Thursday, March 29, 2007 (gold)

We are finishing Bowling for Columbine today. If there is time remaining in class, we will discuss the themes and topics presented in the movie; otherwise, we will discuss it on Monday, April 2.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007 (gold)

To wrap up our social justice topics, we are finishing with peace and violence issues. We began watching Bowling for Columbine in class today; we will finish it on Thursday and discuss the issues that arise from viewing this DVD. We will begin our unit on World Religions next week.

Friday, March 23, 2007 (gold)

Today is a shortened schedule due to the play cut assembly. We finished quarter project presentations and discussed a few miscellaneous social justice issues if we had time.

Wednesday, March 22, 2007 (gold)

We continued third quarter project presentations today. Poverty projects were also collected today. If we had time, we processed the Homeless Locker Day experience.

Monday, March 19, 2007 (gold)

Today is Homeless Locker Day. Students have been evicted from their locker for the day to simulate homelessness. In class, we began quarter project presentations. Poverty Project is due on Wednesday, March 21.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007 (gold)

Block 5: Collected homework (exercises 35, 37, 38); briefly discussed handout 4 budget activity; assigned handout 5 - welfare vs. minimum wage for Monday, March 19; entire poverty project will be due on Wednesday, March 21; completed 'priorities' activity and discussed; read Newsweek article on poverty in the suburbs and discussed why poverty is such a reality in the richest country in the world

Block 6: Collected homework (exercises 35, 37, 38); briefly discussed handout 4 budget activity; assigned handout 5 - welfare vs. minimum wage for Monday, March 19; entire poverty project will be due on Wednesday, March 21; read and discussed Poverty in America article

Block 8: Collected homework (exercises 35, 37, 38); assigned handout 5 - welfare vs. minimum wage for Monday, March 19; entire poverty project will be due on Wednesday, March 21; began quarter project presentations; completed relationship mapping questions and activity regarding poverty

Monday, March 12, 2007 (gold)

Block 5: Watched part of Oprah video on poverty in America & discussed; talked about 'priorities' activity results; completed handout 3; assigned handout 4 for homework for Wednesday, March 14; discussed poverty summit

Block 6: Discussed poverty summit; completed handout 3; assigned handout 4 for homework for Wednesday, March 14; read and discussed Newsweek article on poverty in the suburbs

Block 8: Discussed results of handout 4; completed 'priorities' activity and talked about this; read and discussed Newsweek article on poverty in the suburbs - good discussions today!

Thursday, March 8, 2006 (gold)

Block 5: Began poverty unit; assigned handouts 1 & 2 of poverty project for Monday, March 12. Class discussion on causes of global poverty. Homework for Wednesday, March 14, 2007, is packet #3 - exercises 35, 37, & 38.

Block 6: Began poverty unit; assigned handouts 1 & 2 of poverty project for Monday, March 12. Class discussion on causes of global poverty. Watched part of an Oprah Winfrey special on poverty in America. Homework for Wednesday, March 14, 2007, is packet #3 - exercises 35, 37, & 38.

Block 8: Continued poverty unit; completed handout 3 of poverty project in class, assigned handout 4 for Monday, March 12, 2007. Read an article titled How We Should Think About the Poor and then discussed it. Homework for Wednesday, March 14, 2007, is packet #3 - exercises 35, 37, & 38.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007 (gold)

Blocks 5 & 6: We continued discussion of The Laramie Project, which led to questions such as: Why are people afraid of homosexuals? Why is it easier to hate than love? Should same sex couples be able to get married . . . adopt children . . . have the same rights as heterosexual couples? Should gays be given special rights (i.e. hate crimes legislation . . . why not just have people who commit hate crimes be subject to non- hate crime-legislation?) Are we becoming more accepting of homosexuals than older generations? This led to heated, but interesting, discussion. I also collected the quotation reflections that were due today.

Block 8: After collecting the quotation reflections that were due today, we began the poverty unit. We talked about the causes of both global and local (U.S.) poverty and then we watched part of an Oprah Winfrey special on the poverty in America. Homework for Thursday, March 8, is to complete the first two handouts of the poverty project - the weekly meal planner and the cost of groceries. This information will be used in conjunction with future parts of the poverty project.

Friday, March 2, 2007 (gold)

We finished watching The Laramie Project and then shared our reactions to what we saw and heard. I also shared statistics on states with legislation against hate crimes. More in-depth discussion will follow on Tuesday, March 6.