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.

Progress Reports and an Influx of People Wanting Extra Credit

So, progress reports come out tomorrow.  And we just took a little quiz that a lot of people got Ds on.  SOOOoooo... I'm anticipating an influx of students who are looking forward to some extra credit.

You've come to the right place.

We've finished studying religions.  You should now know the difference between monotheistic and polytheistic religions.  What theocracy is, and when it comes into play.  You should know some differences between the monotheistic religions - what Jews and Christians believe about the Messiah, for instance.  What are the Five Pillars of Faith for Islam?  What does "poly-morphic monotheism" mean?  Which religion is it specifying?  Which religions believe in karma and reincarnation?  How is the idea of karma in Hinduism different from the idea of mercy in Christianity?

We'll come back to the religions in review, but we're done for all intents and purposes.

For now, we're doing some moderate review - both for the ISTEP, and for our final, which is coming up in about 3 weeks.

It's been a while since we've discussed globalization, standard of living, or human capital.  Hopefully you still remember the differences between limited and unlimited governments.  More recently we've talked about colonization and imperialism.  How many of you remember the colonization simulation?

Does anyone remember why you learned TKWA?  Not just what each letter stands for, but why you learned it?

If you want extra credit for reading and discussing the blog with an adult, you need to read and discuss it with an adult.  To get the points, write the answer to at least 3 questions asked above.  They can be any three questions.  Third paragraph.  Fifth.  Have the adult you read it with sign your paper.  Turn it in tomorrow in the extra credit tray.

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.

Stations! Stations, Everyone!

Ancient Civilization Quiz grades will be entered soon.  If students weren't here on Friday, they should make up the quiz on Wednesday.

Today and tomorrow we're working on stations.

In past years, I haven't done as good of a job as I've wanted reviewing throughout the year.  That changed today.  Around the room, I made 7 stations.  Students had a little over 10 minutes to complete each one.

Almost all of them focused on something we had studied earlier in the year.

Here's a picture from each

Station 1:  Globalization, Industrialization, Urbanization

Malala and Kailash and Externalities

In class, we've been really focused in on globalization and its consequences.  Consumers pay less for goods, but cheap labor is exploited.  We have exposure to more cultures, but many cultures are dying out.

Every action has positive and negative consequences.  Economic development is no different.  Today we learned the term "externality."  It used to be called "economic spillover."

An economic spillover (externality) refers to the unintended positive and negative outcomes of economic development.

You can see why we have to teach what the economy is before we can begin teaching about externalities.

Countries (and states, and cities) want economic development.  They want people in their area to have jobs making and selling goods.  They want to have money to buy.  Often, they'll come up with incentives to bring companies or factories in.

When those factories come in, they're coming in because they want to make money.  THAT is what they care about.  Money.

The economic spillover would be the positives and negatives other than that money.

Does the factory take up space that used to be a park?  Negative economic spillover.

Did building the factory encourage others to check out the town?  Positive economic spillover.

Does the factory pollute?  Negative economic spillover.

Did the factory increase the standard of living for the town?  Positive economic spillover.

This idea of unintended consequences touches many areas of our lives.  Students wrote me a paragraph about it this morning.  Many were quite interesting: holding the door to be nice resulting in a piece of candy; play-fighting resulting in getting in trouble; forgetting to close the gate leading to the dog getting out of the yard and getting hurt.

Yesterday we read about Kailash Satyarthi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for his efforts to end modern slavery.  This was an unintended consequence of his actions.

He shared the award with Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the face for speaking out in favor of education.  Being shot; winning the award - these were both unintended consequences of Malala's actions.

Their paring for the Nobel Peace Prize makes sense.  They were both fighting for children to have the opportunities they deserve.  No child should be forced to work 17 hour shifts 7 days a week.  All children should have the right to an education.  

Perhaps an unintended consequence of globalization is that children are being forced to work long hours so first-world nations can have cheap clothes.  But another unintended consequence of globalization is that we all have the opportunity to speak up and speak out - and our words have the potential to be heard all over the world.

If you are interested in how you can raise money for education - and specifically girls education - worldwide, check out The Malala Fund.  They've got some really interesting ideas.

If you are interested in Kailash Satyarthi's organization BBA, check this out.

As always, students in my class may earn extra credit if they read and discuss this post with an adult.  To prove you did this, write a paragraph about your discussion and have the adult you read it with sign the paper.

Here's the trailer to He Named Me Malala.  We watched the trailer in class today.

Urbanization

We're still tying everything together, and looking at the pros and cons of globalization - and there are a lot of both.  We worked on understanding some of the terms that tie in to globalization:

• GDP
• Economics
• Interdependence
• Industrialization
• Standard of Living

...All things we've talked about before.  We added two today: developing nations, and urbanization.

To teach urbanization, I had students draw flowers on their bellwork.  They were in their groups, as they always are.  Each group represented a village, or town.  I told them I'd pay them in construction paper for the flowers they were drawing.  And I did.

But one group was a city.  They drew cars instead of flowers.  ...And I paid that group in Starburst.

At the end of the week, I offered students the opportunity to move to the city, if they wanted to.  Many, MANY students did.

Some students still did not move.  Maybe they liked drawing flowers more than cars.  Maybe they didn't feel like moving their desk.

This is like real life: maybe moving to the city is worth it to get a higher paying job.  ...But it may not be worth it for everybody.

Hopefully this sent home the idea that urbanization = moving to the city.  It usually happens because the person moving is looking for a higher paying job.

If you want the extra credit, tell the adult you're reading and discussing this with what you thought of the activity.  Then, when you're done, write a couple sentences from your discussion on a piece of notebook paper.  Make sure your name, date, and hour are on it.  Turn it in on Monday.

There are some pictures below the page break:

Tying Things Together

So many of these big, BIG concepts that we've been learning about tie in with other big concepts we've been learning about.  The term and idea of globalization encompasses so much.  Economy is the production (making), distribution (selling), and consumption (buying/using) of goods - but we could go off on lessons about standard of living, and human capital, and banks, and economic spillover (externalities), and jobs, and industrialization, and urbanization...  And each one of those terms/concepts/ideas/whatever you want to call them is another lesson or series of lessons.

Yesterday, we discussed the factory collapse in Bangladesh.  We talked about people who lived in countries with low standards of living, where they worked for so much less than the U.S. minimum wage.  And how, consumers possibly share the blame for the deaths of those factory workers.

In a way, globalization has led to the exploitation of those workers.  Our desire to have well-made, inexpensive clothes led to that.

But globalization is also strengthening the economies of these countries.  Their production is getting them money, and getting us the products we want.  This is a case of everybody elevating everybody else.

Today, we showed this with a trading simulation.  We formed groups of countries.  Each country had a main export.  All the other countries wanted that export.  Yarn represented a trade deal between two countries.  If there was talking, the trade deal fell apart, and I cut the string.

Ultimately, by trading, everybody

• Got better stuff and a variety of stuff
• because certain goods only come from certain areas
• i.e. if you could only eat bananas grown in Indiana, you probably wouldn't be eating too many bananas
• Got cheaper stuff
• people can focus on producing what they're good at producing and make a lot of it
• i.e. if I had to make my own telephone, I would have no telephone
• also... cheap labor is driving globalization

We still haven't really tied all these things together, but we're going to try to.  Maybe tomorrow?  Maybe next week.

Here are some pictures of today's activity.  Instructions on how to get the extra credit points will be below them.

If students want extra credit, they should read and discuss this blog post with an adult.  When they've finished that, they should find a scrap of paper and write 2 sentences telling what they thought of the activity.  Have the adult that they read and discussed the blog with sign the paper.  Make sure your name, date, and hour are on it.  Then, turn it in tomorrow in the extra credit turn-in tray.

...One more thing, for those who care.  I try to conserve.  You know, reduce, reuse, recycle.  So, I spent a lot of my free time winding up the yarn.  But boy, there were a lot of knots.  Several times, I thought of the Gordian Knot.  Alexander and I... we're two of a kind.

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.

Hunger Games Quotes

Thursday and Friday of last week, I gave the students 6 "big idea" terms, along with a definition/explanation:

• culture
• government
• economics
• standard of living
• ethnicity
• ethnocentrism

Today, in class the white boards around the room had a quote from The Hunger Games.  Each quote dealt with a term.  Before we started reading, the students had to figure out the term, and why it fit with the quote.  Here they are, page numbers included.

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

Quote 2:  "'Mm, still warm,' O say.  He must have been up at the crack of dawn to trade for it.  'What did it cost you?'

         'Just a squirrel.'"  p.7

Quote 3:  "Since almost no one can afford doctors, apothecaries are our healers." p.8

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

Quote 5:  "It's to the Capitol's advantage to have us divided among ourselves."  p.14

Bonus: Quote 6: (More than one term applies):  "No one in the Seam would turn up their nose at a good leg of wild dog, but the Peacekeepers who come to the Hob can afford to be a little choosier."  p.11

Students can get extra credit if they read and discuss the blog with an adult.  If they've done this, have the students ask the adult if they can match any of the terms with the quotes.  On a sheet of paper, either write how the adult answered, or tell me how they did.  Did they get them all?  Most of them?  Did they miss any?

When you're done, have the adult sign the paper.  Make sure your name, date, and hour are on the paper.  Then turn it in tomorrow in the extra credit tray.

Hunger Games: Big Ideas

As promised, there's a blog post today.

We've started The Hunger Games!  Woo hoo!  I'm really excited about it, and I'm doubly excited that this year I get to work in tandem with Mr. Ogle, who will be teaching the Language Arts side of things.

Why The Hunger Games?

The content of The Hunger Games ties in with multiple 7th grade social studies standards.  It's a well-written, captivating story about the dangers of unlimited government.  Many of the big concepts we study are expressed in narrative fashion, allowing me to reinforce what we're learning in class.

Today, we talked about 4 of the big ideas that will show up in the book.  I had students write down a definition/explanation (in their own words) for:

• Government
• Economy
• Culture
• Standard of Living

These are hardly the only social studies topics that will show up in the book.  After students wrote down what they thought those things were, I gave them my definitions and explanations.  By page 6, each of these concepts had been brought up in some fashion.  We'll delve into it more, as we read the book.  I can't wait.

For now, here are some pictures of some things we did during the days I missed posting.  (The information on how to get some extra credit points is found below the pictures.)

If you want the extra credit, define/explain at least one of the following terms on a sheet of paper: government, economics, culture, standard of living.  If you were class, try to use my definition/explanation.  If you were absent, give it a good guess.  You may get help from a parent.

When you're done, have the parent or adult you read and discussed the blog with sign the paper.  Make sure your name, date, and hour are on it.  Turn it in in the extra credit tray tomorrow.

The Best Geography Games

We're working our way towards the Israeli/Palestinian Conflict, and just finished up the Arab Spring, so I had my students play some online geography games in class today - mostly The Middle East.

Tomorrow, we'll play again, but this time we'll look at some different geography games from around the web.  Here's a list of some good ones - you can get a head start by playing some tonight.

(Sorry if you have an iPhone...  iPhones don't support JAVA, so some of these games won't work.)

Here is the mainstay.  It's the website I've used for years.  It has political maps by continent and region, landscape maps, maps with capitals.  It's also how I learned the world when I was in college.  It's been around for a while.   Tried and true: Sheppard Software.

I like this one, because it expands the Middle East to include Afghanistan and Pakistan.  (However, it also includes Georgia and Azerbaijan - which fit, but lets see if my 7th graders can figure out the others, first. I'm linking directly to the Middle East game, but the website has a lot of other good ones as well.  Just hover your mouse over the bar at the top. Here is the link: Lizard Point.  (For instance, it's the only one I've found that has a U.S. Governor's game...  not that that falls under my standards... but still...)

If you search for "world geography games" this site is bound to be the first to come up, and it's pretty good.  I especially like the rivers, deserts, and mountain range games.  For myself, and I would assume for my students, the countries are a little overwhelming because it is only broken down into continents, and not by region.  Still, it's worth checking out: World Geography Games.

I like these minefield games, and while they are a little difficult for 7th grade, my students enjoyed them in the class.  It is a bit overwhelming going to the website, because there are so many games -  most of which do not apply to my class.  But we have talked about population density, and the difference between population and population density.  Playing this game with the class is a quick way to reinforce that - as China doesn't make the cut for the top 50 countries with the highest population density - but currently has the world's highest population.  Feel free to give it a shot: Sporcle..  (I bet this one will work on your phone...  Don't feel guilty about googling the answers... I didn't.)

It's been a while since we've studied latitude and longitude, so it's worth reinforcing.  If my students mastered the layout of the Middle East, they could play this one.  It's pretty good.  Just make sure the volume is down.   Here's the latitude and longitude game: Kidsgeo.

A lot of the geography games out there are very similar - click on the correct country, drag the country to the correct location...  But if students want a change of background, they could check out this one: Your child learns.

Some are quite different.  I really liked this global development game from The Guardian.  It was a good way to reinforce some concepts I've taught throughout the year - like GDP, standard of living, "developing nations," industrialization, etc...  This comes from the "Round 2 Games."  But it also gave me a way to bring up some of the international organizations I've always wanted to bring up but never have.  When students play the Round 3 games, I get them to ask themselves, "why is this question on here?  What does it have to do with social studies?"  And even if they've never heard about the people in the game, it gives them a reference point for lessons and discussions later on down the road.

If you know of any geography games that you use, or that you like more than these, email me or let me know in the comments.

If you're here for extra credit, play a game or two and tell me what you think.  Write a note telling me which was your favorite, and have the adult you read and discussed the blog with sign the note.  Turn it in to me tomorrow.

Quiz Day

Students took the Hinduism/Buddhism/Indian Independence Movement Quiz today.  I'm hoping to have all of the scores posted in the grade book by the end of the day.

I was surprised by how much some students struggled on the map portion.  We've gone to the computer lab several times, but it has been a while.  We've also done some other map work.  I'll want to look at that a little more closely to see if I can figure out what students are missing and why.

You should also know that I counted the essay as extra credit.  I graded these myself, and everyone scored well - well, at least out of those that I've scored so far.

Since we just took the quiz, I don't have anything vital to post.  But I do have something interesting.  If you remember back to Wednesday's post, I had students challenge adults to a game of Pictionary.  I received quite a few back.  I thought I'd post my favorite answers:

In case you couldn't get that, here are their answers along with the pictures:

Mom: Shrimp with arms

Tyler: Brahmin

Correct answer: Brahman.  The judges are still out as to whether or not Tyler should get the credit for this.  As a teacher, I don't grade for spelling when I'm trying to assess whether or not they know social studies.  I'll grade for spelling if I'm assessing spelling.  The problem is that "Brahmin" refers to the priestly caste within Hinduism, Brahman refers to the God of Hinduism.  The eternal spirit, if you'd prefer.

 Mom:  Pacman eating a garbage can full of money on fire.
Tyler: Suffering
Correct answer:  Gandhi.  Yeah... we were going for Gandhi on this one.  He's burning the passes.  Although, now I can only see Pacman eating a garbage full of money on fire.

 Mom:  A balloon wearing sunglasses next to a worm and the number 9.
Tyler: The making of salt.
Correct answer: The Ganges River.  In class, the artist drew the river first, and when the class couldn't get it, added Gandhi.  Then, when they still couldn't get it, he told them it began with the letter "g."  In Tyler's defense, the making of the salt is a fantastic guess.  In India, the making of salt was illegal, only the British could make it.  So, he famously marched to the sea to make it in defiance of the British.  It's something we talked about in class.  We have never talked about balloons wearing sunglasses...  But in Mom's defense, she's never been in my class, so I expect her to know none of these.

 Mom:  An old man looking at a melting ice cream cone.
Tyler: Gandhi
Correct answer: India.  Though, that is supposed to be Gandhi standing beside it.

 Mom: Man yelling at a boy who is getting hit by lightening.
Tyler: Karma.
Correct answer: Karma.  Good job, Tyler!  You've taken the lead 1-0.

 Mom: Four bullies w/ mohawks who are mad at three little siblings.
Tyler's answer: Oligarchy.
Correct answer: Oligarchy.  Tyler!  You'll pulling away!  2-0.  An oligarchy, is an unelected group of leaders who rule with dictatorial power.  It's one of the unlimited governments we studied about earlier in the year.  ...The crowns are deceiving.  It might lead one to believe it's some form of monarchy.  It's not.  But neither are they mohawks.

 Mom: A dog walking toward his owner.
Tyler: dead man.
Correct answer: Reincarnation.  Tyler is close.  But the arrow is supposed to mean that the spirit of the dead man was reincarnated into another living being.

 Mom:  A funeral.
Tyler:  Siddhartha Guatama.
Correct answer:  Siddhartha Guatama.  3-0 Tyler.  And a funeral is one of the things Guatama saw on his walk.

 Mom:  A rich man and a poor man.
Tyler:  Wealth.
Correct answer:  Standard of living.  The judges almost gave each of the contestants a point for this answer, but in the end decided against it.  It was very controversial, even though it wouldn't have affected the game's outcome.

 Mom: A farm
Tyler: Urbanization
Correct answer: Urbanization.  4-0

 Mom: Ranking of the classes of people
Tyler: Caste system
Correct answer: Caste system, however we're giving mom a point on this one.  5-1!

Tyler gets the prize for most correct answers.  Mom gets the prize for the most humorous answers.  In fact, part of me likes her answers more.  ...You know on those standarized tests where it always say, "choose the best answer...?"  This game is really making me second guess that.  Luckily, those tests are multiple choice - so we'll never see answers this good.

My students can get extra credit if they read and discuss this blog with an adult.  Ultimately, I just think it's important to discuss social studies outside of the classroom.  The more you do that, the better.  Maybe tell your parents (or whoever you're talking to) how you did on the test.  Or how you think you did.  Maybe you could check the grades to see if I've posted them yet.

When you're done, write a couple sentences telling me about your conversation.  Have the adult sign the paper.  Turn it in to me tomorrow.  (Make sure your name, date, and hour are on it.)

*EDIT*  To the other students who asked me if I could post what your parents put, sorry for the let down.  I didn't have a chance to give them a call to get permission.  Also, I don't have time to add them to this post.  But you're right: there were a lot of good responses.

Review and Google Docs... Reviewgle Docs... Heh...

Alright... that title needs a little work.  It's been a long day in the classroom.  I'm still trying to figure out how google docs will work for me.  For us.  For everyone.  (Kudos to those of you out there that already have all this down!)

We've got the ISTEP coming up, so I thought it best to review a little bit while also figuring out this technology piece.  Fellow Hoosier and all around awesome person Mr. John Green (et al) helped us out with that today:

After 11 minutes of historical brain candy, students had to work together on their google docs answering questions from both the film and the school year as a whole.  Some of the questions were factual recall.  Some asked for discussion...  If you want to know what I asked, here it is:  RIGHT HERE.  (I capitalized that in case you got lost.)

Here's some stuff the youtube video addressed (directly or indirectly) that may show up on the final:

• ancient civilizations
• water 
• drinking
• agriculture
• sanitation
• standard of living
• code of laws
• natural resources
• theocracy
• Hamurabi
• system of writing
• human capital
• empire
• religion
• culture
• architecture
• Great Bath
• Asia 
• South America
• ...Yeah...  that's already a lot, and I haven't had to stop and think yet...

Students, you can access your own files from home if you have a computer and the internet.  Or maybe a phone.  I haven't tried google drive on my phone yet.  I should.

In case you've forgotten your new email address, it's firstnamelastname@stu.concord.k12.in.us.  Go ahead and send Firstname Lastname some letters.  He really wishes he'd been named differently.  Don't forget the s when you type in your password.

If you came to my blog for the extra credit, you were supposed to read and discuss it with an adult.  If you did that, write down a couple sentences from your discussion.  Tell me what you talked about.  Hopefully you told them how google docs went today.  (It was much better from my vantage point.  Students were working in smaller groups instead of the whole class working on the same document together.)  Have the adult sign the paper.  Make sure your name, date, and hour are on it.  Turn it in tomorrow.

You might take the time to show them your group's google doc.  You could even change it a little bit to show them how it works, if they're not familiar with the technology.  ...I get that most of you probably have your own google account...

Also, if you want to change your profile picture, go for it.

Lakshmi Tatma

We've been writing quite a bit in here lately.  We don't spend a lot of time on it - maybe 15-20 minutes once a week.

Yesterday, students read an article on a girl born with 4 arms and 4 legs.  After they read it, they had to put it away and write a summary of the article without looking back at it.

Today, students graded the summaries.

Here's the article.

It's been a while since that story first appeared, so I wondered if there was an update.  Turns out there is.  Here it is, in case you're interested.

The story ties in with a lot of our social studies content.  For instance you've got the religious aspect - a girl being born with extra limbs in a country with a religion that often depicts deities as having extra limbs.

You've got family and cultural values.

Standard of living comes up often - the family lived on $1 a day.

The fact that we can hear about this story here in the United States is a testament to globalization.

We also worked on maps of India.  There may have been 5 students out of 150 who did not compete this.  If you are one of the 5, make sure it's turned in tomorrow.

If you want extra credit for reading and discussing the blog today, write 3 beliefs of Hinduism on a piece of paper from memory, then have the adult you read and discussed the blog with sign the paper.

Make sure your name, date, and hour are on it.

Then, turn it in tomorrow.

In case you're wondering, I hung up all the civil disobedience pictures.  Doesn't the hallway look much nicer?

Economics

The test grades were sent out.  Shazaam!  (They were a little late... I had some issues with technology.)

I'm impressed by the report though.  If you didn't sign up to have your grades emailed to you, you should next time: tre cool.

We're in to economics now.  This is the definition I gave the kids:

After that, we simplified the definition.  (I also added services in after goods...)

So, we could say, "the economy deals with the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services."

Or, we could say, "the economy deals with the making, selling, and buying of stuff."  

I prefer the former, but for 7th graders the latter is easier to understand.

We discussed the difference between a good (or healthy) economy and a bad (unhealthy) economy:

And of course, we discussed Black Friday just a little bit.

I'm not a big fan of rampant consumerism.  I'm worried it's destroying our country.

But, of course, I'm glad people buy things.  If they didn't, where would we be?  It's because people buy that allows us to have jobs and a higher standard of living.  The problem comes in when "stuff" becomes more important than people.

To get the extra credit today, you should read and discuss the blog with an adult.  On a sheet of scrap paper, write a paragraph about your discussion.  Write your thoughts about the paragraph from above.  Do you agree?  Do you disagree?  Why?  What should we do about it?

Some classes also watched some videos about this topic.  Watch if you want to, but you don't have to for the blog credit if that's what you're here for: