Tuesday, January 15. 2013

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

C Block Crime, Media & Society 12 - Today we will look at violence and how it is portrayed in the media. We'll look at the Media Smarts website to look at media violence as well as examine the effects of media's coverage of violent crime (entertainment and news) on audience members. I'd like you to brainstorm the following in groups:

How is violence used in mass media?

Why is it so common?

Is it as common as you think?

What effects does it have? Is it dangerous? 

Lastly I'd like you to come up with a list of violent media and choose three to explain the short and long term effects (results) of consuming it.

D Block Social Studies 11 - Today we'll continue to work on the questions from yesterday. These questions deal with the cycle of poverty, the burden of debt, structural adjustment policies, and HIPC's (see the World Bank's list of HIPC's here). For an alternative view on the World Bank, the IMF, and HIPC debt see the New Internationalist March 2004 magazine article here.
After this review we'll look at vulnerable people in impoverished countries (women and children), health issues (including the HIV/AIDS epidemic), and foreign aid (CIDA). Don't be apathetic and feel hopeless! Is there something you can do? Check out the possibilities for Canadian youth at CIDA's Youth Zone.

A Block Law 12 - Today I have the library booked for you to continue your work on the major civil law project that is due in just under two weeks. Including today there are seven classes remaining until your final exam and nine classes left until your project is due...no pressure.

B Block Geography 12 - Today we are going to make sense of ecosystem evolution and community succession (thrown in will be the terms establishment and extinction). We'll try to understand how species co-evolve and adapt to create complex communities (self regulation and emergent properties) and then we'll look at Mount St. Helens to understand primary and secondary succession. We'll watch the last portion of the DVD "Fire Mountain: The Eruption and Rebirth of Mount St. Helens" in order to better grasp the rates of recovery for ecosystems around the volcano. The embedded video below from PBS is also a very good (specifically chapters 3 "The Blowdown Zone" and 5 "Bouncing Back") You'll need to complete questions 21 & 22 from page 662 of your Geosystems text along with a question on fire ecology and the effects of modern fire suppression. For more on ecosystem services and conservation see the National Geographic Earth Pulse website.

Watch Mt. St. Helens: Back From the Dead on PBS. See more from NOVA.