Human Rights: Is that what's really happening?

Human rights violations from around the world, and the United States are reported in the news every day.  What are our human rights? Are they written down somewhere?  Is it like the Constitution of the United States?  The United Nations, an organization composed of most of the world's developed and developing countries, adopted a draft of the first Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 as a result of the horrific events that took place before and during World War II.  There is a brief History of Human Rights given on the United Nations home page that gives a quick story of the drafting process at the time of it's development.

There are 37 different sections to the Declaration of Human Rights. United for Human Rights is a website that outlines some of the articles in the Declaration in greater detail, and gives example of some of the most offensive human rights violations currently happening around our world.

We will be reading a variety of books that have human rights as one of their primary themes.  As you begin your thinking about your book, consider how human rights will play a role in the conflict for your main character.  Most will be obvious, but some might require some inquiry into your setting or characters. What are some specific human rights stories you already know or have read about? What more do you need to know to understand your human rights? Start your pre-thinking today.

Home Schooling: A proper alternative to public education?

 We have been studying different ways that students can be educated in the twenty-first century. Technology, high stakes testing, and school funding have created a whirlpool of change in education in the past ten years. Homeschooling is a growing trend being used by parents to battle these changes, and try to provide the best possible education for their children. The following publications have different points of view on the topic of homeschooling.

The Pros and Cons of Homeschooling by Isabel Shaw from the Family Education website. This article is a quick background resource to discuss some of the issues when considering homeschooling as an option for a quality education.

Homeschool.com: The number one homeschool community is a website devoted solely to parents who are homeschooling or considering homeschooling.

The Real Cons of Homeschooling is an entry written by Tammy Takahashi from the blog, Just Enough, Nothing More listing 10 reasons homeschooling might not be the best educational choice.

Sharon Chen, a reporter for Fox News in San Diego did a news story entitled, Interest in Homeschooling Surges after the shootings at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. This article brings to light a whole new reason parents may consider homeschooling in today's increasingly violent society.

Let the debate begin here.  We discussed this in class.  You have read the pros and cons.  What do you think about homeschooling as an option to improve education?  Be sure to make your thoughts complete.  Site the resources to support your opinions.

What is the Fiscal Cliff?

Political cartoons are a fun way to get a new perspective on issues and current events.  Artists creatively use metaphors of language in an attempt to force readers  to think beyond the literal.  It is a great visual activity to promote your thinking. 

Read the following article, CNN Politics: 5 things to know about the fiscal cliff.

Study the political cartoon.  What have you heard about the fiscal cliff?  What is it?  What do you think the author of this cartoon is trying to say to the readers? Be sure to explain your thinking.

Domestic Abuse in the plot of Peg Kehret's book, Abduction

Abduction by Peg Kehret is about a six year old named Matt Sholten who is abducted by his dad Denny. His mom and sister Bonnie do everything in their power to get him back. They had to involve  the cops, because Mrs. Sholten suspects it's not someone she knows. In the real world this situation is normally someone related to the family or that has contact with the family. Domestic Abuse is a big issue in this book. Denny is the one in power over Mrs. Sholten. I am inferring that maybe he abused her when they were married. Because of Mrs.Sholten and Denny's previous marriage, the kid's lives were at risk. Denny rose above Mrs.Sholten even more when he had the kids under his arms.

Denny had serious behavior issues, he was out of control and everyone was scared of him, because they didn't know what he was capable of. While Denny had Matt and Bonnie, he was in power because of the fact he had a gun. At one point Bonnie turns the tables. She told him if he doesn't let them go she will tell his cousins as soon as they got to their house. Bonnie made him shut down and start to lose confidence and power. A lot of times in this type of situation in real life, kids may never have the power because they feel they have to listen to what the adult says. Sometimes the victim has chances to become the one in power, if only they had the courage to say something.

Throughout the whole book Bonnie was trying to give the people around her signs that she needed help. They didn't listen. The girl at the ticket both understood what Bonnie was saying, but didn't do anything about it. The lady at the restaurant could have gathered up the clues. All the clues she needed were sitting there right in front of her, she just needed to put the pieces together.

In ABC News program, What Would You Do?  people at the park had just walked by when they saw the girl being bullied. Some of them didn't have the courage to stand up and get involved. What if they were in that situation? Wouldn't they want someone to step in and say something? If Bonnie or Matt would have gotten shot, how would the bystanders have felt? They would have realized if only they would have said something when they had the chance, they could have made a difference. All of them would have to live with the guilt the rest of their lives, just like the guilt Joel had to deal with when Tony died in the book,On My Honor, by Marion Dane Bauer.

Domestic abuse occurs a lot. Depending on the source, between 600,000 and 6,000,000 , women are victims of domestic violence each year. More and more it seem like it is okay,and it is not. In this book Matt was majorly affected. He had always wanted to meet his dad and his dad used that against him.  Matt is never going to want to see his dad again. Denny wasn't very stable, he was always gambling and did not have the self confidence he needed to make good choices about his family.

Check out The Christi Aan Center in Oshkosh to see further details about domestic violence.

Hailey H.



Three Cups of Tea [Young Adult Version]: building background knowledge of the Middle East

Three Cups of Tea  is a great book for educational purposes, civil rights specifically.  Three Cups of Tea is an autobiography by Greg Mortensen.  Greg Mortensen tried to climb K2 [a Himalayan mountain],but he fails, and on the way down the mountain  he wanders into Korphe, Pakistan.  He is welcomed into the home of the village chief Haji Ali.  Greg stays there for a while.  When he leaves he sees they have no school.  Greg promises to build a school.  He raises money for the school. With the help of a billionaire who sponsors the trip, he goes back and builds the school.  Jean Hoerni the man who sponsored the trip creates the Central Asia Institute.  Greg's the director of the Central Asia Institute, he now builds many schools. He is still at work in other countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Greg is so committed to his job he will go without seeing his family for 2 months.

This book can help you understand how the Middle East works and why it's hard to have a school there with all of the dictatorship.  For example, in Korphe, Haji Ali had to give up half his best goats to build the Korphe school.  He wanted the school that much.  In Pakistan goats are like money.  He barely had enough to feed his tribe after that.  The guy who did this to Haji Ali was another tribe leader.  This  shows how bad the dictatorship is there.  You'll also get a view of how one American [Greg] uses education to help fight terrorism in Afghanistan.

I recommend this book to everyone, especially to people who don't understand the Middle East very well.  It will help those people view the Middle East from their side, not just ours.  This author tells his story brilliantly.  He  doesn't fail to summarize all 55 schools in one book.  You wont be disappointed if you read this book. It's a real page turner.

Based on what I've told you, and your background knowledge about the Middle East, how can reading a book like this change your views about the Middle East?   If you want, do your own research.

Payton B.

Political Cartoon Ponderings

Political cartoons are a fun way to get a new perspective on issues and current events.  Artists creatively use metaphors of language to make readers have to think beyond the literal.  It is a great visual activity to promote your thinking. Study the political cartoon.  What do you think the man in the tie is talking about. Be sure to explain your thinking.

The Flipped Classroom: A growing trend or passing fad

In today's world of changing technology, access to the world wide web, and availability of  technology resources, schools are considering many different ways of adapting instruction to meet the needs of the students. Schools are under a lot of pressure to increase test scores, improve attendance, provide a safe learning environment while operating under tighter and tighter budgets.  Perhaps Flipped classes are the answer. Flipped classes are where instruction is done through web based learning and the students then come together with the teacher leading collaboration while providing remedial instruction and activities where needed.  Teachers could possibly reach many more students at the same time and actual minutes in class can diminish since lectures and information transfer occurs on student time.

Watch this You Tube video, Why I Flipped My Classroom, by a teacher who describes why she switched to a Flipped classroom.   

This is another You Tube video, Flipping the Classroom - Simply Speaking, that attempts to explain a Flipped classroom.  This one is focused more for the high school level.

What do you think?  Will a Flipped classroom model work at Merrill? Will it work for you personally?          

Should Boys and Girls be Taught Separately?

There has always been private all male or female schools.  The advantages and disadvantages can be debated.  Eliminating the distractions that may occur in coed classes can improve performance of the students in those classes.  Learning to adapt to the different learning styles of different genders might be a sacrifice of being in a single gender class. Many public schools are now considering using this strategy to improve learning for all students, especially in the core areas. Read the article by Laura Marquez from ABC News. The article gives the perspective from both side of the argument. There seems be some legal roadblocks, but as the pressure is put on schools to produce a better product, more creatively needs to be considered.  The arguments for single genders classes are growing louder. Is it time for a change?

I am intrigued by the idea.  I don't believe having math or literacy in a single gender class is going to diminish a student's ability to get along with different genders. There will still be many opportunities to associate with the opposite sex and build relationships necessary to be successful in the future. I see more positives than negatives.  Maybe it's worth a try.

What do you think?  Be sure to defend your answer or response to a post with evidence from the article or another source.  Your opinion matters, but it matters more when there is a professional standing behind you.

Bullying: Boys vs Girls

When it comes to bullying, There seems to be a difference in the strategies and reactions of the bullies and their victims across gender lines.  In an article in The Florida Times Union by Joy Batteh-Freiha the author states that boys bullying more often will result in some sort of physical confrontation and may be short lived.Whereas girls bullying will be more emotional and tend to be drawn out including more deviance and planning drawing more on friends and social cliques.

I found another resource from ABC News: What Would You Do? Watch this amazing video. I know the issue is girls being bullies, but there is so much more going on here. The reactions of the bystanders says a lot about the problem of what to do when you see bullying.  One of the issues we discussed was that the silent acceptance of bystanders is a major motivator for the bully to continue their torment.  If kids and adults had the courage to stand up to the bully, would there be any bullying?  Wouldn't all bullies stand along?

I know there is a lot here, but what do you think? Is girl bullying worse than boys? Do some research. Respond by stating what you think and try to include an article or blog that supports your opinion.

-Mr. Kohl