Friday, June 5. 2015

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

D Block Crime, Media and Society 12 - Today we'll watch the fictionalized version of the Russell Williams case from Law & Order: Los Angeles "Silver Lake". This episode aired on April 16, 2011...that's 6 months after Russell Williams plead guilty. To film a television show (like a 1 hour drama police procedural) takes anywhere between six to eight days. A day normally begins at 6am and runs 11 to 13 hour long. It takes between 60 and 96 hours to produce 44 minutes of program content (for a 60 minute television show). That's just filming - don't forget scriptwriting, set construction and post production work too so NBC "ripped from the headlines" the Russell Williams story literally as it was happening. If you think that's fast consider that NBC's Dateline aired "Conduct Unbecoming" on Friday, February 18, 2011 (4 months after his guilty plea) and CBS aired the 48 Hours episode "Name, Rank, Serial Killer?", the one that we watched this week, on April 9th, 2011.

So we'll watch the episode and then I have two questions for you to answer:

1. Do you think the news coverage of Col. Russell Williams' sentencing was too sensational? Do you think the court was right to release so much information and that the Canadian press were right to publish it all, or do you think that there is such a thing as too much information, and that there are some details we really don’t need to know? (Read the CBC article here or the CBC Radio program Cross Country Checkup here to help).
2. How did the Canadian and American coverage of the Russell Williams case differ? Use the 48 Hours episode "Name, Rank & Serial Killer?" as well as the Fifth Estate episode "Above Suspicion" as your sources of information.
3. Why did the Rob Ford story garner so much attention in Canada and the United States? Was too much information revealed about Rob Ford's problems? Given the different socio-economic backgrounds of Williams and Ford and the different crimes they committed was the Ford case more media worthy than Williams? Why?

C Block Geography 12 - Today we will continue looking at biomes and biogeographic realms. Biomes are the major regional groupings of plants and animals discernible at a global scale. The distribution of these biomes is connected to climate, soil, and the physical topography of the earth. Biogeography is the study of the distribution and patterns of plants and animals throughout the biosphere.

Using chapter 20 of your Geosystems textbook, I would like you to describe the adaptations and structure for flora and fauna (plant and animal) in each of the following terrestrial biomes (land based not aquatic): Equatorial & Tropical Rain forest (ETR); Tropical Seasonal Forest and Scrub (TrSF); Tropical Savanna (TrS); Mid latitude Broad leaf & Mixed Forest (MBME); Needle leaf & Montane Forest (NF/MF); Temperate Rain forest (TeR); Mediterranean Shrub land (MSh); Mid latitude Grasslands (MGr); Deserts (DBW & DBC); and Arctic & Alpine Tundra (AAT). At the end of this there are questions 8, 12, 13, & 15 from page 693 to complete as well.

If you're finished you can get ahead; I'll give you a Week 16 package. Don't forget you have a poster due today.

B Block Social Studies 11 - Today we're back in the library lab to finish work on a population activity connected to the Population Reference Bureau's 2014 World Population Data Sheet. Please make sure you submit it to me digitally and get your China One Child questions in as well.