Wednesday, January 10, 2018

1/10 - Class Recap


As we approach Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, we will be talking more about his legacy of service in class.

Hello everyone,

It was a quick Wednesday day together as we checked in and talked with students about their final project proposals. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets Addressed:
I can communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
I can apply understanding of ideas and concepts to a new context or problem.
I can demonstrate an understanding of the role of governments in current issues.
I can effectively conduct and apply research.

Soundtrack: "Dream On" by Aerosmith. Selected for today because of the continuing importance of the Dream Act and DACA legislation that is currently being debated in Congress. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 1/10/18:
Check-In
Current Event
Review Proposals
Work Time

Homework: Read the blog! Continue working on your final project! Next Current Event (on next Wednesday): Auriel, Alyssa, and Jay.
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Check In: At the beginning of class, we asked students what they were up to outside of class over the weekend and if there was anything they wanted to share with everyone before we started with the day. Thanks for your participation, as always!

Current Event: Today we had Holly, Olivia, Sierra, and Oscar present this current event:


As a reminder, this is the assignment for the current event:


The next Current Event will be led by Auriel, Alyssa, and Jay (next Wednesday). That will be the last one for the year!

Review Proposals: After the current event, we had students come check in with us 1 on 1 about their final project proposal (which was due on Monday). We wanted to provide guidance and clarification as to the expectations for the assignment. If students had not finished the project proposal, this was work time. As a reminder, the rough draft of findings is due next Wednesday, so a week from today.

Final Assignment/Work Time: The rest of class was spent working on the final project. As a reminder, here is the final assignment:


Please continue working on this outside of class - perhaps especially on Monday with your day off of school? See you on Friday, when we will be talking more about the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service!
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Monday, January 8, 2018

1/8 - Class Recap

Today in class, we had Ms. Seamone come in and talk with us about Westview's discipline data and national trends.

Dear class,

Back in the swing of things before the end of the semester! There is certainly plenty to do in our short remaining time together. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets Addressed:
I can communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
I can apply understanding of ideas and concepts to a new context or problem.
I can demonstrate an understanding of the role of governments in current issues.
I can effectively conduct and apply research.

Soundtrack: "Confessions, Pt. 2" by Usher. Selected for today because of our look at student discipline at Westview. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 1/8/18:
Check-In
Current Events
Discipline Presentation
Final Assignment

Homework: Read the blog! Continue working on your final project! Next Current Event: Holly, Olivia, Sierra, and Oscar.
--
Check In: At the beginning of class, we asked students what they were up to outside of class over the weekend and if there was anything they wanted to share with everyone before we started with the day. Thanks for your participation, as always!

Current Event: Today, Alyanna and Lex presented this current event:


As a reminder, this is the assignment for the current event:


The next Current Event will be led by Holly, Olivia, Sierra, and Oscar. We do not have many of these left to go!

Discipline Presentation: Next, we had Ms. Seamone, who is the Dean of Students here at Westview, come in to talk about her analysis of data about student discipline trends, both nationally and here at Westview. It was really interesting to see what is going on here and have students guess as to what is happening! Here is the presentation that she went through with the class:


Additionally, we said there would be more reading and materials linked to on the blog from the handout that she gave in class, if students were interested in reading more (perhaps for your final project?). Here is a shared folder of these readings:


Lots to think about, for sure! Thanks for coming in to talk with us, Ms. Seamone!

Final Assignment: The rest of class was spent working on the final project proposal (one paragraph) which was due at the end of class (on Google Classroom). As a reminder, here is the final assignment:


We will be going through these and offering feedback, so definitely get it in as soon as possible if you did not in class! See you on Wednesday!
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Thursday, January 4, 2018

1/4 - Class Recap


Flying into Chicago on December 31st, 2017.

Hi everyone,

Another one day week with you! As such, we tried to recap where we are at and begin thinking about the end of the semester. Here's what happened in class today:

Learning Targets Addressed:
I can communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
I can apply understanding of ideas and concepts to a new context or problem.
I can demonstrate an understanding of the role of governments in current issues.
I can effectively conduct and apply research.

Soundtrack: "Welcome Back" by Ma$e. Selected for today for obvious reasons. Lyrics here.

AGENDA 1/4/18:
Check-In
Current Events
Vocabulary Posters
Final Assignment

Homework: Read the blog! Your one paragraph final project proposal is due next class. Next Current Event: Lex, Alyanna, and Davis.
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Check In: At the beginning of class, we asked students what they were up to outside of class over Winter Break and if there was anything they wanted to share with everyone before we started with the day. Thanks for your participation, as always!

I also talked about the reason I was absent from school just before Winter Break started: my uncle and aunt were killed in a bus accident in Mexico that made the news, here: WashingtonPost.com - Americans among 12 killed in bus crash during Mexican cruise excursion. After my dad's death, I became even closer with my Uncle Andy and Aunt Jody, so their deaths are especially hard to fathom, as well. The memorial service for both of them is this Saturday in Olympia, Washington. It was a very challenging break, for sure. I appreciate everyone's kindness and understanding during this time.

Current Event: We had two current events today, due to missing it last class with the choir concert.

First, Honna and Phyllis presented this current event:


Then, Jenna and Christopher presented this current event:


As a reminder, this is the assignment for the current event:


The next Current Event will be led by Lex, Alyanna, and Davis.

Vocabulary Posters: We know that the DSJ Vocabulary Guide is a bit daunting, so we wanted to take the key terms from the unit and split them up so that small groups of 2-3 could define them. Here are the terms and the requirements that went along with this assignment (which we started before break and finished today):

1.     Wealth
2.     Pursuit of Happiness
3.     Equity
4.     Inequity
5.     American Ideals
6.     American Morals
7.     American Work Ethic
8.     American Exceptionalism
9.     UnAmerican
10.  Social Class
11.  Economic Class
12.  Working Class
13.  Middle Class
14.  Upper Class
15.  Poverty
16.  Capitalism
17.  Materialism
18.  Classism
19.  Class Bias
20.  Wage Gap (new term to define)

Groups will:
- Define the term
- Provide a recent example
- Create a visual representation
- Write down the definitions from other groups in the DSJ Vocabulary Guide

Thank you for your participation here!

Final Assignment: We passed this out in class before break as a heads up in terms of what we wanted you to start thinking about. It's now time to start making some choices in terms of what you might like to do!


Your one paragraph project proposal is due next class! We gave students time in class to start thinking about what they want to do and write up the proposal. That was it for the day!
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