Drug Cartel Video

I may have posted these before but I am doing my drug cartel lesson again.

Here is the NY Times lesson that I based my lesson on.

Here is the video that I used to show at the beginning (9 minutes long), breaks down the drug cartels

Mexico Inaugurates new President

Here is a video clip of Mexico inaugurating their new President.  Just in time for our Latin America Unit!

Cortez and the Aztecs

While frantically searching for a more interactive way to teaching the Aztecs, I came across this PBS website of lesson plans. 

I clicked on the lesson plan ideas about the Aztecs and was blown away!  So many good ones.  For example, having a UN discussion of if we should hold a 500th year celebration of Hernan Cortes conquering the Aztecs.  This gets into--was it good for Cortes to conquer?  Was it inevitable?  What are the impacts?  Are the impacts important or could we have lived without them?

Olympic Clips

Toying with the idea of using clips from the Olympics to show countries around the world.  I could show the clips in class, post them on the blog, etc.

South Africa wins first rowing gold medal. (Questions to go with this: Of the four "rowers" on the South African teams, what are the races of each?  How does this rowing team itself show an end to aparthied?  How could it possibly also show remaining white dominance in Africa?)

Italy vs. Russia in a foil match, Italy wins and considered best team ever.

North Korean soccer players protest when South Korean flag is shown for their team.

Why is this flag mistake especially embarrassing?  Why would confusing the South Korean flag for the North Korean flag more shocking than confusing other countries' flags? (Think of the history of North and South Korea.)  Do you think that the North Korean soccer players were right to protest and delay the game for an hour?  Why or why not?  What do flags symbolize and why are they important to Olympic athletes?

I wish I could find a way for my students to watch the Parade of Nations in the Opening Ceremony.  The commentators gave a little tidbit of information about all the participating countries.  The information revealed a lot about the political status in certain countries, the relationships between countries, the different religions represented, the way women are treated in different countries.  Tidbits I do remember:
-Greece always appears first in the parade of nations to honor the original Olympics held in Greece.  The nation where the Olympics are being held that year (in this case Great Britain) appears at the end of the parade.  The rest of the nations walk in alphabetical order following Greece.
-This is the first year that all of the 204 competing countries have men and women on their Olympic teams.
-They pointed out nations that have been British colonies in the past and even discussed a current debate over who owns an island in South America (I think the South American country that is in the land struggle with Britain is Argentina or Chile or...I can't remember).
-Greece has a smaller number of athletes participating in the London Olympics than usual, which reflects the economic crisis going in Greece now.  They could not afford to send more athletes. This following video shows how a Greek marathon runner made it to the Olympics despite Greece's financial problems:

Update on Mexican Drug Cartels

Here, here and here are more updated articles on the Mexican Drug Cartels.  Now that I know I will be teaching Geography next year (yes!!!!), I would love to use these articles to keep my "cartel day" current.

Latin American Dance

For our Culture Day for Latin America, I had another student teacher Lynette Yorgason come in and teach my class about different dances.

It was fascinating to learn that every state in Mexico moves their skirt a different.  As a result, you can tell where someone lives by the way you move you skirt. This is great to emphasize with students because it helps them see that there are differences within Latin American culture.

Here are the three different dances that were learned about:

 1) The dance from the Mexican state Jalisco.

This dance has you stomp your feet in triplets. You begin by stomping your right foot hard, then step with your left foot and then right foot.  Then you stomp hard on your left foot and do lighter steps on your right foot then left foot before you stomp hard on your right foot again.  You repeat this over and over again.

We had the class move in a circle clockwise stomping their feet.

The boys clasp their hands high behind their backs.  The girls pretend like their holding out a big skirt and moving it side by side.

The reason there is so much stomping of feet is because their music doesn't have a strong beat in it, so they make their own beat.

Type "Jalisco Dance" into YouTube for a video.

2) The dance Cumbia from Colombia.

This is an interesting dance because it shows the influence between the natives of Colombia and the African slaves.  The African slaves had chains around their ankles so they could only shuffle their feet. As a result, Cumbia dance is the shuffling of feet.  They made it more interesting by rotating their hips.  The women hold up large skirts and move their skirts around as they dance.  The men put one hand high on the back while they tip their hat and shuffle their feet.

Type "Cumbia Dance" into YouTube for a video.

3) The dance Capoeira from Brazil.

This is a fight dance.  I don't know too much beyond that and would need to do more research.  We didn't actually do this dance in class but we watched a video.  It is amazing because the entire dance is a choreographed fight.

The boys especially liked watching this video.

Look for this movie in YouTube: "The best capoeira video ever"

The students really enjoyed learning about the dances and participating in them as well.  I would definitely try to replicate this again. It took about 20 minutes to explain, dance and watch the video clips.

Should we legalize drugs?

This video discusses if we should legalize drugs?  Should we allow people to have drugs so they don't go to "gangsters" for drugs?




I can use this as a journal entry for my geography students on our drug cartel day.

Drug Cartel Video

This video shows the impact of violence and drug cartels.  It looks at two students who attend college in El Paso, Texas but live in Juarez, Mexico.  The two students were killed.

Honduras Prison Fire--Feb. 15th

On Wednesday, February 15th, a fire broke out in a Honduras prison.  The fire brought suspicions to prison conditions in Honduras as the prison was packed beyond capacity with inmates.  Around 300 inmates were killed.




Haiti Earthquake Articles and Videos

I am preparing for a lesson on Latin American Natural Disasters.  Here is my research for articles and videos covering the Haiti Earthquake of 2010.

CNN's page for Haiti's Earthquake

Videos on Haiti's Earthquake:

Haiti's Earthquake One Month After

Looking Back at the Haiti Quake

Anderson Cooper: 2 Years after the Quake

2 Years after the Quake Video and Article

Earthquake Survivor Shares Story

Separate: Finding Hope on the Soccer Fields of Haiti

Slow Recovery from Haiti Earthquake

Here is an article about how there is a slow recovery from the Haiti Earthquake

Haiti Earthquake 2 Years Later

Photos of Haiti Earthquake 2 Years Later :)

An Overview of Chile

This NY Times Article offers an overview of Chile, including changes the government has made and a little on the earthquake that struck Chili.

Mexico Drug Wars

NY Times made another great lesson about Mexico Drug Wars.

Here is the link.

This lesson has an overview of what the drug wars are, an interactive map, a 10 minute video and news articles.

The 2 great things about this lesson:

1) It ties in the influence of social media and then shows how social media as been involved in other uprisings around the world.

2) It links in the relationship between the U.S. and Mexico. This connection helps students see how countries affect each others.

I could see this as a great MSDA activity with a variety of stations. Students could read the general explanation of drug cartels in Mexico for homework the night before so they could get some background.

Station 1: Social Media and Drug Cartels
Station 2: 10 minute video on Drug Cartels (focus on relationship with U.S.)
Station 3: Drug Cartels article about teachers
Station 4: Social Media around the World
Station 5: Interactive Map
Station 6: Instructional Conversation with the Teacher--I could ask their opinion of their reading at home and then probe them to make connections.  How does the physical geography, political system, economic system, etc. lend to Drug Cartels?  What can be done about it?  What should be done?

During the IC, you can try to get the students to think about the economics behind the drug war:

IF you limit the supply of drugs, the demand stays the same the price will go up

-There is a great incentive for people to sell drugs (when we try to cut out drugs, they became even more valuable and people have a greater incentive to see them)

-Therefore, this is a tough economic question.  We feel like we should do something, but often our efforts propel the drug cartels even further. 

Hispanic Documentaries

The New York Times compiled five hispanic documentaries for National Hispanic Heritage Month.

The documentaries vary in length from 12 minutes to 147 minutes.

The great thing about this lesson plan is that the NY Times has included questions to go along with the documentaries!

check it out.