Monday, June 10. 2013

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

B Block Social Studies 11 - Today we'll finish our look at the issues surrounding Quebec-Canada relations starting with the rise of the Parti-Quebecois who came to power in 1976 and in 1980 held a referendum in the province of Quebec to determine if there was a desire to pull the province out of confederation (really it was a convoluted form of independence where the province would still maintain Canadian currency but be able to make its own laws). To help understand this we'll watch Canada: A People’s History “In an Uncertain World” chapter 3 “The Choice”. In the end the province voted 59% "non" and 40% "oui". Since it was somewhat close, the government of Canada reopened constitutional talks and "repatriated" the constitution from Great Britain. In this, however, Quebec once again felt "betrayed" or left out. The government of Canada tried Constitutional Reform in 1988 & 1992 (both of which failed) and in 1995 the Parti-Quebecois held a referendum on separation that was narrowly defeated  (50.58% "No" to 49.42% "Yes). This will get us to the end of our history unit and tomorrow we'll begin our look at human social geography - starting with demography.

C Block Social Studies 10 - Today we are in the library to begin working on our final 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,  Prezi, 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.

D Block Criminology 12 - Today you'll be in the library to do two things: 1. finish any missing blog entries that you have yet to complete for assessment; and 2. begin work on your seminar assignment for later this week. A Reminder that the blog topics are:
Blog # 6 The Good Burglar
Blog # 5 Sexual Assault & Hypermasculinity
Blog # 4 Serial and Mass Murder (Olson and Lepine)
Blog # 3 Personal Theory of Crime Causation
Blog # 2 Short & Long term Impacts of Crime Victims
Blog # 1 Crime Trends and Rates

If you're finished all of your blog entries then you can begin to research your seminar topic. Instead of an essay or a survey of criminological theory worksheet I thought I'd give you the opportunity to spend some time looking at something that really interests you in Criminology. So basically I'd like to have a seminar next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday where you have between five to ten minutes to present information on a criminology topic to the class. You can look at a specific crime, a specific criminal, a specific criminological theory, a criminal justice & enforcement technique that reduces crime, or any other criminological topic but it really should be of interest to you. So if you're really interested in gangs you can choose that (what they do, how they do it, where they operate). If you're really interested in a specific gang you can choose that (the Hells Angels or the Bandidos). If you're really interested in how police infiltrate gangs you can choose that. What should this look like? You'll have five to eight minutes and you can use either your blog or powerpoint or some web based resource for graphic information. Tell the class what you found out about your topic and why it interests you.