual victories.

Social studies is all about people.  We have government to try to create order.  The economy deals with people making things.  Our culture is who we are.

There are a lot of us: more than 7 billion.

There have been a lot of us for a long time.  It's a bit overwhelming to go back a week with 30 people.  We're tasked with making sense of a world that has more than 30 people, and has been around for more than a week.

We watched a couple videos.

If students want extra credit, they should watch one of these with an adult.  Discuss it.  Write a 3 sentence response to the video, and have the adult sign it.  Turn it in tomorrow.

TEST FRIDAY!

We introduced government today.  It would be worth checking out this blog post.  ...Or maybe this post.


I'm not going to write about that though, because I want to make sure that you realize we have a test on Friday.  It will cover everything we've learned so far this school year, but especially focus on culture, economics, and globalization.

HERE IS A LINK TO THE REVIEW GUIDE.

If you want the extra credit today, you need to study for at least 10 minutes - preferably with an adult, but you may also study on your own.

If there's anything on the review guide you feel like you cannot adequately explain, look at your notes, or search through this blog.  Type whatever it is you need help with into this blog's search engine (upper left hand corner of a desktop) and it should give you all the help you'll need.

When you're done studying, find a scrap of paper and write 5 things you brushed up on.  Have the adult you studied with sign the paper.

Turn it in tomorrow for extra credit.

Juxtapositions: The Hunger Games and Banksy

Juxtaposition:  The fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.


Throughout The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins has juxtaposed the life of the Capitol with that of Katniss and District 12.  We see it in the clothes, the food, the dress, the customs, the arts; every aspect or ingredient of their culture seems to be placed side-by-side for our comparison.

It should be obvious to readers that she is doing it intentionally.  And, she does it whether Katniss is living at home in District 12, or not.

Here is a paragraph from the chapter we just read today: chapter 26.

     "I slump down on the floor, my face against the door, staring uncomprehendingly at the crystal glass in my hand.  Icy cold, filled with orange juice, a straw with a frilly white collar.  How wrong it looks in my bloody, filthy hand with its dirt-caked nails and scars.  My mouth waters at the smell, but I place it carefully on the floor, not trusting anything so clean and pretty." (p. 347)


The difference between these two worlds is intentionally jarring, meant to illustrate the "let them eat cake" attitude of the Capitol.  (For the record, Marie Antoinette is supposed to have said this, but there's little evidence to support that.)

Of course, after having read the article, "The Real Cost of Clothes" or watching "The Deadly Cost of Fashion" or reading the article "21st Century Slaves" this juxtaposition hits a little harder.  It is impossible to read The Hunger Games after that and not put our own culture into it.

I'm here in my fancy classroom, with clothes, and shoes, and posters on the wall.  Coffee I can have at essentially the push of a button.  A computer in front of me that connects to a SMARTboard on the wall.  Both of which are connected to the internet that connects to computers all over the world.  I don't have to worry about the electricity going out, or not having clean water.


Juxtapose that against the life of a 7 year old child working 17 hour shifts 7 days a week.  (As mentioned in the Junior Scholastic Article on slavery.)

It's evident that The Hunger Games is a warning for all of us.

Art (an ingredient of culture) reflects the culture.   The message we find here in this book, we find in other pieces of art as well.  Banksy is one of the kings of unexpected contrast, and he (or she... or they) is giving the same message:

Collins also does this to show us the horrors of the Capitol, and perhaps what we could become if we're not careful.

     "When I manage to pull my eyes away from the flickering fabric, I'm in for something of a shock.  My hair's loose, held back by a simple hairband.  The makeup rounds and fills out the sharp angles of my face.  A clear polish coats my nails.  The sleeveless dress is gathered at my ribs, not my waist, largely eliminating any help the padding would have given my figure.  The hem falls just to my knees.  Without heels, you can see my true stature.  I look, very simply, like a girl.  A young one.  Fourteen at the most.  Innocent.  Harmless.  Yes, it is shocking that Cinna has pulled this off when you remember I've just won the games."  (p. 355)

In case you didn't catch it, Cinna is using a juxtaposition here as well.  He is showing the Capitol what Katniss really is: a young girl.  The Capitol, for entertainment, sees her as a Tribute; a killer.  Cinna, by dressing her this way shows that she's no monster, or rather it draws attention to the fact that now she is - because the Capitol made her so.  That being the case, those living in the Capitol must ask themselves who the true monsters are.

And as a reader of the book, and viewer of the arts, we must ask ourselves, who do we represent, and what should our reaction be?

If you're a student and you read and discussed this with an adult, write a couple sentences in response to the post.  What did you think?  Did you agree with it or not?  What did the adult think?  What parts did you agree with?  What parts didn't you agree with? 

Have the adult sign the paper when you're done.

Turn it in tomorrow.  (Make sure your name, date, and hour are on the paper.  For real... double check this.)

We're Back, BABY!

I hope you all had a great 4-day weekend!  I worked straight through it.  It felt good to feel like I was making progress on something, you know?

So, an update: Students should have read through chapter 21 of The Hunger Games.  (They should be ready to go with chapter 22 tomorrow.)  I keep thinking of Rome, and the Colosseum.  I keep thinking about how so many of us love watching football, knowing about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, yet we push it to the  back of our mind, because... football.

Maybe I'll write a post on that (and how The Hunger Games mirrors many other aspects of our culture) later.  For now, I want to give you a term we learned today:


URBANIZATION:  Moving to the city - usually for jobs.  (Also, the growing of cities)

We talked a little bit about why cities grow, why some people might want to move to the city to get a better job, and why others might not want to.

Throw in economy and globalization, and you've got yourself a lesson.


If you want extra credit for reading and discussing the blog today, you should have read and discussed this short little post with an adult.  Tell them about Ms. Urias.  Explain why Ms. Urias moved to the city.  Tell them what you would have done if you were her.  Why would Ms. Urias's job not have been ok in the United States.  ...That's the type of stuff I want you to discuss.  Have at it.  If you don't get it all, that's ok.  Thanks for stopping by.

To prove you were here, find a scrap of paper, and write two sentences from your discussion.  Then, have the adult you read with sign the paper.  Make sure your name, date and hour are on it.  Turn it in tomorrow.

Have a great evening, everybody.

Death of Language, Death of Culture

At the end of our fictional Banananovia Story, there are a couple ladies who are walking down the street clinging to their culture even as it is disappearing around them.

They are mocked by young Banananovians, but they do their best to maintain their dignity.  Heads held high, they continue down the street.

Even though they continued wearing the traditional clothes, and speaking the old language, there was nothing they could do to stop the onslaught of globalization.

It reminds me of a scene from The Matrix.  "You hear that, Mr. Anderson?  That is the sound of inevitability."

Sometimes, there's just nothing you can do.  (Granted, the Matrix analogy doesn't completely pan out if you've seen the movie... but you get my point.)

While Banananovia was fictional, we are becoming a world culture (or monoculture.)  Yesterday we discussed the Columbian Exchange.  Globalization was already happening before Columbus, but boy did he speed things up.

We read an article from 2012 which states, "There are some 6,000 to 7,000 languages in the world and it is estimated that they are disappearing at a rate of one every two weeks..."

Here's the article.  If you were absent today, make sure you read it.

We also watched this short video.  If you were absent, watch it:

If you were absent and want the points, or if you want extra credit, write a short summary of the article and the video, "Marie's Dictionary."  Discuss them with an adult.  (If the adult doesn't have time to read/watch with you, explain to the adult what the stories were about once you've finished.)

Then, have the adult sign your summary.  Turn it in tomorrow for extra credit.  The end of the marking period is going to be here soon.  Make sure you're keeping up.

Ingredients of Culture Pictures (2015)

It's been a little while since students submitted their ingredients of culture pictures, but I wanted to put a couple up.  If you remember, culture is everything that makes a society unique.  It's their way of life.

I gave students 10 ingredients of culture.  Certainly there are more.  Some people might argue that a few of the ones I have listed don't belong.  Here they are again:

• government
• language
• values
• ethnicity
• food
• dress
• the arts
• customs
• standard of living
• religion

I'm going to post 10 pictures students drew.  Each picture represents a different ingredient of culture.  All of my classes are represented in the pictures.

In order to get credit for reading and discussing the blog today, you have to look through the pictures with an adult, and write down what you think each one stands for.  Have the adult sign the paper.  Turn it in tomorrow.

Busy, Busy Days

It's been pretty busy around here.  Grades continue to be updated.  If I were you, I would double-check them to make sure they're accurate.  If there's anything you need to turn in, well...  Get it turned in.

I'm hoping to post some of the ingredients of culture pictures here on the blog, but I might not get that done for a day or two.  We're still studying culture, but we're mixing it with economics.  We're working our way toward globalization.

Today students reviewed the ingredients of culture by writing a short story which included each ingredient.

After that, we got new seats.

Then, they looked in The Hunger Games and found examples of some of the things we've been studying.

They had to find:

• standard of living (3 examples)
• economies
• traditional (1)
• market(1)
• command(1)
• ethnocentrism (1)
• ingredients of culture
• food (1)
• dress (1)
• religion (1)
• customs (1)
• ethnicity (1)
• values (1)
• the arts (1)
• government (1)
• language (1)
• standard of living (already listed above)

I think it went pretty well.

Students can get extra credit by reading and discussing this blog with an adult.  After you've read and discussed it, write a sentence about your discussion.  Have the adult you read with sign the paper.  Make sure your name, date, and hour are on it.  Turn it in tomorrow.

Supply, Demand, and GDP

We're jumping around a little bit here - between culture, standard of living, and economics.  Maybe, just by reading that sentence you can see how those things all relate.  Standard of living is one of the ingredients of culture.  The economy is a fairly reliable indicator of standard of living.

Of course, a teacher can't just say "economy" and expect the kids to know what he's talking about.

Yesterday, we reviewed the 4 types of economies:

• Traditional
• Market
• Command
• Mixed

We discussed the common thread between them - they all deal with how things are made, sold or traded for, and bought.

We also looked at their differences.  A traditional economy is based off of necessity and availability.  A market economy is based off supply and demand.  In a command economy, the government dictates production, distribution, and consumption.

And of course, a mixed economy is a mix of the others.

For instance, here in the United States, we're primarily a market economy.  However, the government does tell us there are certain things we're not allowed to make.  Can you think of any?

So, although we're a market economy, we're at least partially a command economy as well.

We discussed supply and demand - the less you have of something people want, the greater the value.  To illustrate this point, I told students a couple stories about aluminum.  (Students, if you remember any of the stories, quickly retell them now.  ...If not, feel free to click this link.)

We'll be discussing the economy (and how it ties in with culture) for the next several days.  Often, we'll do this through the lens of The Hunger Games, which depicts each type of economy.

One of the last things we studied and learned about was GDP.  Yesterday, after the bellwork, we played a computer game organizing countries by GDP.  (One might argue we were also looking at the standard of living for each of those countries, but it's a little more complicated than that.)

You should check out the game, too.  In fact, students, to get extra credit today, challenge whoever it is you're reading this blog post with.  Let me know who wins.  Write it down on a scrap of paper, along with what they thought of the game.  Make sure your name, date, and hour are on it.  Turn it in tomorrow.

Here's the link.

Culture, Hunger Games, and Doubling Up

Students have homework tonight!  If they didn't finish their cultural ingredients pictures that we started yesterday - and worked on today - they need to finish them at home and bring them in tomorrow.  ...Completed.  Click the link if you lost your copy, didn't get one, had your dog eat it, or whatever...

We've been learning about culture and society in conjunction with, and through our reading of The Hunger Games.  We can see all of the ingredients of culture depicted in the world Ms. Collins has created.  We see the ingredient of values when Prim says she doesn't care about the money - she cares about her sister.  We see values and customs when the community raises three fingers in salute to Katniss.  (Incidentally, this is also viewed as an act of civil disobedience, a term that will show up repeatedly later on in the year...)  I would be that standard of living shows up as much as any theme in the book.

Perhaps I'm most excited to read the book with Mr. Ogle's language arts classes.  He will be drawing things out of the book (and students) that I won't have hit on.  Working on it together like this is essentially giving students double the language arts time, and double the social studies time.  I LOVE it!  I walked in to his room today for a little planning, and saw his board had some Hunger Games vocabulary on it.  I could only smile to myself.

What does "loathe" mean?  Hunger Games terms on the board.

As of today, every student has a book.  So, we're in.  We've been taxiing on the runway; now we're taking off.

Students may earn extra credit by reading and discussing the blog with an adult.  If they want extra credit today, they should discuss what's been happening in The Hunger Games.  Tell how it ties in with social studies.  Discuss what you like and dislike about the story.  When you're finished, students should write a short paragraph about the conversation they had.  Have the adult they discussed with sign the paper, and turn it in tomorrow.

Again, don't forget about the homework.

Hunger Games Quotes II: Ingredients of Culture

We've started discussing culture - what is it that makes a culture a culture?  What are the ingredients?

There are many ingredients of culture.  Far more than the 10 I give.  But, I give 10.

• language
• government
• values
• ethnicity
• arts
• food
• dress
• customs
• standard of living
• religion

I've got a bulletin board in the back of my room showing this:

We've finished up taking the notes defining and giving examples for each of the ingredients.  Tomorrow they're going to draw pictures for each ingredient.  Today, for bellwork, they had more quotes from The Hunger Games.  They had to determine which ingredient of culture matched the quote.  Here they are:

Quote 1:  "Besides, the Capitol accent is so affected, almost anything sounds funny in it."  p. 8

(You might remember that the same quote was used on Monday as an example of ethnocentrism.  As ethnocentrism is not an ingredient of culture, that cannot be the answer today.)

Quote 2:  "I notice her blouse has pulled out of her skirt in the back again..."  p. 15

Quote 3:  "At first one, then another, then almost every member of the crowd touches the three middle fingers of their left hand to their lips and holds it out to me.  It is an old and rarely used gesture of our district, occasionally seen at funerals.  It means thanks, it means admiration, it means good-bye to someone you love."  -p. 24

Quote 4: "He could be my brother.  Straight black hair, olive skin, we even have the same gray eyes."  p.8

Quote 5:  "...(we) eat the rough bread made from the tessera grain."  p. 16  (This one fits 2 ingredients) 

If students want extra credit, they were supposed to read and discuss this post with an adult.  If they've done that, quiz the adult.  See how many ingredients they get right.  No pressure (as they weren't in class.)

When you're finished, write how it went on a scrap of paper.  Have the adult you read and discussed with sign the paper.  Turn it in tomorrow.  Make sure your name, date, and hour are on it.

See you soon.