December 18

IB 30/35

We had our debate today on the topic of "This house believes that government intervention in the economy is necessary". We also started watching "It's a Wonderful Life" today, and we'll continue the movie on Wednesday and Thursday.

IB 20

You wrote your Paper 2 on Topic 3, Authoritarian and Single-Party States today. We also started watching "Understanding Canadian Government".

Social 10-1

We continued our Model UN Conference on Child Soldiers today. We'll finish this conference off tomorrow, by looking at some working papers and resolutions that you were working on today. Please remember that you have homework tonight: your Chapter 17 Key Terms and Questions are due tomorrow.

December 17

IB 30/35

You split yourselves into TOK presentation groups today. TOK presentations will take place at the end of February. Please come to Room 111 directly tomorrow. We'll head down to Room 121 together for our debate on the topic: This house believes that government intervention in the economy is necessary.

Social 10-1

We started our Model UN conference today on child soldiers. As proceedings went, I think that it was a pretty good first day. I would expect a resolution on this issue to address the definition of a child and a child soldier, and try to address possible solutions to the issue. We ended with an unmoderated caucus to discuss working papers. Do not write resolutions at home tonight. The whole point of creating working papers is to modify them with the help of other delegates. We'll finish our Model UN conference tomorrow. If you haven't spoken yet or participated in discussion, you need to tomorrow!

IB 20

I went through the following concepts today: direct democracy, representative democracy, parliamentary democracy and presidential democracy. We looked at the structure of government in the USA and in Canada as our examples. Please remember that you will be assessed on your understanding of the dictatorships tomorrow with the writing of the Paper 2.

I'm going to give you a little advice for writing your Paper 2 on Tuesday. Some of this advice applies to the actual Paper 2 Exam that you will be writing in May 2014. The actual Paper 2 Exam consists of five topics, we'll deal with three of them over the course of this semester, and next year. The topics that we cover are Topic 1: Causes, Practices and Effects of War, Topic 3: Authoritarian and Single-Party States, and Topic 5: The Cold War. We'll deal with Topic 1 and Topic 5 next year. The Paper 2 that you write on Tuesday deals only with Authoritarian and Single-Party States. On the actual Paper 2 Exam, each of the five topics will have six questions, and you will have to answer two of them. For Tuesday's Paper 2 you just have to answer one of the questions.

• For each topic on the Paper 2 Exam, three out of the six questions will be 'named' questions. This means that in Topic 3, three of the questions will refer to particular states or leaders. (ex. Analyze the methods used by either Castro or Mao to maintain his position as the ruler of a single-party state.)
• For each topic on the Paper 2 Exam, two out of the six will be 'open-ended' or general questions. This means you can choose any suitable example that you have studied. (ex. Examine how and why one leader of a single-party state was able to make a successful bid for power.)
• For each topic on the Paper 2 Exam, one out of the six will ask about 'social, economic or gender issues'. (ex. Discuss the role and status of women in two single-party states, each chosen from a different region.)

Make sure that you know what your IB command terms mean.  (ex. analyze, compare and contrast, discuss, evaluate, examine, to what extent)

For the upcoming Paper 2 on Tuesday, make sure that you review Hitler and Stalin.

The themes that you should study for Topic 3 are as follows:

Origins and nature of authoritarian and single-party states
This theme asks you to look at the rise to power of authoritarian and single-party state leaders or the emergence of authoritarian or single-party states. You need to consider what kind of circumstances made it possible for this to happen and what kinds of methods were used by the leader to take power.

Establishment of authoritarian and single-party states
This theme asks you to look at the leader or the state once power has been assumed and other political parties or groups have been suppressed. You need to consider how power is maintained, probably through the use of popular policies and/or terror.

Domestic policies and impact
This theme asks you to look at the way the state is actually structured and what kind of policies are carried out. You need to consider what kind of programme is put into practice and how economic and social policies are created and implemented. You will also need to know something about the role of women, attitudes towards religion and the kind of culture that developed inside the state.

Other pieces of advice:

• choose your question carefully
• on the actual Paper 2 Exam, you'll only have about 45 minutes to write each answer (remember you answer two questions for a 90 minute exam)
• make sure that you do a quick 5 minute plan for your essay (if it's a compare and contrast question, set up a chart with similarities that two leaders had in common, and their differences in the other column)

Do's:

• Do read the question very carefully and make sure that you can answer it. If a specific time period is mentioned, do you have enough material to cover it all? If the question asks about social and economic policies, do you know enough about both?
• Do answer the question that is asked on the exam paper and not a similar one you prepared earlier!
• Do plan your answer and include this plan on your exam answer sheets.
• Do begin with an introduction and always refer to the question in the introduction.
• Do define any key words such as 'totalitarian' or 'authoritarian' if the question mentions these.
• Do use a comparative structure if the question asks you to compare and contrast.
• Do include DATES! When you are writing about why something happens, you will usually need to refer to what came before (cause and effect), and so knowing the order in which events happen is very important.
• Do refer to the question in each paragraph, to make sure that your answer stays focused.
• Do finish with a conclusion that sums up your arguments.
• Do include some reference to different historical interpretations, if this is appropriate.

Don'ts:

• Don't write down everything you know about a topic; you need to select only relevant material.
• Don't leave out facts and dates. Your arguments need to be supported, so saying that Castro used guerrilla tactics to come to power is fine, but you need to support this statement with evidence of how he did this.
• Don't just list what historians say about a topic; use historiography to support your arguments not replace them.
• Don't use quotations to replace your arguments. If you use quotations, explain why and link them to your arguments.
• Don't use 'I think ... ' or 'In my opinion ... ' but instead write, 'It is clear that..,' or 'Given the evidence. it can be seen that., .' Try to keep an 'academic' tone to your writing.

Introductions and conclusions - don't neglect these!

Introduction

There is no formula for a good introduction. While some students will state very clearly how they will structure their answers, others may simply give some relevant background and their thoughts on the question. Examiners will want to know that you have understood the question and have grasped its implications. Think of it as a 'first impression', leading the examiner to think 'Good, they are on the right track'. Also, if you are answering an 'openended' question that may, for example, ask about the rise to power of a leader, then you can state here what time period you will focus on. In the case of Nasser, for instance. would you begin in 1952 or 1948 or earlier? Also, are there terms that need to be defined? If so, it is a good idea to do this in the introduction.

Conclusion
Here is your chance to make a 'lasting impression'. You will need to summarize your arguments concisely, but not by repeating them one by one, this is tedious add much to the answer. If you have a nice quotation that is relevant (make sure it is!) and sums up your argument, then use it in the conclusion. It may spark the marker's interest and leave a good impression.

December 14

IB 30/35

We talked briefly about causes of WWII today before we watched a video from the BBC 20th Century History series called "Why Appeasement?" You also got the results back for your Market and Mixed Economy Exam. Please take some time this weekend to prepare for the debate that we're having on Tuesday. Remember that we agree with the following proposition: This house believes that government intervention in the economy is necessary.

 

Social 10-1

We finished watching "Blood Diamond" today. The "Blood Diamond" film study is due on Monday. Also on Monday we will be starting our Model UN conference on child soldiers. Please make sure that you have read the background guide that I have sent to you already. Please do some additional research this weekend. I will be taking in your research notes on Tuesday.

IB 20

The entire period was spent addressing the IA. We went through the PowerPoint presentation on the IA as well. You selected your IA topic as well today. I think most of the topics are very good and with a little guidance you should be able to find resources to help get you through the IA. You;re writing a Paper 2 on the Dictatorships unit on Tuesday.

December 13

IB 20

After this morning's fire drill we watched a short video on "Comparative Government" which introduced the concepts of a unitary system, a federal system and a confederated system, as well the distinctions between democratic and non-democratic systems. I also went through part of a PowerPoint presentation on non-democratic systems (different types of dictatorships)and just got into the parliamentary democracy example of Canada. I will post this presentation on the IB 20 wiki. Please print it off and add it to your notes. We'll start the American system of government on Monday. Tomorrow is the day when we you will get your IA topic.

Social 10-1

We continued the film study of "Blood Diamond" today in class. We'll finish with the film itself tomorrow, and the accompanying film study will be due on Monday. I assigned you a country for a Model UN conference. I have sent you a background guide for our Model UN conference on child soldiers already, so please check your e-mail accounts. Use the background guide as a starting point for your research. You need to know a little about the country that you are representing as well as that country's position on child soldiers. Look into what the UN has done about child soldiers, and what NGOs are doing about this issue as well. What is a child soldier? What are some underlying causes that leads to the usage of child soldiers? What are some possible solutions to this problem?

IB 30/35

Today's class was spent writing your Market Economy and Mixed Economy Test. This took the whole period. I also gave you the topic for next week's debate: This house believes that government intervention in the economy is necessary. We agree with the proposition, so we'd agree in favor of Keynesian economics and the benefits of intervention. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week we'll be going down to Room 121. The debate is on Tuesday, and you'll just have to wait and see what we have planned for Wednesday and Thursday.

December 12

Social 10-1

I did a homework check on your Chapter 16 Key Terms and Questions and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms charts at the beginning of the class. I went through a PowerPoint presentation called "Impacts of Globalization on Groups in Society", which I will be sending to you today. When you get this PowerPoint presentation, please print it off 4-6 slides per page and add it to your notes. We started our film study of "Blood Diamond" today, and we will continue this film tomorrow.

IB 20

For the first 30 minutes of class today you completed the Tell Them From Me computer survey. For the remainder of the class we watched the documentary "Genocide". We will be leaving the Dictatorships unit and start looking at democratic systems tomorrow.

IB 30/35

 

I went through how demand-side and supply-side economics would deal with a recession at the start of class. We then proceeded to continue watching "Commanding Heights" Episode 1 "The Battle of Ideas". We did not finish this video in class. We finished a little over an hour of the video, and you can watch the rest of the video below. Tomorrow, you will have a test on the market economy and the mixed economy. Please see the study guide below. Many of the handouts and PowerPoint presentations that the study guide refers to are actually already on the wiki already under Social 30-1 Unit 2 material.

Market Economy and Mixed Economy Exam Study Guide:

• 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)
• nationalization
• 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
• how supply-side economics deals with a recession

 

I also showed you a a short YouTube video which was a "rap battle" between "Keynes" and "Hayek". You can watch this video again below:



Round 2 is here:

December 11

IB 30/35

I went through some basic characteristics of a market economy, and gave you some notes on private enterprise and supply-side economics. If you missed today's class, you need to get the notes from a classmate that I wrote on the board. We also started watching the first episode of "Commanding Heights". We'll continue watching "The Battle of Ideas" tomorrow. We're going to have our class debate on Tuesday (December 18th) against Mr. Johnson's class. On Thursday you will have a test on the market economy and the mixed economy. Please see the study guide below. Many of the handouts and PowerPoint presentations that the study guide refers to are actually already on the wiki already under Social 30-1 Unit 2 material.

Market Economy and Mixed Economy Exam Study Guide:

• 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)
• nationalization
• 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
• how supply-side economics deals with a recession

IB 20

We powered through the remainder of the "Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany" PowerPoint presentation. As you know, this PowerPoint is already up on the IB 20 wiki under the Dictatorships unit. Please also study the Hitler and Historiography article that is up the wiki as well. You need to know Hitler and Stalin extremely well for the Paper 2 that you will be writing on Tuesday, December 18th. Start studying the PowerPoint presentations on Stalin and Hitler now, and study the historiography! Tomorrow we'll watch a short documentary on the Holocaust. We will be starting the last unit in IB 20 this week: Democracies.

Please make sure that you have printed off the "Hitler and Nazi Germany" PowerPoint (pictured above) with 4-6 slides per page. Also, you should have printed off the "Joseph Stalin and the USSR" PowerPoint presentation already (pictured below). Again, don't print them off one slide per page, I recommend 4-6 slides per page, and double-side print if you can.

Social 10-1

I gave you some notes today on human rights, civil rights, inalienable rights, entrenching rights, the War Measures Act (used in Canada during WWI, WWII, the FLQ Crisis), the Canadian Bill of Rights (1961, not entrenched in the Canadian constitution), and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I also gave you a booklet on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ( a worldwide goal for human rights, serves as a model for other documents, such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but it's not legally binding. Many UN member states ignore this Declaration). You were to complete the chart activity on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the application of the notwithstanding clause during class time. If you did not complete this chart, here is a hyperlink to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

December 10

IB 30/35

You completed the Tell Them From Me computer survey for part of today's class. We also looked at the Great Depression in Latin America. This Powerpoint presentation is already on the wiki in the Great Depression and the Americas section. On Thursday you will be writing a Social 30-1 test on the Market Economy and the Mixed Economy.

Social 10-1

You wrote your Unit 3 Final Exam today. I also gave you back the results for your TNC Dossier Assignment as well. Your Chapter 16 Key Terms and Questions are due on Wednesday.

IB 20

I gave you back your Paper 3 Essays on Unit 6. We watched Part 2 of "The Fatal Attraction of Adolf Hitler" today. We'll continue with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany this week. If you haven't printed off the Hitler PowerPoint presentation that I started last week yet, you should print it off before tomorrow's class (4-6 slides per page).

December 7

Thursday was an incredibly busy day for me, so unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to post on the blog yesterday. Hence, I am posting on December 7th, a date that shall live in infamy....

IB 20

We watched part 1 of the "Fatal Attraction of Adolf Hitler" on Thursday, as well as started looking at the Hitler PowerPoint. We'll watch Part 2 of the video on Monday, and continue to look at the Hitler and Nazi Germany presentation.

Social 10-1

After some technical difficulties with my Jeopardy game, we played a review game of Jeopardy for the entire class on Thursday. Please remember that you have your Unit 3 Final Exam on Monday, please see the study guide here (scroll down to find it).

IB 30

We watched a short NFB film on the Great Depression called "The Dark Years: 1929-1939". You then wrote a quiz on the Great Depression. You have homework this weekend: create a compare and contrast chart on how the Canadian and American governments dealt with the effects of the Great Depression. If you are a Diploma student your EE rough draft is due on Monday. To all of the EE students that I am supervising: I want it sent to me as a Word document.

December 5

Social 10-1

I went through a PowerPoint presentation today called "Quality of Life, Human Rights and Democratization". I have sent this presentation to your e-mail accounts already. You also had some time to work on Chapter 16 Key Terms and Questions today. Please remember that you have your Unit 3 Final Exam on December 10th. Please see the study guide here (scroll down to find it).

IB 20

I showed you a video from the BBC 20th Century History series called "Stalin and the Modernization of Russia". While this video was playing you should have been taking extensive notes on the Five Year Plans and collectivization. We continued with the "Joseph Stalin and the USSR" PowerPoint presentation. I will not finish this presentation in class, you are responsible for the rest of the material in the presentation. I also talked a little bit about historiography as well, by going through the PowerPoint presentation "Stalin and the Historians", which is on the IB 20 wiki.

IB 30/35

I went through a PowerPoint presentation today on "The Great Depression in Canada". This presentation is already up on the IB 30/35 wiki. We may continue with the Great Depression in Canada tomorrow, but we should be transitioning into Latin America as well. I am going to put up some more information on the wiki on the Great Depression in Canada so you can complete an activity over the long weekend. What I'd like you to do is answer the following in chart format: Compare and contrast the Canadian and American governments' response to the effects of the Great Depression. You will be looking for similarities and differences in approach between Herbert Hoover's administration, FDR's New Deal and R.B. Bennett and Mackenzie King's response. This is preparation for the IB History Exams in May 2013.

December 4

IB 30/35

I went through a PowerPoint presentation on "The New Deal" today. As I went through this lecture, you were to fill in accompanying charts. You also had time to look at what critics of the New Deal had to say and complete the chart for this activity as well. The challenges to the New Deal questions and chart are due tomorrow. I also highly recommend that you read Chapter 6 and 7 in the Modern America textbook as well.

IB 20

You watched an A & E Biography today called "Joseph Stalin: Red Terror", and while this video was playing you should have been taking notes on it. I continued with the PowerPoint presentation "Joseph Stalin and the USSR" today. Tomorrow we'll look at the Five Year Plans in greater detail. By Thursday, we will be starting our examination of Adolf Hitler.

Social 10-1

You had the entire class today to work on your Chapter 15 Key Terms and Questions, which are due tomorrow. We also held a vote on whether or not we should have an in-class debate on Thursday, and by a narrow margin of 15 No votes to 13 Yes votes, we will not have a debate. Please see your Unit 3 Final Exam Study Guide below. This test is on Monday, December 10th.

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 50 multiple choice questions.

December 3

IB 30/35

Today was a pretty busy day. I walked you through the monetary and fiscal policy notes today that I asked you to print off and bring to class. After I lectured you on these notes I asked you to hand them in for class check marks. You also had your Great Depression and New Deal Study Guide due today, so you should have handed this in during class time to receive full homework check credit for it. I showed you a video from the BBC 20th Century History series called "FDR and the New Deal". While you were watching this video you were to take notes on it. This video is on YouTube as well, and there is a link to it on the IB 30/35 wiki under the Great Depression and the Americas section. If you missed information from it, you could always watch it again. I also gave back your Prescribed Subject 1 Paper 1 essays today.

Social 10-1

You wrote your Unit 3 WRA II Essay today in the Blenheim Room, which took the entire period.

IB 20

We watched a video on the Russian Revolution at the beginning of class. We then continued with the Joseph Stalin and the USSR PowerPoint presentation that I started last week. I also did a homework check on the work sections that were assigned last week.