Wednesday, February 3. 2016

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

D & B Blocks Social Studies 10 - Today we'll look at some map basics. Remember maps are the language of geography, they are a tool that geographers (and cartographers) use to graphically represent spatial data. Don't forget, like we talked about yesterday, maps lie. From Andrew Wiseman's article "When Maps Lie" A map is also a representation of the world, which in some ways must always be a little inaccurate—most maps, after all, show the roughly spherical world on a flat surface. Certain things are always left off or highlighted while others are altered, as no map can show everything at once. All of those choices and biases, conscious or not, can have important effects on the map itself. We may be looking at something inaccurate, misleading, or incorrect without realizing it.
It is important to be critical map readers. Check out some skills at:
Directions Mag: The Lost Art of Critical Map Reading
Maine Geological Survey: Reading Maps With a Critical Eye
National Geographic: Between the Lines How to Read Maps Like a Pro
Remember this?

The first step to becoming a critical map reader is to always question the intentions of the mapmaker. The main question that you can ask with any map is, ‘Why?’ Why did someone make this? What’s the point? What’s the story and who is telling it?”. Look at the map above...why is south at the top? Who made the map? What message are they trying to get across?

Just as there are rules to Math (BEDMAS) and rules of Grammar (subject-verb agreements) and rules to Science (formal lab report writing rules) there are some basic rules to map making.

A Block Introduction to Law 9/10 - Today you'll get two handouts on Crime Theories. The first handout will be on Economic exclusion and Social exclusion where you'll read a fictional story about "Suzanne" and will need to identify the factors that led her to a life of crime.The second handout will be on different crime theories where you will need to evaluate them (what you like about them and what you disagree with them about)...don't worry we'll go through them together in class today. From this, you'll need to create your own theory of why crime happens. Use the brainstormed list we did in class along with the handouts I give you on crime theories. I'll place more info on the blog tomorrow but for more help check out the Crime Theory Web Site found on this link.

C Block Law 12 - Since we didn't get to it yesterday, we'll jump in to our Introduction to Law unit by taking down a few notes on the five functions of law and the divisions of Public (criminal, constitutional, and administrative) and Private law (tort, family, contract, property, and labour law).