Wednesday, September 7. 2016

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

B & C Blocks Social Studies 11 - Ah symbols; they help identify things like countries. This past year New Zealand had a referendum on a new flag. New Zealand's flag, which was officially adopted in 1902, has the British Union Jack in the top left corner on a royal blue background along with the four stars of the Southern Cross...problem? It's "Britishy" so it kind of ignores New Zealand's indigenous Maori people and it kinda looks like Australia's flag...look

So the government of New Zealand accepted flag proposals and of the 10, 292 submissions that were made, these were the finalists

In the end? New Zealanders voted against changing the flag.

This used to be Canada's flag...

Notice it looks terribly "Britishy" and also notice the crest...what's on it? A national flag is a patriotic symbol that represents a country in a simple graphic format. 2016 was the 51st anniversary of the "new" Canadian flag. So what symbol/flag represents Canada - this gets to the heart off the question "What does it mean to be Canadian"? Of the 2,600 design proposals we got our new flag

Yay, BUT...imagine it's 1964; Groovy, now I'd like you to submit a flag proposal to John Diefenbaker's Special Flag Committee of the House of Commons for a "new" flag of Canada. Consider the following from (of all places) the British Broadcasting Corporation:

Canada is anything but a homogenous Commonwealth state; nearly one million indigenous people rub shoulders with immigrants from around the world, including many from Asia. What does it mean to be Canadian now? What are the traits which help make up modern-day Canada?

This is a question that we'll come back to over and over again in the course and I'll ask you to revisit your answer in June, but for now draw me a flag that describes what it means to be Canadian (the traits that make up modern day Canada) and I'll take it from you tomorrow.  The North American Vexillological Association (Vexillology is the study of flags) has “Five Basic Principles of Flag Design” that you should keep in mind and here are their recommendations:

1. Keep it Simple
2. Use Meaningful Symbolism
3. Use Two to Three Basic Colours
4. No Lettering or Seals
5. Be Distinctive or Be Related

Canada's Flag Debate
11 Rejected Canadian Flag Designs (Mental Floss)
Flags of the World

A Block Geography 12 - Today we'll work on learning to observe as a geographer would where we'll look beyond simple observations and try to see a larger picture with connections to the wider world. We'll practice an analysis of a photo in class and you'll start working on your first assignment for the course which is a geographic analysis of a photo from a Canadian Geographic magazine. You'll need to use the Observing as a Geographer Would questions (in your week 1 package that you'll get today) to help with your analysis along with the acronym “OSAE”

O - Observe. What do you see? What's going on? Work from obvious to complex. Be precise!
S - Speculate. Why is something there or not there? Write open ended Qs and make sense of your observations.
A - Analyse. How come? What is the real reason why it's here or not here? Find answers to your questions.
E - Evaluate. In what ways could this landscape change? Consider social values here. Justify your opinions.​

D Block Criminology 12 - Today, I have two questions that I'd like you to brainstorm:

1. What is the purpose of laws and what is a crime?
2. Why do people commit crime?

After a few minutes I'd like you to partner up and get your ideas on a large sheet of paper. After you collect all of your ideas on large sheets of paper with smelly felts, try to categorize them into crime theory clusters (similar categories). After, you'll present your ideas and then we'll begin our look at the nature vs. nurture debate by focusing on the history of psychological and sociological criminology.