Wednesday, April 29. 2015

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

B Block Social Studies 11 - Today we'll continue with the military strategic movements in Europe and the Pacific at the beginning of World War Two. You'll look at the Fall of France, the Battle of Britain (Operation Sea Lion & the Blitz), along with Barbarossa in Europe; while in the Pacific you'll look at Pearl Harbor and Hong Kong. For this you need to:

1. List out the events in chronological order
2. Identify what happened during these military conflicts and
3. Explain Canada’s role (if any)

After you'll watch “The Razor’s Edge” as well as “Dieppe” from Canada: A People’s History. When you’re done, you can work on questions 1, 2, and 3 on page 110 of the Counterpoints text.

D Block Crime, Media and Society 12 - Over the next two weeks we'll look at Mass Media Theories and Media Literacy. Today we'll look at the elements of Media Literacy...one key element of media literacy is that:

1. Media are constructions - Media products are created by individuals who make conscious and unconscious choices about what to include, what to leave out and how to present what is included. These decisions are based on the creators’ own point of view, which will have been shaped by their opinions, assumptions and biases – as well as media they have been exposed to. As a result of this, media products are never entirely accurate reflections of the real world – even the most objective documentary filmmaker has to decide what footage to use and what to cut, as well as where to put the camera – but we instinctively view many media products as direct representations of what is real...

So today we will present our media analysis of the advertisements that you and your partner were assigned yesterday in class. Remember I asked you to practice the skills of critical analysis of the message and the medium. After your presentations we'll go through your first handout for the course on media literacy and critical thinking

C Block Geography 12 - Today we will look at deserts and desert environments. We'll see what Tim & Moby have to say about deserts and we'll analyze the different types of deserts. I'll show you the Namib desert and the Skeleton Coast and then you'll define alluvial fan, playa, yardang, and sand dune. You'll have a question on desertification and there are some good websites to help here:

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
USGS Desertification page
Green Facts Scientific page on Desertification


Great Sand Dune National Park Colorado, U.S.A.

Do you know what used to be under the Saharan desert sands? Nope not candy. Check out the image and article on Visible Earth about ancient riverbeds below the Saharan sands and also Check out the article here about "lost" cities found underneath the Libyan desert.