May 19-22

Things 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. If something is underlined on the blog, it means that you can click on it to see a copy -- 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 is no reason for you not to know what is happening. If you do not have an Internet connection, you 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 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 and on your course outline 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.

Social Studies 11 Honours

Your Family History/Immigration assignment is due on Tuesday. (See also the International Students' Version and First Nations Students' Version ) is due next Monday - May 18 (See also the BBC's pedigree sheet - a rough form to serve as a starting point for your own pedigree).

Expect a unit test on Canada since World War II on Thursday. The mark breakdown will be as follows: 43 multiple choice (1 mark each), 5 definitions (2 marks each) and 3 from a choice of 4 long answer questions (6 marks each). The total is, therefore, out of 71 marks. 30 flash cards will earn 5 bonus marks.

• Tuesday, May 19 - Take up #1-6, p. 216. Video segments from Canada; A Peoples' History - the following episodes: "Taking Back the Past" and "Land and Nation." Complete the PowerPoint on Land Claims and the Indian Act. Create a time line (click here to download blank) with two columns, with the following titles - Landmark Events in Canadian Autonomy and Landmark Events in Canadian Social Change. Go through the History portion of your book to identify events to include in your Time Line. 10 marks - due Thursday. Do the sidebar on p. 211. Read and do #1-2 in the sidebar on pp. 212-213. Also pp. 304-306. Do#1-2, p. 306.
• Wednesday, May 20 - Take up any problems with timeline creation. Complete any unfinished material on land claims and the Indian Act. Also, describe what you think Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun is trying to show in his painting Despotism in Canada on the last slide of the PowerPoint (minus all of the print, obviously). Begin Government material. Is there a need for government? Stranded on an island scenario. Handout: What is Government? We will take this up on Thursday.
• Thursday, May 21 - Unit Test: Canada since World War II. Complete the government assignment from Tuesday. Sign out Government text (used only for the "Ideologies" chapter.) Read pp. 1-6, do #1-4, p. 6.
• Friday, May 22 - Take up What is Government questions and #1-4, p. 6. Introduction to Ideologies. Origins and the Political Spectrum. Read pp. 7-15. Do #1-5, p. 11 & #1-6, pp. 15-16. To identify your own ideology, take the online Political Compass quiz.

History 12

The Plan for the final unit is available, as are the questions.

If you have time, watch some of the Cold War videos linked to in my Googlevideo and Youtube directory. You absolutely have to watch Threads, a 1984 British film on the likely effect of nuclear war - brilliant and terrifying. Another equally frightening documentary on nuclear war is A Guide to Armageddon (Part 1, Part 2 & Part 3), which documents the effects of a one megaton explosion over London, England. This is less than 30 minutes in length.

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: 40% of your over-all mark if you take the Provincial and 20% if you take the school exam. The school exam will mirror the Provincial in layout and content. The best way to prepare for this exam is to actually write a previous exam. Link to any grade 12 minstry exam material from here or directly to the History page. Look at all of the material here - make sure you look at the table of specifications to see where the marks will be assigned. The key verbs used on the exam ensures you know what you are being asked to do, and the scoring criteria tells you what the markers are basing their marks on. The more comfortable you are witht the exam and its composition, the better you will do. Be sure to write the sample exams.

• Tuesday, May 19 - Complete Deterrence & Nuclear War (base notes). Download and study the summary sheet "Nuclear Treaties." AV - Notes on Nuclear War, from Gwynne Dyer's seminal 1980's documentary series War. Watch CNN's 46 minute Cold War; M.A.D. to see terrifict coverage of the nuclear convlict between 1960-1972. Another very interesting episode is Cold War; Star Wars. For a wealth of information on nuclear issues, visit the Federation of American Scientists' nuclear issues webpages.
• Wednesday, May 20 - British & French Decolonization in Africa & Asia (base notes). If you have time and want to get beyond the simple notion of a heroic struggle for independence, watch the Italian (with English subtitles) documentary Africa Addio. Decolonization was accompanied by horrific brutality on both sides. This has implications for white South Africans since the end of apartheid too.
• Thursday, May 21 - Continue British & French Decolonization (base notes). Begin Indochina & Vietnam (base notes). Watch the first part of a video on Kwame Nkrumah -- which gives a 4 minute background to African decolonization. Watch the classic French film The Battle of Algiers to see the difficulty of France giving up Algeria in the face of Colon - settler - resistance.
• Friday, May 22 - 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 with 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. For a right-wing view of the Vietnam War, that opposes the interpretations of America's PBS history of the war (Vienam; a Television History - see episode 1 online - introducing the series, but mainly dealing with the French) currently the mainstream view, watch the Charlton Heston narrated Vietnam War; the Real History. This is a "cold-warrior" viewpoint.

Comparative Civilizations 12

The Hero as Artist package is due next Wednesday, May 27. Do not procrastinate. The weekend after next will be busy for all of you!

To avoid testing around Grad Weekend, I will test the Renaissance Units/Mannerism and the Reformation/Baroqe material together. This should take us to around June 8 before the next unit test.

• Tuesday, May 19 - Monty Python's Pope & Michelangelo. Introduction to High Renaissance Painting (notes). Michelangelo (notes) - painting, sculpture and architecture. Work on the Hero as Artist package. See a Unitedstreaming video on Michelangelo (you will need to login). If you are interested in Michelangelo's sketches, watch this video from the British Museum (40 minutes). You might also look at a video about his sculptures (5 minutes).
• Wednesday, May 20 - Da Vinci PowerPoint. Work on the package. If you are interested in Dan Brown's books -- and the da Vinci Code in particular, you might enjoy Professor Ward Gasque's University of California lecture The da Vinci Code - Fact or Fiction.
• Thursday, May 21 - Bramante and Raphael (notes - see also the diagram showing who the models were in The School of Athens). Sister Wendy video segment. Work on the package.
• Friday, May 22 - Titian. Sister Wendy on old Titian. Work on the package.