So exciting, a new topic begins this week!!!

So, we are finally finishing up with our unit on political systems, with democracy versus dictatorship, the bitter battle of which way to run your country is right.  I know that you were riveted to learn all about it! Remember that this week, you will be having your test and that we will be doing a crash course of the Cold War. WOOOOOO!!!!! A war that was never actually fought! So super exciting!!

I hope that you have studied for your test, as it will be a bit of a doozy ;) Unless you studied. Then you will be fine.

So what’s our week going to look like….

Monday:

·         Case studies on illiberalism.  Just like what we did with dissent, you will be given one case study to complete per person, so it will have to be more in-depth than your last one.  Your write up must include:

o   Background information – what was going on at the time that prompted the government to limit people’s civil liberites.  For example, if you are doing the temperance movement, why was booze seen as the devil and the downfall of society?

o   What rights and/or freedoms were limited? Who was this applied to? How was it supposed to rectify the situation?

o   Did the citizens support the actions or not? If they didn’t, how did they dissent?

o   Do you think the government actions were justifiable, understandable or wrong? Why?

o   An image – video, photograph, political cartoon, newspaper article, poster, etc, to attach to your case study

·         You will again be posting this case study on padlet.  Here is the website: http://padlet.com/jacquelines1/illiberalism

·         If you finish before the end of the class, you can continue working on your practice multiple choice.  I hope to have the answer key into Dropbox by the end of the school day, if not earlier.

·         If you are finished that, you can study.

·         Here is what people are researching:

o   Alison – Prohibition, Landon – No smoking in public legislation, Ashley – War Measures Act, Sabrina – NSA collecting information on Americans, Amber – Immigration Laws pre-WWII, Keyton – Anti-Monopoly and Anti-trust laws, Hailey – Emergencies Act, Rachel Mayko – Airport Security post-9/11, Rachael Melenka – Britain under Churchill WWII, Cody – No Fly Lists, Chantal – Theodore Roosevelt’s Square Deal, Jonathan – Anti-terrorism Act, Denton – McCarthyism , Logan – Canadian Conscription, Katlynn – Mandatory voting in Australia, Ethan – Anti-gay marriage legislation, Kaylynn – Bill 101 in Quebec and Language Laws, Eric – Indian Act

Tuesday

·         Test Day!! YAY!!!!!

Wednesday

·         Re-test day

·         Cold War Presentations – what you will be doing

Thursday

·         Rants by Chantal and Logan

·         Notes on How the Cold War Started

Friday

·         Super fun surprise!

The Last Little Bit on Democracies....and How They Can Suck

Just a friendly that you will be having a multiple choice test next week.  It is completely multiple choice and is 45 questions.  The things that will be on the test:

• Political System Basics (some of this can be found in your first unit)
• Role of having a government
• Different types and names
• Role of citizens in the political structure
• Rights and Freedoms
• Spectrum with different political ideologies
• Philosophers and their political beliefs
• Democracies
• Roles and responsibilities of citizens
• Benefits and drawbacks
• Different types - Direct, Presidential and Parliamentary
• Representative democracies - proportional vs rep by pop
• Majority vs Minority governments
• Checks and balances - separation of powers
• Rights and freedoms - CCRF, Bill of Rights
• Dissent
• Imposition of liberalism - Red and White Paper
• Individual Rights vs Collective Rights
• Illiberalism
• Voter Apathy
• Dictatorships
• Different names of dictatorships
• Examples: Nazi Germany and Soviet Union - a general understanding of what life was life for citizens living under Hitler and Stalin
• Techniques: Scapegoating/redirection of popular discontent, one party rule, censorship/control of the media, influence of youth groups, indoctrination, elimination of enemies, no dissent, use of force and terror, controlled citizen participation
• Roles and responsibilities of the citizens
• Benefits and drawbacks
• Know your Vocabulary - blue sheets for sure, but review your yellow ones too

This week, will be finishing up with what illiberalism is and whether or not there is room for it in a democracy.

Tuesday 

• Hand in PRINTED copy of your good copy of your essay.  If you did not hand in a rough draft, your copy of your essay is due today.  As well, your dissent square is due today as well.  Preferably, I would like these in class rather than the end of the day.
• Vocabulary words: Illiberalism, Red Paper  and White Paper
• Start looking at illiberalism and what is more important in a democracy - Rights and Freedoms or Safety and Security?
• Illiberal Acts in Democracies: War Measures Act in Canada and USA Patriot Act in the United States

 

Wednesday 

• Finish notes on illiberalism
• Case Study: Edward Snowden
• Internment - Right or wrong? 

Thursday

• Imposition of Liberalism in Canada 
• Residential Schools
• White and Red Paper
• Idle No More and Aboriginal Day of Protest

Friday 

• Review Game - I'm not sure what type of game I'm going to do.  Picto-Jeopardy is fun, but time consuming to create.  I would also like to do something different.  As usual, the winners will have their choice of a baked good for a prize on Monday.
• Happy studying :)

Is It Wrong Not To Have All Your Rights?

It seems like forever since I have blogged for you, and it has been forever, practically an entire month! I know that some of you guys will be away on Thursday because of badminton - I will be going through material on safety and security vs. rights and freedoms, so you will need to gather that information.  We lose class on Wednesday this week as well, so time is becoming very precious so if you are missing for whatever reason, even if I only have 3 students in class, I will continue on with the material for the rest of the semester.  For those of you who were gone with me to Europe, on  Wednesday after school until about 4:00 (which means starting  right after school) I can go through what you should have gone through the week you missed as I will be staying late on Wednesday for parent teacher interviews.

As you can most likely tell (unless you are up unusually late on a Sunday night), I am not in school today.  So, I hope that you have headphones with you as you will be working in the computer lab to do some research that we will need for an assignment that is due on Tuesday.  All the handouts that you need will be handed out to you through Dropbox.  So print off what you need at school.

Last week, we looked at the different types of rights that citizens of a democratic nation can have and what protects those rights.  As we saw with some of our case studies on Wednesday, even though it is written down that we are guaranteed certain rights, does not always mean that they are upheld.  So, what do you do when your rights are being ignored? You DISSENT !!! What does that mean?

Now, in a democracy, there are acceptable ways to be a dissident (a person who dissents) and there are unacceptable ways.  Likewise, there are acceptable government responses and unacceptable government responses.  So what we will be looking at on Monday and Tuesday are case studies of dissent and whether or not they are justifiable, as well as discuss how important dissent is to a functioning democracy.

Monday

• Hand in your crossword to the substitute teacher, completed or not.
• Go to the computer lab
• Print off the handouts that are for you in Dropbox.  It's titled: Discovering Dissent.  You can also just download the electronic copy and type in your answers if you'd really like to.
• To start things off with, watch the video below and answer the questions on page 1 of your handout.  Please use your headphones to listen to the video

If you can't see it, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuIEPwogEdQ&feature=youtu.be

• Next, look at page 2 in the handout.  On this page, you will be looking up the background information on 2 case studies.  For each of your case student you must identify when and where it took place, the important figure(s) aka: peeps that were integral for the dissent to happen, what was going on in their country (background details) that led to the protest and how the government reacted to the dissent shown.  This will be a paragraph.  Please don't just copy and paste from the internet.  You can type it up on word, the copy and paste it to our sharing forum if you would like but that's not necessary. In a second paragraph, you need to explain why you feel the dissent was justified or not and whether it was appropriate action taken.  As well, discuss if you think how the government responded to the situation was justifiable or not.  Lastly, you need to find some sort of image (picture, poster, cartoon, video) that is about the case study you looked at.
• When you have collected all of your information, you are going to post it onto this website:  http://padlet.com/wall/jvbp9uwc2d  It is password protected and the password is SMHS (all capital letters).  Click anywhere on the wall and you can start putting in your case study.  This case study must be completed by TUESDAY.
• If you have finished, you can start on the third page of the handout, which I will be taking in for marks which is selecting 4 case studies (none of your own) and putting them in the square with why they fit there.

Tuesday

• Vocabulary Dissent, Civil Disobedience
• Notes on Dissent - what is acceptable, what is unacceptable and is it necessary
• Interpretation of sources
• Dissent Squares Assignment - Due on Thursday

Wednesday

• Presentation at school

Thursday

• Rants by Cody and Hailey 
• Imposition of Liberalism - Was it always a choice?
• Red Paper and White Paper 
• Residential Schools