Thursday, March 7, 2013

Friday, March 8. 2013

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

C Block Social Studies 10 - Today we'll start with our work on questions 2, 4, and 5 from page 64 of the Horizons text. After this we'll look at the Colonial government structure (Governor appointed members of the Executive and Legislative Councils that routinely ignored the wishes of the elected Assembly). Yesterday we looked at the Underground Railroad and I talked with you a bit about the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum at the Burkle Estate that I visited in Memphis Tennessee.The map to the left will help you visualize the routes to Canada and the links on yesterday's blogsite will help too. Monday sees us look at the characters involved in the Upper Canada Rebellion.

A Block Law 9/10
-
Today we will continue our look at crime scene investigation as you'll get a photocopied handout of your "Clue Us In" crime scene reconstruction/investigation assignment that you'll have time to work on in the library next week. I will show you an episode of "I Detective" (Identity Unknown). On the video, you'll be presented with a crime scene and at a point will be posed with a multiple choice question to answer. I'll pause the episode and you will be required to choose an answer (they'll give you three options). We'll see how good of a crime scene detective you really are. From FOXCrime:


Armchair detectives and forensic science junkies get the opportunity to solve real cases. I, Detective is a television series that combines the elements of documentary, murder mystery and quiz shows. Each half-hour show gives viewers the opportunity to follow clues, find evidence and learn how this information is used to solve some of the most intriguing investigations using the same evidence, suspects, motives and witness statements that actual investigators encounter in their quest to solve the crime.

B Block Social Studies 11 -  VOTING DAY. Today the culmination of your hard campaign work takes place. Mr. Stevens class will receive their ballots and voting will take place in their riding (room 803). I will tabulate the votes and then publish the results to you in class today. You will have time in today's class to finish your Charter questions from Wednesday and then you should review...yep that means you've got a test next week...Monday to be exact. You have all that you need to succeed but I'll review the unit with you today.

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Thursday, March 7. 2013

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

C Block Social Studies 10 - Today we'll look at the ethnic "diversity" of Canada in the 1800's. I'll have you use the information from page 59, Figure 2-18, to construct a pie graph showing the percentage of the 1871 population who were: French, Irish, English, Scottish, or Other. We'll look at the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman and Mary Ann Shadd. Lastly you'll need to work on questions 2, 4, and 5 from page 64 of the Horizons text. For more on the Underground Railroad see:
The Underground Railroad (Scholastic)
The Underground Railroad (National Geographic)
Tracks to Freedom: Canada & The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad: Freedom Trail
PBS Africans in America: The Underground Railroad
Mary Ann Shadd Biography
Black History Canada: The Underground Railroad

B Block Social Studies 11 - CAMPAIGN ALERT...Today is speech day. You will have no more than 3-4 minutes to present your ideas to a group of voters (who will actually vote tomorrow in their polling station - A.K.A. - their class). Be aware that they may ask questions and expect answers from you in this heated and highly anticipated last minute push for the election finish line. In no particular order we will hear from: the Nationalism Party; the Tree Party; the Political Awareness of Rights to Youth (PARTY) Party; the Surprise Party; the People's Rights Party (PRPO); the Tomorrow Party; the Alacrity Party; and the Tea Party. Once the speeches are over I'll need you to hand in your campaign materials (your party platform) so that I can have a copy to review. Tomorrow we'll talk about group evaluations and the voting and tabulation stages will determine a winner (don't forget prizes will mystically appear on Monday for winners). In the time that remains you may finish working on the Abrams v. Doug Collins & North Shore Free Press Ltd. (1996) B.C. human rights tribunal case (q 1-3). You may also work on your pressure group/lobbyist, media and civil disobedience questions (as only 9 of you have this complete and handed in).

A Block Law 9/10 - Today we will continue our look at criminal forensics by looking at how investigators estimate time of death, how fingerprints are "lifted" at a crime scene (including what AFIS is), what the "Four T's" are for marks at a scene, how fibres are used, and what ballistics is. After this, you may continue your work on the crime scene investigation project (Clue Us In). You'll have three blocks of time in the library next week to finish up this crime scene reconstruction activity and the assignment is due next Friday, March 22nd, 2013. For more on Forensic Science, check out SFU's "So you want to be a Forensic Scientist" webpage or check out the "All you ever wanted to know about Forensic Science in Canada but didn't know who to ask" booklet compiled by Dr. Gail Anderson and posted by the Canadian Society of Forensic Science

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Wednesday, March 6. 2013

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

B Block Social Studies 11 - Today we'll start with the Charter. I'll go over your fundamental freedoms (section 2), your legal rights (sections 7-14) and your equality rights (section 15). After I'll have you work on questions 1-3 on page 303 dealing with the Abrams v. Doug Collins & North Shore Free Press Ltd. (1996) B.C. human rights tribunal case (you don't have to write a letter just state your opinion and back it up with sound charter and legal reasoning). Just a reminder that there will be speeches tomorrow. You'll need to explain your party platform and try to convince some savvy voters as to why they should choose your party to run room 611. I do like the campaign visuals around our riding (room 611) and the social media platforms you've created for your parties...Good Luck.

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. After this, you may continue your work on the crime scene investigation project (Clue Us In). You'll have three blocks of time in the library next week to finish up this crime scene reconstruction activity and the assignment is due next Friday, March 22nd, 2013. I posted the details of this assignment on this blogsite so check out yesterday's entry for help.

C Block Social Studies 10 - Yesterday to I asked you to define the following: Family Compact, United Empire Loyalist, Clergy Reserves, Assembly, and Governor and then to work on the two questions on the "Get to the Source: The Family Compact" section on page 53 of Horizons. You'll have a bit of time to finish that work up and then we are going to work on the four causes of discontent in Upper Canada that led to the Rebellion of 1837. We'll look at the colonial government structure (Governor appointed members of the Executive and Legislative Councils that routinely ignored the wishes of the elected Assembly) and the ruling colonial elite (Anglican Church, the wealthy United Empire Loyalists and the business people, bankers, lawyers and military leaders that formed the Family Compact). We'll also look at the problem of land distribution (only 10% of all land in the colony was being farmed while the remaining land was being held on the possibility of accruing wealth for the Family Compact and the Anglican Church) and Transport (canals like the Welland Canal and not roads).

Monday, March 4, 2013

Tuesday, March 5. 2013

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

C Block Social Studies 10 - Today I will ask you to brainstorm two questions...What is a rebellion and Why do rebellions happen? After a brief yet I'm quite certain brilliant discussion I'd like you to define the following: Family Compact, United Empire Loyalist, Clergy Reserves, Assembly, and Governor. I'll have you work on the two questions on the "Get to the Source: The Family Compact" section on page 53 of Horizons and we'll finish by looking at Clergy and Crown Reserves in Upper Canada.

A Block Law 9/10 - Today we are going to continue your look at crime scene investigation procedures and we will begin our work on our case study project.

You will need to imagine that you are a constable in the Comox Valley R.C.M.P. detachment specializing in criminalistics and crime scene analysis. You are going to create a crime scene dossier file that you would normally put together for the Crown Counsel. You have been called out to a crime scene here in the Comox Valley and when you arrive at the scene you need to begin your narrative report. What do you need to do?

•Create a crime (ex: murder, arson, kidnapping, assault)
•Choose eight pieces of evidence (from the list below) that you would find at the crime scene and either help you solve the crime or mislead the investigators
•Create a victim, a perpetrator, two other potential subjects, & witnesses (not necessary)
•Create a dossier file that contains the following: a walk through narrative; pictures of the eight pieces of evidence (with a description, a tag number, and an explanation of where it was found); a detailed crime scene diagram/sketch with pictures of what the crime scene looked like and the identification of evidence; forensics lab sheets for each piece of evidence that describes the evidence and explains what the evidence tells you; transcripts of any interviews conducted by investigators (including potential eyewitnesses or suspects); a narrative of how you "solved" the crime so that the Crown Counsel can move forward with laying charges and proceed to trial.

Evidence to choose from: human hair, synthetic hair, carpet fibres, cotton fibres, bullet cartridges, bullet holes, finger prints, foot/shoe prints, blood stains (drip, splatter, pool), bodily fluids, skin epithelials, tube of lipstick, can of coke, apple core, piece of rope, body, accellerants, matches, money (wallet), poisons, bugs or larvae (blowflies), cigar or cigarette but, mug, tire treads, or any other trace evidence but you must approve the other evidence with me.

I will have examples for you to look at and we will also work on this next week in class.

B Block Social Studies 11 - Hey remember that election campaign assignment you were working on? Perhaps you don't remember because there are no campaign posters/flyers/social media campaign notices or anything resembling campaigns around the polling station also known as room 611! Sheesh maybe you're so complacent that you think you'll win without any effort - of course historically political parties that have acted in this manner have been severely punished at the polls...as Edmund Burke is often quoted "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it". So you have speeches in class on Thursday, but you might want to encourage people to vote for you with your glitzy and glamorous visual ad campaign - just sayin (Progressive Conservative members in the 1992 House of Commons = 156 Progressive Conservative members in the 1993 House of Commons = 2...that's a loss of 154 members; now think of members of the House of Commons as your marks...get the hint yet?)

Today we'll continue looking at other ways of influencing government. Yesterday we reviewed lobbyists and pressure groups in Canada and today I'll have you focus on civil disobedience and the mass media. I have two questions that I'd like you to answer today:
  1. What is the role of the media in the political process (think news, reporting, campaigns, and advertising)?
  2. What is civil disobedience? What are the three "guidelines" for practicing civil disobedience? Should the Sierra Club of Canada allow acts of civil disobedience to be done in their name in order to block the development of either the Keystone XL or Northern Gateway pipelines? Would you? How? Why or Why not?
The types of Mass Media include: Print media encompasses mass communication through printed material. It includes newspapers, magazines, booklets and brochures, house magazines, periodicals or newsletters, direct mailers, handbills or flyers, billboards, press releases, and books. Electronic media is the kind of media which requires the user to utilize an electric connection to access it. It is also known as 'Broadcast Media'. It includes television, radio, and new-age media like Internet, computers, telephones, etc. With the advent of Internet, we are now enjoying the benefits of high technology mass media, which is not only faster than the old school mass media, but also has a widespread range. Mobile phones, computers, and Internet are often referred to as the New-Age media. Internet has opened up several new opportunities for mass communication which include e-mail, websites, podcasts, e-forums, e-books, blogging, Internet TV, and many others which are booming today. Internet has also started social networking sites which have redefined mass communication all together.

American abolitionist/author/philosopher Henry David Thoreau lectured on "The Rights and Duties of the Individual in relation to Government" from which came the idea of civil disobedience. His belief was that as a citizen you do have an obligation not to commit injustice and not to give injustice your practical support. According to Thoreau, this means that if a law is unjust, and the legislative process is not designed to quickly get rid of it, then the law deserves no respect and it should be broken hence being civilly disobedient. So for us a modern day example may be the Keystone XL Pipeline project or the Embridge Northern Gateway Pipeline project. The Canadian chapter of the Sierra Club recently put an online poll on their website, to which about 1900 supporters responded. About nine in 10 felt “the climate crisis is so urgent that traditional legal campaigns are no longer sufficient.” They have chosen, however, not to practise civil disobedience. Should they?

Protestor's Guide to the Laws on Civil Disobedience
Civil Disobedience, Environmental Protest and the Rule of Law

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Monday, March 4. 2013

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

A Block Law 9/10 - Today we will begin our look at crime scene investigation. We will look at the basic stages of a search, documenting evidence, and we'll see examples of what is included in a crime scene investigator's toolkit. The following are some great web pages to help understand the procedures:
Learning for Life Crime Scene Search study guide
U.S. Department of Justice Crime Scene Investigation guide

Criminal Profiling Crime Scene searches (FBI guidelines)

If you are interested in crime scene investigation as a career check out the BCIT courses (in Burnaby!) here


B Block Social Studies 11 - Last week we looked at the five major political parties, their platforms and tried to select a party that most represents your beliefs. today you'll take a look at other ways of influencing government such as civil disobedience, mass media, pressure groups and lobbyists (if you're good we may watch the first bit of the movie "Thank You for Smoking". You'll have to answer the following question:

  1. What is a pressure group? What is a lobbyist? How do they influence government?
For more information on lobbyists:
Washington Post article on Lobbyists in Washington, D.C.
Great website on lobbyist industry in Washington (Center for Responsive Politics)
Canadian lobby website "Hillwatch"
Canadian Lobbying Act
Campaigning can begin today for Friday's election...re read the rules and good luck

C Block Social Studies 10 - Today we are going to review 4000 years of "human history" in 25 minutes...strap on your seat belts family! We are doing this to get us up to speed on the early 19th Century in Canada.

From grade 9 I hope you remember the "Seven Years War" (also known as the "French and Indian War" in the U.S.A. and "La Guerre de la ConquĂȘte" in Quebec). I hope you remember the impact of the Treaty of Paris in 1763 on "British North America", the effects of the Quebec Act of 1774, and the American War of Independence. I hope you remember the United Empire Loyalists and the creation of Upper Canada in 1791. Lastly I hope you remember Tecumseh, Brock, Secord and the War of 1812.

In case you forgot, here are some websites to help refresh your memory:
Seven Years War website
War of 1812 website
PBS War of 1812
Canadian Atlas OnLine War of 1812
War of 1812 (Can Geo/Historica/Parks Canada)
United Empire Loyalists Association of Canada