Friday, August 31, 2018

Friday, August 31

Dear students: I appreciate you so much for working diligently and being kind and awesome to Maxim. Today you will read another story about the birth of our nation, TAKE IT IN as intellectuals and human beings. You should also finish all other assignments, including being entirely caught up on your digital comp book entries.

Starter 8.31: How is the study of history an ideological act? How does ideology impact the telling of history?

TO-DO
1. Finish Journal 8.30 from yesterday ("Re-examining the Revolution." See yesterday's post for the questions.)
2. See the Digital Comp Book Table of Contents. Are you caught up? If not, please go back and finish any missing entries.
3. Please read Chapter One of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown and answer the questions in your Digital Comp Books.

JOURNAL 8.31: Bury My Heart Chapter 1 Questions
Annotate the chapter and answer the following questions in your digital comp books:

1. How does this version of American history differ from how you have traditionally learned it?

2. Where do you see evidence of the ideological lens (or worldview) in the way this history is being told?

3. Why is it important to look at this version of history?

Thursday, August 30, 2018

Thursday, August 30

The Big Question:

To what degree is the United States living up to the ideals set forth in the Declaration?

How does ideology impact the telling of history?

Starter 8.30: A Significant Omission…..

Read the omitted passage from the Declaration of Independence and answer the following questions:

To what is Jefferson referring?
Why do you think Congress removed this from the adopted draft?

He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation hither … And he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he had deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another.

Discuss Declaration Packet. (TURN IT IN!)

What are the ideologies upon which our country is founded?

What bias did you see in each of the historian excerpts?

Four corners: America is living up to the ideals set forth is the preamble of the Declaration of Independence.

Re-examining the Revolution....

How is the Revolution usually taught in schools? How might ideology impact the telling of this part of our history? How does bias matter in the telling of history?

The American Revolution: Crash Course US History

WORK TIME
HONORS CHECK-IN DURING WORK TIME!

Read and annotate: “Re-examining the Revolution” by Ray Raphael

JOURNAL 8.30 Raphael Response

Respond in your digital comp books to these prompts:

1. Ray Raphael says, "We continue to see ourselves as David to prove we are not Goliath..." What does he mean by this? How does he see this as a result of mythologizing the study of history? Why should we care?

2. Do we agree with Raphael's claim that "the historical self-portrait of America as the little guy, together with a myopic denial of international politics, fuels the quest for unbounded global power"?

3. What is his ideological perspective?

Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Wednesday, August 29

Starter 8.29: Is the United States a democracy or an empire?

Deconstruct….

Key Question

USA: Democracy or Empire?

1. Pair Share Starter

2. Group brainstorm: Democracies and Empires
Each group should make a copy of this google doc and share it with Jessica. One copy per group! Make sure all your names are on it!

3. Share Out

Which characteristics of each do we see in the USA?
Do we all agree about which we are? What are our points of disagreement? (Four corners?)
Is this question a false dichotomy? Could democracy be compatible with empire?

Once upon a time, the United States were colonies of another empire...
DISCUSS:

1. What do you remember about the American Revolution? What have you learned about it in your education?
2. What are some of the ideals upon which the Revolution was based?

3. Why was the Declaration of Independence written?

The Declaration of Independence

History channel excerpt

Declaration of Independence video (watch preamble)

How does the rhetoric of the Declaration impact you as an American?

The Ideology of the Declaration of Independence

Declaration Preamble
Why did the Founding Fathers write the Declaration?

Tuesday August 28

Starter 8.28: Complete this sentence as many ways as you can think of. Be literal and/or figurative, positive and/or negative.

America is....

PROJECT LAUNCH!

So let’s deconstruct a little piece of Americana….

Pink Houses

Listen once without video and answer prompt questions

1. Do you think that John Cougar Mellencamp’s tone is more patriotic or cynical? Explain why you think so, using evidence.

2. Make an interpretive claim about this song using evidence. What is he saying? What is the message? What do you think this song is trying to express about America?

3. Group share/interpretation: What meaning do we find? What do the people in the song believe about America?

4. Discuss: Does the video change your interpretation? How and why?

IN OUR OWN WORDS (Pair Share) What is ideology?

WORK TIME:

Finish or Refine Seminar Reflection (in comp book)

Add more ideas to your starter

Monday, August 27, 2018

Monday, August 27

Starter 8.27: Causes of Partisan Perceptions

Choose several of the items on this list and discuss where you have seen the principles in play in society. Think about yourself and your own views. Do you find yourself falling victim to any of these causes of partisan perception? Or think about the climate of information we are living in. What are examples of people seeing the same events/ideas in different ways. Why does this happen?

What is confirmation bias? How does our media environment feed our confirmation bias in today’s politically divided society and keep us from having our ideas shaken and disturbed?

SEMINAR!

What kind of classroom environment do we want to create this year? What kinds of norms and dispositions to we need to achieve it?

This seminar will be a rotating fish bowl. The seminar itself will be for participation credit rather than a letter grade. The reflection will be the graded part of this assignment. Please use the seminar to process your thoughts and listen to the ideas of others with an open mind.

Seminar Guidelines

Review Seminar Norms and Conversation Movers
Review Seminar Rubric (ungraded, but we are still looking for the same behaviors)
When you are not active in the inside circle, you should be listening intently, jotting down notes, and processing your own thoughts and perspectives.
Rotating Fish Bowl Style

Groups A-B (15 minutes)
Groups B-C (15 minutes)
Groups C-D (15 minutes)
Groups D-A (15 minutes)
Open Discussion

GROUP A	GROUP B	GROUP C	GROUP D
Rainey Xavier Zoe Annabelle Payton Zac	Logan Anika Gabby David Cloe Taylor	Sara Ori Sage Jordan Jackson Elise	Aldo Liam Alli Noelle Jake Alex

Seminar Reflection (in Digital Comp Book)

What are your main take-aways from this seminar? What new understandings do you have now that you didn't have before?
What are your wishes and fears about Humanities class this year? What do you want our classroom environment to be like this year?
How will you personally contribute to creating this environment?

Friday, August 24, 2018

Friday, August 24

STARTER 8.24 (In Digital Comp Book if you have it set up): How would you classify your own political views? Liberal? Conservative? Other? Where did your political beliefs come from- How did you form the political views you currently hold? To what extent have you felt safe to share your political beliefs in school? Beyond? What factors contributed to the feeling of safety or lack thereof?

Digital Comp Book Set-up

1. Create a new Google doc and name it: FirstName LastName Digital Comp Book

2. Share the document with me at jessica.mccallum@animashighschool.com. Make sure you give me editing power!

3. Each entry should be labeled so that it is clear to me which entry goes with which prompt.

4. Master document on my Resources page to keep up with prompts

5. You are responsible for all starters and entries, even if you are absent

6. Feel free to add images, links, and other digital content in your responses!

7. Chat with me if you prefer to keep your comp book on the Earth instead of in the Cloud.

SYLLABUS AND OTHER BUSINESS

Interested in Honors? Please read over my HONORS SYLLABUS as homework. You will notice that you have a reading for this week. There are hard copies at the table near the door. If you are in, complete the reading and corresponding questions and come to a lunch meeting next Wednesday, August 29

What materials do you need for this class? Where do we put our stuff?

Bookmark my webpage!

Tell me a little bit about yourself

Reading: "Willing to be Disturbed" (seminar reading #2)

Mark lines that stand out
Identify the main argument/thesis of this writing
In what ways do you need to "be disturbed"?
What ideas/beliefs/identities do you cling to that you could be challenged on?
Why am I having you read this?

Reading: The Seduction of Safety on Campuses and Beyond (Seminar reading #3)

****Before reading: define “Safe Space”

Work Time

Read and annotate reading #3 (and re-read and annotate #2) and work on prep for Monday seminar

Seminar prep

Please review the three seminar readings from this week and try to draw on all three of them for these questions:

What preconceived notions or prior beliefs did these readings challenge for you? (Think specifically about what you believed to be true about the world, school, yourself, other people)
What are your key takeaways from these readings? What ideas do you hope you’ll carry forward with you?
Now take some time to review the seminar questions listed below and circle a few that you for sure would like to ask/discuss during seminar.

Seminar Questions from “The Seduction of Safety, on Campus and Beyond”

Does one need to feel safe in order to be a successful learner? What else should a classroom environment/culture provide to be conducive to learning?
How would you define “a safe space”?
What do you need to feel safe?
To what extent would you consider Animas’s communal areas and broader community to be a “safe space”?
What feels safe? What feels unsafe?
To what extent have your classrooms at Animas been “safe spaces” in the past?
What groups of students at Animas might feel less safe? How can we support these groups
What is “hate speech”? Do you believe the 1st Amendment should protect hate speech? Why or why not?

Seminar Questions from “The Function of Education” by Krishnamurti

What kind of student do you want to be this year?
How do you want to engage with your education?
What do you want junior year to be like for you and for our class?
What does Krishnamurti argue the function of education is? What is the THESIS of his essay?
What ideas/beliefs/values that seem core to our cultural/social/political lives as Americans does he call into question or challenge? Why? Do you agree that these things should be questioned/challenged/changed? What alternatives does he propose? What alternatives do you propose?
What push backs/challenges do you have for the author? With which ideas do you disagree or find problematic?
Does Animas create an environment where this is possible? Should we be aspiring to?

Seminar Questions from “Willing to be Disturbed”

What is her thesis? Do you agree with her thesis?
In what ways do you need to be challenged regarding your beliefs/perspectives? How can you do that? What role do you play in that process? How can Ashley and your classmates best support you in challenging your beliefs?
What are ideas that we as a society need to be “willing to be disturbed” on?
To what extent do you feel safe to share your political views in class at AHS?
Is it more important to speak or listen? To be a persuasive speaker or good listener?

THE BIG IMPORTANT QUESTIONS:
What kind of classroom do we want to create? What norms and behaviors will be necessary to achieve it?

TO-DO (by Monday)

Review my syllabus and have your parents review it. Return the letter signed..
Tell me a little bit about you
Set up your Digital Comp Book
Honors ONLY: Zinn, Chapter 1 with questions

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Thursday, August 23

Welcome to 11th grade Humanities!

Introductions

1. Let's help the new Ospreys feel welcome!

Name
Why did you choose Animas? OR What are you excited about?
What is something that is confusing you, disturbing you, or amazing you about life in America right now?

2. Who am I, Jessica, your teacher? Questions for me?

3. A note on junior year: Best year of your life so far?

"There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so." --Hamlet
THIS IS YOUR EDUCATION!!! We are going to be doing this together.

“A single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

Read and annotate "The Function of Education" by Krishnamurti (Seminar reading #1)

Read as much of the reading as you can. Mark quotes that stand out to you as thought-provoking, interesting, inspiring or with which you strongly disagree.
Try to identify the author's thesis: What does Krishnamurti claim the purpose of education is?
Be prepared to share your selections and make meaning together.

"The Function of Education": Spirit Read

1. Everyone participates at least once. You can speak more than once.

2. Read a word, phrase, or sentence.

3. No commentary or opinions.

4. When possible, try to connect with what was just read.

5. Give all voices a chance.

6. Pauses can be powerful.

7. Repeating words and phrases is fine.

AFTER: Jot down key takeaways that answer this question: What ideas from this reading would you like to apply to our own class culture (how we treat each other, how this class is run, etc...? Or, if there are certain ideas that did not resonate with you, feel free to jot down those ideas that you DON’T want to be a part of this class culture. This reading will be one of several core texts for a seminar we are going to have on Monday of next week.