Friday, January 10. 2014

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

A Block Criminology 12 - Today you'll start with some time to finish up your shoplifting poster and then we'll focus our efforts on auto theft. We'll examine the five types of motor vehicle theft and identify how you can protect your vehicle from being stolen (target hardening strategies). Lastly, we'll watch an episode of Leverage (the Boost Job) from Season 3. I'd like you to pay attention to is the skill set that each member of the leverage team has: Nathan "Nate" Ford "The Mastermind"; Sophie Devereaux "The Grifter"; Alec Hardison "The Hacker"; Eliot Spencer "The Hitter"; and Parker "The Thief". I'd also like you to think of the types of crime in the show and how each one was perpetrated (auto theft, embezzlement, fraud, and theft). In the episode Nate (the master mind of the group) briefs the team and explains that the owner of Penzer's Auto, Duke Penzer, is an ex-racer and he "clones" stolen cars by registering them in other states. Parker (the thief) knows all about how car theft works and explains how Penzer runs his scam...The episode deals with auto theft, fraud, and good burglars and you'll need to use portions of the episode in your blog entry next Monday.

B Block Social Studies 10 - You have the first half of the class today to finish yesterday's work: questions 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 from page 257 of the textbook. For the rest of the class I'll introduce you to the final major assignment for the year - our family history assignment. Your task is to research your family history, which includes learning how to conduct academic research, making critical evaluations regarding sources, and managing information. You’ll have plenty of freedom about what type of project to produce but the end product could take the format of a traditional poster with a pedigree format, an alternate diagram with stories and artifacts, a digital production (video, Powerpoint, etc.), a representative art project (family quilt?), a history / heritage fair type project with a presentation board, or an oral report with supporting visuals. What should you research?

1. Start with you. Collect documents, facts, vital statistics, and stories about you. This can be done by checking your birth certificate, tracking down old report cards, or interviewing family members.
2. Then move one generation up to include your parents, step-parents, adoptive parents, etc. Collect information and stories from them. Gather the basics of birth, full name, places born / lived, dates of graduation, marriage, divorce, remarriage, etc. Set time aside to interview them or tell stories over dinner.
3. Has anyone in your family already started researching your family tree? Might you borrow some of their documents and research? Sure…but you also need to help by finding new and different things for them.
4. Some work can be done through interviews, but you also need to use proper historical research techniques and track down primary documents.
5. Most people in Canada can find a few generations worth of information quite easily. Keep going backwards, following whatever leads you have to collect as much info as you possibly can. Consider yourself as History’s detective…solve the puzzle.
6. Focus on the context of history- did your ancestor fight in the war of 1812? What was life like for farmers during early settlement of the west? Why do you have American relatives? Use the primary documents and stories you find to uncover what daily life might have been like.

I'll give you a handout in class that outlines most of this, but you're trying to research your family history in order to find out how you fit into the history we looked at this year in Social Studies 10.

C Block Crime, Media and Society 12 - Today I'll have you finish your look at Russel Williams.


From yesterday I have two questions for you to answer:

1. Do you think the news coverage of Col. Russell Williams' sentencing was too sensational? Do you think the court was right to release so much information and that the Canadian press were right to publish it all, or do you think that there is such a thing as too much information, and that there are some details we really don’t need to know? (Read the CBC article here or the CBC Radio program Cross Country Checkup here to help).
2. How did the Canadian and American coverage of the Russell Williams case differ? Use the 48 Hours episode "Name, Rank & Serial Killer?" as well as the Fifth Estate episode "Above Suspicion" as your sources of information.

D Block Law 12 - I want to remind you that after today there are only 13 classes left until the final exam and 15 classes left before the project is due. Today we'll look at the "Essential" requirements for marriage (age, not currently married, affinity/consanguinity, mental capacity, willingness) and the "Formal" requirements for marriage (age, license, ceremony). We'll then talk about annulment, separation (living separate and apart) and separation agreements. Monday we'll deal with divorce, property division and support obligations. We'll look at: the equal division rule and the matrimonial home; spousal support and self sufficiency; and the types of child guardianship, access, and child support.