Cold War America, Day 6 - Class Recap

This is me hugging my mom after she won an election for Portland City Council in 2008. My mom is my role model, for sure. She not only provided for us every day, but she was (and is) very politically active! She used to be a nurse every other weekend, as well!

Dear class,

I really loved looking at all of the 1950s magazines with you today! It is great fun to be hands on with history and use primary sources to investigate on our own. 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: “I've Got You Under My Skin" by Frank Sinatra. Selected because it is from the 1950s (1956). Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/7/14:
News Brief
Women of the 1950s
The Feminine Mystique
LIFE Magazines

Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief: Carly.

News Brief: Spencer had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about: ESPN.com - Jordan: Considered myself a racist. An interesting story, because Spencer was wearing a Jordan brand t-shirt as he talked, and because of the recent Civil Rights unit we did, and the comments by NBA owner Donald Sterling! Thanks, Spencer.

Women of the 1950s: Today was chiefly concerned with the role of women in the United States during the 1950s. I began by asking for some brainstorming on two questions: What do you know about women in the 1950s? How does that role impact us today?

During the results of that, I mentioned that the sizes of mirrors in bathrooms tend to be different for women (larger/full body) vs. men (smaller/just face). Why is that?

Next, I passed out a class set of these documents (pages 3-7) to read over:

Stanford.edu - Women in the 1950s Primary Sources

The general questions that I wanted everyone to answer (just to ensure that you were getting the point of the readings) were:

1. Were housewives happy with their lives?
2. Were women in the 1950s just staying at home?
3. Documents A and B say women were staying at home; but Documents C and D say that women were politically involved and even working. Who should we believe?
4. Do you think African American, Latino, Asian American, and other women of color had similar experiences to those depicted in these documents?

We had a brief class discussion about this, then moved on.

The Feminine Mystique: This was a nine minute video explaining a bit more about what the "Feminine Mystique" was (a quote from the book of the same name by Betty Friedan was included in the readings). If you missed class, or wanted to see it again, here it is: PBS.org - 1950 Housewives.

LIFE Magazines: The rest of class was spent doing some historical research in class, using actual magazines from the 1950s and early 1960s! I loved this so much! Here is the partner worksheet I passed out in class:

Google Drive - LIFE 1950s Magazines Partner Analysis Worksheet

Needless to say, there were some GREAT examples of gender roles in the magazines, which I was able to borrow from the library - I'm glad everyone was so careful with them! It was so interesting to see what everyone found! I hope that it was as interesting for you as it was for me. History is so great! Next class, we will move on into the 1960s and the Space Race a bit more.

Cold War America, Day 5 - Class Recap

Some of the "survival crackers" in the Western Oregon University fallout shelter. Note the date - 1964. There were a TON of these in the shelter. I took this picture in 2007.

Dear class,

The start of a new week! Did you know that there are only 11 B days left before finals? I feel a bit overwhelmed with how much I want to cover in that time! 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: “Each Day Gets Better" by John Legend. Because of many different elements of getting better: the weather, your work, and hopefully the class and my job as a teacher! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/5/14:
News Brief
Review Class Feedback
Finish Atomic Cafe

Discuss

Homework: Read the blog! Next news brief: Spencer.

News Brief: Avery had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about: CNN.com - 'Human chandelier' falls: 9 performers hurt in Rhode Island circus accident. I really hope everyone is okay! Thanks, Avery!

Review Class Feedback: It was great to go over this with everyone! 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 wanted everyone to know that I love and care for you all and that I am passionate about your success! Here's what your feedback looked like:

Google Drive: Period 4 Class Feedback PowerPoint Presentation

As usual, this was a mix of funny and serious responses. My takeaway is that we like discussions, know that phones need to be put away way more, that my energy is good, and that I could probably go slower and explain a bit more from time to time. Thanks for the feedback, everyone!

Finish Atomic Cafe: I passed out a more general sheet of questions to respond to for the second half of the movie, which can be found here:

Google Drive: Atomic Cafe Part II Questions

Here is the film to watch again, if you were interested or missed class (we started at about 35:00 in and finished it in class):

Discuss: At the end of class, we had a few minutes to go over different responses. I really liked hearing your suggestions for activities that we do today that might seem crazy or silly in 40 years. History is so interesting!

See you on Wednesday, everyone!

Cold War America, Day 4 - Class Recap

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:

Google Drive - Atomic Cafe Questions

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!