Thursday, April 9, 2009

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Today's schedule is B-A-Lunch-D-C

B- Social Studies 10 - Today we will take a look at first contact between European and Aboriginal Peoples on the prairies in Canada. Remember the Conquistadors and Aztec civilization? Montezuma, the Aztec leader, believed that Cortez was the return of Quetzalcoatl, the exiled deity who vowed one day to return and claim his kingdom. Aztec mythology tells of a fair-skinned god, Quetzalcoatl, who sailed east to join the sun god, warning that he would return.
"Many came also to gape at the strange men, now so famous, and at their attire, arms and horses, and they said 'These men are gods!'" – Francisco Lopez de Gomara, from The History of the Conquest of Mexico, 1552
Why would Montezuma believe in this? Technology mixed with a sense of foreboding doom that existed in Mexico. Today we will watch an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called "Who Watches the Watchers?" From the official Star Trek website:

A team of Federation anthropologists, working in a camouflaged outpost on Mintaka III, have been observing the Mintakans — a race of Vulcan-like humanoids whose development is at the equivalent of earth's Bronze Age. But when an explosion rips through the post, the expedition's leader, Barron, and his assistant, an elderly woman named Warren, are seriously injured. A third team member, a young man named Palmer, is dazed in the blast and wanders away from the site. Beaming down to assist the Federation officials, the Away Team is spotted by two Mintakans, Liko and his daughter Oji. Stunned by the sight of Warren being beamed up to the U.S.S. Enterprise, Liko accidentally slips and is critically injured in a fall. To save his life, Dr. Crusher beams Liko up to the ship, although it violates the Federation's Prime Directive, which states that members are not to interfere with other cultures. Regaining consciousness in Sickbay, Liko overhears Picard promising Barron that he will find Palmer. Despite the fact that Crusher performs a procedure to remove his short term memory, it doesn't work and Liko returns to the planet describing "the Picard" to other Mintakans as a god, capable of healing wounds and reversing death.

I'd like you to think about what happens in the Star Trek episode and then on Tuesday we'll discuss the connections between what we see today and the relationship that developed between the Aboriginal Peoples and the North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company.

A - Social Studies 11 - Today we'll watch the episodes from Canada: A People's History that we missed yesterday. In essence we'll review the fears of Communism and Socialism in Canada along with the CCF, the Union Nationale, and the Social Credit party. In insecure times fear and hope are two motivators of social change. We will try to examine how both hope and fear were used to achieve political gains in the 1930's. Next we'll talk about federal-provincial relations (equalization payments & the Rowell-Sirois commission) and you will work on questions 2 & 3 on page 90. For the last few minutes of class you'll have the opportunity to ask questions about Fascism, Mussolini, Hitler, and also about Stalin (not Fascist but totalitarian) in preparation for next week's "Totalitarian Dictatorship for Dummies" project.

C - Criminology 12 - Today is your last day of classes. Your major project is due and you will have the opportunity to work on it throughout the class. For those who have completed the assignment we will have the opportunity to watch one last episode of Criminal Minds ("Elephant's Memory" from Season 3). It has been a pleasure working with all of you this term and I hope that you enjoyed learning about crime in Canada.

Pau Hana Ohana and Hau`oli Pakoa!

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