We learned today that some government officials wanted to drop atomic bombs on China, because of their involvement with the Korean War and to fight Communism. Here's part of the Great Wall of China in January 2014.
Hi everyone,
I enjoyed today's class and I am looking forward to reading all of your feedback for me! I always try to do this for my classes, just to see how I am doing and what can improve about the class. Here's what happened today:
Learning Targets:
SS.HS.KN.ALT.09: I can identify how technological knowledge and innovation shapes a society, place, or region.
SS.HS.KN.ALT.17: I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place or region.
SS.HS.KN.ALT.23: I can describe the influences, impacts and resolutions of historical conflicts.
Soundtrack: “Somebody to Die For” by Hurts. Selected because a student in Period 1 requested it via an anonymous comment here on the blog. They wrote that it reminded them of the Cold War! I'm happy to look into any requests for soundtrack choices, as long as it can be related to what we are doing in class. Lyrics
here.
AGENDA 5/1/14:
Extended News Brief
DBQ Grades
Class Feedback
Atomic Cafe
Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief: Avery.
Extended News Brief: Andrew chose this article to talk about:
CNN.com - Oklahoma's botched lethal injection marks new front in battle over executions. I was going to mention this anyway, so I am glad he brought it up! The Atomic Cafe movie we watched in class had an execution story (the Rosenberg spy case), as well.
The reason the news brief was extended today was because of this story:
FOXSports.com - Union: NBA players considered playoff boycott before Sterling ban. I wanted to talk about this for a number of reasons. First, we just did a lengthy unit on racism and Civil Rights in America. This is yet another case that shows we have not "solved" racism as a society. If an owner of an NBA franchise can be repeatedly accused for years of discrimination and not many people seem to take notice until an audio tape of racist comments is heard, that is a problem. It is a problem if we see society as totally equal now - that we have nothing to work on, when the evidence does not back that up.
Related to this, as some people try to argue that Donald Sterling has free speech rights, and thus can say whatever he wants and not face punishment: I wanted to make sure that we addressed the protesters outside Westview this week. I would feel irresponsible as a Social Studies teacher to not at least have the conversation about what the
First Amendment to the United States Constitution is all about, given the very obvious example of it in practice outside of our school. I want to be clear again that it is not my role to take a position in class on the issue the protesters are concerned with. It IS my role to try and inform the class about why they are allowed to, and why counter-protests and demonstrations are also allowed, as long as both sides do not come into open conflict.
The Activist Project assignment was asking students to think of very similar types of actions to help further a cause you believed in. Just because someone may not like your cause, does not mean that you cannot protest or demonstrate. The example I always use is Nazi Germany. If there was freedom of speech in Nazi Germany, guaranteeing Jewish people the right to speak up about the way they were being treated, without fear of being thrown into jail for their beliefs, then it is possible the Holocaust could have been avoided. Freedom of speech is only valid as a core of our democracy when we are able to express our views, however radical they may be, without fear of the government throwing us in jail.
Again, what the First Amendment does NOT guarantee is the right to say whatever you want with no consequences. If Donald Sterling wants to say racist garbage, he is allowed to without going to jail. He can still face all sorts of other consequences in private affairs, like the NBA banning him for life, fining him $2.5 million dollars, and people around him never wanting to associate with him again. Words do have incredible power.
DBQ Grades: I passed back your DBQ grades for the Civil Rights unit. These were included in your progress report grades that went home, except if you did not finish (in which case I was nice and gave you a little more time to make them up before I give out 1 for the proficiency grade). Please come see me if this does not make sense! Yes, I have tried to structure my grade book to be on the side of the student, in that your highest score is the one that I am usually going to take - that said, I do retain the right to make adjustments in the future.
Class Feedback: As I wrote at the top of this blog post, I really value getting honest feedback from students, so I can know what is going well and what can improve, both for myself and for the class. Here were the questions I asked students to anonymously respond to:
1. What do you like about this class and what is this class good at?
2. What does the class need to improve on?
3. What do you like about Mr. Fritz as a teacher?
4. What can Mr. Fritz get better at?
5. How is Mr. Fritz doing at communicating and assessing learning targets for proficiency grading?
I will take all of these responses and combine them into a look at what is going on, using a PowerPoint presentation next class. Thank you for your honesty and willingness to work with me! I know I can always get better - this certainly helps!
Atomic Cafe: The last part of class was spent watching this documentary, which was made using actual clips from the Cold War era. If you missed class, this was the answer sheet that we worked on:
We went over the questions in class, because they covered the first 35 minutes of material (I stopped the video around then). If you missed class, or wanted to watch it again, or spoil yourself for finishing it next class, here it is:
See you next class! Thanks!
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