Tuesday, October 11

This Week's Questions:

• What is racism and how does it play out in today's society?
• Is racism natural?
• How might it end?

Agenda

1. Starter 10.11:  Reflect on your experience yesterday on the field trip.  What are some things you learned and/or felt during the course of the day?  How do you feel about the Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples’ Day issue?

2. Debrief Field Trip

3. Establish ground rules for our discussions on race

• Be "Willing to be Disturbed"
• Oops/Ouch
• Speak your truth while listening with an open heart to others’

4.  Four Corners

• In America, everyone has equal opportunity to lead a successful, happy life.
• Social class is more relevant than race in determining someone’s likelihood of success.
• In order to combat racism, we should all try to be colorblind.
• Affirmative action is reverse discrimination

(Affirmative Action refers to a policy or program providing advantages for groups who have experienced historical discrimination with the aim of creating a more egalitarian society through preferential access to education, employment, health care, and social welfare.)

5. Go over this week's work and seminar prep packet  

• Seminar Monday!
• Make a copy of the Google Doc.  This will be where you compile your thoughts of the week as seminar prep.
• If you prefer a paper copy, I will print it for you, and you can attach additional papers as necessary.

6.  The Daily Show: “The R-word” Samantha Bee and Jessica Williams

7. Establish definitions for some terms key to our discussion on race.

Key Terms Powerpoint

8.  Reading: Josiah Strong (1885)

Fill in the space on the seminar prep packet under “Response to readings”

Honors:  Reminder to read this week's assigned reading if you have not done so already.

GET LETTER SIGNED

Friday, October 7

Starter 10.7:  What seems to be Jonathan Haidt’s main point in this interview about how our morals skew our reasoning?

AND:  Go to Steve's DP and take the survey for Monday!

Announcements

• Please vote for your STAC representatives.  See an email from Libby from a few days ago.  Yay democracy!
• Field trip on Monday!  Please get permission slip signed this weekend.  Super enriching experience!  If you miss, you will have a robust reading and writing make-up assignment.
• Second presidential debate on Sunday night. (7pm, many channels)

So here is the thing about the study published in Science magazine….

Group discussion:  Jot down the highlights of your discussion.  Every member of your group should be prepared to share the main points of your conversation. (Be prepared for my cold call!)

1. Jonathan Haidt says, “logic plays little role in our moral lives. Moral claims and arguments function like gang signs — they show others what team you are on, and they let you share emotions with other people, which bonds you more closely together.”  If this is the case, what does that mean for democracy?  How does it relate to the practice of rhetoric in a democratic society?
2. How do you see liberals in our society ignoring the moral principles and arguments of conservatives?
3. How do you see conservatives ignoring the moral principles and arguments of liberals?
4. What implications do Haidt’s ideas have for the question: “What does it take for us to change our minds about political issues?”  
5. Is it a lost cause to try to change people’s minds about political issues? How can our willingness to be disturbed be useful in overcoming political division?

Share out

Reminder:  Be willing to be disturbed!

Preparing for Monday...

Columbus: Hero or Villain?  Could he be both?

What do we remember/what have we learned about Columbus throughout our education?

Mine went a little something like this….

Origins of Columbus Day

What happens when we look at this story facing east instead of west?

Reconsider Columbus Day

Durango and FLC have reconsidered

¿El Dia de la Raza o el Dia de La Cultura?

Work Time/Homework

1. Read Howard Zinn, Chapter 1 “Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”

2. Watch John Green’s Crash Course #1: The Black Legend, Native Americans, and Spaniards
3. Optional, but highly recommended: The Oatmeal on Columbus

4. JOURNAL 10.7:  How does the exposure to new information change your perspective on Columbus Day?  Do you think Durango and FLC made the right decision in changing this holiday officially?  Why or why not?

GET PERMISSION SLIP SIGNED!!!!

Honors:  Since you have already read the chapter, just watch the John Green video and answer the journal. Instead, you may have time to read this weekend’s assignment: Zinn, Chapter 17 “Or Does it Explode?”

Questions for Chapter 17

1. How does the Countee Cullen poem “Incident” capture the complex and indelible psychological impact of racism?
2. How did MLK’s strategies differ from that of the Black Panthers and Malcolm X?
3. Explain the significance and the impacts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
4. To what degree have things changed in our society? How can we see Black Lives Matter and other modern Civil Rights efforts on the same historical timeline as the events of this chapter?  Can you relate the BLM movement to the Langston Hughes poem “Lenox Avenue Mural”?

Thursday, October 6

The Questions

• How can we better understand those that differ from us ideologically in order to foster healthy dialogue in a democracy?
• What might it take to change someone's mind or have our own mind changed?

MINI RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

1. Choose an issue to research today. (Journal #1) It doesn’t have to be one that you are thinking of for your project, but feel free to begin this process of exploration.  Let it be one that you feel STRONGLY about.  Here are some websites that lay out some issues (but feel free to choose a topic from your heart or from the discussion yesterday).

• http://www.procon.org/
• http://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm

2. First, you will reflect on your current opinions/feelings (journal #2).  

3. Second, consume ideas on the other side of the topic (the side you disagree with!).  Please be willing to be disturbed! You should explore opinion journalism on your chosen topic.  Find 2-3 sources that explore your chosen issue and hold the opposite bias from yours. (journal #3)

Please consult with me if you are having trouble finding opinion journalism on one side or the other.  I am pretty good at politics on the web:)

• Real Clear Politics: a mix of editorial voices!
• List of Conservative Media on the Web
• List of Liberal Websites

4. Lastly, write an additional paragraph explaining the oppositional viewpoints on the topic.  Include a discussion of the VALUES and MORAL FOUNDATIONS of the other side’s views.  Can you understand better where the other side is coming from?  (Journal #4)

JOURNAL 10.4

1. What is your topic?
2. Write one paragraph explaining your current opinions/feelings on the topic.
3. Identify the titles and authors of the articles you found.  Link them here in your journal!
4. After exploring media sources on the other side of the political aisle, write an additional paragraph explaining the oppositional viewpoints on the topic.  Include a discussion of the VALUES and MORAL FOUNDATIONS of the other side’s views.  Can you understand better where the other side is coming from?

What does it take to change someone's mind or to have your own mind changed?

1) The Incredible Rarity of Changing Your Mind: This American Life (first 24 min)

• Listen carefully.  Jot key phrases or ideas that you find as take-aways about what causes us to change our minds and what does not cause us to change our minds.

2) Abstract from "When contact changes minds: An experiment on transmission of support for gay equality" published in Science on 12/12/2014. (10 min)

• What is an abstract?
• How to read an abstract

3)  JOURNAL 10.6

• What is an issue you care about and would like to change someone's mind about?  Based on what you learned today, what would be an effective approach to influencing them?
• Think about a belief you hold strongly.  Under what circumstances could your mind be changed?  What would that conversation sound like?
• Consider the cost involved and the amount of people who changed thier minds as a result of the canvassing campaign.  Is this an efficient manner to change people's minds?  Why or why not?

4) HOMEWORK: Read Jonathan Haidt interview (the moral psychologist from the TED talk).

Advisory: College Stuff!

Students Applying to College via the CommonApp

1. Have students log onto their accounts
2. Have students click on the CommonApp tab at the top
3. Have students review the Education information they filled out against the information I provided on this document CommonApp Ready-Counselor Sheet (Can also be found on my DP under Seniors>>CommonApp)
4. Then have students click on My Colleges tab
5. Under each college listed on the left have students click on Recommenders and FERPA check box
6. Make sure students have signed the FERPA release authorization
7. Next have students click on video titled video about recommenders next to the Invite and Manage Recommenders button.
8. Have students watch this video about how to invite recommenders and counselors
9. SUPER IMPORTANT: Remind students that even if their advisor is writing their counselor letter of recommendation they will still invite Jess as the college counselor using the following email collegecounseling@animashighschool.com
10. Have students invite their counselor and teacher recommendations or edit if they need to.

Remind Students: After school today starting at 3:30 in the Commons Jess has an optional CommonApp Assistance session where she can go over specific questions and review any information they want her to review.

Wednesday, October 5

POLITICAL IDEOLOGY (NON)QUIZ!

If you finish early, you can start tomorrow's assignment...

MINI RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

1. Choose an issue to research today. (Journal #1) It doesn’t have to be one that you are thinking of for your project, but feel free to begin this process of exploration.  Let it be one that you feel STRONGLY about.  Here are some websites that lay out some issues (but feel free to choose a topic from your heart or from the discussion yesterday).

• http://www.procon.org/
• http://www.ontheissues.org/default.htm

2. First, you will reflect on your current opinions/feelings (journal #2).  

3. Second, consume ideas on the other side of the topic (the side you disagree with!).  Please be willing to be disturbed! You should explore opinion journalism on your chosen topic.  Find 2-3 sources that explore your chosen issue and hold the opposite bias from yours. (journal #3)

Please consult with me if you are having trouble finding opinion journalism on one side or the other.  I am pretty good at politics on the web:)

• Real Clear Politics: a mix of editorial voices!
• List of Conservative Media on the Web
• List of Liberal Websites

4. Lastly, write an additional paragraph explaining the oppositional viewpoints on the topic.  Include a discussion of the VALUES and MORAL FOUNDATIONS of the other side’s views.  Can you understand better where the other side is coming from?  (Journal #4)

JOURNAL 10.6

1. What is your topic?
2. Write one paragraph explaining your current opinions/feelings on the topic.
3. Identify the titles and authors of the articles you found.  Link them here in your journal!
4. After exploring media sources on the other side of the political aisle, write an additional paragraph explaining the oppositional viewpoints on the topic.  Include a discussion of the VALUES and MORAL FOUNDATIONS of the other side’s views.  Can you understand better where the other side is coming from?

Tuesday, October 4th

Today’s Question:  How can we better understand those that differ from us ideologically in order to foster healthy dialogue in our democracy?

Starter 10.4:  React to yesterday’s panel.  What surprised, enlightened or disturbed you? What are some ways that your thinking was expanded or challenged?

Announcements:

• Tomorrow:  Quiz alternative/Reflection on political ideology in America. You will be able to use your T-chart, your comp books, panel notes (mine and yours), and any other notes you have taken from the debates or any other media sources.
• Tonight is the vice-presidential debate!  Watch it!  Take it in!  Consume rhetoric critically.  Explore the differences between the candidates and their presidential counterparts.
• Honors Essay due by midnight tomorrow night. Get a peer critique! Get a proofread! Don't forget MLA formatting!

Debrief panel:  What are our take-aways?  How do we understand ideology better?  How did our willingness to be disturbed play into the experience? What feedback do you guys have for future panel experiences?

Key phrases spoken by our panelists yesterday

Review project description: PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Topic Brainstorm:  Small groups...make a list of project topics and then copy and paste your ideas to this Google Doc.

• What are the political and social issues at stake in American (and human) life right now?  
• What issues have you seen emerge in this election or in the news that you might be interested in researching?
• What are possible topics on which young Americans are compelled to get rhetorical?  

Exit ticket:  Write down 5 different political issues/topics that you might be interested in taking on for your project.

Monday, October 3

Welcome, Panelists!