Wednesday, November 30, 2011

November 30

I went through a PowerPoint lecture on "Canada's Foreign Policy" today, which I have already sent to you. Your Chapter 9 Key Terms and Questions are due on Tuesday, December 6th. You are writing your Unit 2 WRA II Essay tomorrow in class. Please go directly to Room 241 tomorrow. If you are late you may not get a computer! Your Unit 2 Final Exam is on Monday, December 5th, please see the study guide here.

I went through a PowerPoint presentation today that covered "Political Challenges to Liberalism". This presentation covered democratic systems like the United States and Canada as well as different examples of non-democratic systems. I also gave you a reading called "The End of Democracy?" which is highly recommended reading. Your Canada-USA Government Comparison Chart is due on Tuesday, December 6th.

We finished looking at another major topic in Prescribe Subject 1 today, specifically looking at three major disarmament conferences in the Inter-War Years. I will be posting this PowerPoint on the wiki tonight. Here is your homework today:

  • please read in your 20th Century World History textbook on the following topics: the Ruhr Crisis, the Dawes Plan and the Spirit of Locarno sections.
  • complete the Locarno source analysis on page 65.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

November 29

We watched a video today called "Make Germany Pay" from the BBC 20th Century History series. As you watched this video you had to complete answers to the questions on a video study sheet. We also started to look at enforcement of the Paris Peace Conference treaties and tomorrow we will look at the three main disarmament conferences that occurred in the Inter-War Years. Your homework assignment tonight centers around the Treaty of Rapallo. Please complete the Source-Based Questions on page 39 in your 20th Century World History textbook.

We covered the electoral college system and looked at past U.S. elections today. I also gave you your U.S.-Canada Government Comparison Chart assignment. This is due next Tuesday (one week from today). We also had a class discussion centered around questions such as: should voting be mandatory? Should the voting age be lowered? Should everyone over 18 be allowed to vote? Is the first past the post (FPTP) system democratic? I also did a homework check on your Chapter 10 Key Terms and Questions.

Your Unit 2 Dossier Assignment was due today. You received your Unit 2 Essay Questions Sheet today. You will be writing this essay in class on Thursday. Please see the quote below, and the essay question as well. I also gave you time to work on your Chapter 9 Key Terms and Questions. Please see the study guide for your Unit 2 Final Exam here.

Monday, November 28, 2011

November 28

We had a fairly lengthy discussion about current events today, in part because there have been some important developments around the world including parliamentary elections in Egypt, NATO strikes in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the Arab League and Syria, the eurozone and an article in today's Calgary Herald about standardized tests in Alberta. We also looked at the League of Nations mandate system today, I'll post the lecture on the wiki. You do have homework tonight:

  • Please complete the Source Analysis on page 30-31 in 20th Century World History (the source-based questions are on page 31)
  • Also, complete the Discussion Point on p. 31, but do not do the OPVL part of the question. Simply find three different historian's perspective on the Treaty of Versailles. I'd recommend you look at A.J.P Taylor, David Thomson, Fritz Fischer, John Terrain, John Scherer, Douglas Newton or Margaret MacMillan for starters. (I just made your lives easier by giving you these names)
I gave you back your Unit 2 WRA I assignments today. I also gave you the results for your Chapter 7-8 Test. Your Unit 2 Final Exam is next Monday, please see the study guide below. Your Unit 2 Dossiers are due tomorrow. Please start working on your Unit 3 Worksheet, specifically your Chapter 9 Key Terms and Questions. You will be writing your Unit 2 WRA II Essay this Thursday, you will receive the essay question sheet tomorrow in class.


1. Study the following PowerPoint presentations from Unit 2:
  • The Causes of World War I
  • Total War-Allied Victory in WWI-Paris Peace Conference
  • Ultranationalism in WWII: Italy, Japan, Germany
  • The Internment of Japanese-Canadians in WWII
  • The Holocaust
  • Eight Stages of Genocide (from the Genocide Watch website)
  • Contemporary Examples of Genocide

2. Know the following key concepts:
  • national interest
  • domestic policy
  • foreign policy
  • Triple Alliance
  • Triple Entente
  • Treaty of Versailles
  • Big Four (Woodrow Wilson, David Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau, Vittorio Orlando)
  • appeasement
  • ultranationalism
  • propaganda
  • conscription crisis
  • Adolf Hitler
  • Nazis
  • Hirohito
  • Tojo
  • Kristallnacht
  • The Way of Subjects
  • League of Nations
  • total war
  • internment
  • War Measures Act
  • Great Depression
  • the Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
  • irredentism
  • genocide
  • crimes against humanity
  • war crimes
  • Holocaust
  • ethnic cleansing
  • lebensraum
  • Weimar Republic
  • Final Solution
  • decolonization
  • successor state
  • self-determination

3. Make sure that you review the following broad topics in your review of Unit 2 (and make sure that you can answer ALL of the questions on the Unit 2 Worksheet):
  • World War I (don't concern yourself with memorizing battles though)
  • Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles
  • The Interwar Years
  • Rise of ultranationalism in Germany, Japan, and Italy
  • Causes of World War II and key events (turning points in the war)
  • The Holocaust
  • Contemporary examples of genocide (review case studies that were emphasized in class and in the textbook, review your notes for "Scream Bloody Murder", "Shake Hands with the Devil")
  • Decolonization and self-determination (quick review of "Gandhi" film study booklet, what are successor states? What is self-determination? Kosovo case study)

You wrote your Unit 2 WRA II Essay today in the Blenheim Room. Your Chapter 10 Key Terms and Questions are due tomorrow.

Friday, November 25, 2011

November 25

You wrote a Paper 2 on World War I today, which took most of the period. You do have the following homework this weekend:

  • The Peace Settlement: Analyzing a Primary Source (handout)
  • Prescribed Subject 1 Prep Booklet: p. 27 Review Section 1 and Student Section A and B
  • Prescribed Subject 1 Prep Booklet: p. 30 Student Study Section
Please remember that the Prescribed Subject 1 Prep Booklet was photocopied and lent to you last week. It might also be a very good idea to read over this section of the 20th Century History textbook as well.

You wrote your Unit 2 WRA I today in class. Please remember that your Unit 2 Dossiers are due on Tuesday, November 29th. Please check your e-mail for the detailed marking guide for this project.

  • Unit 2 Dossiers are due on Tuesday, November 29th
  • Unit 2 WRA II Essay is on Thursday, December 1st
  • Unit 2 Final Exam is on Monday, December 5th (study guide will be posted on the blog on November 28th)

I gave you your Unit 2 Essay Question Sheets today, and I gave you some time to brainstorm in small groups possible arguments and evidence that might be used on this essay. You are only allowed to bring this essay question sheet into the computer lab on Monday, and you are only allowed to write your notes on the front of the sheet. We are booked into the Blenheim Room for this essay, so please go there directly on Monday. Your Chapter 10 Key Terms and Questions are due on Tuesday, November 29th.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

November 24

We covered different electoral systems from around the world today, and the division between federal and provincial governments in Canada. I gave you the Chapter 10 Worksheet, the Chapter 10 Key Terms and Questions will be due on Tuesday. Tomorrow, we should be able to have some time to work in small groups brainstorming arguments and evidence for the Unit 2 WRA II Essay that you will be writing on Monday.

You wrote your Chapter 7-8 Test today. You will be writing the Unit 2 WRA I tomorrow, review content from Chapters 7-8 only.

We finished looking at the fight to pass the Treaty of Versailles in the United States. Keep in mind there were two main groups of Republicans that  lead the opposition to the passage of the treaty, the "reservationists" led by Henry Cabot Lodge, and the "irreconcilables". I will be posting the PowerPoint presentation on the wiki today along with some very detailed notes on World War I that I highly recommend you have a look at. I will post both of these items in Peacemaking, Peacekeeping, International Relations section of the wiki. Tomorrow, you will be writing a Paper 2 during class time. You will be given three different essay questions to choose from, and you must choose one and answer that essay question. I have posted the Paper 2 Markbands on the wiki and you were given a handout on advice for writing the Paper 2 yesterday. The essay questions will focus on the outbreak of the war, and not on the end of the war or the Paris Peace Conference.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

November 23

We started Unit 3 material today by looking at an Internationalism Opinion Survey, and starting a PowerPoint presentation called "Nations, Nation-States and Internationalism". We will come back to this presentation next week. You have your Chapter 7-8 Test tomorrow, please see the study guide here. You are writing your Unit 2 WRA I on Friday. Please review how to write a three source analysis (WRA I).

We covered a few different key concepts associated with democratic systems today including: federalism/federal systems of government and unitary systems. We also looked at the structure of the Canadian government and what the Canadian federal election of 2011 would have looked like if Canada had a proportional representation (PR) system. Remember Canada employs a first past the post (FPTP) system in elections, in other words, you don't need 51% of the popular vote to win a constituency, you just need to get more votes than the second place candidate in the election. I also gave you back the results of the Unit 2 Final Exam today. Please remember that your Chapter 8 Key Terms and Questions are due tomorrow.
Most of today's class was spent in the library working on the IA. Your rough draft of the IA is due on December 5th. We'll continue looking at the Treaty of Versailles by examining the fight to pass the treaty in the United States.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

November 22

We finished watching "Paris 1919" today in class. If you wanted more information on the key players at the Paris Peace Conference, please check the wiki (under Peacemaking, Peacekeeping, International Relations) for the PDF file called "Who's Who at the Paris Peace Conference". When you were watching this film, some questions should have emerged for you, such as:
  • Is it possible for all stakeholders to be satisfied?
  • Can values be placed on dead soldiers, lost livestock and destroyed countryside?
  • Will new national boundaries be fair and just?
  • Can new nations be successfully created out of dissolved empires?
  • Is there a place for idealism in peacemaking?
  • Is it too much to expect international organizations to be able to maintain world peace?
  • Can a new world order remedy enduring causes of conflict such as religious and ethnic divides and power hierarchies?
As you should have surmised from the film, none of the major participants in the Paris Peace Conference is completely satisfied with the results. Tomorrow we will be going to the library to work on your Internal Assessments. Please come to Room 111 first and then we will go down to the library together.

You wrote your Unit 2 Final Exam today. You will get the results of this test back tomorrow. Your Chapter 8 Key Terms and Questions are due on Thursday, November 24th. Your Unit 2 WRA II Essay is on Monday, November 28th. Please review the economic concepts that were taught to you in Unit 2. You will be getting the essay question sheet on Friday.

We continued looking at how to write a WRA II Essay today. You will be writing your Unit 2 WRA II Essay on Thursday, December 2nd. Your Chapter 7-8 Test is on Thursday, November 24th, please see the study guide here. Please remember that you are writing your Unit 2 WRA I (3 Source Analysis) this Friday (November 25th) in class. I collected your Gandhi Film Study today. Don't forget that your Unit 2 Dossier Assignment is due on November 29th.

Monday, November 21, 2011

November 21

Greetings to you in Council Bluffs, Iowa!
We continued looking at the Paris Peace Conference and the major issues dealt with by the negotiators, namely, disarmament, a new map for Europe, war debts and reparations. We started watching the film "Paris 1919" today, and we will finish this film tomorrow. This film should have reviewed the major players at the Paris Peace Conference and their motivations and national interests at the conference. The following is for homework tonight and is due tomorrow:
  • Source Analysis on page 18 (Questions 1-2) in 20th Century World History (see below)
  • TOK Link page 19 (you can find a copy of Wilson's Fourteen Points on the wiki, or linked here on the blog)
  • Source Analysis on page 22-23 (all Sources A-D, all questions)


We looked at the issue of Kosovo's independence by watching a short video from the CBC News in Review series. Please have a look at this link from The Guardian on the break up of the former Yugoslavia. Please remember that your Chapter 7-8 Test is on Thursday, please see the study guide here.



I collected 10 Questions About Democracy, and we discussed the results of the Political Compass survey. We continued looking at Unit 3 material by looking at the two main types of representative democracy that we will be looking this semester: parliamentary democracy and presidential democracy. Your Unit 2 Final Exam is tomorrow, please see the study guide here.

Friday, November 18, 2011

November 18

I continued lecturing today on the Paris Peace Conference and the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. We will continue to look at this topic next week.

We finished watching "Gandhi", I really hope that you enjoyed this film. I am sending you a PowerPoint presentation this afternoon that covers plagiarism, which will be useful to you when you are putting together your Unit 2 Dossiers (they are due on November 29th). Your Chapter 7-8 Test is on Thursday, November 24th, please see the study guide here. Your Chapter 8 Key Terms and Questions are due Monday, November 21st. Your "Gandhi" Film Study is due on Tuesday, November 22nd, you must hand in the colonial background questions, the content questions and the thought questions.


We started looking at Unit 3 material today. If you missed today's class you will have to get these notes from a classmate. We also watched a video from BBC World called "10 Questions About Democracy" (here is a link to the companion website if you'd like to hear what people had to say again). You are responsible for finishing the entire film study that went along with this video for Monday's class (I'll be doing a homework check on it, and in all likelihood, we'll be able to discuss some of the questions in the video). Your Chapter  8 Key Terms and Questions are due on Thursday, November 24th. Please remember that you have your Unit 2 Final Exam on Tuesday, November 22nd, please see the study guide below. Please make sure that you complete the Political Compass survey (go to http://www.politicalcompass.org/, click on "Take the Test", answer the questions honestly, print off your results). I also gave back the results of your Chapter 7 Test as well today.

It will be a 75 multiple choice question test. In your textbook, this is material from Chapters 3-8. Please look at the studying hints below:

  • study "The Development of Classical Liberalism" (ppt)
  • study "Responding to Classical Liberalism" (ppt)
  • study "The Evolution of Modern Liberalism" (ppt)
  • study "The Techniques of Dictatorship" (ppt)
  • study "20th Century Rejections of Modern Liberalism" (ppt)
  • study "The Origins of the Cold War" (ppt)
  • study the key concepts from the Chapters 3-8 worksheets
  • please see the summary notes from the Ideologies textbook: Chapter 7 (Private Enterprise)
  • supply-side economics
  • boom and bust cycle/business cycle
  • laws of supply and demand, Adam Smith, invisible hand, market forces
  • self-interest, consumer sovereignty, competition, private ownership, profit motive
  • basic economic problems/questions
  • advantages/disadvantages of the market economy
  • causes of the Great Depression
  • FDR and the New Deal
  • please see summary notes from the Ideologies textbook on the Mixed Economy Case Studies #14 (Sweden) and #15 (Canada), #16 (Japan), #17 (Fascism and Nazism)
    also see the Democratic Socialism booklet on Sweden (indicative planning, "cradle to the grave" economics)
  • characteristics of a mixed economy
  • nationalization
  • privatization
  • democratic socialism
  • welfare capitalism
  • Keynesian economics
  • the business cycle and fiscal and monetary policies (study all of the notes I gave you and the booklet that I gave you)
  • demand-side economics
  • neo-conservatives
  • monetarism
  • trickle down economics
  • supply-side economics
  • Thatcherism and Reaganomics
  • Milton Friedman
  • Friedrich Hayek
  • how Keynesian economics deals with a recession (remember "the percolator": increase circulation of money reducing taxes, increase government spending on "make work" projects, and reduce interest rates, which according to Keynesian economics is going increase demand for goods and services and lead to more money circulating in the economy)
  • how supply-side economics deals with a recession (remember "trickle down coffee maker": government should stimulate the goods and services sector of the economy by reducing corporate and personal taxes, eventually benefits will "trickle down" to the middle class and working class, make connections between supply-side economics and laissez faire economics/classical liberalism)
  • advantages and disadvantages of a mixed economy
  • neo-conservative criticism of government intervention
  • characteristics of a centrally planned economy
  • advantages and disadvantages of a centrally planned economy
  • Marx notes (sent by e-mail)
  • Lenin notes (sent by e-mail)
  • establishment of the Soviet Union
  • Soviet economic system (top-down decision-making process)
  • Lenin's War Communism and the New Economic Policy
  • "Stalin and the Modernization of Russia" (see film notes)
  • Stalin notes (sent by e-mail)
  • "Changes to Soviet Society After Stalin" notes (this bridges the gap between Stalin and Gorbachev)
  • Gorbachev to Collapse Notes
  • Economic Planning in the USSR booklet
  • techniques of dictatorships (USSR and Nazi Germany case studies)
  • modern liberalism
  • features of the Nazi state
  • Hitler's rise to power
  • Democratic Systems notes
  • Non-Democratic Systems notes
  • Types of Dictatorships notes (includes Techniques of Dictatorships as well)
  • A Comparison of Communism and Fascism notes
  • Totalitarianism notes
  • Fascism/Nazism booklet (has techniques of dictatorship in Nazi Germany and USSR)
  • do a brief review of the political spectrum and economic spectrum and the quadrant model

Thursday, November 17, 2011

November 17

You wrote your Chapter 7 Cold War Exam today. You will get the results back tomorrow. Your "Good Night, and Good Luck" film study was due today. Your Unit 2 Final Exam is on Tuesday, November 22nd, please see the study guide here. Your Chapter 8 Key Terms and Questions are due on Thursday, November 24th. Your Unit 2 WRA II is on Monday, November 28th.

We continued watching "Gandhi" today. We will finish it tomorrow. Your Chapter 7 Key Terms and Questions are due tomorrow. Your Chapter 7-8 Test is next Thursday. Please see the study guide below.


This test is on Thursday, November 24th. It will consist of 20-24 key terms in a matching section, and 3-4 short answer questions. Please study the following PowerPoint presentations:
  • "The Holocaust"
  • "8 Stages of Genocide" (see the Genocide Watch website: http://www.genocidewatch.org/)
  • "Contemporary Examples of Genocide" (I will send this to you on November 17th)

Please study the following notes packages/film study packages:
  • 36 Questions About The Holocaust
  • Turning Points in History: The Atomic Bomb (film notes)
  • White Light/Black Rain (film notes)
  • Shake Hands with the Devil (film notes + package)
  • Unit 2 Worksheet (chapter questions for Chapter 7 and 8)
  • make sure that you have read Chapters 7 and 8!

1. Please study the following key concepts/key people/key events:
genocide:

  • crimes against humanity
  • war crimes
  • the Holocaust
  • ethnic cleansing
  • lebensraum
  • Weimar Republic
  • Final Solution
  • decolonization
  • successor state
  • self-determination
  • Wansee Conference
  • Nuremberg Trials
  • Mahatma Gandhi
  • Jawaharlal Nehru
  • Mohammed Ali Jinnah
  • home rule
  • Hutu
  • Tutsi
  • Romeo Dallaire
  • Manhattan Project
  • Hiroshima
  • Nagasaki
  • Robert Oppenheimer
  • FDR
  • Harry Truman
  • Potsdam Conference
  • Slobodan Milosevic

2. You should be able to answer any of the questions from the Unit 2 worksheet from Chapter 7 and 8.

You wrote your WWI Matching Quiz today, which took a fair bit of time. We started looking at Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points and the key players at the Paris Peace Conference today. I also gave back the Paper 3 that you wrote on the Civil War and Reconstruction period today.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

November 16

We started our film study of 'Gandhi" today. We will continue this film tomorrow in class.

Today was a work/study period. I gave you the Chapter 8 Worksheet, but I think that most of you opted to study for your Cold War Test which is tomorrow, please see the study guide here. Your Unit 2 Final Exam is on November 22nd, please see the study guide below.

It will be a 75 multiple choice question test. In your textbook, this is material from Chapters 3-8. Please look at the studying hints below:

  • study "The Development of Classical Liberalism" (ppt)
  • study "Responding to Classical Liberalism" (ppt)
  • study "The Evolution of Modern Liberalism" (ppt)
  • study "The Techniques of Dictatorship" (ppt)
  • study "20th Century Rejections of Modern Liberalism" (ppt)
  • study "The Origins of the Cold War" (ppt)
  • study the key concepts from the Chapters 3-8 worksheets
  • please see the summary notes from the Ideologies textbook: Chapter 7 (Private Enterprise)
  • supply-side economics
  • boom and bust cycle/business cycle
  • laws of supply and demand, Adam Smith, invisible hand, market forces
    self-interest, consumer sovereignty, competition, private ownership, profit motive
  • basic economic problems/questions
  • advantages/disadvantages of the market economy
  • causes of the Great Depression
  • FDR and the New Deal
  • please see summary notes from the Ideologies textbook on the Mixed Economy Case Studies #14 (Sweden) and #15 (Canada), #16 (Japan), #17 (Fascism and Nazism)
  • also see the Democratic Socialism booklet on Sweden (indicative planning, "cradle to the grave" economics)
  • characteristics of a mixed economy
  • nationalization
  • privatization
  • democratic socialism
  • welfare capitalism
  • Keynesian economics
  • the business cycle and fiscal and monetary policies (study all of the notes I gave you and the booklet that I gave you)
  • demand-side economics
  • neo-conservatives
  • monetarism
  • trickle down economics
  • supply-side economics
  • Thatcherism and Reaganomics
  • Milton Friedman
  • Friedrich Hayek
  • how Keynesian economics deals with a recession (remember "the percolator": increase circulation of money reducing taxes, increase government spending on "make work" projects, and reduce interest rates, which according to Keynesian economics is going increase demand for goods and services and lead to more money circulating in the economy)
  • how supply-side economics deals with a recession (remember "trickle down coffee maker": government should stimulate the goods and services sector of the economy by reducing corporate and personal taxes, eventually benefits will "trickle down" to the middle class and working class, make connections between supply-side economics and laissez faire economics/classical liberalism)
  • advantages and disadvantages of a mixed economy
  • neo-conservative criticism of government intervention
  • characteristics of a centrally planned economy
  • advantages and disadvantages of a centrally planned economy
  • Marx notes (sent by e-mail)
  • Lenin notes (sent by e-mail)
  • establishment of the Soviet Union
  • Soviet economic system (top-down decision-making process)
  • Lenin's War Communism and the New Economic Policy
  • "Stalin and the Modernization of Russia" (see film notes)
  • Stalin notes (sent by e-mail)
  • "Changes to Soviet Society After Stalin" notes (this bridges the gap between Stalin and Gorbachev)
  • Gorbachev to Collapse Notes
  • Economic Planning in the USSR booklet
  • techniques of dictatorships (USSR and Nazi Germany case studies)
  • modern liberalism
  • features of the Nazi state
  • Hitler's rise to power
  • Characteristics of Democracy
  • Characteristics of Dictatorship
  • Democratic Systems notes
  • Non-Democratic Systems notes
  • Types of Dictatorships notes (includes Techniques of Dictatorships as well)
  • A Comparison of Communism and Fascism notes
  • Totalitarianism notes
  • Fascism/Nazism booklet (has techniques of dictatorship in Nazi Germany and USSR)
  • do a brief review of the political spectrum and economic spectrum and the quadrant model

You wrote a cartoon analysis today for the first 20 minutes, and then I proceeded with the PowerPoint presentation on Canada and Latin America's role in WWI. I have posted this presentation on the wiki because you will need it for your matching quiz tomorrow. There are 39 key concepts in this matching quiz. We'll finish off discussing Latin America's role in WWI tomorrow.

I've mentioned this a few times in class, but I guess it's better late than never! Here is a link to a website that discusses J.R.R. Tolkien's experiences in the Great War, and how that influenced his writing of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, specifically the Journey through the Dead Marshes. The Great War was also a time when some of our most famous landscape artists came to the forefront, I'm referring to the Group of Seven, of course. Can you see some similarities in the pictures that I'm posting below?














I guess my point is that art is based on personal experience, and these artists were heavily influenced by their experiences in the Great War.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

November 15

We went through the short presentations on the battlefield role of Canada and the United States in the First World War today. That was a lot of material to push through, so if you missed some of the details please check the charts out on the IB 30/35 Wiki (see link on the right hand side of the blog) under "Collaborative Notes". We'll be looking at the Battle of Passchendaele and the 100 Days tomorrow. Either on Wednesday or Thursday, expect to write a matching quiz on World War I. It covers key terms, key events, key people and key organizations in WWI, and it consists of 39 matching items. We should be getting into Latin America's role in the Great War by Thursday, and then proceed on to Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points and the Paris Peace Conference by Friday.

We continued watching "Good Night, and Good Luck" today. The film study for this is due on Thursday. "Good Night, and Good Luck" contains a few powerful scenes that I will post here on the blog.



This film explores a lot of issues that are relevant to today. You also have to understand the political climate at the time in the United States to fully understand the movie. Many Americans were drawn to communism in the 1930s due to the effects of the Great Depression, especially academics and those in the labour fields. In the movie they made reference to friends and spouses that had attended meetings long ago. The "Red Scare" caused a huge backlash against those sympathetic to communism or the USSR. Remember, during WWII the Soviet Union was an ally, and many people may have attended meetings out of curiosity. The junior Senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy in 1950 charged there were communist sympathizers in the U.S. State Department. Hearings were held, charges were discovered to be unfounded. McCarthy continued accusing communist infiltration in the Democratic Party. McCarthy became the chairman of the House Subcommittee on the investigation of un-American activity (HUAC). On December 2, 1954, McCarthy’s actions were called into question and his accusations were deemed unfounded. On Murrow's show "See it Now", he begins to publicly go after McCarthy. A very public feud develops when McCarthy responds by accusing Murrow of being a communist. Murrow is accused of having been a member of the leftist union Industrial Workers of the World, which Murrow claimed was false.
In this climate of fear and reprisal (which we now refer to as McCarthyism), the CBS crew carries on and their tenacity ultimately strikes a historic blow against McCarthy. Historical footage in the movie also shows the questioning of Annie Lee Moss, a Pentagon communication worker accused of being a communist based on her name appearing on a list seen by an FBI infiltrator of the American Communist Party. In the first half of the film Murrow talks about how McCarthy didn't create the political climate and anti-Communist hysteria sweeping the country, but that he capitalized on it for political gain very effectively. As David Strathairn (playing Murrow in the film says, "We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep in our history and doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes which were, for the moment, unpopular. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of the Republic to abdicate responsibility.") The film is framed by the performance of the speech given by Murrow to the Radio and Television News Directors Association in 1958, in which Murrow harshly admonishes his audience not to squander the potential of television to inform and educate the public. I found this short video on YouTube that spliced together Edward R. Murrow's speech that appears at the beginning of the film and continues at the end of the film. I find that this speech has relevance even today when you talk about the level of discourse in the media.




Your Chapter 7 Test (The Cold War) is on November 17th, please see the study guide below.

It is a multiple choice test with 70-75 multiple choice questions. Please make sure that you have read Chapter 7. Here are some other study tips:

  • study "The Origins of the Cold War (ppt)"
  • study all notes on the Origins and Causes of the Cold War
  • study notes on the Korean War
  • study notes on the Cuban Missile Crisis
  • study notes on the Vietnam War (see notes package and Vietnam War booklet, and the notes that I sent to you on the Vietnam War)
  • make sure that you know all the Cold War Concepts
  • know the chronology of events of the Cold War (study the Cold War timeline and the Vietnam War timeline, and the end of the Cold War timeline that I will be giving you in subsequent class)
  • know key events that we've emphasized in class (for example: Berlin Airlift, Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War) plus other key events from the timeline
  • know major arms reduction agreements (bilateral agreements and multilateral agreements)
  • know about the formation of alliances (NATO, Warsaw Pact) and the formation of "spheres of influence"
  • anything that I gave you as a handout is testable material and should be reviewed!!
  • know how the Cold War ends and its results/consequences
Today was a work period in preparation for our film study of "Gandhi". You looked at a history reading of India, including colonial background information, and information on Hinduism and Islam. This information will be key to understanding of the movement to "home rule" for India that we will see in the film. Part 1 of the booklet is due tomorrow, this covers questions 1-4 in that section. Your Chapter 7-8 Test is on Thursday, November 24th, I will post the study guide for this test on November 17th. Your Unit 2 WRA I (3 Source Analysis) is on Friday, November 25th.

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

November 9

We started an in-depth study of the Rwandan genocide by starting our film study of "Shake Hands with the Devil". Before we started the film you were to read over the other information in the film study booklet. You should be able to finish this film tomorrow in class.

We finished some of the topics in the Cold War today, by looking at arms reduction talks and agreements, and by discussing trends that have emerged in the post-Cold War world. I also showed you a short YouTube video of all of the atomic tests/explosions since the Trinity test in 1945 to the late 1990s. Please re-read in the textbook the section on the Second Red scare and McCarthyism. Tomorrow, you'll start a film study on "Good Night, and Good Luck". It might be a good idea to check out this link on Edward R. Murrow as well.

It is a multiple choice test with 70-75 multiple choice questions. Please make sure that you have read Chapter 7. Here are some other study tips:
  • study "The Origins of the Cold War (ppt)"
  • study all notes on the Origins and Causes of the Cold War
  • study notes on the Korean War
  • study notes on the Cuban Missile Crisis
  • study notes on the Vietnam War (see notes package and Vietnam War booklet, and the notes that I sent to you on the Vietnam War)
  • make sure that you know all the Cold War Concepts
  • know the chronology of events of the Cold War (study the Cold War timeline and the Vietnam War timeline, and the end of the Cold War timeline that I will be giving you in subsequent class)
  • know key events that we've emphasized in class (for example: Berlin Airlift, Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War) plus other key events from the timeline
  • know major arms reduction agreements (bilateral agreements and multilateral agreements), please study the notes that I will give you next week on this topic.
  • know about the formation of alliances (NATO, Warsaw Pact) and the formation of "spheres of influence"
  • anything that I gave you as a handout is testable material and should be reviewed!!
  • know how the Cold War ends and its results/consequences


We continued our examination of the American role in World War I today, with me finishing off my PowerPoint lecture, and watching a short video on the Great War from an American perspective. Please remember that we are having the presentations on the Canadian and American battles in WWI on Tuesday. Make sure that you add your contributions on the wiki for your assigned battle in WWI by Remembrance Day.

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

November 8

We started looking at the role of the United States in World War I today. You have a two-part homework assignment tonight: the Zimmermann Telegram source analysis questions, and Woodrow Wilson's speech before Congress on April 2, 1917 questions.

We watched "Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam", which took most of the class. Please remember that your Vietnam War Assignment is due tomorrow.

We finished watching "Scream Bloody Murder" today. I also gave you a booklet on a few contemporary examples of genocide from the 20th and 21st centuries. Please read it. We set the due date from your Unit 2 research project as Tuesday, November 29th.

Monday, November 07, 2011

November 7

We continued looking at the First World War today. We watched a short video from the CBS Series on the Great War called "Clash of Generals". I finished the PowerPoint presentation that I started last week which covers some of the key battles of WWI and the end of the war. Remember, I've been going through the "big picture" of the Great War, and then tomorrow we'll start looking at the role of the United States in the war. I'll post the PowerPoint presentation on the wiki this afternoon.

Today was a research period for your Unit 2 Research Project. This will be the only class period that you will have to do research. We'll set a due date for this project tomorrow in class.

I did a homework check on the Southeast Asia package and the Cold War Events Notes booklet today in class. We watched a part of "Born on the Fourth of July" today as well. Please remember that your Chapter 7 Key Terms and Questions are due tomorrow. I gave you a booklet last week on the Vietnam War that contained the Vietnam War Assignment. This assignment is due on Wednesday. You are responsible for the A-C sections on the front page with this assignment (please see below).
A. PEOPLE
Identify and explain the role each played in the Vietnam War
1. Ho Chi Minh
2. Ngo Dinh Diem
3. Lyndon B. Johnson
4. Richard M. Nixon
5. Viet Minh
6. Viet Cong
7. Le Duc Tho
8. Henry Kissinger
9. William Westmoreland
10. "Draft Dodger"

B. CONCEPTS/TERMS
Explain the significance of the following with regards to the Vietnam War (identify participants or individuals if appropriate)
1. Ho Chi Minh Trail
2. defoliation
3. "search and destroy" mission
4. "Vietnamization of the war"
5. Gulf of Tonkin Incident
6. My Lai Massacre
7. domino theory
8. Kent State University protest (May 4, 1970)
9. Tet Offensive (January 1968)
10. Geneva Agreement (1954)

C. ISSUES
Provide the information requested
1. The predominant religion of Vietnam
2. The battle which marked the end of French colonial rule in Indo-China
3. The scandal which led to the only resignation of an American President
4. The Vice President who replaced the President after his resignation
5. Why was November 1963 a "bad month" for the governments of South Vietnam and the United States?

As we will see, public support for the Vietnam War changes over time as more and more American soldiers are killed. We see a growth in the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, and the media also played a role in the turn of popular opinion against the war. I REALLY recommend that you have a look at the this series of photographs from the Vietnam War era, pretty powerful imagery (make sure that you read the captions too). Here is a link to the NPR that explains the story behind the photograph below, definitely worth the time to read or listen to the podcast, and make sure that you look at the photo gallery of Eddie Adams' photographs of the Vietnam War.


There are certain iconic images associated with the Vietnam War. Here is another:

The above photograph is of Phan Thị Kim Phúc, O.Ont (born in 1963), she is a Vietnamese-Canadian best known as the child subject of a Pulitzer Prize winning photograph taken during the Vietnam War on June 8, 1972. The iconic photo taken in Trang Bang by AP photographer Nick Ut shows her at about age nine running naked on the street after being severely burned on her back by a South Vietnamese napalm attack. Contrary to popular myth, the US Air Force were not involved in the attack, and only two US troops were within 60 miles (97 km) of the scene, neither of whom had any say in the bombings. Still, it is a powerful image associated with the war.

I'm posting the study guide for your Chapter 7 Test (Cold War Exam) below. You have a lot of review and studying to do, that's why I'm posting this study guide so far in advance (this test is on November 17th).

It is a multiple choice test with 70-75 multiple choice questions. Please make sure that you have read Chapter 7. Here are some other study tips:
  • study "The Origins of the Cold War (ppt)"
  • study all notes on the Origins and Causes of the Cold War
  • study notes on the Korean War
  • study notes on the Cuban Missile Crisis
  • study notes on the Vietnam War (see notes package and Vietnam War booklet, and the notes that I sent to you on the Vietnam War)
  • make sure that you know all the Cold War Concepts
  • know the chronology of events of the Cold War (study the Cold War timeline and the Vietnam War timeline, and the end of the Cold War timeline that I will be giving you in subsequent class)
  • know key events that we've emphasized in class (for example: Berlin Airlift, Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War) plus other key events from the timeline
  • know major arms reduction agreements (bilateral agreements and multilateral agreements), please study the notes that I will give you next week on this topic.
  • know about the formation of alliances (NATO, Warsaw Pact) and the formation of "spheres of influence"
  • anything that I gave you as a handout is testable material and should be reviewed!!
  • know how the Cold War ends and its results/consequences

Friday, November 04, 2011

November 4

We continued our examination of World War I today by watching a short video on the nature of warfare in the Great War from the CBS News Series on WWI called "The Trenches". I also continued with my PowerPoint lecture on the Causes of World War I, which I will post on the wiki this weekend. I also started looking at the concept of total war and specific battles within World War I. Next week, we'll look at Canada's role in the First World War as well as the role of the United States and Latin American countries in the conflict. Make sure that you keep up with the material covered in class, you may be assessed on it at any time.

We continued watching "Scream Bloody Murder" today, and we will continue with this documentary on Tuesday. We also decided on projects for the Unit 2 Research Project. On Monday, please come to Room 111, then we will proceed down to the library.

Hopefully you were able to put to good use the time that you were given in class today. Here's a list of when upcoming assignments are due:
  • Cold War Events Booklet is due on Monday, November 7th
  • Southeast Asia Package is due on Monday, November 7th
  • Chapter 7 Key Terms and Questions are due on Tuesday, November 8th
  • Vietnam War Assignment is due on Wednesday, November 8th

Thursday, November 03, 2011

November 3

I gave you some more time to complete your Cold War Events booklets, by giving you about 30 minutes to work with the Cold War and After books. I gave you some notes on the Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis, and at the end of class you had some time to read them over. I showed you a video from the BBC 20th Century History series on the Cuban Missile Crisis called "Mr. Kennedy and Khrushchev". Please remember that your Chapter 7 Key Terms and Questions are due on Tuesday.

I went through part of a PowerPoint presentation from the Genocide Watch website called "The Eight Stages of Genocide", and as I was going through it you were to take notes on the lecture. You can find a link to the Genocide Watch website under Social 20-1 Links if you are interested in looking at the entire PowerPoint lecture again. We started watching a CNN Special called "Scream Bloody Murder" that covers genocide in the 20th and 21st centuries. As you are watching this video you are strongly encouraged to take notes on these examples of genocide.

I did a quick homework check on the material from the History of the 20th Century textbook and the analysis of the editorial cartoon that illustrated the responsibility of WWI. You spent most of the period working on your IA in the library.

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

November 2

We finished watching "White Light/Black Rain" today in class, and completed the film study sheet that goes along with this video. Tomorrow we will look at contemporary examples of genocide.

Today was a busy day since we started working on the Cold War Events booklet by using Perspectives on Ideology and the Cold War and After booklets. You will get some class time tomorrow to work on these booklets as well. We watched a video from the History's Turning Points series on the Korean War and another video on the construction of the Berlin Wall. We'll continue our historical progression through the Cold War by examining the Cuban Missile Crisis tomorrow. Please remember that your Chapter 7 Key Terms and Questions are due on Tuesday.

We had a brief discussion on current events, namely Palestine's inclusion in UNESCO and the Israeli government's reaction to this, the Greek referendum issue, and current developments in the Occupy Calgary situation. We then switched gears and finished watching the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand episode of the BBC series "Days That Shook the World". We then continued looking at the techniques and practices of the First World War, specifically trench warfare. We'll continue this topic on Friday. Please come to Room 111 tomorrow, then we'll go down to the library to work on your IA, so make sure that you have your Internal Assessment materials. Tonight's homework is the following:

  • Read pages 204-215 in the 20th Century World History textbook
  • Complete the three questions under the chart on page 215
  • Complete the cartoon analysis sheet on the WWI cartoon (see below)
(click to enlarge)

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

November 1

Mr. Johnson and I split our large IB group into two groups today, so from now on students assigned to me will meet in Room 111. We started looking at the Causes of World War I today, with a PowerPoint lecture on this topic. We also started watching a video on the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand from the BBC series "Days That Shook the World". We'll finish this video tomorrow, and the proceed to look at techniques and practices in the First World War. For homework tonight, it is recommended that you read pages 204-215 in your 20th Century World History textbook.
We watched a couple of videos today from the BBC 20th Century History series: "The Road to Berlin" which explored the end of WWII in Europe, and "Cold War Confrontation" which looked at the division of Germany, the Berlin Airlift and the Korean War. I gave you a timeline of key events in the Cold War that you must memorize. I also gave you a Cold War Events package that included a chart of key events in the Cold War and associated key concepts of the Cold War that must be completed using a supplementary book that you will have access to tomorrow. Tomorrow we will be looking at the Korean War in greater detail, and then you will have some more time to work on your Cold War Events notes.

I would like you to go to the World War II Behind Closed Doors website tonight, and read the sections on the Yalta Conference and the Potsdam Conference. This is an excellent site, with tons of information, maps, video clips, timelines and archival footage and re-enactments as well. You do need to really make sure that you understand the Yalta Agreements and the Potsdam Declaration (among other things) and this is a great site to do this. Episode 3 is the one that contains most of the information that you would need to read and watch. There's a great little video clip on this website called "Stalin's Distrust of the West" that might help you see WWII from the Soviet perspective and why the Soviets might wish to extend control over Eastern Europe and be so distrustful of their wartime allies. You can find this video clip in Episode 3 (Dividing the World), scroll down and click on the video clip on the right called "Stalin's Distrust of the West". It's a short little clip, but you'll get the idea. We'll continue our look at the Cold War tomorrow.




We watched a video today on the development of the atomic bomb from the "History's Turning Points" series. After watching the video you were to copy down the notes that I had written on the board based on the topics covered in the video. If you missed today's class, you'll have to get these notes from a classmate. We then started a film study of the HBO documentary "White Light/Black Rain". We will finish this video off tomorrow.