Okay, back on track and back to doing this blog! Just in time for finishing up our first introductory unit. REMEMBER - You have a test this week! Essay feedback will be back to you this week. I just want to get everybody's feedback done before I start emailing it out. That being said, if you want to talk with me one on one about your essays, please book some time with me! I get busy during the school days, but if I know I need to meet with you at lunch or before or after school, then I can arrange that.
So far, we have looked at the basics of individualism and collectivism, as well as looked at the important philosophers of the Enlightenment. Please be sure that you understand their ideas. We also looked at what influenced the formation of North American democracies more - the Enlightenment or Iroquois Confederacy? Maybe there is no real answer... Or there is and I just won't be telling you.
So what will we be learning this week?
Monday
Review political and economic systems - what are they and what do they do?
Social 30...that wonderful course that you have anticipating for for the last year is finally here, AND it's first thing in the morning! In all actuality, I love Social 30 and it really does have a lot to do with what you will encounter for the rest of your life. It is a great course to get into, if you want to, and can really help you understand how our society functions and to question whether or not how we run things is the best way possible.
I will be continuing to do the Modified Flipped Classroom, where there will be opportunities for you to deepen your understanding of the course content. What that means is that each week, I will try to put a new blog posting up by Sunday night to outline what we will be doing in the coming week. I will put links to powerpoints, slides, videos, websites, updates into DropBox and so on that, over the course of the week, you can look at to enhance your learning of the content. Ideally, the large portion of the intricate content would be what you look up on your own. Now, I know that looking up history is not everybody's cup of tea. However, by doing the background knowledge at home, it allows us to use the time in class to work on your skills to understand the knowledge = you will practice skills that will help you to be successful on your diploma in class, rather than focusing on knowledge. This is not to say that there won't be specific knowledge presented in class; it simply means to gain a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of the course, I will provide you with information to help better prepare you.
Videos, such as the one below, are great background knowledge to what life was like before individualism came around that we are definitely not going to be able to cover in class. So, it is up to you whether or not you watch it. But I really think you should :)
This blog will also let you know what we will be doing for the week, so it will be an agenda for what we are to get through.
So what's in store for the rest of this week?
Wednesday
Philosophers of the Enlightenment - the European men who greatly influenced the development of Classical Liberalism
Adam Smith
John Locke
Jean Jacques Rousseau
John Stuart Mill
Thomas Hobbes
Voltaire
Monstesquieu
Activity - placing philosophers on the spectrum
Matching time! Fun! As always! Don't deny it!
Thursday
Vocabulary: Radical, Reactionary, Liberal and Conservative
Spectrum notes
How do we interpret sources? BK, ? and I
Friday
Super special surprise
Review - how to do writing assignments
Writing Assignment I for Social 30-1
Writing Assignment I and III for Social 30-2
Some final thoughts on a swing back to more collectivist ideologies....
