What do you do when democracy sucks?

Last week, we started to look at some of the set backs of democracy such as - what do you do when people don't vote? Is that an accurate representation of what your democracy is? Or, if people aren't really informed on the issues, do you want them to make decisions that will affect YOUR life? For example, girls, what if you had Redneck as your grad theme this year, just because there happened to be more boys in your class and they ALL VOTED.......just like we almost had Nascar Under the Sea as a theme last year; the boys thought it was hilarious because it wasn't something that mattered to them. But the girls did not want their input because it was a horrible theme. That's where the elite theory of democracy would come in - the boys don't care about grad, so they shouldn't be voting. But is that democracy??

This week, we are going to continue looking at things that affect the efficiency of the democratic system. One way that our system is affected is by lobby groups or special interest groups. If we have such groups, does that make us more or less democratic? We will also be looking at how we can change our democracy if it isn't reflecting what the people want. Remember, one of the first things that we went through about democracies is that there needs to be SOME WAY that it can change - viewpoints and values change and the democracy needs to change with it. Finally, we will start looking at human rights in democracy, both individual (this week) and collective next week.

What's this week looking like?

Tuesday: 

• We are going to have a contest in class. By Friday, anybody who wants to participate, can forecast what they think the outcome of the election next week will be. That will include who they think will win, how many seats each party will get, and if there is a majority or minority government. The closest guess will win a basket of goodies! Only play if you want to. Guesses need to be in by FRIDAY.
• Finish notes about interest groups

 

• HOMEWORK: Watch the following ed-Ted video. There is a video with 9 questions (8 based on the video and one discussion). You need to create an account on Ed-Ted, answer the questions and I will be getting your answers online. This shouldn't take much more than 20 minutes (more if you don't pay attention to the video and need to keep rewatching it). But you need to complete this at home.

Wednesday: 

• Reform in a democracy
• Pros and cons
• How does it occur in Canada and the US
• Next writing assignment

Thursday:

• Rants by Payton, Darian and Neela 
• Reforming things in Canada: Yay or Nay
• Senate
• Partisan Politics

Friday: 

• Human rights in a democracy
• What's more important: Safety and security or Rights and Freedoms
• What are you entitled to in Canada and the United States
• Assignment: Individual Rights Infringements

Last week, we were looking at the basic aspects of democracies and how they functioned properly.  But, like all ideologies, democracies don't always work out EXACTLY like they claim to - and that is largely due to how and how much citizens get involved in their system.  For example, is Canada more or less democratic than Ukraine? Would Canadians protest for months if our government made a decision that most of us disliked like what happened in Ukraine last year? Or would we even notice or know about the government decisions? So, we will be analyzing what makes a democracy less functional.

Also, another good link to compare Canadian and American systems.

So what will we be covering exactly this week?

Monday:

• Review questions and videos: The Democratic System
• Finish vocabulary (5-10 minutes)
• What's Your Vote Worth?
• Article w/ questions
• Practice Source Interpretation

Tuesday:

• Vocab: Voter Apathy and Elite Theory of Democracy
• Notes
• Should everybody get to vote?
• Source Interpretation

Wednesday:

• Vocabulary: Interest groups, Tyranny of Majority, and Tyranny of minority
• What impacts the democratic process - notes
• Case Studies: Public opinion vs practicality

Thursday:

• Rants: Robyn, Jessica and Triefen
• Reform in a democracy - why is it essential
• One Page write up - Should the Senate be reformed or abolished in Canada?

Friday:

• How Democracy created a monster (2 articles) 
• The discrepancy of what a democracy is SUPPOSED to do vs. what it actually DOES - what do you do when your democracy doesn't listen to the people?
• Who is Omar Khadr?
• Safety and Security vs. Rights and Freedoms
• Debate over the niqab 

Let's Talk About Democracy

Now that we have finished up with our introductory, basics unit, we will be 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:

• Re-test. You and a partner will re-take the test from Friday. If you were absent on Friday, you will be writing your test in class.
• Notes on the characteristics of democracies and what they mean

** REMEMBER - I am gone the rest of the week to Halifax with Student Leadership! It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to understand the information you are supposed to cover **

Tuesday: 

•  Everybody will be handed out a long sheet of paper with the different characteristics of democracies on them (on both sides of the paper). You will also get a package of pictures. Each picture will have to be cut out and then matched with the aspect of democracy that it goes with. Each characteristic (arrow) has THREE PICTURES EACH. You and your partner (who you are sitting next to in your seating plan) need to decide which ones go where. The substitute will have the answers, so don't glue anything down until you're absolutely certain that's where it belongs. You will need to interpret what the pictures mean so that they make sense about where you are putting them.
• In the last 15 minutes of class, the sub will go through the answers and you can cut and glue them in the correct place, if they aren't there already.

Wednesday:

• Rough Copies of your writing assignments to be done in the computer lab and DUE AT THE END OF THE BLOCK. As you got this assignment last Thursday, there is no reason it is not planned and completely written in the 80 minute block.

Thursday:

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.
• Enlightenment Democracy
• Influence of the Enlightenment on American Democracy
• Canada's System of Government
• Iroquois Confederacy
• Influence of the Iroquois Confederacy on American Democracy
• 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 MONDAY!

Have a great long weekend!

The End of the Basics....Which Means....Test Time!

This week, we will be finishing up with the basics. Which means that on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18----> you will have a test. Strictly multiple choice. 30-35 questions. That's it that's all. 80 minutes to write it. No, it's not open book. No, you can't work with a partner. Yes, you should start reviewing now.


That means we are finishing up with the basic "need to knows" of this course so that everything else will make a little more sense! As well, I will be giving out your first writing assignment and you will be doing your rough copy next week in class. You must complete


and submit the rough copy VIA GOOGLE CLASSROOM, NOT by emailing it to me. You must use your school email address to join the class (yoursixdigitnumber@eics.ab.ca and login at the website mail.eics.ab.ca) and use the code x2oemou. DO NOT EMAIL IT TO ME. Don't. Follow directions. This doesn't mean that you email it to me. You submit it on google classroom. There's an app for that. It's free. Looks like this icon to the right. Not through email. Because you won't get feedback.

So what's up this week?

Monday: 

• Videos on the French, American and Industrial Revolutions
• Comparison - the way it was before and why/how things changed
• Review questions and video on classical liberalism
• Philosophers of the Enlightenment: This is why you will need your headphones!!
• From last week's blog, there are 7 videos about 7 important philosophers of the Enlightenment. You will be watching these videos and filling in information about the philosophers. If you don't finish in class, this will be for homework

Tuesday: 

• Notes on the philosophers
• Matching - Which philosopher said what?
• If you finish the matching activity before the end of class, you have time to work on your project

Wednesday: 

• Review video on the philosophers
• Review on interpreting sources - written and visual
• Review worksheets for introduction unit

Thursday: 

• Rants by Justin H and  Beryl 
• Review on how to do Writing Assignment I for Social 30-1 and Writing Assignment 2 for 30-2
• Assignment 1 30-1
• Assignment 2 30-2
• Go through how to submit things on Google Classroom
• Planning writing assignment

Friday: 

• Test day! Bring something other than an electronic device to class with you for when you are finished because you will not be allowed to have your phone until everybody is done the test.

The Start of the Basics of Social 30

Hello Kidlings!

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?

Tuesday:

• The political and economic systems we will be covering in class this semester
• Democracy
• Dictatorship

• Free Market Economy
• Centrally Planned Economy

• Notes and jigsaw

Wednesday:

• Vocabulary from spectrums: Radical, Liberal, Conservative, Reactionary
• Review how to interpret sources: BK, ?, I
• Spectrum Quiz
• What is liberalism and how did it develop?
• Renaissance
• Reformation
• Enlightenment
• Activity on each time period and how it focuses on individualism
• Notes on each time period

Thursday

• Rants by: Shelby and Vanessa
• Finish going through the time periods of liberalism and how it developed
• Start with philosophers of the Enlightenment

Friday

• HEADPHONES AND DEVICES/LAPTOPS NEEDED
• Finish notes on Philosophers

• Philosopher matching assignment

The Last Full-ish week of the semester!

Hopefully, by now, you have started doing some reviewing, especially considering that you have a diploma on WEDNESDAY.  You will still have a politics exam to complete, next week, however it will be in the form of a partner test.  That means it will be a little bit longer, will include everything about democracies and dictatorships and the Cold War, but you will be taking the test with a partner.  That will be NEXT week, most likely on Tuesday.  If you haven't started studying, START NOW!

Some Cold War Videos to watch before your diploma on Wednesday because we won't be covering it until Thursday/Friday and Monday

What's happening your last week of social 30?

Monday: 

• Video on Dissent
• Imposing liberalism
• Notes and examples
• Benefits and drawbacks
• You need textbooks today
• Discovering Dissent Square (assignment due Friday)

Tuesday:

• Vocabulary: Illiberal democracies
• Notes on illiberal actions
• War Measures Act
• Patriot Act

Click here to watch a video on the Patriot Act.  If you need a login it's LA14 and password 2255 

• Questions on illiberalism
• After school review in my classroom at 3:20

Wednesday

• Part A in the Computer Lab.  Please show up, AT THE VERY LATEST by 8:45.  You start writing at 9.  Go pee before you go in because you will not have the opportunity to go after.
• Good Luck :)

Thursday:

• Final Rants: Kaylee, Sabrina, Tristan and Britney 
• Start with the Cold War
• How it started from the end of World War II
• Different techniques

Friday:

• Continue with the Cold War and imposition of liberalism

Dictatorships and Illiberal Democracies

As of this week, we have 12 class days of school left, one of which will be your written portion of your Diploma Exam.  In these last 2 weeks, we will be looking at the two major dictatorships of the 20th century and why democracies sometimes feel the need to limit your rights and freedoms. If those rights and freedoms are limited in an unjust way, a democracy can become an illiberal democracy.  After that, we will look at what you can do to make sure that your rights and freedoms are always upheld.

The Plan for the Week

Monday:

• Hand in Projects
• Vocabulary: Communism and Fascism
• Basics of dictatorships and how they manifested in USSR and Nazi Germany

Life under Stalin

Life under Hitler

• Similarities and Differences between the systems

Tuesday:

• Finish up with dictatorships
• Vocabulary: Individual Rights and Collective Rights
• Different Types of Rights and how they are protected

Wednesday:

• Protecting Democracies: Safety and Security vs. Rights and Freedoms
• Which is more is more important?
• Vocabulary: Dissent, Civil Disobedience
• Notes on Dissent and its role in a democracy
• Acceptable vs unacceptable
• The use of dissent in democracy and it's importance
• YOU WILL NEED A DATA SEEKING DEVICE, PREFERABLY A LAPTOP

Thursday:

• Rants by Danielle and Tyler
• The use of dissent in democracy and it's importance
• YOU WILL NEED A DATA SEEKING DEVICE, PREFERABLY A LAPTOP
• Categorizing the events

Friday: 

• Why governments limit rights:
• To uphold the democracy
• Imposition of Liberalism - Was it always a choice?

Imposing Liberalism in Afghanistan

Imposing Liberalism in Canada

• Red Paper and White Paper 
• Residential Schools

• What's more important: Safety and Security or Rights and Freedoms?