Saturday, May 23, 2009

May 25-29





Please excuse me if I seem edgy and irritable this week. I'm busy with ceremony preparation -- and of course every day work must also still carry on. Once the graduation ceremony is over, life can return to normal.

I am not available for extra help at all othis week as I will spend every available moment working Scholarship Committee work and on the script for scholarship presentations for Friday night.

As of Monday, there are 15 classes left (13 for C.Civ. 12 as your final exam is during the last two classes.

Now is the time to begin preparing for the final examination. 1) Be sure all assignments are complete. 2) Start studying for the final.Use this blogsite to see what work we will be doing and note homework assignments. I will give advance warning about tests here and inform you of their mark breakdown.

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)

We have finished History and are now in the Government Unit. To save time, I will test "Government" as a single unit in, probably, the 2nd from last class. This will be a very big test with an extensive multiple-choice component. The subjective section of the exam will have to be shorter than usual to allow for this -- but you will need to study for subjective writing for the final exam in any case. A minimum of 50 flash cards will be needed to earn 5 bonus marks for this test. I will post the mark breakdown when I've written the test. Given the circumstances, do not expect me to post it this week.
  • Monday, May 25 - Take up #1-5, p. 11 & #1-6, pp. 15-16 and the ideologies practice sheet. Survey of who took the Political Compass quiz - if you did not do this over the weekend, you must do so for Tuesday's class. Video clip. PowerPoint – “Ideologies”. Other ways to show political spectrum & Ideologies summary sheet. More practice with ideologies. Smith & Marx handout. The following reading is completely optional: For an interesting American article on the difference between Lefties and Righties, see Patricia Cohen's New York Times Article: "Across the Great Divide; Investigating Links Between Personality and Politics."
  • Tuesday, May 26 - Take up homework. Lecture/discussion – from ideologies to political parties – national parties in Canada. Read Counterpoints pp. 255-258. Do #3 & 4, p. 258. For homework over the last weekend, you took an online quiz to identify your political viewpoint. To see which Canadian political party comes closest to your views (2005 comparison - according to this organization), link here and see if this is what you expected. Interested in pursuing this further? Try some more tests -- mostly American -- to see where you stand.
  • Wednesday, May 27 - Take up homework. Placing parties on the political spectrum. PowerPoint. BC & Canadian political parties. Read Counterpoints pp. 249-258. Do #1-5, p. 253, #4, p. 258 & sidebar #1-3, p. 257. Read sidebar in Counterpoints pp. 256-257. Do #1-3, p. 257. Read Government pp. 88-97. Do #4, p. 97. Research Canadian federal political parties. Essay Assignment: 24 marks (1 x 6 composition & 3 x 6 content) Which political party would you support in the next federal election? Why? Find political party information at Elections Canada's registered political parties page.
  • Thursday, May 28 - Take up homework. Begin Legislative Branch - focus on the House of Commons. Filmstrip & note-taking. Be sure to look at the Parliament of Canada website. Download, read and study from the Guide to the House of Commons. Handout – The Work of MPs (See also On the Job With a Member of Parliament) and questions. Read pp. 226-233 sidebar. Do #1-3 on p. 231 and #1-3 in the sidebar on p. 233.
  • Friday, May 29 - Take up homework. Filmstrip or video & questions or note-taking on Parliament. Complete material from last class. The Senate – Pros and cons of present setup (Be sure to look at the Senate material at Mapleleafweb). Handout – newspaper article. Essay Outline Assignment. Without actually writing the essay, create an outline for an essay on th topic: "What should be done with the Canadian Senate? Should we abolish it? Reform it? or leave it as it is?" 10 marks, due Tuesday (remember, your political party essay is due on Monday).

History 12

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

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.

  • Monday, May 25 - Indroduction - music video A Walk in the Light Green (I Was Only 19). Vietnam War lecture material concluded (base notes). Video (as much as we can see in the time remaining): CNN Cold War episode, Vietnam 1954-1968 (Episode 11). Please watch the remainder if we are unable to see all of this in class. You MUST also watch one other episode from the series to see how the Vietnam war ended - Cold War - Detente (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5) - available on Youtube.
  • Tuesday, May 26 - The USA (domestic) Since 1945 (base notes). Note: look at Britain's SchoolHistory's revision material for this topic. Look at Susan Pojer's PowerPoint on 1950's America. Watch this short video (7 minutes) with images and protest songs (mostly Bob Dylan) about the civil rights movement. Watch the 11 minute video of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech. See other Civil Rights videos at the PBS site - Eyes on the Prize. Link back for other material.
  • Wednesday, May 27 - USA (domestic) Since 1945 - continued.
  • Thursday, May 28 - So much for pre-planning. Almost the entire block was lost to the Grad Rehearsal.
  • Friday, May 29 - We got up to President Carter in our USA Domestic material.

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.

The two small packages - on Mannerism & the Reformation, should be submitted together By Wednesday of next week.

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