Monday, October 20, 2014

Tuesday, October 21. 2014

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

C & A Blocks Social Studies 10 - Today I'll have you start with your definitions from yesterday: Family Compact, United Empire Loyalist, Clergy Reserves, Assembly, and Governor. Next, 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 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). .

D Block Criminology 12 - Today we start with our second quiz in the course...RELAX I'm sure you'll do fine. There is a bonus question for you should you choose to complete it will be on the last page of the quiz for you. After the quiz, we will focus on the roots of violent crime. Where does violence come from (personal traits, ineffective families, evolutionary factors, exposure to violence, cultural values, substance abuse, and firearm availability)?

I would like you brainstorm a list of all the entertainment you can think of that is based in violence. Think of video games (HALO), television programs (CSI), books (30 Days of Night comics), movies (Saw), music (ONYX, Biggie, Megadeath, Anthrax, Slayer), sports (MMA, WWE), and other forms of entertainment. After we talk about it, we'll try to answer the question: Can the roots of violence be traced back to youth? If so should we ban Warner Brothers cartoons? Is Bugs Bunny bad for kids? Comedy and violence are intermingled into a typical or formulaic narrative story.....Wile E. Coyote chases the Road Runner, Elmer Fudd chases Bugs Bunny, Sylvester chases Tweety Bird andthey inflict carnage on each other. The end is always the same....someone wins, someone loses, the loser is humiliated and we laugh at them (good clean wholesome fun). So today and tomorrow 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. Think about the implicit and implied messages that each cartoon sends to kids.

An excellent source of information on violence in media and its link to aggression is the Media Awareness Network. Check out Time Magazine for a good article on seeking the roots of violence here.

B Block Law 12 - Today we're going to look at the types of criminal offenses (summary conviction, indictable, hybrid) and then shift into the elements of a crime (with special attention focused on the Mens Rea - intent, knowledge, and recklessness). Actus Reus and Mens Rea come from Actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea which is Latin for “the act will not make a person guilty unless the mind is also guilty.” To help us understand these concepts we'll look at the R. v. Parks (1992) case and I'll have you and a partner work on the case questions (1-4) together.

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