Natural Barriers

Oh, Katniss Everdeen, how you tie in to social studies - let me count the ways:
Governments, standard of living, culture, customs, civil disobedience, economic systems, ...  Today, in most classes, we got to the part where... (dang it... I don't want to give away what's happening in the book...)  Ok, some people have to travel through some mountains.  This is what is said:

 "I realize we must be in the tunnel that runs up through the mountains into the Capitol.  The mountains form a natural barrier between the Capitol and the eastern districts.  It's almost impossible to enter from the east except through the tunnels.  This geographical advantage was a major factor in the districts losing the war..."

Man, that hits so many standards.  (Granted, the standards apply to Asia, Africa and Australia - but I'm more concerned with the concepts they're teaching rather than the facts about places themselves...)

For instance:  "7.3.10: Describe the limitations that climate and land forms place on land or people in regions of Africa, Asia and the Southwest Pacific.

Example: Deserts in Africa, Saudi Arabia and China; the islands of Japan; mountains of Iran and Afghanistan; northern regions of China."

Yes, that deals with those specific places, but the concepts are the same for all of them.  I took a break from reading to discuss this with the kids - the difference between natural and man-made barriers.  My hands were the cow people and the lettuce people, separated by the Adidas Mountain range.  ...


It looked something like this:

We talked about why having a mountain range between these two groups of people might be beneficial - if the lettuce people try to attack the cow people, they have to cross the natural barrier - the Adidas Mountains.  That would make it more difficult.  Of course, if the lettuce people wanted to trade with the cow people, that would be more difficult as well. ...  I kept mixing up my voices... I couldn't keep them straight - which voice went with cow, which one went with lettuce... 

Anyway, we then discussed other forms of natural barriers, and types of man-made barriers as well.  Every class came up with the Great Wall of China as a man-made barrier.

Of course, we're still studying religions.  (You remember, standard 7.1.4 - which I mentioned in an earlier post.  I can't see how you can adequately teach a religion in a meaningful way - a way the kids will remember it, connect it with other religions, understand it in a way that is relevant to them and their world -  in less than a week.  (Classes are 45 minutes...)  The idealist in me says 3 days per religion...

We did go a little cross-curricular in one class today and use some algebra to figure out what year we're in on the Muslim calendar...

At any rate, it was a good day today.  If you're in my class and want extra credit - or if you're reading this and you want your kid (the one that's in my class) to receive extra credit, discuss the following questions:

1. What is a natural barrier?  What might be some positives and negatives from natural barriers?

2.  What does "standard of living" mean?  Can you give any examples from today's reading that Katniss had a relatively low standard of living in district 12?

3.  What is Islam?  What do you know about it so far?  Is there anything you don't understand about it?

When you're done discussing those, write the following phrase on a slip of paper: "It looks like you were ready for a flood in that picture Mr. Habecker..."  In order to get the extra credit points, the paper must be signed by the adult that discussed this stuff with you.  Adults, by signing it, you're saying that yes, so-and-so really did discuss those questions with you last night.

Video Days

Sometimes I think social studies classes are misrepresented, or at least common perception of them is off.  I think people picture us setting up a DVD player (some parents probably imagine us setting up a film strip projector...) on day one, pressing play, then kicking our feet up the rest of the year while getting paid a modest salary for relatively little work.

Hopefully this blog will help dispel some of those rumors.  We watch very few movies in here.  We do usually hit a couple big ones - Gandhi and Promises - but other than that they are rare.  (Even the big ones we usually trim down to fit into a week or two...)

Well, today was an exception - and I may add an exception that didn't take up the entire period.  We watched the last of the monotheistic religions videos today.  Each one lasts about 20 minutes and gives some insight into the religions we're studying.  Obviously, at 20 minutes there's only so much that can get covered, but they're a nice way to introduce the religion.

I don't think students get a whole lot of the video itself.  They get far more from the discussions that follow.  Tomorrow we'll go over the sheets that they were to fill out during the movie.  Honestly, it's a way for them to get some free points.  It helps them stay focused and follow along, but it's not a big deal if they miss an answer because we go over it together in class later.

The beginning of class was taken up with a discussion of religious extremism.  I thought it went pretty well.  I would love to show a 2 minute summary video about that to all my classes, but there are no good ones out there.  Go ahead and search youtube for yourself.  They either have an anti-religion bias, or they have an anti-religion-that-isn't-Christian bias.  I don't really feel comfortable showing either of those in class.  (If you do find one, please attach it to this blog as a comment.)

For today, discuss the following questions after reading the blog: what is religious extremism?  Do you think Islam gets a bad rap?  Give some instances of religious extremism other than Islamic Extremism?  We talked about people willing to kill or die for their faith.  Is there anything you're willing to die for?  If so, what?  Would that make you an extremist?  Why or why not?

To get the extra credit, write the following on a piece of paper: I'm an extremist when it comes to skateboarding.  Backside 50/50 baby.  Parents/Adult signing paper... (oh yeah, kids... you still have to get it signed...) by signing that scrap of paper you're saying your kid really did read and discuss the blog and questions with you.)

On to Islam

Today we took our pop quiz.  I think most students did pretty well on it.

We're moving into Islam over the next couple of days.  The students have now finished filling out their chart.  By the end of the week they should be able to explain everything that's on it.  They usually have some trouble with the founders.  Because all three monotheistic religions trace their roots back to Abraham, they often list him as the founder of the religion on the test.  They are not the same thing...  I gave the example today of a billionaire grandfather who started a car business.  If he gave some money to two of his grandchildren to start their own businesses, he would still only be the founder of his business.  His grandchildren would be the founders of their respective businesses, even though we could trace the money back to the grandfather.

Here's the chart in case your kid forgot it, lost it, or loaned it out to a friend.

We wait until this week to study extremism.  Students often associate extremism with Islam, so that's a separate lesson as well.  We take the time to define religious extremism, and point out that there are extremists in every religion.

For the extra credit, discuss the following questions:

How did you do on the pop quiz?

How much of the chart do you think you'll be able to explain?

In order to get the extra credit today, write a question you have about the blog or about class in general.  The question can come from student or adult.  The paper must be signed.  Adults, by signing the paper, you are signifying that you really did discuss those two questions with the student in my class.

Pop Quiz

I was planning on giving the kids a pop quiz today...  I didn't go through with it.  So sue me.  ...They were happy.  I told them to count on having a pop quiz on Monday.  I realize that takes a little bit of the "pop" out of it.  I told them what it would cover... less and less like a "pop" quiz, right?  More and more like a regular, old, boring quiz.

In case you're wondering, here's some stuff that will be on it:

Hopefully they can explain that...  If not, well... good luck on the pop quiz.  There'll also be this:

Today for bellwork, we discussed The Hunger Games.  I can't stress enough how much I care about reading comprehension.  It's one thing to read the book.  It's another to make sure they're getting what we're reading.  I understand that this isn't a language arts class, but the book ties in so well with the curriculum.  I'm only worried that it's taking too much time away from the fact memorization we need to do for testing...

Here's the thing though, if this helps increase reading comprehension, it's going to help all areas of testing anyway.  All parts of the test require reading skills.

So, to get the extra credit today (well, Monday...) ask your kid what's going on in the book.  Ask them who their favorite characters are, and why.  Ask them if they would have taken Prim's place, or is there someone whose place they would have taken.  Ask them if they'd be courageous or fearful if they were in Katniss's place.  Ask them how they feel about the hunger games in general - the games themselves, not the book.  There's plenty more you could ask... and actually, as I'm reading over this, that might be a lot.  Maybe just pick a couple of those.

You know, every time I write this, I picture a loving parent with their child at home reading over the blog together, laughing, reminiscing about a scene from The Hunger Games, politely discussing politics, religion, or whatever topic we're studying...  Sometimes I snap out of my reverie though, picturing a mother glaring: "SO-AND-SO!  YOU GET OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!  YOU WILL READ THIS BLOG ENTRY!"  The daughter rolling her eyes, wishing she could be texting her bff about some cute boy three lockers down.  Uggg... social studies is such a drag.  "O.M.W.," she'll cry, texting her friend "ttyl, brb" at the exact same moment.  Apologies if your life mirrors the latter rather than the former.

Also, you could study for the quiz.  One more question that will be on it is: define monotheism.

So, if you want the extra credit make sure you bring in a piece of paper that has the following phrase: Thanks for reading and discussing the blog with me.  It's been so much fun.

In order to get the extra credit, it must be signed by the adult you discussed it with.  If you didn't have a heart-warming chat about social studies with some adult in your life, don't tell me.  Let me live in my imagination.

Books Are In

The Hunger Games were dropped off this afternoon.  I'm so excited!  We've been reading a little bit here, a little bit there, but we haven't had enough for every kid.  Needless to say, sharing is not the forte of every student...  I think tomorrow will be a Hunger Games day.  I want to be done by break so the other teachers can get to it before the movie comes out.

Class today went well.  We're still comparing Judaism and Christianity.  Next week we'll start on Islam.

One thing that came up in class today was the benefits of television.  We talked about strength in unity, and the importance of having a homogeneous culture.  This came up both in studying Judaism/Christianity, as well as today's reading in The Hunger Games.

It's late, and I have to put in a bunch of grades (video viewing guide)... so I'll save you from reading and discussing a ton.

Question of the day: Why did I say TV is a good thing?  We talked about Sponge Bob in most classes.  Do you remember?

One more question:  In studying religion, I asked the question: "Have you ever played a game with the kid, only to have the kid change the rules on you in the middle?  (I think I used the example of a kid making a "new base" in the middle of a game of tag...)  What did that question have to do with the religions we're studying?

In order to get the extra credit, discuss those two questions and bring in a sheet of paper signed by the adult you discussed them with.  Include the phrase: Bakers bake bread for Prim.  Adults, by signing the paper, you're saying you really did discuss this with your kid.  : )

I've been enjoying getting the extra credit slips of paper.