Mr. Fritz's Westview American Studies Period 8 Blog

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Civil Rights, Day 11 - Class Recap

The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. Photo taken in 2011.

Dear class,

I hope that you enjoyed your sunny weekend! I know I sure did, especially with being able to go through all of your activist projects! Today is really the last day of the Civil Rights unit. Here's what we did:

Learning Targets Addressed:
SS.HS.KN.ALT.17: I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place or region.
SS.HS.KN.ALT.19: I can explain the role and impacts of social hierarchies.
SS.HS.CO.ALT.01: I can organize ideas in a logically sequenced manner and in a way that is appropriate to the content area.

Soundtrack: “Pride (In the Name of Love)” by U2. Selected for today because the song is about Martin Luther King Jr., who was one of your options to write about in the in-class DBQ. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/15/14:
News Brief
Activist Project Grades
DBQ Write
Make Up Work Time

Homework: Turn in any late/missing work by next Wednesday for progress report grades. Read the blog! Next news brief: Caden

News Brief: Lauren selected this story to talk about today in class: FOXNews.com - Van kills boy, 4, returning from father's funeral. What an absolutely heartbreaking story. The details are just terrible. The boy's father was killed by a stray bullet intended for a 16-year-old. The boy himself was running towards his mother. Just awful, awful news. Not really much else I can say.

Activist Project Grades: If you turned in the activist project last class, I graded it and got it back to you today in class. How is that for a quick turnaround? Here is how I broke down the grading rubric for the assignment:

RE.ALT.04: Use evidence

Present evidence = look of poster/brochure, amount of time and effort put into the design and writing sections, slogan

Synthesize specific information = overall message/point and how well it is conveyed

CO.ALT.01: Organize ideas

Transitions effectively/develop the topic thoroughly = spelling, grammar, amount of time and effort put into the writing

CR.ALT.04: Evaluate information

Conclusion = strategies and recommendations for help section

Clearly analyze and explain strengths and weaknesses = opposition section

Please see me if you are at all confused about the grade you received. Thanks for your hard work on these!

DBQ Write: The rest of the class was for actually writing the five paragraph Document Based Question that we started brainstorming last week. The entire Civil Rights unit was fair game for writing about and using in your essay response to the prompt of: How did social hierarchies lead to the Civil Rights Movement and which method of activism was more efficient for promoting change?

The document packet (which you had to use two sources from) contained perspectives from Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X as to their methods of activism. There were also a lot of other in class materials that you could use to get to your four total sources needed. Thank you for your hard work on this in class! I know this was not the most fun day for many of you. The ability to write a basic essay is so important for your academic success, though!

Make Up Work Time: If you were able to finish the DBQ early, the rest of the time in class was for making up missing and/or late work for me. Please be checking your grade print outs (by student ID) in the room, to stay updated about your current grade as progress reports and the end of the year approaches!

Friday, April 11, 2014

Civil Rights, Day 10 - Class Recap

A few students had projects relating to animal abuse or the environment, which made me think about this picture I took in New Zealand in February. Herding sheep off the road in my rental car was pretty fun!

Dear class,

Thank you so much for your work with the activism project! From what I saw, students really seemed to know their stuff about their topic. Please remember to email me at luke_fritz@beaverton.k12.or.us if you need to turn in your works cited page!

News Brief: Sarah R. had the news brief today and selected this article to talk about: HuffingtonPost.com - Monica Jones and the Fight Against Racial and Gender Police Profiling in the U.S.. This helpfully related to our civil rights unit on discrimination, and also related to Sarah's activist project! If you are interested in the case, Sarah sent along this article that updates what is going on, as well: BestPracticesPolicy.org - Trans Activist Monica Jones’ Trial Postponed due to Constitutional Challenge of ‘Manifestation of Intent to Prostitute’ Statute. Thank you, Sarah!

Showcase Showdown: Finally, it was time to talk a little about your project with other students in the class! I handed out a paper that had a table with columns for names, activism topics, why it is important, and if you agreed. One side of the class went over to the other side to interview them, then the second side reversed it. I hope that you enjoyed learning about what everyone was interested in and their projects were interesting! I am excited to look more in depth at them.

Activist Debrief: After the sharing was done, I asked a few questions from the back of the interview sheet about the projects:

1) Which project do you think had the most powerful message? Why?
2) Which project do you think could be the most effective at eliciting change? Why?
3) Which project had the best presentation? Why?

DBQ Introduction: We are at the close of the Civil Rights unit, as of next class. For the final, you will be writing an in-class essay about social hierarchies and the best way to change in regards to equal rights. Today was a brainstorming day in class. If you missed class, then please bring everything from the Civil Rights unit (basically, anything since the Historical Investigation) to class, as it will help you. Basically, you are using 4 documents from the unit (there are 4 in the packet that I gave you as options in class). Those four documents (two have to be from the packet) should be used to construct a five paragraph essay, including a thesis statement in the introduction, three body paragraphs with topic sentences, and a conclusion that has the thesis statement restated again. This assignment will hit four different learning targets! Be prepared to write next class!

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Civil Rights, Day 9 - Class Recap

The view over Queenstown, New Zealand. This place was stunningly beautiful and reminded me of the good life that we have when we learn about the world! Photo taken on February 3, 2014.

Hello everyone,

I think we probably could have finished the activism project with one less day of work in class, but at least this way, your projects should be fantastic for Thursday! Here's what we did today.

Learning Targets Addressed:
SS.HS.KN.ALT.17: I can explain the process of change and continuity in a society, place or region.
SS.HS.KN.ALT.19: I can explain the role and impacts of social hierarchies.
SS.HS.CO.ALT.01: I can organize ideas in a logically sequenced manner and in a way that is appropriate to the content area.

Soundtrack: "Good Life" by OneRepublic. Selected because we are hoping to promote good lives for everyone through this project. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 4/9/14:
News Brief
Computer Lab Time
Finish Activism Projects

Homework: Have the activism project done and ready to show next class. Read the blog! Next news brief: Sarah R.

News Brief: The news brief today was brought in by Dhruv, who selected this story: CNN.com - 'Race is being looked at' as a possible motive in attack on driver in Detroit. A very timely article, considering our look at race in America and how civil rights have been influenced by it throughout time.

Computer Lab Time: This was the last time in class available to work on the activism project. We used the computers in N228 (after I mistakenly took us to the library to start) to try and find sources of information for it (remember that you need three total, cited in MLA format on a separate sheet of paper). Hopefully, everyone is feeling good about working on the elements of the project. There is poster paper and printer paper in the room, as well. Please come prepared for next class! You will be expected to share with others, no matter what state your poster or brochure is in.

Finish Activism Projects: I saw some really great examples during class today. I think this could be pretty great, if everyone keeps working hard on finishing it! Let me know if you need help!

See everyone on Friday, with your finished projects, please!