The British and Palestine

Agenda 1/23-26:

1. Students read from the Fraser text The Arab Israeli Conflict. They took notes, following the requirements of the reading journal project.
2. Students viewed a series of documents detailing the early relationship and promises between Arabs and Jews. Students plotted these on a graph tracking vacillating British support of Arabs and Jews through time.
3. Students watched film clips [below] about the British and Palestine between WWI and WWII.  

Promises and Betrayals:

HOMEWORK:
Learn this vocabulary for the final.

2015 State of the Union

Today students viewed and discussed President Obama's State of the Union Address. They looked at Republican responses and found parts they agreed and disagreed with.

HOMEWORK:
DUE Friday 1/23 - Arab-Israeli conflict reading journal notes Introduction and Chapter 1. Have your notes and summaries ready at the beginning of class.

Origins of the Arab Israeli Conflict

Students created maps of the Middle East. They considered geography, religion, population and ethnic groups in creating five different countries. I explained to the student how four different events created a "Recipe for Disaster": The McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, The Sykes-Picot Agreement, The Balfour Declaration, and the Partition of Palestine.

Students then continued reading The Arab-Israeli Conflict by Fraser. Students began organizing their notes in a journal.

HOMEWORK:
Arab Israeli Conflict Reading Journal - Intro notes and summary - DUE - Wednesday 1/21

Hitler Quiz Prompts

Students will take a quiz covering the unit on Hitler. Below are the prompts. Students will need to answer two prompts at random.

•  Analyze the methods and conditions that enabled Hitler to rise to power in Germany.
• Evaluate the way in which Hitler was able to consolidate his rule between 1933 and 1938.
• To what extent were the lives of ordinary Germans affected by Nazism? Identify at least two groups.
• In what ways did people resist Nazi rule? Provide examples.

Hitler's Domestic Policies

Students learned about Hitler's domestic policies. They took notes from the powerpoint below and watched a clip for the film World at War.

Hitler's Domestic Policies:


World at War [start at 23:00]:

Internal Assessment and Hitler

Agenda 12/15-17:

1. I reviewed the expectations of the Internal Assessment. Students looked at several sample papers with moderator comments. I handed out an OPVL worksheet to assist them in evaluating their sources.
2. Students read a text about Hitler's consolidation of power, summarizing his methods.

HOMEWORK:

IA DUE - Friday, January 9th

Hitler's Consolidation of Power Reading - DUE - Friday, December 19th

Hitler - Consolidation of Power

The last two classes:

1. Students learned about Hitler's consolidation of power and the rise of the Nazi party.
2. I checked in with students about their progress on the Internal Assessment. The IA is due January 9th, 2015.

Hitler's Rise and Consolidation of Power

Agenda 12/8:

Students read an article about events occurring prior to Hitler's ascension to Fuhrer. After they watched the first ten minutes from the documentary The World at War: A New Germany.

Today students were given the period to work on their Internal Assessment papers.

HOMEWORK:
IA - 10 notecards with quotes
IA - Plan of investigation

Hitler

Last Monday students took a quiz over Peron. In the following lessons, they began learning about Hitler and Weimar Germany. Students participated in a simulation of the 1932 election in Germany. Friday the 5th was a day set aside for students to work on researching their Internal Assessment.

Materials used:
Weimar Republic Reading
Graphing German Election Results 1919-1933

HOMEWORK:
IA - Plan of Investigation
IA - 10 Notecards (quote on one side, citation on the other)
Both DUE - Friday 12/12

Eva and Propaganda

Agenda 11/19:

1. Students meet with me to discuss topics and research questions for the Internal Assessment.
2. Students participated in a Socratic seminar about propaganda in Argentina under Peron and the work of Eva Peron. They used a series of articles (1 and 2) to base their discussions.
3. Students then watched clips from the film Evita depicting major events from the Peron era.

HOMEWORK:

QUIZ - Peron - DUE - Monday 11/24
Finish Reading Pearson Chapter 2

Quiz Prompts:

• Account for the rise to power of Juan Peron and assess his impact upon Argentina.
• Evaluate the role did Eva Peron play in Juan Peron’s rise to power and during his presidency?
• Compare and contrast Peron to one other authoritarian leader (Stalin, Mao, or Castro). Select one element of society to compare and contrast (Rise to Power, Ideology, or Domestic Policies).

The Perons

Agenda 11/12:

1. Students were introduced to the IB Internal Assessment and encouraged to start thinking about an area that they want to research.
2. Students listened to a podcast about Eva Peron, taking notes.
3. Students read pages 10-17 in the Pearson text, taking notes about Peron's rise to power.
4. Lastly, they looked at a speech given by Peron, outlining his political philosophy. Students evaluated the points of the speech in terms of them being strong or weak in terms of real, enact-able government policies.

HOMEWORK:

Bring Pearson to class

Castro Quiz

Agenda 11/7:

Students tool the quiz on Castro, read an article about Castro by Alice Walker, discussing the idea of white male corporate dictatorship. After they watched a few clips from the film Evita. 

Castro Quiz

On Monday, students prepared for a simulation debating the future direction of Cuba. On Friday, they will be taking a quiz over the unit on Castro. Students will be asked to answer two of the following questions at random.

Castro prompts:

• Analyse the conditions and actions that helped Castro take power.
• How did Castro express his ideology in History Will Absolve Me?
• Why and how did the rebels win?
• Assess the methods used by Castro to eliminate opposition.
• How did Castro's reforms shift over time? Consider central planning versus free market policies.
• To what extent was Castro successful in achieving his aims?
• Examine the role of two of the following social policies in Castro's Cuba: women, education, arts, religious groups.

HOMEWORK:
Finish Simulation Preparation

Castro - Foreign and Domestic Policies

Agenda 10/28 - 10/30:

1. Students learn about the Bay of Pigs Invasion, focusing on how it consolidated Castro's power and popularity.
2. Students learned about the Cuban Missile Crisis.
3. Students read from the Pearson text. They focused on Castro's social policies towards women, education, the arts, and religious and minority groups.
4. Students looked at Castro's evolution into communism and his treatment of the opposition when in power.

HOMEWORK:

Castro Quiz - Friday 11/7

Early Reforms in Castro's Cuba

Agenda 10/24:

1. Students read from Pearson chapter 3. They made a list of reasons that the rebels won the war against Batista.
2. Next students read the section about reforms in Cuba from the Agrarian reform of 1960 to the Special period of 1991. They organized these events on a spectrum, evaluating shifts between capitalism and communism.
3. Students read two documents illustrating Castro's shifts in policy.

History Will Absolve Me

Agenda 10/20:

1. Students continued working with Fidel Castro's speech History Will Absolve Me. They identified societal problems and solutions Castro presented in the speech.
2. Students drew maps of Cuba, labeling: Sierra Maestra, Havana, Bay of Pigs, Guantanamo Bay, Santa Clara, and Yaguajay.

Castro - "History Will Absolve Me"

Agenda 10/17:

1. Students discussed the armed revolution and under what circumstances it could be justified. They also discussed American society and whether revolution in this country would be possible.
2. Students watched a short clip from the film Fidel, focusing on the conditions in Cuba prior to the revolution. [below]
3. Students read Fidel Castro's speech History Will Absolve Me, highlighting the conditions which Cubans lived under.

HOMEWORK:

Pearson Chapter 3, Sections 1 and 2 (pgs. 53-66) - DUE - Monday 10/20

Fidel. Watch the first 18 minutes.

Castro and Cuba

Agenda 10/15:

1. Students took the unit quiz over Mao and China
2. Students began reading the first section of chapter 3 in the Pearson text (pgs.53-65). They began to take notes using this sheet.
3. Students participated in a Socratic discussion about the US trade embargo on Cuba. They used this information to base their discussion.

Mao Review

Agenda 10/13:

1. Students completed their propaganda posters depicting the reality of life under Mao.
2. Students watch a short film reviewing major events of Mao's leadership.

HOMEWORK:

Mao QUIZ - Wednesday 10/15 - Prompts below

Prompts for Mao quiz. You will need to answer two of the following questions:

• By what methods, and with what success did Mao Zedong try to eliminate domestic opposition?
• Examine the successes and failures of Mao Zedong’s economic policies.
• Examine the successes and failures of Mao Zedong’s domestic policies.
• In what was Mao Zedong able to create a cult of personality?
• Discuss the conditions that produced the Chinese Communist Party and the leadership of Mao Zedong.

Towards the Cultural Revolution

Agenda 10/6:

1. Students reviewed the reading from the previous class on the Great Leap Forward. They took notes on Mao's Words vs. People's Realities. Students then discussed how the book assessed four major events: Infrastructure projects, "The Four Pests", Steelmaking, and Communes.
2. Students were introduced to the Cultural Revolution by working on quotes in the style of Mao about the United States.