Tuesday, November 21. 2017

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

C Block Human Geography 11 - Today we'll examine the key issue: Why Do Ethnicities Have Distinct Distribution? We'll start with a quick review of the triangular slave trade and the concentrated population of African Americans in the American southeast (you know due to slavery). Then we'll look at the inter-regional migration from the rural U.S. South to northern and western urban areas in the mid to late 20th Century. Connected to this will be "Jim Crow" laws, "white flight", and civil rights. Lastly we'll look at Apartheid in South Africa and you'll have some questions to work on for me.




D Block Criminology 12 - First we'll start with a quick discussion about yesterday's blog questions on Scooby Doo. As you know, Scooby Doo is a long-running animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions (and now Cartoon Network Studios) from 1969 to 1991 and 2002 to present highlighting the hi jinx of Scooby-Doo and four teenagers: Fred "Freddie" Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers. These five drive around the world in a van called the "Mystery Machine," and solve mysteries typically involving tales of ghosts and other supernatural forces. At the end of each episode, the supernatural forces turn out to have a rational explanation (usually a criminal of some sort attempting to scare people away so that he/she could commit crimes). So after watching a couple of episodes yesterday I asked you:

1. What assumptions or beliefs do Scooby Doo’s creators have that are reflected in the content?
2. How does this make you feel, based on how similar or different you are from the people portrayed in the media product?
3. How does the commercial purpose (it's made for a profit right?) of Scooby Doo cartoons influence the content and how it's communicated?
4. Who and what is shown in a positive light? In a negative light? Why might these people and things be shown this way?
5. Who and what is not shown at all? What conclusions might audiences draw based on these facts?
6.  "How does Scooby Doo explain crime and gender roles to young people"?

After, we'll start our unit on media literacy. Not only are media constructions (made by humans) but that the receiving audience interprets the meaning of the message themselves.


  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.

2. Audiences negotiate meaning - The meaning of any media product is not created solely by its producers but is, instead, a collaboration between them and the audience – which means that different audiences can take away different meanings from the same product. Media literacy encourages us to understand how individual factors, such as age, gender, race and social status affect our interpretations of media.

 3. Media have commercial implications - Most media production is a business and must, therefore, make a profit. In addition, media industries belong to a powerful network of corporations that exert influence on content and distribution. Questions of ownership and control are central – a relatively small number of individuals control what we watch, read and hear in the media. Even in cases where media content is not made for profit – such as YouTube videos and Facebook posts -- the ways in which content is distributed are nearly always run with profit in mind.

4. Media have social and political implications - Media convey ideological messages about values, power and authority. In media literacy, what or who is absent may be more important than what or who is included. These messages may be the result of conscious decisions, but more often they are the result of unconscious biases and unquestioned assumptions – and they can have a significant influence on what we think and believe. As a result, media have great influence on politics and on forming social change. TV news coverage and advertising can greatly influence the election of a national leader on the basis of image; representations of world issues, both in journalism and fiction, can affect how much attention they receive; and society's views towards different groups can be directly influenced by how – and how often – they appear in media

5. Each medium has a unique aesthetic form - The content of media depends in part on the nature of the medium. This includes the technical, commercial and storytelling demands of each medium: for instance, the interactive nature of video games leads to different forms of storytelling – and different demands on media creators – that are found in film and TV.

So, I'll ask you to work in partners - groups of two (dyads) on commercial advertisements that I'll give you today. I'll ask you to practice the skills of critical analysis of the message and the medium. Together as a class we'll look at each commercial and try to consider the message that it sends to people.

B Block Physical Geography 12 - Today we'll begin our look at stratospheric ozone and air pollution. Ozone is a gas that occurs both in the Earth's upper atmosphere and at ground level. Ozone can be "good" or "bad" for your health and the environment, depending on its location in the atmosphere. After looking at the ways that ozone protects us and understanding how it can be destroyed by CFCs you'll need to complete questions 8 and 9 from page 90 in your Geosystems textbook. We'll also look at air pollution, specifically the anthropogenic additions to our atmosphere. We will look at the effects of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxides on human health and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. We'll also look at the Environment Canada Air Quality Index


For more information on Air Quality look at:
BC Air Quality Readings
Real Time Air Quality Index Map
The Habitable Planet: Air Pollution
Environment Canada Air Pollution site
David Suzuki Foundation Air Pollution Site
For more information on Ozone look at:
Environment Canada Ozone site
US Environmental Protection Agency Stratospheric Ozone page
European Commission on the Environment Ozone page
Ozzy Ozone UNEP Kids Ozone Site
NOAA Ozone depletion page
EPA Health Effects of Increased UV Radiation

National Public Radio site on the London "Killer Fog" of 1952
EPA website on acid rain

Check out last year's article on the New York Times about the smog covering New Delhi
Check out this year's article on CNN indicating that breathing in Delhi air is equivalent to smoking 44 cigarettes a day