Women's Rights and Olympics

1928--When Women Were Allowed to Compete in the Olympics for the First Time.
In the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games, women competed in the Olympics for the first time.  This article discusses the progress of Olympic women athlete in part, and pays tribute to the incredible Betty Robinson who was the first girl to win gold in the 100m Track and Field event. Robinson wore a skirt while she ran her race!

Saudi Arabia includes women for the first time in Olympics.
This great article reveals a lot about gender roles in Saudi Arabia, specifically the limited women's rights. Here would be some good questions to consider along with the article:
1. Why was almost "mission impossible" for Saudi Arabia to find two women athletes to compete in the Olympics?
2. Do all Muslim countries have the similar struggle with women participating in sports? Why or why not?
3. What does the article reveal about why Saudi Arabia is considered to have the worst record on women's rights in the world?
4. Why does Minky Worden, director of global initiatives at Human Rights Watch, feel that Saudi Arabia including women in the Olympics this year is not a sign of increasing women's rights in Saudi Arabia?
5. Personal Reflection: Do you think that Saudi Arabia should allow women to participate in the Olympics?  Why would some Islamic nations allow women to participate and others do not?  Do you think there is progress being made in Saudi Arabia for women's rights?  Is it right for the Olympic Committee to force Saudi Arabia to include women in the Olympics?

The rise of the arab female athlete:

1. How do these Olympics demonstrate possible progress for female athletes in Muslim countries and women's rights in general?
2. Why is there still a long way to go in Qatar for women's rights?

London 2012: The women's Olympics?
Discusses how women are doing extremely well in the Olympics and also how this is the first Olympics were every country has women athletes.

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:

Olympics and Judaism

The Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman is Jewish and used a Jewish folk song for her floor routine in the Olympics. (Here is the article about her choice of Jewish music)

163 Good Questions {Journal Entries}

Here is a link to a list the New York Times developed of 163 good starter questions for teens.  I think they were meant as an online conversation through the NY times, but I could easily incorporate the questions into lessons as starters for the day.

For example:

When in your life have you been a leader? (can discuss politics/government, etc.)
Do you trust your government? (lead into a discussion on the role of politics/government)
How do you feel about zoos? (human-environment interaction)
When do you become an adult? (lead to discussion on gender roles/family roles/culture/etc.)

Anyways, I don't know how many questions are useful but it could be a good place to brainstorm.

Mummification

Here is a link to the "Mummy Maker"--an educational game that teaches the process of mummification.

Hammurabi's Code

While teaching Ancient Mesopotamia/Sumer, I want to focus on Hammurabi's code for the following reasons:

1. It highlights the political structure that Sumer developed 

2. The code of laws shows the challenges surrounding developing a civilization

3. The laws themselves reveal how the people felt about religion, their responsibilities, etc. (You can see people's values shine through in their laws)

4. Students can connect with living under laws and are at the age where they are starting to be affected by laws (Why should there be a law about the driving age?  About drinking? What if you were caught stealing from GAP?  What should be the consequence of your crime?)

I came across this great lesson plan while researching on the internet.  I will need to pear it down because I am fitting Ancient Sumer/Hammurabi's code into one day, but I really like the opening attention grabber (what are the positives and negatives of living in a large community? make a list of each on the board) and the stations.  I think the activity leads to a lot of interaction, discussion and possibly debate. 

Yay!

Comparisons--If it were my Home

I came across a fun, informative and quick to use website this past week: ifitweremyhome.com.

This website lets you click on any country and it will compare it to where you live.  The comparison is basically a list of percentages.  For example, when I compare the U.S. to Japan this is what I learn:

If Japan were my home, I would:

have 54.56% less chance of dying in infancy

have 46.42% less babies

use 41.54% less electricity

consume 39.97% less oil

have 39.78% more chance at being employed

spend 61.59% less money on health care

make 29.74% less money

live 3.93 years longer

experience 15.33% less of a class divide

be 83.33% less likely to have HIV/AIDS

have 0.28% more free time

You can click on each different percentage to get more info about Japan.

The website would best be just a fun thing to direct students to and get them interested in different parts of the world.