Week of March 5, Grades for Marking Period 1

Hi everyone,

This week we will determine our grades.

• I am using a program called Engrade to calculate your grades. Please go to theEngrade website to register and see your grades. You need your access code to do this, which you can find on the strip of paper I've given you.

• Now please answer the questions below in Google Docs:

1. What did you enjoy about class this marking period? Why? Please refer to specific activities, projects, workshops, etc.
2. What didn't you enjoy and why? Please be specific.
3. Do you feel you have changed in any way as a result of your participation in this class? If yes, how?
4. Were there any activities/projects/topics that I didn't cover that you want us to cover?Which ones?
5. What can I do to make the class better for you (aside from no homework J )? Please be specific.
6. What advice can you give to your classmates to make their experience in this class more meaningful?
7. Where are you doing community service? How many hours have you done so far? What have you learned or gained from volunteering?
8. Fill in the blanks..."From class this marking period, one thing I will take is _______________ and one thing I will give is ________________."

Now, post your answers as a comment to our class blog.

Week of February 26, More on Bayard Rustin

Hi everyone,

This week we are learning about Bayard Rustin through the film "Brother Outsider".

Please read this article before you answer the questions below.

Please consider these questions and answer them in Google Docs:

1. Historians have called Rustin the “invisible man” and the “unknown hero” of the civil rights movement. Do you agree with these descriptions? Why do you think Rustin has been hidden from history? Do you see him as a hero? If so, what makes him heroic to you?

2. How does knowing about Bayard Rustin’s contributions – as well as about the way he was treated – affect your understanding of the civil rights movement? 

3. Did Rustin’s relative openness about being gay make him more of a target than if he had remained closeted? Why?

4. At the very end of the film (at 1:21:21), Rustin says: “Twenty-five, thirty years ago, the barometer of human rights in the United States were black people. That is no longer true. The barometer for judging the character of people in regard to human rights is now those who consider themselves gay, homosexual, lesbian.” Rustin made this statement shortly before his death in 1987; do you think it holds true today? 

5. What group or groups do you see as “the barometer of human rights” today? In what ways are members of the LGBT community still fighting for full equal rights? How do you think history will remember the current struggle for LGBT rights? 


Then post your answers to our class blog as a comment.

Finally, comment on your classmates comments.

Week of February 12, Respect for All

Hi everyone,

In honor of Respect for All week, we are going to screen a film called "A Class Divided" and write about the film.

Please click on this link to watch the film (use the continuous play feature).

When you finish, please answer the questions below in Google Docs. Then post to our class blog.

·       What did you learn?

·       What scene or scenes do you think you'll still remember a month from now and why those scenes?

·       Did any part of the film surprise you? Do you think someone of a different race, ethnicity, or religion would also find it surprising?

·       Both Elliott and her former students talk about whether or not this exercise should be done with all children. What do you think? If the exercise could be harmful to children, as Elliott suggests, what do you think actual discrimination might do?

·       It's easy to understand why third-graders might not refuse to obey their teacher, but when the exercise is done with the prison guards, why don't any of the adults object?

·       How is the blue eyes/brown eyes exercise related to the Sioux prayer, "Help me not judge a person until I have walked in his shoes"?

Week of February 4, No Place for Hate

Hi everyone and welcome to our new semester!

Today we are going to think about the Anti-Defamation League's No Place for Hate Campaign.

1. Please visit the ADL's No Place for Hate Website.
2. At the bottom of that page is a link to a resource guide for the campaign. Please click on that link or click here.
3. Read through the guide and the suggested activities. Think about our class and what you think would be realistic and appropriate for our class to do this semester.
4. In Google Docs, please answer the questions below:

• What does No Place for Hate mean to you? 
• In what ways are you helping our school be a No Place for Hate school?
• What activities did you see in the resource guide that you think we should do as a class?

Now post your answers to our class blog.

Then read your classmates responses and write back to them, telling them:

1. What do you think about their answer to what No Place for Hate means to them?
2. What do you think about their ideas for our class?