Monday, June 11. 2012

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

A Block Social Studies 11 - Since I was able to secure the library for you last Friday, we'll take the block to work through the questions I had posted for Friday: question 1 from page 351; questions 1 and 2 a and b from page 357; question 1 from page 360 and question 1 from page 364. In the time remaining you may work on your Infographic poster on the commodity / resource / monoculture crop that you researched on Friday. The goal of this assignment is to understand the connections between the social problems (gender, health, children, etc.) in HIPC's with economic development. I'll have the notebooks available for you in class today and tomorrow.

B Block Law 12 - Today we'll continue looking at the black comedy of The War of the Roses, based on the book by Warren Adler. In the movie, we saw how Barbara and Oliver's relationship stagnated and broke down over time due to a lack of communication and respect. We ended with Oliver's prophetic words..."you will never get that house". We'll finish the movie today and then try to understand how two seemingly intelligent and mature people can devolve into the malaise that ensues.Tomorrow I'll have the notebooks in the class for you to finish your project (three classes remaining with the notebooks).

C Block Geography 12 - Today we'll start by watching the on line video called the Story of Stuff.

Remember this video connects to the topic of human consumption that we began looking at last week and to the case study for the final exam. Speaking of the case study...today we'll begin work on case studies. On the Final Exam you have a case study (essay) that is worth 18 out of 93 marks (this means that one question is worth almost 20% of your final exam mark). There is no way to study for a topic, per say, because the topic changes from year to year. The case study is a skill based question; in essence it asks you to look at the Big Picture which really is what Geography is all about. The case study is divided into three sections:

The first question will always be asking you to describe and explain the physical environment of the subject area (which could be the North Sea, the Arctic, Indonesian rain forests, the Colorado River, Lake Baikal, etc..). In this you will need to look at the data they provide you and provide detailed information about the area in question.

The second question will always be asking you to assess or interpret the human impact on the subject area (which usually includes economic benefits and detractions, environmental and social impacts, etc...). In this you will need to make connections to the larger picture (e.g.: drilling for oil in the arctic has both local and global implications - oil spills, disruption of wildlife, global
warming).

The last question will always be about explaining the difficulties in coming up with solutions to the problems at hand or assessing the management of the area in question usually the competing environmental perspectives - economic gain versus environmental stewardship).

So today we'll work on a case study in partners on Indonesia.

D Block Criminology 12 - Today you'll be in the library to do two things: 1. finish any missing blog entries that you have yet to complete for assessment; and 2. begin work on your seminar assignment for later this week. A Reminder that the blog topics are:
Blog # 7 Can Corporations Commit Murder?
Blog # 6 Auto Theft
Blog # 5 Clifford Olson & Marc Lepine
Blog # 4 Sexual Assault & Hypermasculinity
Blog # 3 Short & Long term Impacts of Crime Victims
Blog # 2 Crime Trends and Rates
Blog # 1 Personal Theory of Crime Causation

If you're finished all of your blog entries then you can begin to research your seminar topic. Instead of an essay or a survey of criminological theory worksheet I thought I'd give you the opportunity to spend some time looking at something that really interests you in Criminology. So basically I'd like to have a seminar next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday where you have between five to ten minutes to present information on a criminology topic to the class. You can look at a specific crime, a specific criminal, a specific criminological theory, a criminal justice & enforcement technique that reduces crime, or any other criminological topic but it really should be of interest to you. So if you're really interested in gangs you can choose that (what they do, how they do it, where they operate). If you're really interested in a specific gang you can choose that (the Hells Angels or the Bandidos). If you're really interested in how police infiltrate gangs you can choose that. What should this look like? You'll have five minutes and you can use either your blog or powerpoint or some web based resource for graphic information. Tell the class what you found out about your topic and why it interests you.