December 19

Social 10-1

I returned your Unit 3 Position Papers at the beginning of class, and then went over some areas of improvement. You will get the results of your Chapter 15-16 Quiz after the Winter Break. I showed you a video on rising food prices from the CBC News in Review series. I then showed you some pictures from a book called Hungry Planet in which a photographer traveled around the world taking photos of families with an entire week's worth of groceries in front of them. I then showed you a music video called "Do They Know It's Christmas?" Here are some important upcoming dates for Social 10-1 students.

Upcoming Important Dates for Social 10-1 Students:

• Social 10-1 Part A of Final Exam (3 source analysis) is on Wednesday, January 7th
• Unit 4 Final Exam (30 multiple choice questions + Unit 4 Part A) is on Thursday, January 8th
  
• Social 10-1 Part B of Final Exam (100 multiple choice questions) is on Wednesday, January 14th in the Main Gym from 1-3 p.m.
  

Social 20-1

I went over some important upcoming dates for you, including the dates of final exams (see below). Your homework assignment tonight is to send me 5 high-quality Jeopardy! style questions and answers today, so that we can play a review game on Tuesday, January 13th.

Upcoming Important Dates for Social 20-1 Students:

• Social 20-1 Part A of Final Exam (this is an in-class position paper) is on Tuesday, January 6th
  
• Social 20-1 Part B of Final Exam (100 multiple choice questions) is on Friday, January 16th in the Main Gym 1-3 p.m.
  

December 18

Social 20-1

I gave you back the results of the Unit 3 Final Exam today. I gave you class time to work on your Chapter 14 and 15 Key Terms and Questions, these will be due after the winter break.

Social 10-1

Most of today's class was spent writing your Chapter 15-16 Quiz and working on your Chapter 17 Key Terms and Questions. Your Chapter 17 Key Terms and Questions will be due tomorrow. I should be able to hand back your Unit 3 Position Papers tomorrow, but it is unlikely that you will know the results of your Chapter 15-16 Quiz until after the winter break.

December 17

Sorry for the later post tonight...

Social 20-1

Most of today's class was spent writing your Unit 3 Final Exam. Your Chapter 13 Key Terms and Questions are due tomorrow.

Social 10-1

I went through a presentation today, that I will send to your this evening called "The Impact of Globalization on Individuals and Communities", which corresponds to Chapter 17 in your textbook, with some supplementary material. Your Chapter 15-16 Quiz is tomorrow, you have a copy of the study guide and the reading on human rights abuses in Burma, so study hard tonight!

December 16

Social 10-1

I gave you back your TNC Dossier Assignments today, I will try to finish marking your Unit 3 Position Papers this week. My goal is to give these back to you before the end of the semester. I went through a presentation today called "The Impacts of Globalization on Groups in Society". You will need this presentation for your Chapter 15-16 Quiz on Thursday. ?Your Chapter 16 Key Terms and Questions are due tomorrow. Here again is the study guide for this quiz. I tried to show a video from the Human Rights Watch group on child soldiers, but the network was a bit sluggish today. Here is the video:

Social 20-1

I went through a presentation on the history of French-English relations in Canadian history. I will be sending this presentation out this afternoon, so please check your e-mail. I gave you the remainder of class time to work on your Chapter 13 Key Terms and Questions, they are due on Thursday.

December 15

Social 10-1

I gave you back your Unit 3 Part A In-Class Writing Assignments at the beginning of class. If you missed class today, you need to get some notes that I wrote up on the board, the notes covered the topics of the Canadian Bill of Rights, Charter of Rights and Freedoms, civil rights, entrenchment of rights, human rights, inalienable rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I then gave you a summary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights in plain language, and had you work on a chart activity for the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. If you didn't finish this chart in class, it is for homework. To complete the chart you will need to access the online version of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Please remember that you have your Chapter 15-16 Quiz on Thursday, click here to see the study guide.

Social 20-1

I gave you back your position papers today, and went over some requirements that must be in your position paper (a "Recipe for Success" in writing in-class position papers). I also gave you the Unit 4 Worksheet today, I gave you a little bit of time to work on your Chapter 13 Key Terms and Questions. Please check your e-mail tonight, I have sent you some documents. Also, don't forget that you have your Unit 3 Final Exam on Wednesday, it's 70 multiple choice questions (lots of source-based questions), so you've got to know the material and be able to apply it. Here is the link to the study guide.

December 12

Social 10-1

You got the results of your Unit 3 Final Exam today. I also delivered a presentation that corresponds to Chapter 15 called "Quality of Life, Human Rights and Democratization". I will send this presentation to you today, so please check your e-mail. You have your Chapter 15-16 Quiz on Thursday, December 18th. Here is the study guide.

Chapter 15-16 Quiz Study Guide:

You will have a Chapter 15-16 Quiz on Thursday, December 18th. This quiz will follow the typical format: a matching section, a multiple choice section and a short answer section. Please use the following study guide. Study from your textbook and the following PowerPoint presentations:

• "Quality of Life, Human Rights, and Democratization" (ppt)
• "Impacts of Globalization on Groups in Society" (ppt)
• study the reading "Human Rights Abuses in a Globalized World: Burma Case Study" (from Globalization 101 website)
  

Key Terms:

• Chapter 15 Key Terms (from Unit 4 Worksheet)
• Chapter 16 Key Terms (from Unit 4 Worksheet)
• additional key terms from the presentations that correspond to Chapters 15 and 16)
  

Key Questions:

• What are human rights?
• What is democratization?
• What is quality of life?
• What is standard of living?
• How are ideas about human rights and democracy related?
• How are globalization, human rights, and democracy related?
• How have ideas about human rights changed over time?
• What is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
• What is the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms?
• In what ways does globalization affect the lives of children and youth?
• In what ways does globalization affect the lives of women?
• human rights abuses in Burma
  

Social 20-1

I showed you a video today called "Darfur: On Our Watch", which covers the crisis in the western region of the Sudan called Darfur, and the failure of the international community to act to stop the conflict and genocide in Darfur. Here are some good links on Darfur:

• Please have a look at the following hyperlink from ABC News on Darfur.
• Here's a hyperlink to Eyes on Darfur (an Amnesty International project).
• CBC News in Depth: Darfur, Sudan
• If you have Google Earth, have a look at this download from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum called Crisis in Darfur
• Eric Reeves website on Sudan (featured in the film Darfur: On Our Watch)

Please remember that you have your Unit 3 Final Exam next Wednesday, here is the study guide.

December 11

Social 20-1

Today, I collected your Chapter 12 Key Terms and Questions. We watched a video from the PBS Nova series called "World in the Balance: The People Paradox". I think that after watching this video you can see the connections between population/demographic changes and impacts that it can have on other global issues. I also gave you a reading on Myanmar and the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis that hit the country in May 2008. Myanmar is an interesting case study of human rights, as well as the international response to this crisis, and in turn, the Myanmar military junta's response to the desire of the international community to send humanitarian aid to Myanmar. Please make sure that you read this supplementary articles (this is testable material, as is the other article about Myanmar that I am sending to your e-mail account). Tomorrow, we'll be looking at the situation in Darfur, which is also in your textbook (page 285). Your Unit 3 Final Exam is on Wednesday, December 17th, here is your study guide.

Social 10-1

Most of today's class was spent writing your Unit 3 Final Exam. If you finished up early, you were to use that time to work on your Chapter 15 Key Terms and Questions, which are due tomorrow. Also, I would expect you to post your Week 3 reactions to the oil shock on our class World Without Oil blog. Please check that blog for what you should focus your Week 3 reaction around.

December 10

Sorry for the later post tonight...

Social 20-1

We looked at a short video on the global food crisis from CBC News in Review. While you were watching the video you were to complete a booklet of questions related to it. I gave you the remainder of class time to work on your Chapter 12 Key Terms and Questions, which are due tomorrow. Please remember that your Unit 3 Final Exam is next Wednesday, here is the study guide.

Social 10-1

I gave you the Unit 4 Worksheet today. You had the option of working on Chapter 15 material, or studying for tomorrow's Unit 3 Final Exam. Here is the study guide for this final exam once again.

December 9

Social 10-1

We continued looking at a World Without Oil. You should be posting your "in game" reactions at the World Without Oil blog. I will be checking for your posts for Week 1 today. I will post on that blog what you should be posting for Week 3 tomorrow. You should also be reviewing for your Unit 3 Final Exam, this exam is on Thursday. Please check the study guide here. I also collected your written responses for the e-waste article from National Geographic magazine for homework check marks.

Social 20-1

I collected your Chapter 11 Key Terms and Questions today. I also finished off the presentation "Nationalism and Internationalism" today, and I will be sending it off to you this afternoon. We also started looking at global issues today. One of the root causes for many of the global issues that we will be looking at in Unit 3 is the regional differences and disparities on our planet. Economic disparities between the developed world and the developing world is at the core for many of the global issues that we will be looking at, such as: global health issues, pandemics, the spread of disease, and epidemics such as HIV/AIDS; foreign debt; global poverty; access to clean drinking water; hunger. Many of these issues have their roots in the unequal distribution of wealth in the world. We watched a short video called "If the World Were a Village" and completed a prediction sheet to go with the video. This video boils down global numbers into easy to understand numbers and percentages. This will help us when we look at some of the global issues in Unit 3. Your Chapter 12 Key Terms and Questions are due on Thursday, December 11th. Remember that your Unit 3 Final Exam is on Wednesday, December 17th. Please see the study guide below.

Unit 3 Final Exam Study Guide:

Please review all of the Unit 3 PowerPoint presentations that I have sent to you:

• "Nations, Nation-States and Internationalism"
• "Canada's Foreign Policy"
• "Nationalism and Internationalism"

Please review all of the Unit 3 Key Terms from the Unit 3 Worksheet in addition to the key concepts that were introduced in the PowerPoint presentations. In addition to this, I would like to emphasize the following points with you:

• know the difference between multilateralism, unilateralism and bilateralism and know examples of each
• know the spectrum of foreign policy: internationalism, nationalism, ultranationalism, and supranationalism
• know the different foreign policy options
• know the 6 themes of Canadian foreign policy/Canada's foreign policy goals
• what influences foreign policy decisions?
• methods of foreign policy
• motivations for nations involvement or non-involvement in international affairs
• how can foreign policy promote internationalism?
• tied aid, bilateral aid, multilateral aid
• examples of INGOs and IGOs
• the United Nations (organization/structure, bodies, etc.)
• peacemaking vs. peacekeeping (and examples)
• different understandings of internationalism (types of internationalism)
• why do international organizations exist? purposes and examples

December 8

Social 10-1

We continued looking at our World Without Oil ARG, and how to connect to our World Without Oil site. Please make sure that you post your reactions to the oil shock there by Wednesday. I collected your TNC Dossier Assignments at the beginning of class today. Tomorrow, you have a homework assignment due, and it is a written response to article that appeared in National Geographic Magazine's January 2008 issue. Here is the link to the article. After reading this article, please write a response to the article (about 1 page in length) in which you answer the following question: What can be done to make e-waste more environmentally friendly, and increase the sustainability of this industry?

Don't forget that your Unit 3 Final Exam is fast approaching. Here is the study guide:

Unit 3 Final Exam Study Guide:

Please make sure that you have read Chapters 10-14. Please make sure that you have the following PowerPoint presentations, and that you study from them:

• "Foundations of Economic Globalization"
• "The Expansion of Economic Globalization"
• "Challenges and Opportunities of Economic Globalization"
• "The Impact of Economic Globalization on Environments"
• "Globalization and Sustainability"

Make sure that you have reviewed the Key Terms from Unit 3 (all the terms listed on the Unit 3 Worksheet, plus the extra key terms that appeared in the PowerPoint presentations). The Unit 3 Final Exam will consist of 55 multiple choice questions, and will be held on Thursday, December 11th.

Social 20-1

I started a presentation today that I will finish off tomorrow called "Internationalism and Nationalism". This presentation corresponds to material found in Chapter 10 and 11 in your textbook, with a healthy supply of supplementary material thrown in as well. I gave you the remainder of class time to work on your Chapter 12 Key Terms and Questions, which are due on Thursday, December 11th. Please remember that your Chapter 11 Key Terms and Questions are due tomorrow.
I have also set a date for the Unit 3 Final Exam, it'll be on Wednesday, December 17th. If you are away on this day, it had better be an excused absence. Some of you may be cross-country skiing that day, if so, you will write the test the next day. I will post the study guide for the Unit 3 Final in tomorrow's post on the blog.

December 5

Social 10-1

We started a new activity today called World Without Oil. Over the next few class periods we'll be looking at the impact that oil has on our everyday lives, and contemporary economic globalization. We started off by brainstorming a list of everyday items that are derived from oil. I had you add to this list (I will be sending you a list of items for you to have a look at). We then talked about playing an alternate reality game (ARG) called World Without Oil. This ARG was originally played out in several countries in May 2007. I will be sending some hyperlinks to your e-mail accounts, so please check your e-mail tonight! Over the next few classes we'll be looking at the impact that an oil shock (when the global supply of oil no longer meets global demand) would have on our everyday lives. If it's a prolonged oil shock, what impact would that have on our everyday lives? I have sent you an invitation to your e-mail accounts, so please check your e-mail. After you accept the invitation, there will be further instructions as to what you are to do next.

You have your TNC Dossier Assignment due on Monday, December 8th. On Tuesday, December 9th, you will have your written response due. This written response is based on an article from National Geographic magazine, and it is about e-waste. Please see this original post when this assignment was originally assigned as homework.

Social 20-1

I gave you back your three source analysis in-class writing assignments today. With both sections of Social 20-1 that I teach I saw an improvement in the quality of responses. There is still room for improvement for almost everyone. Please make sure that on future source analysis questions that you specifically analyze each of the sources! A few of you are doing poorly on these assignments because you are not referring to or analyzing the sources at all.
I gave you the remainder of class time to work on your Chapter 11 Key Terms and Questions, these will be due on Tuesday, December 9th.

December 4

Social 20-1

I can't believe I spent most of the period going over the current political crisis in Canada. I didn't intend to take that long. I think that as a Social Studies teacher I had to go over what has been going on in our country politically. This is the most charged up that many Canadians have been about politics in awhile. It's interesting to think about the voter turnout in the last federal election and how dismal it was. If there were an election tomorrow, would the voter turnout be any higher?

Don't worry, we'll get back on track tomorrow with Unit 3 material. There is no homework tonight.

Social 10-1

Most of today's class was spent doing a Unit 3 Part A In-Class Writing Assignment. I won't be able to get the results of this writing assignment back to you as quickly as I have in the past as I have a considerable amount of marking to do for my Social 20-1 classes. Hopefully, you did well on this assignment. These Part A assignments are similar to the type of minor writing assignments that you will be getting all throughout your time in high school Social Studies, they are modeled after the minor writing assignment that will be part of the Social Studies 30-1 Diploma Exam. Please remember that you have some homework that is due on Tuesday, it's a written response to an article from National Geographic magazine, please check this post to read your homework assignment.

Unit 3 Final Exam Study Guide:

Please make sure that you have read Chapters 10-14. Please make sure that you have the following PowerPoint presentations, and that you study from them:

• "Foundations of Economic Globalization"
• "The Expansion of Economic Globalization"
• "Challenges and Opportunities of Economic Globalization"
• "The Impact of Economic Globalization on Environments"
• "Globalization and Sustainability"
  

Make sure that you have reviewed the Key Terms from Unit 3 (all the terms listed on the Unit 3 Worksheet, plus the extra key terms that appeared in the PowerPoint presentations). The Unit 3 Final Exam will consist of 55 multiple choice questions, and will be held on Thursday, December 11th.

December 3

Social 20-1

We looked at various foreign policy options today, and defined them and then came up with examples of each foreign policy option. We then rated the effectiveness of each of these six foreign policy options in dealing with three issues facing the world today: the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa, global poverty, and control of the Northwest passage and Arctic resources.

Social 10-1

We played a Unit 3 review game for most of the period. I have sent this PowerPoint game to you already. Please remember that you have your Unit 3 Part A In-Class Writing Assignment tomorrow. Also, please remember that you have a written response assignment due on Friday. You are to read an article from National Geographic magazine. Here is a link to the post where I originally assigned this homework.

December 2

Social 10-1

You wrote your in-class position papers today in the Blenheim Room, which took most of the period. We'll be playing a review game tomorrow on Unit 3 material.

Social 20-1

We looked Canadian foreign policy today, and I delivered a lecture on this topic. I have already sent you the presentation called "Canada's Foreign Policy", this is supplementary material to the Chapter 10 material. You Chapter 10 Key Terms and Questions are due tomorrow.

December 1

Whoops, I just noticed that I didn't post on Friday, sorry about that!

Social 10-1

I started today's class by outlining possible ways of organizing your in-class position paper tomorrow. As you should have seen, on either side of the issue, there are a multitude of ways of organizing it, depending on which arguments you use, case studies, arguments and evidence you choose to emphasize. To quickly summarize, on the essay question "To what extent does economic globalization contribute to sustainable prosperity for all people?" you could take the side that it does contribute to sustainable prosperity for all people, in which case you would emphasize the economics-based definition of sustainable prosperity. Some possible ways of organizing the positive side of the issue would be to focus in on the global financial institutions as one of your arguments, you would be arguing the benefits of the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO, with supporting evidence. Another body paragraph could center around the benefits of economic trading blocs, such as the EU (you could use the case study of Ireland to illustrate the benefits of membership int he EU and how it has raised the standard of living and quality of life in Ireland) and NAFTA. You could also look at the benefits of TNCs by using some information from the video "Globalisation is Good" particularly the case study of Nike in Vietnam. You could also look at the benefits of contemporary economic globalization on the developing world and newly industrializing countries such as India and China. On the flip side of the issue, you could organize your essay around criticizing global financial institutions like the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO. By focusing on just these three global financial institutions, you would just criticize each institution in each of your body paragraphs. You could also group them all together into one paragraph as well, if you wanted to criticize other aspects of modern economic globalization. You could be critical of large economic trading blocs like the EU (giving up some aspects of your country's sovereignty to be part of the EU), and NAFTA (look at the NAFTA chart in the PowerPoint presentation "The Expansion of Economic Globalization", this goes for the positive side of the argument as well). You could also emphasize the negative aspects of TNCs in the world today (have a look at the companion website to the documentary "The Corporation", or have a look under Social 10-1 Links for hyperlinks to other companion websites for films that I showed in Unit 3). You could also argue the detrimental side of contemporary economic globalization on the developing world and newly industrialized countries, such as India and China (is everyone benefiting from globalization in these countries?), or look at Jamaica as a case study as well (could be used to criticize the World Bank and IMF and to a lesser extent, the WTO, look at the companion website for the film "Life + Debt"). If you are arguing that economic globalization does not contribute to the sustainable prosperity of all people, you would want to emphasize that not all people are benefiting from the spread of globalization, and you would also want to define sustainable prosperity in your first paragraph to include economic, social and environmental aspects of that term. I hope our brainstorming session helps you with tomorrow's position paper, please remember to go directly to the Blenheim Room.



I gave you the remainder of class time to complete your homework assignment (hopefully all you have to do tonight is send it to me by e-mail): 7 high quality Jeopardy! style questions and answers sent to me by e-mail TONIGHT! We will be playing a review game on Wednesday.

Social 20-1

I finished off the presentation called "Nations, Nation-States and Internationalism", with some supplementary material on the United Nations in it. I will send this presentation to you today, so please check your e-mail inboxes. Also, we watched a short CBC News in Review on the role of peacekeeping operations in the 21st century. I gave you a reading to go along with this CBC News in Review that you should read. I gave you the remainder of class time to do your Chapter 10 Key Terms and Questions, which will be due on Wednesday, December 3rd. We will be moving through this Unit 3 material VERY quickly, so please make sure that you keep up with the homework assignments.