Party Convention: Ann Romney

Here is a video clip that shows excerpts from Ann Romney's address at the GOP Party Convention.

 

Good questions to ask for current event:

Does a presidential candidate's wife matter?

Ann Romney is considered Mitt Romney's "secret weapon."  What do you think that is?

Should we only look at a candidate's political career or should we evaluate a candidate's family life as well?

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.

Setting up the US Government in your Classroom

I am currently preparing for a day where I will have students set up the U.S. Government System in the classroom by electing Senators, Representatives, the President and then appointing Supreme Court Justices.

Once students are in this system (they are actually in new seats according to their position in govt), students can propose new bills that could alter the Disclosure Statement (aka Syllabus) to what they want it to be.  The President has to approve the bill and the Supreme Court has to try the bill for constitutionality.  (The teacher has the final veto but can help nudge the students in a good direction throughout the activity)

In this process, students learn how the U.S. Government system works and how to participate in a democracy.  Students also like they are feeling a part of creating classroom policies, and as a result, students will take more ownership of their own actions during the class.

Jeremy Stevenson designed this activity and has used it every time he has taught.  He usually uses this simulation on the 3rd (ish) day of his geography class at the beginning of the year.  This simulation fits in with Jeremy's intro unit because he introduces government systems during the first unit.  However, this activity could also be used in any class, especially a US Govt class or a US History class.

This is the link to a more detailed explanation.

While preparing for this activity, I came across this short 2 minute video about campaigning for the White House.  This clip is especially great because it helps students learn about current events (as we are in the middle of the campaigning process for 2012) as well as understand how running for President really does work in the U.S.

Here is the video:

And here is the link: http://cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/2012/01/12/eitm-running-for-president.cnn

Interactive Map

This map is great!

They asked people throughout the U.S. the same topics about their living standard.  Questions were on their level of happiness, stress, food, etc.

The map is interactive so you just drag your arrow over a certain part of the map and you can learn how happy that particular area considers itself.

This is great for looking at trends throughout the U.S.  

NY Times put together a lesson plan to help students analyze the interactive map.