Social Studies 30: September 2016

Friday 23 September 2016

Here's how things work in North America

As I have been stressing all this week, this is your week to be working through material on your own. The expectation is that you will be going through this, and any review of this material will have to be decided upon a meeting time after school, as we will not have the time to cover this amount of info during school next week.

Here is what you will be doing this week:

Monday:

Watch the video below and fill in the worksheet provided for you.

Look at the Handout: Who is Canada Modelled After. ou can create your own google doc (there is a PDF copy in google classroom, which also has the two sources that you will need) or you can write down the information in your notes.Use the following websites to help fill in the following information in the chart. This is to be done ON YOUR OWN.

Next use BK, ?, I to interpret the two sources attached to the handout
Debate: Which do you think had more of an influence on North American Democracy - the Iroquois or the Enlightenment? - This is an assignment on Google Docs

Tuesday and Wednesday:

Watch the video below and fill in the worksheet provided for you.

For the next two days, you are working through the following information to describe what a democracy is.

First, read the notes from Google Classroom on Parts of a Democracy and Democracy Need to know. You can use the Power Point "Basics of Democratic Political" as a place to write notes, especially regarding the differences between Canada and the United States. You can also write notes in your scribblers, but you need to go through BOTH the Power Points Basics of Democratic Political System and Democracy Need to Know

CANADA:

As you watch the videos, fill in information in the Power Point in Google Classroom that says Canada's Government

AMERICA:

As you watch the videos, fill in information in the Power Point in Google Classroom that says America's Government
Complete the Google Doc Assignment that describes the different types of democracy

Wednesday and Thursday:

Once you have completed looking through the videos and readings for the political structure of Canada and the United States, you will begin to look at the electoral systems that we have. You can continue to write notes in your scribbler or Basics of Democratic Political System Power Point.

To begin with, read the article from Google Classroom that says Canadian and American democracies, paying close attention to how people are elected/selected for their positions.
From this and by watching the videos, make notes regarding how Canadian leaders and American leaders are elected.

CANADA:

AMERICA

Watch the video below and fill in the worksheet provided for you.

When you have completed this, you can answer the question on Google Classroom about the better system.

Friday:

For the first half of class, complete any of the above information that you have not completed.
Then, your weekly writing paragraph is on Google Classroom to complete. 30-2's you are writing for Assignment 2; 30-1's you are writing for Assignment 1.
These paragraphs MUST be turned in by midnight. There are paper copies for you as well, which Mr. Quinn will give to you.

Sunday 18 September 2016

The Building Blocks of a Functioning Democracy

This week, we are going to look at the very building blocks of what makes up a democracy - what do you need to have to be considered a democracy. What that will include is a look at the principles of liberalism and how they affected Enlightenment thinkers, whose ideas are the cornerstone of many modern democracies. However, in North America, there were already thriving democracies in existence when European philosophers were still spreading their ideas. As such, we need to look at both aspects that affected the creating of our democracies in North America. Part of that discussion will revolve around the political ideologies that were influenced by the principles of individualism (aka: liberalism), as well as looking at Indigenous democracies and how they affected our political structure. By looking at the basics of our political beliefs it will help to determine whether the system we have in place really is the most effective or not.

When we think of democracy, the thing that most people think about is having elections and voting. But there are many different things that make up a democracy and knowing those helps to make you a more informed and contributing member of society. Like Montesquieu said, "The Tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy."

As citizens in a democracy, we have a lot of rights and freedoms. However, there is the obligation of being a contributing member of society, but not all people know what that looks like. So this week, we will look at what our roles are in liberal society, what values come with democracy, how North American democracies were created and compare the political structures of the United States vs Canada, as we have two different types of democracies. Hopefully, we can look at electoral systems this week as well, which will make next week an opportunity to look at the downfalls of democracy.

What are we up to this week?

Monday:

15 minutes to finish your "title page" for characteristics of Individualism and Collectivism
Go through the pages and the notes on Individualism and Collectivism
Notes on creating of Liberalism

Renaissance, Reformation and Revolution

Tuesday:

20 minutes to finish the Ideologies Worksheet you started Week 1 - categorizing as Individual or Collective in nature

Characteristics of Democracies

Notes
Activity that will require Glue and Scissors
Go through the answers to the activity

Wednesday:

What influenced North American Democracies?

Watch this video about the formation of American Democracy

Look at the Handout: Who is Canada Modelled After. Use the following websites to help fill in the following information in the chart. This is to be done ON YOUR OWN.

Next use BK, ?, I to interpret the two sources attached to the handout
Debate: Which do you think had more of an influence on North American Democracy - the Iroquois or the Enlightenment?

Thursday:

Rants by Emma and Harmony
Article Reading activity - Why is liberalism necessary for democracy?

You will need different colours of highlighters or pens for this

Different Types of Democracy - All the terms you need to know (notes)

Friday:

YOU NEED YOUR DEVICES SO YOU CAN WRITE YOUR WEEKLY PARAGRAPH
Electoral Systems Compared - FIRST HALF OF CLASS ONLY

US Electoral College
Canada First Past the Post

Google Classroom Writing Assignment - Paragraph 3, due midnight Friday, but you really should be aiming to write one paragraph in the 40 minutes given

Monday 12 September 2016

What's in a Democracy?

As we finish talking about the basics of all ideologies, we will begin focusing on the political aspect of our course, which should take us roughly about a month and a half. We will be analyzing a few different types of democracy and how representation is selected, the purpose of having a democratic government to protect rights and freedoms (should this always be the case), and the opposite of democracy, which would be our different types of dictatorships. As we go through this unit, it is important to understand how and why a democracy upholds or doesn't uphold the values of liberalism.

This week, you will be looking at the key values of a democracy and which are the most important. As well, you will be looking at what influenced the creation of democracy in Canada and the United States and why we value what we do.

So What's Up For This Week?

Monday:

Worked on philosopher quote questions

Tuesday:

Notes on Spectrums - different types and the vocabulary - what does it all mean??

Potentially a Multiple Choice Questionnaire....
Notes on Individualism and Collectivism - the basics of all ideologies

Wednesday:

Watch this video about the formation of American Democracy

Look at the Handout: Who is Canada Modelled After. Use the following websites to help fill in the following information in the chart. This is to be done ON YOUR OWN.

Next use BK, ?, I to interpret the two sources attached to the handout
Finally, write a paragraph that explains which you think had more of an influence on North American Democracy - the Iroquois or the Enlightenment. This should be at least 3/4 of a page long, double spaced. The paragraph can be handed in on Monday
DON'T Forget: Your project is due on FRIDAY next week!

Thursday:

Rants by Chelsea and Molsen
Finish going through the basics of ideologies - you will potentially need scissors and glue, if the rants do not go too long...

Have a great long weekend!

Tuesday 6 September 2016

The Beginning of Social Studies 30 aka: All you ever wanted to know about life :)

Social 30...that wonderful course that you have anticipating for for the last 12 yeara 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 doing a "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 Google Classroom and so on that, over the course of the week, you can look at to enhance your learning of the content. Once my projector is up and running, it is up to you to print off your notes if you want paper copies or to download digital copies to follow on your device. 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