Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Wednesday, September 25. 2013

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

B Block Social Studies 10 -  Today we'll finish our work on explaining and identifying the six physiographic regions of Canada. After, I'll have you work on questions 1-5 on page 28 of the Horizons text. Finally we'll try to look at a big picture five themes question: How do people affect the natural regions of Canada? I'll have you work on questions 1 & 4 on page 32 of the Horizons text.

Our focus will be on the Alberta Oil Sands and here are some web pages to help:
Government of Alberta: Alberta's Oil Sands
Canadian Geographic Alberta's Oil Sands
Greenpeace Canada Alberta's Oil Sands
Pembina Institute: Oilsands 101
Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers: What are Oilsands?

Explain the positive and negative impacts of oil extraction/production in northern Alberta. Do you think we should increase exploration and extraction of the oil sands? Why or why not?

A Block Law 9/10 - Today we will continue our look at crime scene investigation. We will look at the basic stages of a search, documenting evidence, and examples of what is included in a crime scene investigator's toolkit. Next I'll have you work on your detective skills...I'll give you a crime scenario (the Backpack mystery) and then you'll need to: research the clues; evaluate the evidence; consider means, motive and opportunity; and explain who you think committed the criminal offense.

D Block Law 12 - Today we will venture off to the library to begin work on our introductory unit major assignment that comes from the Toronto District School Board:

Human rights violations are a daily occurrence throughout the world. These violations take place in both the North and the South and affect the civil, economic, political, cultural, social, and equality rights of human beings. These violations are in direct opposition to the universal and inalienable rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Fortunately, organisations around the world work on protecting these rights, partly through education and awareness campaigns

Artists, both visual artists and musicians, often comment on human rights issues through their artwork. Assume the role of the Media Outreach Co-ordinator for a particular human rights organisation (Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, etc.) and research a contemporary case of human rights violations somewhere in the world. Based on your research, create a Human Rights Campaign Poster that educates the greater public about the human rights violations and urges them to take action to end the abuse.

Remember...
  • Human rights are the basic standards human beings need to live life with freedom and dignity. Human rights include fundamental civil and political rights, such as the right to free speech, to freedom of religion, and the right to participate in government. Human rights also include essential economic, social and cultural rights, such as the right to education, to work, and to healthcare.

  • Human rights are the rights that all people have simply because they are human beings. Each of these rights are inalienable; they cannot be denied or taken away from any individual. They are also indivisible; all human rights are equally important and one right cannot be taken away because it is said to be less important than another.

  • Finally, human rights are interdependent, all human rights are connected and you cannot guarantee one right without ensuring that other rights are protected.
So your task is to...

1. Choose a contemporary case of human rights violations, as well as an organisation that is working on ending the abuse.

2. Research your case study using the following websites: Amnesty International (click on campaigns); Human Rights Watch (click on Global Issues); Oneworld (click on In Depth then Human Rights); or the BBC "I Have a Right to..." site and complete the following questions to help with your poster Case Study: What is happening? Where is it taking place? What rights are being violated? Who is having their rights violated? Why are their rights being violated?

3. Create a visually appealing Human Rights Campaign Poster that addresses the human rights violation by incorporating the key information from the questions in point 2 above (in point form) as well as pictures, symbols, and colours. Remember, your poster should seek to draw the attention of the public through the balanced combination of text and visuals in a creative, yet educational manner!

Some examples of Human Rights posters...



C Block Criminology 12 -  To start the class I'd like to talk about your lists from yesterday and find out why violence is entertainment for some. We'll wrap up our discussion with a few notes on the question: Where does violence come from? We'll look at personal traits, ineffective families, evolutionary factors, exposure to violence, cultural values, substance abuse, and firearm availability.


After that we'll watch some Warner Brothers cartoons with all the glorious violence in them and we'll have a discussion about the acceptance of violence in our modern culture. While we watch the cartoons I want you to think about the implicit and implied messages that each cartoon sends to kids (rather than the explicit and obvious messages) and then we'll talk about what those messages do even if kids understand the difference between cartoon and real violence. We'll look at: Bully for Bugs; Rabbit Seasoning; For Scentimental Reasons; Duck Dodgers in the 24 1/2th Century and lastly The Ducksters.

So now compare the violence in the Warner Brothers cartoons (from the 50's and 60's) with that of the Happy Tree Friends. Check out the following video: Happy Tree Friends A to Zoo . Let's be frank here, the cartoon is not meant for children but because of the "cute" characters what would it be like if we just let young children watch that cartoon unsupervised? Consider the following:
Media Violence: Psychology
Cartoon Violence Project
Gender and Comm. Kids Cartoon Violence

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