December15-19

Merry Christmas!

(Left: Santa Benoy delivering Ho Ho Homework to procrastinating students. Do you believe in Santa?)

For those of you new to my blogsite, it is intended to work alongside my website at: http://kbenoy.googlepages.com/

e-mail me at http://kbenoy@nvsd44.bc.ca/

Things that are static -- not requiring regular change -- will be posted on the website. This blogsite will have the changing material -- lesson plans and links to particular assignments. I will try to ensure that all assignments are made available on the Internet in this way. If something is underlined on the blog, it means that you can click on it to see a copy of the particular item -- this could be a pdf document, PowerPoint, music or a video.

Use this blog to see what is coming up each week. I will usually post it on Saturdays for the following week. If you are away, you can check up on what you are missing. There really is no reason for you not to know what is happening. If you do not have an Internet connection, you certainly know someone who does. If too ill to work while away, be sure to attach a note from home to any overdue work when you hand it in and I will most likely waive any late deduction.If you can't read the PowerPoint material on your computer, download PowerPoint Viewer from Microsoft. It is free.

Sutherland has a license to access Discovery Education's United Streaming video collection. Students may download or stream videos from the collection by going to http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm . Use the passcode posted in the classroom to register. If you have lost it, see me, or e-mail me, for this information. Students are licensed to include this content within their own creations.

My tutorial times are officially 2:55-3:15 every Monday and Friday. However, I am available most days before school, at noon and after school. Drop by or make an appointment if you need guaranteed time.

Social Studies 11

There is a major research assignment currently underway, the Family History - Immigration Assignment (With additional options for International and First Nations students.) Pedigree sheet. Map blank -- click to a resource on my Social Studies 11 History web page to locate an appropriate blank map to work with. The due date for this work is not until right after the Christmas holidays, to allow plenty of time for research and discussion with family members.)

We have just started the Geography portion of this course. We are using our in-house textbook, The 21st Century World. This book is available online at http://www.design4effect.com/soc11 . Click here to read chapter 1. It is a number of years since this was created, so I offer apologies in advance for dead links. Until a 36 hour day is available, I am unable to update it all unless I am offered significant help doing so.

To save precious class time, we will not test every chapter, but will test chapter 1 This Friday, chapters 2 & 3, and 4 & 5 into a single tests after Christmas. The chapter 1 quiz will include 15 multiple choice questions (1 mark each) and 3 from a selection of 5 long answer questions (6 marks each). The quiz total is, therefore, 33 marks. 15 properly completed flasch cards will earn 3 bonus marks on this test.

Read my Tips for Writing the Social Studies 11 Provincial Exam.

Over Christmas it is important to begin preparation for your Provincial Final Exam. Go to the Ministry website and look at the exam table of specifications, familiarize yourself with key exam terms, access past exams and answer keys, and look at the essay scoring criteria to see how your essays will be marked.

• Monday, December 15 - Take up #1-5, p. 11. Complete to end of "Gloabal Warming" frames in One World PowerPoint. Begin watching Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. Your job while watching this film is to: 1) Identify Gore's thesis in this film. 2) List the evidence he cites to prove his thesis. 3) Explain why Gore convinced you or did not convince you that we must take immediate action to deal with climate change. You will hand in your notes on Thursday -- they will be evaluated out of 10 marks for content (parts 1 & 2) and thoughtfulness (part 3). Read pp. 12-16. Do #1-9, p. 16 & #1-4, pp. 16-17.
• Tuesday, December 16 - Take up #1-9, p. 16 and #1-4, pp. 16-17. Continue An Inconvenient Truth and the assignment that goes with it. For a contrary view of this situation, watch The Great Global Warming Swindle. However, be aware, that two key figures cited in this documentary say that they were misrepresented by the film-makers, and have distanced themselves from it. For a discussion of the controversy, see the wikipedia article on this. If time, and this is unlikely, we will discuss reactions. If you have the chance, you might listen to what Gwynne Dyer has to say on the matter. Read pp. 17-20. Do #1-2, p. 17 & #1-4, p. 21.
• Wednesday, December 17 - Take up #1-2, p. 17 & #1-4, p. 21. Complete any of the video that we did not see last class. Complete the One World PowerPoint. If we have time, and this is unlikely, we will begin the Population PowerPoint, for chapter 2. For an excellent treatment of how technology is changing our world, see Tom Friedman's address at MIT, following up on his book, The World is Flat. Read pp. 430-433 in blue text. Do sidebar, figure 17-2 and #1-5, p. 433.
• Thursday, December 18 - Take up sidebar, figure 17-2 and #1-5, p. 433 from the Counterpoints (blue) text. "Population" PowerPoint.
• Friday, December 19 - Chapter 1 quiz. Read pp. 29-31. Do #1-3 & the second #1-3, p. 31. We will begin our first class after Christmas by taking this up.

Comparative Civilizations 12

As we decided in class last week, we will write the Renaissance test in class this Thursday -- but you may have until Friday's class to complete the Hero as Artist unit

The Renaissance Test will contain the following: 20 image identification items (2 marks each - identifying the name of the work and the artist/sculptor/architect primarilly responsible for creating it). I have reconsidered the bonus option on this and have decided against it because of how much it could iflate marks on this particular test. 35 multiple choice items (1 mark each) and 3 from 6 long answer questions (6 marks each). The total value of the test is, therefore, 91 marks.

• Monday, December 15 - Titian. Sister Wendy on old Titian. Work on the package.
• Tuesday, December 16 - Video: Art of the Western World; the High Renaissance. (Accessing this requires a login to PBS/Annenberg - free to register for this.) Work on the package.
• Wednesday, December 17 - Mannerism and Reformation small packages assigned. . Work on packages (Hero as Artist -- Mannerism). Filmstrip: Civilisation; Protest & Communication. See the full length video on Youku if you like. Work on packages.
• Thursday, December 18 - Renaissance Unit Test -- see above. Work on packages.
• Friday, December 19 - Bologna, Celini, & El Greco. Work on packages (Hero as Artist -- Mannerism). Hand in Hero as Artist at the end of class -- or e-mail it to me on the weekend.

History 12

We are a bit behind schedule here, but will cut video material to catch up. Use the links on this blog to watch online material over the break.

Remember, it is essential that you start preparing for the final exam -- whether you write the school or provincial exam, preparation is identical. The only real differnce is that the provincial has twice as much weight. Design and composition of the tests are virtually identical.

Link to any grade 12 minstry exam mataerial from here or directly to the History page. Look at all of the material here. The more comfortable you are witht the exam and its composition, the better you will do. Be sure to write the sample exams over the Christmas Break.

Be sure to look at some of the documentaries listed in my googlevideo and youtube Cold War directory.

• Monday, December 15 - Watch Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Kruschchev (sorry, unavailable online). Complete the Cuban Missile Crisis lecture (base notes). If you have almost two hours available on the weekend, get in the mood for Monday's lecture on nuclear war by viewing Threads, a British docudrama from the 1980s about a nuclear war -- banned from British TV at the time, it is a highly praised production that gives a frightening, but important view of what such a war might be like. For a straight-forward documentary 0n what would happen to a city hit by a nuclear bomb, watch Nuclear War; A Guide to Armageddon - this links to the first episode, go to the sidebar to link to the other segments.
• Tuesday, December 16 - Deterrence & Nuclear War (base notes).
• Wednesday, December 17 - AV - Gwynne Dyer Notes on Nuclear War. British & French Decolonization in Africa & Asia (base notes). Watch CNN's Cold War; M.A.D. to see terrifict coverage of the nuclear convlict between 1960-1972.
• Thursday, December 18 - continue British & French Decolonization (base notes). Begin Indochina & Vietnam (base notes). Watch the first part of a video on Kwame Nkrumah -- wich gives a 4 minute background to African decolonization.
• Friday, December 19 - Indochina & Vietnam (base notes). You must watch the CNN Cold War episode, Vietnam 1954-1968 (Episode 11). On your own, watch Dien Bien Phu - a film of a little under 1 hour, on the decisive battle leading to France's withdrawal from Vietnam and the rest of Indo-China. Hearts and Minds is a documentary dealing with the importance of the importance of winning support for the war in order to successfully fight it. The Tet Offensive deals wtih the dramatic Viet-Cong & North Vietnamese offensive that broke American public belief in the likelyhood of American victory in the war. Vietnam; The Last Battle looks at the collapse of the South and the end of the conflict. Take 7 minutes to watch Last Word; Dith Pran - the subject of the stunning 1984 film The Killing Fields, which told the story of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.