Wednesday, May 27. 2015

Today is a PLC day so the schedule is shortened. Today's schedule is B-A-D-C and the Bell Schedule for PLC Day on Wednesday looks like this:

B Block 8:58 9:57
A Block 10:02 10:59
Lunch 10:59 11:42
D Block 11:47 12:44
C Block 12:49 1:45
PLC 1:45 3:15

B Block Social Studies 11 -   Today we'll watch the Canada: A People's History episodes: “A Question of Equality” and "The End of Illusions"(which deal with the women's movement in Canada and western alienation). I'll have you finish the Challenging the Status Quo grid (use pages 177 to 181 and pages 208 to 210 of the Counterpoints textbook) that I gave you on yesterday and then we'll look at Medicare, social welfare programs, and regionalism/disparity/western alienation). Lastly I'll have you work on questions 2 a&b from page 176 (Medicare) and 4 a&b from page 187 (regionalism and Trudeau's NEP).

D Block Crime, Media and Society 12 - Today we continue the Casey Anthony trial coverage from 2011 in the USA. Yesterday we watched "the State vs Casey Anthony" and today I'll ask you to answer the following:

1. What are your immediate reactions to the Dateline video we just watched and why do you think that the Cindy Anthony (grandmother) Casey Anthony (mother), and Caylee Anthony (murdered daughter) debacle generated so much media coverage in the USA?

After this we'll talk about the German psychology/sociology term Schadenfreude. This term deals with a big concept - that as humans, we have a private rush of glee when someone else struggles (we take delight in another person's pain and misfortune). Schadenfreude registers in the brain as a pleasurable experience, a satisfaction comparable to that of eating a good meal.Schadenfreude is a common and normal part of life but can become dangerous if we lose empathy, fall into demonizing others, or lapse into “us vs. them” thinking. There is a human fascination with murder as entertainment and news media companies have turned the story of the death of a toddler into a primetime circus...a story that we can safely watch and perhaps feel a little guilty pleasure in the fact that we're better than Casey Anthony. Her pain and suffering on television brings us delight and makes us feel good in that we are not the monster that the media has portrayed her out to be...sigh.

HLN's Nancy Grace covered the Casey Anthony trial heavily in 2011. Here's an example of the daily coverage she and HLN broadcast



And after the verdict here's what she had to say - which further shaped the public's opinion of Casey Anthony even after she was found not guilty by a jury of her peers


Now, here's what the media had to say about the media covering the Casey Anthony trial


Whew...so in the end here's my two questions for you to answer:

1. Who would you want deciding your guilt or innocence? A jury of your peers or CNN and Nancy Grace? Regardless of your opinion of Casey Anthony is it possible for her to escape the negative label of "Tot Mom" and will she ever be able to avoid the horrible mother image presented by CNN and Nancy Grace?
2. How does the concept of Schadenfreude apply to the Casey Anthony trial? How would low self-esteem make someone more likely to seek out schadenfreude-filled crime media?

C Block Geography 12 - Today we'll set aside the topic of climate to finish our look at hurricanes.While you are working on the questions (including the plot of Hurricane Diana) I'll show you some footage of Hurricane Ike and the damage done to Galveston Island (on the Raging Planet Hurricane episode)


Raging Planet: Hurricane (2009) - Part 1 by bigcenterprises