Tough Teddy

The third week of the semester and we are finally getting into some serious content. In Psychology we did a couple of experiments to model a single-blind study, and dependent vs. independent variables. We did one looking at baseball statistics, and the other by simulating a soda taste test. We also talked a lot about how the brain works. There is a wonderful playlist on the TED Talks website called "How Does My Brain Work?" that gets into some of the new research about the brain. The students really enjoy watching and discussing these clips.

In Ethics class we have started looking at true dilemmas, that is a situation where two things come into conflict and yet both seem to be equally right. The Institute for Global Ethics provides a handy curriculum that uses realistic scenarios, and famous real examples to help students process these ideas. Soon we will be doing our Moral Courage projects. I am told there is a good chance that Robert Shetterley will be visiting our school. I use his website, Americans Who Tell the Truth, for this project and I am hopeful my students can attend a presentation he will be doing.

In my AP U.S. history class, students did presentations that exemplified one of the Multiple Intelligences they had selected. Depending one which one they selected, there was a different assignment associated with it. Some students created original songs, some created brainteasers, some completed surveys and graphs. Still others created abstract and artistic depictions. One student even put me into their art work as representing Dorothy. That provided quite a few laughs! They did a great job explaining how the Populist movement changed history.

(Student artistic depiction)

(Me as Dorothy)

In all U.S. History classes this week we started the Teddy Roosevelt murder simulation. The idea behind it is to find a sneaky way to get students to learn about the Progressive movement. I got the idea from a resource book published in the 1990's for AP U.S. History teachers. I then took it and modified it for my own purposes. It is designed to point the finger at one person, but there are two or three others who are strong possibilities. This activity takes about 4 class periods and includes some role playing. I really enjoy it myself! Students get into the competitive part of trying to find out "Who Done It?" and end up learning about the progressive era. Of course Roosevelt was not murdered in real life, but he was shot and he actually lived. He gave an hour long speech before going to the hospital even!

 

My online class U.S Foreign Policy 1945-present got going this week as well with week 2. VHS is a 15 week straight through course with no breaks. I have students from all over the country and even one in Switzerland this semester. They partake in some simulations through the Choices organization to study about the changes and lessons learned in American Foreign Policy over the last 60 years.

(The home screen for the online class I teach)

My next post will be in two weeks because we are on vacation next week. We don't spend much time on it in the curriculum, but my favorite historical subject (World War One) is coming up after vacation!

Follow the Yellow Brick Road

In U.S. history classes we are examining the late 19th century and looking at what happened to farming and what life in the cities was like. In an effort to understand the rise of the Populist movement, we looked at Henry Littlefield's theory that the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was meant to be a parable of the Populist movement. Since most students know the film The Wizard of Oz, this makes for a fun way to learn about the movement. Littlefield believed that Baum wrote his book as a subliminal message to America that the reforms the Farmers were seeking were right! Students are asked to create a presentation based on one of the nine Multiple Intelligences developed by Howard Gardner to show their understanding of how The Wizard of Oz portrays the Populist Movement. One of the keys to this is that Dorothy's slippers were silver in the book (not ruby red), and the Farmers supported the Silver Standard.The Parable theory is quite popular, and the students get a kick out of it!

As Farms failed and many moved to cities to live and work, some became concerned with what the quality of life was like in the cities. These so called "Muckrakers" wrote about the problems in society in the hopes they could be fixed. One of these Muckrakers was a man named Upton Sinclair. He wrote the book The Jungle which had a major impact on the whole country. He meant the book as a call to help immigrants. Instead, people focused on the fact that the canned meat they were eaten was probably contaminated with all sorts of nastiness from disease to human body parts. The popularity of the book led to the passage of the Pure food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. As well as paving the way for the rise of the Progressive Movement. In class, we read a 4 page excerpted version of the book with the best parts! Students are usually quite grossed out by the description of the working conditions, lost body parts, pungent odors, and permanent deformities suffered by people working in the Stockyards in Chicago in the late 1890's. We also examine some of the photos taken by Jacob Riis depicting life in the slums for many people living in cities during this time period.

(One of Riis' photos of life in a slum)

In Ethics class we continued our work learning some of the basic philosophical arguments and classic  dilemmas in Ethics. To help us with this we view some of the online lecture series called "Justice" by Michael Sandel. Sandel is a professor at Harvard University. He has written many books about Ethics and has put his entire course on line. I use parts of his course to hare in class and then we discuss the same issues he is raising with his students. I like that its Harvard and helps to demystify Harvard a bit for my students. I have to thank my good friend and mentor Gib Brown for introducing this to me a few years ago! The students seem to enjoy Sandel's style and I think they even feel a bit empowered watching a lecture at Harvard.

In Psychology we have started by looking at the basic work of a Psychologist and some of the research associated with the Brain. To help with this I have started showing students a series of videos from TED talks. There is a playlist on the TED website called "How Does My Brain Work?"We started watching the videos in this playlist as a way to understand some things about the Brain. We also practiced looking at data and talked about experimentation.

Our Model United Nations club is up and running! We have begun our work preparing for the annual conference at Northeastern University in Boston, MA in May. We currently have 20 students participating. We had a parent meeting this week where we collected money and put out basic information. In March we will find out what countries we will represent and which topics will be debated. Its always a lot of fun and I'm sure this year will be no different.


Next week we will be dealing with the Spanish American War and starting the Teddy Roosevelt Murder Mystery Simulation!!