Why I Love/Teach Social Studies

To all of my students: I hope you are all enjoying your time off.

To all of the people that live with my students: I hope it's enjoyable for you as well.

I've had a couple people email me and ask if there would be extra credit given over break.  Yes, there will be, but I'll probably only post once or twice.

Here's a quote by Rudyard Kipling: "How can you do anything until you have seen everything, or as much as you can?"

Sometimes I think my students (and students in general) have a hard time grasping the purpose of "non-essential" lessons.  I'm sure at one point or another most of us have either heard, or said: "when am I ever going to use that?"

Who knows?

In making decisions, you want to be informed.  And how many decisions do you have to make in life?  How do you even know what decisions will be presented?

What are the essentials?  What do we need to know to get by in life?

I'm guessing basic math facts and enough of a common language to be understood.

But what kind of life is that?

I love, LOVE Social Studies because it is all about the richness of life - the essential non-essentials.  Diversity of language, history, culture.  Conflict and conflict resolution.  Politics and religion and relationships.  Countries that are in petty arguments that mirror the arguments I hear in the hallway everyday.

It's about authority and corruption.  Greed and sacrifice.

The way I see it, people have one of three reasons for not loving social studies:

• They don't understand it/ can't see how it relates (or)
• They're boring
• They do like it, but they just don't realize it

(Correct me if I'm wrong on that...)

Here are some lyrics from a song I like (All I Can See, by Brendan James):

"I want to learn a completely new language,/ one I don't understand./ I want to help someone lost, someone helpless,/ with the strength of my hand."

Here are some more:

"Those who journey can easily understand,/ the more they see the more they'll learn,/ the more that they will be./ So this I swear to you, and this I swear to me,/ I'll never rest till I've seen all I can see./ No, I'll never rest till I've seen all I can see."

Here's the song, it's pretty good:




To get the extra credit from this blog, discuss it with an adult. Discuss some of the following questions:

• Do you agree with the three reasons Mr. Habecker gives for people not loving social studies?
• What would you say are the essential things you need to learn?
• Is it important to learn more than that?  If so, what's important?  If not, why not?
• Do you agree or disagree with the Kipling quote at the beginning?  Why?
• If you could travel anywhere in the world that you've never been, where would you go?  Why?

Then, write down at least 5 sentences giving your thoughts on this post. Have the person you discussed it with sign the paper.

Happy Extra Credit.  I'll probably post one more before break's over.

Humans Hunger Hammurabi

Here's a quote from a book I'm reading:

 “...when children’s families are involved in school, the children earn higher grades, attend school more regularly, complete more homework, demonstrate more positive attitudes and behaviors, graduate from high school at higher rates, and are more likely to enroll in higher education than students with less involved families.”

It comes from the book: Bridging Multiple Worlds: Case Studies in Diverse Educational Communities.  (page 47)

I give that quote because I had a couple students who said to me today, "Geez, Mr. Habecker... my mom was wondering why you keep that blog in the first place.  It's basically what we did in class."

You're right.  And I want to say "THANK YOU" to all the moms and dads and step-moms and step-dads, grandparents, and uncles and aunts that are reading this thing.  It is what we're talking about in class.  The more we partner together, and talk about what we're doing in class - the better.  This way, too, you get to see what we're talking about - and if you disagree with what I'm saying you can say, "man, your teacher is wrong on this account!"  As a social studies teacher, I teach some pretty controversial topics.  I work hard to keep bias out of my presentation, as well as my writing on here.  But even then, it might creep in a little bit.  This way, you can read it and continue to instill your beliefs and values into your child.  I don't want to hide behind a classroom door.  I want to work with you to give your child the best education possible.  I know that's what you want too, so again I say thanks for reading.

That said, two hour delays REALLY shorten classes.  We did a paper today for bellwork comparing the Capitol of The Hunger Games to Pyongyang in North Korea.  We compared their governments, standard of living, the fear they used to stay in power.  ...  I'm going to see if I can attach it for the students that weren't in school today...

For the bellwork, they read an excerpt from a CNN article.  You can read it by clicking THIS LINK.

We also looked a picture that was posted on NPR's website.  Here's the picture: 

Article found HERE

Then (in some classes... stupid two hour delay...) we tied it all together by comparing Hammurabi, The Hunger Games, North Korea, and The USA... (I'm not going to have you discuss this with your kid though because we didn't get to it in every class...)

To get the extra credit, discuss the following questions with your family:
1.  What type of government do they have in both North Korea and The Hunger Games?
2.  How else are North Korea and The Hunger Games similar?
3.  What is the picture I posted on the blog depicting or showing?
4.  Why might North Korea want to limit the contact that their citizens have with other countries?

To get the extra credit for reading the blog, write the following quote on a piece of scrap paper: "I am no bird, and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will."  Students: have the adult you read this with sign the piece of scrap paper.  Adults: by signing the paper you are stating that you really did read the blog and discuss this stuff.

An interesting side note: a student asked me, how do you know that the students really are reading and discussing the blog?  I said because there's a different code word or phrase at the bottom of it every day.  He asked if the parents could just write that down and sign off on it.  I said, I supposed that they could.  Ultimately though, I believe that people want what's best for their kid.  Maybe there are a couple parents out there that are teaching your kids that cheating pays off, but I don't believe it.  I believe the majority of you are hard-working, dedicated people who want their kids (and step-kids, and grand kids, and nephews and nieces...) to succeed.  Again, I say thanks for all you do. 

IF YOU WERE ABSENT, HERE IS THE WORKSHEET

Is the Capitol Actually North Korea?

First off all, I’d like to remind everyone that I post what we do every day.  Students can receive extra credit by reading the blog and discussing it with the adult they live with.  (Or in some cases some other adult.)  It’s five points a day… I think it’s worth it.

Please notice the polls at the top of the blog.  If you haven’t yet voted on them, do so now.  We’re going to discuss them in class tomorrow.  You will also have time to finish up your Hammurabi power point while we read The Hunger Games. 

We compared Islam and Judaism at the beginning of class, and then we spent the rest of the day in the book.

An excerpt from page 80:

“Electricity in District 12 comes and goes, usually we only have it a few hours a day.  Often the evenings are spent in candlelight.  The only time we can count on it is when they’re airing the Games or some important government message on television that it’s mandatory to watch.  But here there would be no shortage.  Ever.”

An excerpt from page 83-4:

“’I’d leave here,’ Peeta blurts out.  Then he looks around nervously.  It was loud enough to hear above the chimes.  He laughs.  ‘I’d go home now if they let me.  But you have to admit, the food’s prime.’
                He’s covered again.  If that’s all you heard it would just sound like the words of a scared tribute, not someone contemplating the unquestionable goodness of the Capitol.” (Emphasis mine.)

We’ve discussed standard-of-living multiple times because of this book, but here it comes up again.  This time, though, it’s a little bit different.  We see that the people in District 12 have a low standard of living because the money gets funneled into the government.  We also see examples of government propaganda.

One of the countries we study in this class is North Korea.  The Capitol and North Korea share some striking similarities: dictator, food shortages, and government sponsored propaganda.  In the first quote above Katniss mentions important government TV messages that are mandatory to watch.  North Korea has state sponsored radio in every house.  You can turn it down, but you can’t turn it off.  (I learned that from THIS MOVIE, by the way.  It’s pretty good.)

In the second quote, Peeta is scared to speak out against (or even appear to speak out against) the Capitol.  Kim Jong Il just died.  (If you haven’t seen this on the news, go ahead and check for yourself…)  Here’s aline from one of the CNN articles: “There will be the compulsory large crowds of mourners in the streets of Pyongyang to honor Kim Jong Il.” (article by Scott Snyder)  Of course there will be.  Will there be people who refuse to go?  Will there be North Koreans who “contemplate the unquestionable goodness of Our Dear Leader?”

So, today we hit standards 7.1.2 – dealing with theocracy  - Kim Jong Il is revered as a deity and his dead father Kim Il Sung even more so.  He actually maintained the role of President after his death… his position according to their constitution is “Eternal President of the Republic.”

7.1.18 – deals with recent political conflicts.  The state gives North and South Korea as an example.

7.2.2 – identify and compare contemporary governments in Japan, Korea, China, etc…

I’m hoping to discuss this more in depth tomorrow, but we’ll see.  We also have to discuss historical context, and Hammurabi…

In order to get the credit for the homework, vote on the polls at the top.  Then, read the blog and discuss it with an adult.  Discuss the following questions: what were the similarities between Islam and Judaism that I gave at the beginning of class today?  Will people attend Kim Jong Il’s funeral because they want to, or because they were coerced?  Will there be any exceptions?  Why?  What makes you think that?  What’s happening right now in The Hunger Games?

Like usual, it’s not enough to read and discuss the blog.  Write the following on a piece of scrap paper:  “I wish we could learn B about chess P during social studies.”  Have the adult you read this with sign the piece of paper.  Adults, by signing the paper you are signifying that you did indeed read the blog and discuss the questions with whoever is in my class.  Please don’t sign it unless this is true.

Judge and Jury

Hopefully you noticed the polls I put up at the top of the blog.  As a class, we finished up the webquest and powerpoint about Hammurabi yesterday.  Most of them looked really good.  There were a couple kids who didn't get done, but the majority did.

I don't know if you can access them from home or not.  The students that read the blog Thursday said they couldn't get them to open up from home.  I'm going to look into that because... I mean... what's the point of having all this technology if you can't access it?

The project reviewed a lot of what we covered in class - reasons ancient civilizations were found near rivers, what it took to be an ancient civilization, ethnocentrism, as well as some of the specifics about Mesopotamia.

It really introduced historical context though.  We haven't had discussions about this before.  Good teachers are always trying to include higher level questioning and Bloom's Taxonomy into their lessons:




(Image courtesy of: dkuropatwa)

This lesson, and the question of historical context really nails the upper levels of Bloom's.

Oftentimes social studies is memorizing facts: ancient civilizations are found near rivers for silt, transportation, drinking water, and irrigation...  But to answer the questions of which legal system is more just, and whether or not it's even fair to ask that question take critical thinking skills like analyzing and evaluating both sets of laws and coming to a personal conclusion.


And, lets face it... the question of historical context and justification of the past is tough.  Maybe we say we shouldn't judge Hammurabi according to today.  Being beat 60 times with an ox whip for hitting someone of a higher rank seemed like a just punishment at the time...  But then can we apply that to other areas of history?  Slavery? Nazism/Fascism?  Child sacrifice to Moloch?  If we went back in time, would we say... "well... when in Rome...?"

The opposite, to me seems equally distasteful.  If we come down too hard against the past, how will we be judged based on the lives we're leading?  What if in the future, the world is overpopulated and people are upset at the "selfishness" of families in the past that had more than one child?

We'll be wrapping up this discussion on Monday in class.  We'll see what everyone thinks.

Like I mentioned at the top of the blog, I hope you noticed the polls.  In order to get the extra credit, first have your kid vote on them.  Then, discuss why they voted the way they did.  Ask them about the two laws we looked at as a class.  What were the punishments doled out under each legal system?  Ask them if there are ever any exceptions to their views.

In order to get the extra credit, vote on the polls and discuss those questions directly above the bold text.  Once you have done that, write the following phrase on a scrap of paper: "Four more days until a little break."  Finally, adult: sign your name.  By signing, you're saying that you really did read the blog and discuss it with whoever is turning in that paper.

Later

There will be an extra credit post for the weekend.  I just won't have time to put it up until later on tonight or tomorrow.  I'm going to try to get the "Five Pillars of Faith" papers graded.