StEPP Career Ed Day, Class Recap

Before coming to Westview I worked at Marshall and Madison High Schools in Portland, for the "Step Up" program, which was largely after school tutoring and mentoring. This is a picture from one of the summer camps we did, which relates to the "StEPP" day, but your future after high school, too!

Hi everyone,

Today's class was almost entirely devoted to going to the Computer Lab with a Westview counselor to complete (or at least start) your StEPP Career Education objectives for 10th grade. Here's the recap:

Soundtrack: "Step in the Name of Love (Remix)" by R. Kelly. Selected because of the "step" connection! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/28/14:
Newspapers Back
StEPP (Computer Lab with Westview counselor)

Homework: All late/missing/incomplete/revised work due tomorrow (with the sole exception of the Cold War newspaper, which I am giving everyone another week to revise, if needed)! Read the blog! Next news brief: Chloe (and Hailey).

Newspapers Back: No news brief today, due to me wanting to give you as much time as possible to complete the career ed materials in the Computer Lab. I did pass back all of the completed grades for the Cold War newspaper project, which I did over the weekend. Your grades should now be completely up to date and you should know what you need to work on!

Here's how I graded the rubric for the newspaper project (definitely come see me if you have further questions):

ALT.17 – Explain process of change and continuity
Describes specific events in editorial, in chronological order, with context of what is going on in the Cold War and how America is changing.

ALT.23 – Influences, impacts, and resolutions of historical conflicts
Depth of description/how well the newspaper describes what has happened in the Cold War up to the date of the newspaper.

ALT.05 – Support arguments with evidence
Range of examples for editorial on who is winning the Cold War, who is losing, why.

ALT.09 – Technological knowledge and innovation shaping society
Analyzes different technologies and their effects during the Cold War period, as appropriate for the time of the newspaper.

Thanks for your hard work on these! I had fun looking through them all! :-)

StEPP: The rest of class was spent with a Westview counselor in the Computer Lab, working on your career ed materials for 10th grade. You need to complete this in order to graduate, so if you did not finish in class, please do so ASAP at home, then turn it in to the career center! Thanks!

Cold War America, Day 12 - Class Recap

The soundtrack for today was "Wonderwall" by Oasis, because of the way in which we presented the newspaper project, and because it reminded me of when the song played at London 2012 Summer Olympics, on August 12th. Congratulations on being done with your last major assignment in class this year!

Hi everyone,

Only three weeks left of school now! Thank you all for your hard work in class. If you did not finish your Cold War newspaper, you definitely need to email it to me - luke_fritz@beaverton.k12.or.us - as soon as possible. With that, here's the recap:

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: “Wonderwall" by Oasis. See photo caption above for reasoning. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 5/27/14:
News Brief
Finish/Print
Gallery Walk
Debrief

Homework: Turn in all missing/late/make up work by May 30 (this Friday). Read the blog! Next class: StEPP career education day in the lab.

News Brief: Tifani had the news brief today and selected this story to talk about: CNN.com - Three killed, five wounded in Myrtle Beach shootings. Another shooting story as a news brief - there were certainly a few over the weekend. Just awful.

We also checked in for a bit about how Memorial Day weekend was.

Finish/Print: As promised, we went to the computer lab next to class for about 30 minutes or so, just to finish up (if needed) and print your Cold War newspapers. My thinking here was that I really wanted everyone to have at least something to put up on the wall, and I know that often, it is difficult to get everything printed and ready at home. I was glad to see this time seemed to be utilized well!

Gallery Walk: When we came back to class, I had everyone tape at least the front page of their newspaper to the wall around the room ("wonder wall" - get it?). Then, we spent 10-15 minutes just walking around and looking at what everyone had created. I really loved seeing what everyone had done, and having students be interested in it, too!

Debrief: After the gallery walk, we talked about specific newspapers we really liked in class, and how the assignment went in general. It is always good to hear this information, to help improve in the future!

Thanks again for all of your hard work! See you on Thursday for the StEPP day!

Cold War America, Day 11 - Class Recap

A few students are working on Cold War newspapers in relation to the United States dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. This is the Meiji Shrine in Tokyo. Photo taken in January, 2014.

Dear class,

Our last full day of work on the Cold War newspaper assignment today! Here's what class looked like:

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 Ka Barra (Your Work)” by Habib Koite. Selected because this was the last full in class day of work on your Cold War newspaper project, due next class.

AGENDA 5/21/14:
News Brief
Newspaper Overview
S210 Computer Lab

Homework: Finish newspaper (we will have about 30 minutes in the lab to finish and print, but please come with it done, if possible). Read the blog! Next news brief: Tifani.

Links to homework assignment and grading rubric:

Google Drive: Cold War Newspaper Final Project Assignment

Google Drive: Cold War Newspaper Final Project Grading Rubric

News Brief: Ben had the news brief today and chose this story to bring in: NYTimes.com - 2 Students Arrested After Putting Rat Poison in Teacher’s Water, Police Say. Wow! I would say that I'll have to watch myself, but I feel confident I have nothing to worry about.

Along with this section, I talked about the legalization of same sex marriage in Oregon on Monday. I made sure to go over how this happened and some of the reasons why a judge was able to declare the Oregon constitution invalid. An important day in our history, for sure.

We also talked about the Beaverton School District bond measure passing, what it might mean for Westview, and my being hired as a full time probationary (somewhat permanent) teacher at Westview (these two news items are unrelated). Happy days!

Newspaper Overview: I wanted to talk about the basics of the assignment, one last time. This is what I read in class:

Article 1: From the date that you are choosing to publish your paper, who is “winning” the Cold War? Why is the other side not? What is changing in America at this point?

Political Cartoon/Visual Metaphor that relates to your headline, with caption that explains what it is about.

Article 2: An overview of how technology is shaping the war at the time you are publishing the newspaper. Be sure to address the Nuclear Arms Race, and the Space Race if possible. You could also talk about technology within specific wars.

Make sure to cite your sources if you use out of class information! Your in class notes do not need to be cited.

S210 Computer Lab: The rest of class was spent on the computers. Please work hard on this, to be able to turn it in next class, on Tuesday! This is your final really big assignment of the year - do not neglect to do it! Make sure to ask me in the comments or with an email if you need help!