June 24

Final Course Marks

I have posted the final course marks for IB 20 HOTA and Social Studies 10-1 outside my classroom. For Social 10-1 students: I made comments on your report cards as to which course I am recommending you take next year. No one failed Social 10-1, so I cannot force you to take Social 20-2. That having been said, a few of you would enjoy greater academic success in 20-2 as opposed to 20-1.

IB 30/35 World History students: Obviously, I showed you your school awarded mark during the last week of student. I want to thank you for all of the nice things that you wrote in my yearbook. It was my honor to teach such a fantastic group of kids for 1 1/2 years! I hope you enjoyed my sass.

To my Social 10-1 students: Our paths may cross again over the next two years. For many of you, this semester will be the only time that you will have me as your teacher. I want to wish you all the best. Good luck in either Social 20-1 or 20-2.

To my IB 20 HOTA class: It was a lot of fun teaching you this semester. You have an excellent sense of humor (you laughed at my jokes after all). I wish you all the best with either Mr. Johnson or Mr. Chieng. You'll be in good hands. Get as much work done on your IAs and EEs this summer as you can.  Don't procrastinate!!

June 15

Here are some reminders of when your upcoming Final Exams will take place:

IB 20 HOTA

• IB 20 HOTA Final Exam is on Tuesday, June 17th 1:00 to 3:00 pm in the Main Gym

IB 30/35 (Social 30-1)

• Social 30-1 Diploma Exam Part B is on Wednesday, June 18th 9:00 am to 11:30 am in the Main Gym

Social 10-1

• Social 10-1 Final Exam Part B is on Monday, June 23rd 1:00 to 3:00 pm in the Main Gym

June 10

IB 30/35

You wrote your Trial Final today. You'll get the results back tomorrow. Please bring snacks and drinks tomorrow, we're having a little party.

IB 20 HOTA

I showed you a short video on "Comparative Government" and I went through a PowerPoint presentation on "Types of Political Systems". We'll be going to a computer lab tomorrow to do some work on your IA.

Social 10-1

We played a Jeopardy! review game today. We'll finish off the game tomorrow. If you want to bring some snacks and drinks tomorrow, that's fine.

June 9

IB 30/35

We covered a new topic in the Social 30-1 course today with the FLQ Crisis. I showed you a video from the Turning Points of History on the FLQ Crisis of 1970. We'd already talked about illiberalism and the War Measures Act, but this crisis was the third usage of the War Measures Act. Remember, the War Measures Act could only be used during times of "war, invasion or insurrection", and according to Robert Bourassa's government, the government of Quebec was facing an "apprehended insurrection". If you missed class today, please make sure that you pick up the booklet and get the notes from a classmate. Please remember the you have your Trial Final tomorrow. Please use the Social 30-1 Diploma Exam Review Booklet as your study guide. We'll have a year-end party on Wednesday, please bring food and drinks!

Social 10-1

I gave you back the results of Part A of your Final Exam today. I also gave you your assigned seat for the exam. We finished watching "Contagion" today.

IB 20 HOTA

We continued our examination of democratic systems today, specifically the Canadian political system. I showed you part of the "Understanding Canadian Government" video as well. I also gave you your assigned seat for the final exam too.

June 5

IB 20 HOTA

You wrote your Paper 2 on Topic 3 today. I did some introductory work on your next unit in IB History, Unit 8: Democracies. I will continue teaching you key concepts from this unit tomorrow. We'll look at similarities between the American and Canadian political systems.

Social 10-1

You wrote Part A of your Final Exam today, which took most of the period. I also gave you the study guide for Part B of the Final Exam.

IB 30/35

Most of today's class was spent writing a detailed outline as a class for the source that I gave you yesterday. Please remember that you have your Political Systems Exam tomorrow, please see the study guide here.

June 4

Social 10-1

We continued with the Model UN conference on child soldiers today. Please remember that you are writing Part A of your final exam tomorrow. We'll be writing it in Room 111. Please review how to write a three source analysis assignment. Part A of your Final Exam is worth 10% of your final mark in Social Studies 10-1.

IB 20 HOTA

We looked at the Holocaust today. I have posted the Holocaust PowerPoint presentation that I delivered in class, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center's "36 Questions about the Holocaust" on the wiki. Please remember that you are writing your Paper 2 Topic 3 Essay tomorrow. Please study the "Joseph Stalin and the USSR", Hitler Paper 2 Review PowerPoint presentations in addition to historiography on these dictators. Here's a link to advice on writing Paper 2 on Topic 3.

IB 30/35

You wrote some practice multiple choice questions to practice for Part B of your Diploma Exam.

You have a homework assignment tonight:

I want you to write a detailed outline of an essay based on the following source: "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

You should have an idea of how you would analyze this source in your first paragraph, the ideological perspective of this source, what arguments you would use, and what evidence you would incorporate too. I will be posting past Part A of the Diploma Exam on the wiki tonight.

Please remember that you have your Political Systems Exam on Friday, please see the study guide here. You also have your Trial Diploma Exam on Tuesday, please use the Social 30-1 Diploma Exam Study Guide.

June 3

Sorry, I forgot to post on the blog last night...

IB 30/35

I gave you back the results of your Economic Systems Exam today. We also reviewed some material that I taught to you last year during the origin and development of authoritarian and single-party states. I reviewed non-democratic systems first and gave you notes on the characteristics of dictatorships, types of dictatorships and techniques of dictatorships. I then reviewed types of democratic systems (direct democracy, representative democracy), and types of representative democracies (parliamentary and presidential democracies). I talked about similarities and differences between the American and Canadian political systems. If you missed class today, you need to get the notes from a classmate. You have some exams coming up so please check below for the study guide. Your Political Systems Test is on Friday, June 6th. Your Social 30-1 Trial Diploma Exam is on Tuesday, June 10th. The study guide for the Trial Final is on the IB 30/35 wiki, use the Social 30-1 Diploma Exam Study Guide on the Diploma Exam Review page on the wiki.

Political Systems Test Study Guide:

The Political Systems Test will be on Friday, June 6th. It is a 70 multiple choice question test. Please review the following:

• "20th Century Rejections of Liberalism" (ppt)
• Marx notes
• Lenin notes
• Stalin notes
• Soviet Economy notes
• Soviet Economic System notes
• Changes to Soviet Society After Stalin notes
• Gorbachev to Collapse notes
• Economic Planning in the USSR booklet
• 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
• review fascism and Nazism (test has questions on the techniques of dictatorship in Nazi Germany and USSR)
• do a brief review of the political and economic spectrums

The following key concepts/key events/key people are mentioned in this test, if you (re-)familiarize yourself with them it will help you out immensely!

• centrally planned economies
• initiative
• FDR and the New Deal
• Reaganomics
• consumer sovereignty
• invisible hand
• Keynesian economics
• laissez faire economics
• War Communism
• Five Year Plans
• mixed economies
• indicative planning
• proportional representation
• democracy
• dictatorship
• political spectrum (characteristics associated with the various ideologies)
• status quo
• egalitarianism
• conservative
• reactionary
• liberal
• radical
• SA
• Hitler
• Bolshevik
• fascism
• communism
• indoctrination
• controlled participation
• terror and force
• direction of popular discontent
• democratic socialists
• supply-side economics
• authoritarian
• tyrant
• totalitarian
• totalitarianism
• ultranationalism
• nationalization
• privatization
• propaganda
• progressive taxation
• Marx
• Lenin
• utopian socialism
• Gorbachev
• martial law
• Reichstag (Reichstag Fire, Reichstag election results)
• referendum
• collectivization
• modernization
• classical liberal
• laissez faire free market economy
• mixed economy
• planned economy
• (review your economic political quadrant model)
• Das Kapital
• Mein Kampf
• The Wealth of Nations

IB 20 HOTA

We watched another documentary on Hitler called "Apocalypse: Hitler". Please remember that you are writing a Paper 2 Topic 3 essay on either Hitler or Stalin on Thursday, June 5th. Please see the writing tips on the blog here (scroll down to find these tips). Study the Stalin and Hitler PowerPoint presentations on the wiki, and the historiography for both men to prepare for this essay.

Social 10-1

I did a homework check on your Chapter 18 Key Terms and Questions at the beginning of class. We then started our Model UN conference on child soldiers today, which we will continue tomorrow. Please remember that Part A of your Final Exam is on Thursday, June 5th. Please review how to write a WRA I three source analysis assignment. Part A counts for 10% of your final mark.