Saturday, September 07, 2013

September 9-13
















Contact me by e-mail at: kbenoy@nvsd44.bc.ca 

This blog provides lesson plans for each week.  Look ahead to see where we are going.  Look back to see what you might have missed. All assignments are provided here.  If anything is underlined, click on it to bring up the document or, in the case of videos, link to an online version of what was scheduled for seeing in class or as enrichment.  
So you just want to see photos of Sutherland activities? Click here to see my Picasa Albums. 

Things that are static -- not requiring regular change -- can be found at my website:http://sites.google.com/site/kbenoy/.  Admittedly, I do not update this site regularly, so there may be dead links.
Supplies needed for all class:

-A binder (I do not mind if it is also used for other classes, but if so you must have subject dividers to keep course work together). You could use duotangs for each unit if you wish. 
-Pens. 
-HB pencils (required for map-work and for any tests with multiple choice sections).
-Coloured pencils for map work.
-A USB drive for storing any computer work on (again, this can be used for other subjects too).
-Small index cards (or paper cut to index card size) for vocabulary flash cards.
-A functioning brain with room for expansion.


Social Studies 8 

We began with a Geography unit. Expect a unit test at the end of this, worth around 75 marks. This will be in roughly 2 weeks. It will be based on map reading and the use of Canadian Oxford World Atlas (7th edition). We will also have a number of quizzes worth from 5-30 marks throughout the unit. You will not always be warned ahead of time about quizzes -- so it is important to keep up.

If you are struggling, be sure to see me outside of class for extra help!

You will need the following material for the Geography unit: a ruler, pens, pencils, and coloured pencils, erasers, whiteout, a portable computer storage device (USB key, with at least 1 GB of space on it -- which you can use in all of your other classes too), and lined paper.

Keep all of your material in order in either a section of a bigger binder, with work from other courses, or a smaller Social Studies binder. The choice is yours. You should also have section dividers to separate units. Keep all work to study from for the final exam at the end of the course. After unit tests, you can take this work out and leave it safe at home if you do not want to keep carrying it around -- just don't lose it.

National Geographic has some nice overview PowerPoints for this unit. See Map Elements and Map Skills.

  • Monday, September 9 - Take up homework (the Atlas worksheet).     Look at Geographical Essentials text, pp. 4-11 - "Map Basics."  The Basic ingredients of all maps - Outlines, Direction, Colour and Symbols  (and a key or legend, Scale. Scale Worksheet. If you have trouble grasping how scale works, get the basics from this BBC elementary school level site on the subject. A really nice advanced summary can be found at this National Resources Canada site.
  • Tuesday, September 10 -Take up Scale homework. Countries game - girls vs boys.  Direction on maps - points on a compass. -- introduction and video clip. Direction and Scale Worksheet. Struggling with figuring out how compass directions work? Use this simple elementary school explanation from the BBC in Britain.  
  • Wednesday, September 11 - Take up Direction and Scale Worksheet homework. Countries game - girls vs boys.  Direction on maps - points on a compass. -- introduction and video clip Introduction to map symbols.  Video clip on map symbols - colour.  Symbols worksheet - complete for homework.  For a really simple (elementary school level) explanation of map symbols, see this National Geographic site.  Rather more advanced, but quite cheesy, is this 1967 US Department of Defense educational video dealing with map symbols.
  • Thursday, September 12 - Take up Symbols worksheet (I may or may not do a homework check, worth 3 marks for completion). Animaniacs countries song. Countries game -- individual lists -- compare your total to the first time we did this.  More symbols review -Symbols 2 worksheet - complete for homework.  Also complete the assignment: Continents and Major Water Bodies map -- due next class, value: 10 marks -- based on completion, accuracy and neatness.  Completely unrelated to learning map symbols, but entertaining is this video clip - McGyver; How to Use a Map.
  • Friday, September 13 - Hand in Continents and Major Water Bodies map.  Take up homework -- Symbols  worksheet.  Naming countries contest - boys vs. girls.  Quiz - Scale and Direction -- note: this was postponed.  Expect such a quiz next week.  Introduction to grids.  Geographical Essentials, pp. 15-19. Activity #9 #1-3. Complete #4 and Activity 10 for homework. Map Assignment - School to Home - due Monday, Value: 10 marks -- based on having all the map basics, accuracy, neatness and usability.
Social Studies 11 

We will begin with the Government unit and start with the old red text to deal with ideologies. You will get the Counterpoints text, which we will use for most of the semester, once we get past ideologies -- which Counterpoints does not deal with well.

Expect your first unit test on Ideologies/Parties/Elections to be around Wednesday, September 17 -- or thereabout - we will nail down the date when we are more sure of when we will finish the work.  I will also try to schedule tests when you can continue writing into break or lunch time if you need to do so. The mark breakdown is most likely to be as follows: 30 multiple choice question (1 mark each); 4 items to label on a diagram (1 mark each); 5 definitions - you write a sentence or two about each term or name (2 marks each); 2 long answer questions from a choice of 4 options (6 marks each). The test should, therefore, be out of about 66 marks. 25 properly done flash cards, if submitted in class at the start of the test, will earn 5 bonus marks on the test.

  • Monday, September 9 - Take up #1-5, p. 11 and #1-6, p. 15.   Continue with the origins of ideologies looking at ideologies as shown on a left/right line and also look at showing them on a quadrant.  Remember, any time you show a complex world in a graphic model, you are simplifying reality.  Here is a handout covering this material for your notes.  If you took the Political Compass quiz, you can now compare your personal ideological position with main viewpoints -- and with each other.   We hoped to show the PowerPoint on ideologies but did not do so because the assembly took more than half of this class.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, September 10 -  PowerPoint –Ideologies Video clip on ideologies - sorry, not available online. Other ways to show political spectrum.  Ideologies Identification homework.  
  • Wednesday, September 11 - Take up homework.  Lecture/discussion - from ideologies to political parties - national parties in Canada. More practice with ideologies. Read Counterpoints pp. 255-258.  Do #3 and 4, p. 258.  For homework you earlier did an online quiz to determine your ideology.  Which political party comes closest to your views? You might try some more tests -- mostly American - to see where you stand.
  • Thursday, September 12 - Take up homework.  Placing parties on the political spectrum.  PowerPoint:  BC & Canadian Political Parties in the Ideologies and Political Parties  PowerPoint.  Read Counterpoints  pp. 249-258.  Do #1-5, p. 253 and sidebar #1-3, p. 257.
  • Friday, September 13 - Take up #1-5, p. 253, #4, p. 258 & sidebar, #1-3, p. 257.  Review of party positions on the political spectrum, what parties currently stand for, and names of party leaders.  Introduction to political party organizations.  As part of your homework, you must go to Elections Canada's pages entitled I Can Vote with information for young voters.  Answer these questions.  Read pp. 109-115 in the Red Government text and answer questions 1-3 &; 5, p. 115.  Optional:  Click here to get a list of all of the political parties, with links to their web-pages.
History 12 

You must be sure to visit The History Guide for excellent background material supporting this course.

I don't think we will have finished all of the necessary material before Thursday, so I will put off the test until Monday (a day that allows you to write into lunch break if you need additional time).  This will also mean that there is no conflict with Clubs day this Thursday.  There will likely be 15 multiple choice questions (1 mark each), 10 definitions -- where I give you the definition and you give me the term or name (1 mark each), 5 definitions -- where I give you the term or name and you provide the definition or why the person is important (2 marks each), and one essay (worth 18 marks - with 6 for composition and 2 x 6 for content). The test will most likely be out of 53 marks.

All Topic #1 work is due by 4:30 p.m. on the day of the test. Essay #1 is due a couple of weeks later.

Click here for the plan for Topic #1.

Click here for Topic #1 work (Essay #1 can be found at the bottom of the back page).

  • Monday, September 9 - Complete the summary part of the Theories of History PowerPoint.  Writing History essays MLA style . 
  • Tuesday, September 10 - We did not finish the essay writing PowerPoint or the MLA Style PowerPoint so will do so today.  After that we will move on to Themes and Topics in History 12.
  • Wednesday, September 11 - Complete Themes and Topics in History 12. If there is time, we will begin  
  • Thursday, September 12 - Imperialism and Social Darwinism PowerPoint (base notes) -- but note that this material will not be on the test next class.
  • Friday, September 13 - Finish Imperialism and Social Darwinism PowerPoint (base notes).  Begin  Europe Before World War I - the Alliance system. Begin looking at the nations of Europe before the War. Base notes See what Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe has to say about Imperialism in Africa in this YouTube video. Interested in Social Darwinism?  Try these videos:  James Burke's Fit To Rule, which explains how a biological concept became a powerful political tool in the hands of extreme nationalists, or this interview with Frans De Waal, who is horrified by Social Darwinist notions held by neo-conservatives in modern America.  The horrific results of 19th century Social Darwinist ideas are described in Scientific Racism; The Eugenics of Social Darwinism. 
Social Studies 11 Honours 

Your Geography textbook is also available online at http://www.design4effect.com/soc11/ . Though we will use some material from the other text, most will be from this e-text. Be aware that this text is now a few years old and many hyperlinks are broken. Rewriting is a massive job that I have not had time to take on and with retirement looming will leave to another generation to take on if they wish.

I have changed my mind about having a quiz at the end of this week -- I would like to lose less class time to testing and will merge chapters 1-3  for testing purposes.  This test will most likely be on Thursday, September 19.  Expect the mark breakdown to be as follows:  65 multiple choice questions and two from a choice of 10 long answer questions - valued at 6 marks each. The total is, therefore, out of 77 marks. 30 properly done flash cards will earn 5 bonus marks.


  • Monday, September 9 - Take up homework: #1-5, p. 11, #1-9 p. 16 and #1-4 pp. 16-17.  Complete the Chapter 1 PowerPoint.  If time, begin watching Al Gore's seminal documentary An Inconvenient Truth and questions (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10) -- or buy it online (no I don't get a cut for advertising it and I really can't suggest checking Pirate Bay or an alternative)Read pp. 18-22. Do #1-4, p. 21.
  • Tuesday, September 10 - Take up homework. Complete An Inconvenient Truth and questionsDiscuss the video -- Why is it sometimes seen as controversial? Read p. 22 and do the "Further Thought questions, #1-2, on p. 22. Optional: For an alternative view, see The Great Global Warming Swindle.  Interestingly every BC school was sent a free copy of this by an organization (hard to determine the parent organization) that felt it needed to combat Climate Change proponents. To make sense of this debate you could look into what respectable academic bodies say. Many countries have academies of science; investigate their views. The United Nations' Secretary General, Ban-Ki Moon recently traveled to the Arctic and he is on record as speaking on the subject during this trip. His view is representative of most of the world's nations on the topic. Also the 2007-2008 United Nations Human Development Report took as its over-arching theme Climate Change. You will find the report's accompanying video interesting (choose your download speed and language).
  • Wednesday, September 11 -  Take up homework. Reminder of the material in the Essay Writing Workshop Part 3. Complete the Essay Outline, the assignment for part 3 of the Essay Writing Workshop; please note that you can always change to another topic if you decide this one isn't really what you want to go with.  We will go over your conclusions from the Al Gore film and then will  watch Climate of Doubt which deals with the Climate Change denial viewpoint.  While watching it, answer the following questions:  1.  What groups in society are most prominent in denying climate change?  2.  What are their reasons for doing so?  
  • Thursday, September 12 - Hand in the assignment from the Essay Writing Workshop homework.  We will briefly talk about essay outlines before going on with Geography course content.  Begin chapter 2 - PowerPointRead pp. 29-31. Do both #1-3 on p. 31.
  • Friday, September 13 - Take up #1-3 (both), p. 31. Video clip: The Seven Billionth.  Continue Ch. 2 PowerPoint - Population & Demographics.  If time we will watch Momentum 2011; Hans Rosling.Read pp. 31-37. Do #1 on p. 37. Go to the US Census Bureau's International Database  (OK - this is a bit of a search.  Click on "International Data Base" on the top left hand side of the page.  On the new page, look on the left side and go into the "Report" drop down menu and select "Population Pyramid Graph."  Now select 2011 in the year menu and the countries you want, one at a time in "Select Country".)  Now and download and print a population pyramid for Nigeria in 2011. Do the same for Japan. Compare the shapes of these population pyramids. Suggest reasons why they are so different from one another.