December 28

Social 10

I will be giving you a test covering the "Rights and Responsibilities" theme that we have been covering. This test will be on Wednesday, January 11th. I will cover one more major topic when we come back from Winter break. The test will be all multiple choice format, approximately 50-60 questions. Here are the major topics that will be covered with the exam:

1. Rights and Responsibilities
2. UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights
3. Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (check the Social 10 Links on blog)
4. The War Measures Act (WWI, WWII, the October Crisis of 1970)
5. Internment of Japanese-Canadians in WWII
6. FLQ Crisis of 1970 (study handout)
7. Emergencies Act of 1988 (study handout)
8. Native Rights
9. Young Offenders Act/Youth Criminal Justice Act (we'll get into this when we return from the Winter break)
   
   

Social 23

Here is the study guide for your Topic "B" Final, with the main themes numbered off. Please review all relevant chapters!

Topic "B" Final, Study Guide:

1. The World

• key terms
• First World, Second World, Third World, Fourth and Fifth World
• North/South divide
• Developed, Developing, LDCs

2. Quality of Life

• what is quality of life?
• what is standard of living?
• haves/have nots
• overpopulation

3. Population

• key terms
• be able to read/understand/interpret population charts and statistics
• be able to read/understand/interpret population pyramids
• Theory of Demographic Transition
• China's One Child Policy

4. Hunger

• key terms
• problems/solutions
• hunger-related diseases and possible solutions

5. Industrialization/Economic Development

• key terms
• connections/similarities to the Industrial Revolution
• legacy of colonialism
• economic systems
• multinational corporations/neo-colonialism
• problems/benefits of industrialization and economic development
• how countries industrialize/stages of development (Rostow)

6. Environmental Issues

• key terms
• problems/solutions
• ozone layer depletion
• deforestation
• acid rain
• greenhouse effect
• water supply/water pollution

This test will be on Wednesday, January 11th during class time.

December 22

Social 10

You are responsible for reading the remainder of that booklet that I handed out yesterday which covers key topics related to the War Measures Act and the Emergencies Act. The Native Rights worksheet that I gave you in class today is due tomorrow. For Social 10-1: please remember that it's "Secret Santa" tomorrow.

Social 23

We finished off the country report presentations today in class. I also assigned some work from the textbook related to water pollution. You were to do the following:

1. Read pages 269-273 and page 279
2. Define the following: groundwater, water surplus, water deficiency.
3. Answer Q36 on page 272.
4. Answer the following question: What are some problems associated with many huge water projects?

December 21

Social 10

Today we watched a video from the "Turning Points of History" series on the FLQ Crisis of 1970. I handed out an entire package of notes on this topic, part of which was a video study guide for the video. Also in this package was tonight's homework: read the the first two pages of the booklet, it's called "Analyzing a Document: The October Crisis" and then complete the worksheet that goes along with it.

Social 23

We had some students do their presentations today in class. We'll have the rest go tomorrow, so if you were absent today, please remember to come to class prepared to make a short presentation on your country. I also assigned the following reading and assignment for homework:

1. Read pages 259-263, and pages 267-269
2. Define: acid rain and the greenhouse effect
3. Answer the following questions:

• What are the sources and effects of acid rain?
• Describe the causes and results of the greenhouse effect.
  
  

December 20

Social 10

We watched a video in class today which covered the internment of Japanese-Canadians during WWII entitled, "The Tides of War". There was a video study guide sheet to go along with this video. We will be continuing on with another example tomorrow of how the War Measures Act was used, this time we will revisit the FLQ Crisis of 1970. Here is the hyperlink to the CBC Archive related to the internment of Japanese-Canadians. If you have time to listen to the audio clips and video clips, that's great, but at the minimum, I would like you to watch the video on the 1988 story of the compensation settlement for the Japanese-Canadians, it's called "Apology and Compensation". Click here to view the CBC Archive.

Social 23

I posted your current mark outside the classroom today. Don't forget that we'll be doing country presentations tomorrow in class. Our review game of Jeopardy has been moved to Friday. Here is tonight's homework:

1. Define desertification
2. Answer the following questions:

• What are the causes of soil erosion and degradation?
• What types of soil erosion are taking place in Canada? (see Table 7.1)
• Describe the stages in the development of desertification.

December 19

Social 10

I gave you a reading today on the internment of Japanese-Canadians during WWII. We will be watching a video tomorrow on this topic.

Social 23

I gave you some questions to do on Environmental Issues. You were to read the following pages in class: pages 230-244, and answer the following questions as well: Q1 a-b and Q2a-c on page 233, Q4a-b, Q5a on page 240, and Q9a-b on page 241. These questions are for homework!

December 16

Social 10

I gave you a homework assignment for this weekend: I would like you to watch tonight's English language debate so we can discuss it on Monday. Additionally, I gave you an Internet based assignment which is based on the Alberta Human Rights Commission website.

Social 23

Today we prepared questions for a Jeopardy review game that we'll be playing next week.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

December 15

Social 23

After doing a brief review of yesterday's work, I assigned the following:
1. Read pages 144-153 in World Issues in the Global Community

2. Take notes on Rostow's Stages of Development (pages 144-145)

3. Answer the following questions from the text: pg. 145 Q24, pg. 149 Q30, pg. 151 Q33

4. Define the following key terms:

• infrastructure
• automation
• capital-intensive
• urbanization
• entrepreneur
  

Social 10

You wrote an in-class essay today. If you missed today's class, you'll have to write this essay next week because tomorrow's 55 minute class period is too short. If you're in Social 10-1 please try to remember to bring a non-perishable food item to class for the food drive.

December 14

Social 10

I gave you the in-class essay topic today in class. You will be writing the in-class essay tomorrow. The topic is: "To what extent should the Canadian Senate be changed?" There are three possible positions on this issue: retention (keep the Senate as it is right now), abolition (get rid of the Senate completely), or reformation (reform/change the Senate). I gave you some ideas of political terms that you might be able to work into your essay, and some ideas for arguments as well. The following are some hyperlinks that may be of use to you as well:

• MapleLeaf Web: Senate Issues (lots of information here, easy to read)
• Wikipedia:The Canadian Senate (a general overview)
• The Senate (listings of Canadian Senators, available in alphabetical order, by province, by political party)
  
  

Social 23

We continued looking at industrialization/economic development in Chapter 4 in the textbook. I assigned some key terms and questions for homework.

December 13

Social 10

You wrote your Government Final today in class. Also, we looked briefly at the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Rights. Tomorrow, I will be giving you the topic for the in-class essay on Thursday.

Social 23

We started talking about Industrialization today in class. I gave you some key terms and questions to do for homework.

December 12

I'll try to keep the post brief tonight, because I want to get home soon...

Social 10

We started looking at "Rights and Responsibilities" today in class. You had to copy out some notes on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and then you had an opinionnare to complete. We discussed your answers to various statements related to rights in Canada. After tomorrow's test on government, we will hopefully have some time to explore the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights in greater detail.

Social 23

We watched "Food or Famine" today in class. There was a video worksheet that accompanied this video. I will return your WWI Internet Research Assignments tomorrow in class.

December 9

Social 10

Today we focused in on the election campaign, specifically what candidates are running in the Calgary Nose Hill riding. I would like you to see if you can collect more campaign information directly from the candidates in your riding. If you go to the Canada Votes website, you find contact information for most of the candidates. You may have to work a little harder to find out information about your Green party candidate though. Please don't forget that you have your "Government" Test on Tuesday!

Social 23

We went over the material in Chapter 5: Hunger that you read yesterday in class. Today was the last day that I would accept your "Country Report Assignment".

December 8

Social 23

Today I had you do some more reading from your textbook. These are the pages that you were to read and take notes on: pages 164-175 and pages 181-189. We will be discussing this tomorrow in class. Tomorrow is the last day to hand in your "Country Report Assignment". If your assignment is not handed in by the end of classes tomorrow, I will not accept them next week.

Social 10

I delivered a PowerPoint presentation in class today, that I will be sending out to you. We also discussed the task which I had you do for homework last night. We talked about why people should vote, why young people don't vote, and what could be done to encourage young people to vote.
Here's what I would like you to do tonight:
1. Visit the Canada Votes website
2. Click on "Ridings & Candidates"
3. Click on "Alberta"
4. Most of you live in the "Calgary Nose Hill" riding, so click on that.
5. Prepare a list of candidates for your riding and their political party affiliation.
6. Take some notes on the candidates (biographical information, key points of the party platform that they may be emphasizing, some may even have their own websites too that you can explore).
7. I live in the "Calgary West" riding, so you can also do a little investigating of the candidates that I have to select from.

There may be a couple of you who do not live in the Calgary Nose Hill riding, if you think that might be the case, please go to the Elections Canada website, and search for your riding by postal code.

December 7

Social 10

Today we started talking about citizenship, and what factors might affect an individual's involvement in the political process. We also updated the election campaign retrieval chart.
In the 2000 federal election voter turnout was down across Canada. Most alarming, voter turnout for young people was 25%. Given this information, I would like you to do the following:
1. Visit the Elections Canada website
2. Click on "English" ("French" if you're feeling adventurous)
3. Under "Information for You" click on "Young Voters"
4. Under the right-hand side navigation click on "Election Basics"
5. Scroll down to and click on "Why should I vote?"
6. At this page, take notes on why people should vote.
7. Can you think of reasons why young people don't vote? List off some reasons.
8. What would you do to encourage young people to get involved in the political process, and to exercise their right to vote? (Write down some of your own ideas)

The Elections Canada site does also provide a lot of valuable information. While you're there, please explore some more!

Social 23

I collected your "Country Report Assignment" today in class. If you were away today, hopefully it was an excused absence, otherwise you have just lost 10% off this assignment. These assignments will not be accepted after the end of classes on Friday, so please make sure that you hand it in. Also, I asked you to read the following pages in your textbook: page 161, pages 163-167, and answer the following questions: Q2-3a on page 164 and Q4c on page 165. Additionally, I asked you to start compiling a list of "Hunger Terms", including the following key terms:

• hunger
• malnutrition
• undernutrition
• kwashiorkor
• marasmus
• beriberi
• pellagra
• scurvy
• rickets

December 6

Social 10

Today, I delivered a PowerPoint presentation which tied up some loose ends. I will be sending it out later tonight. Also, we talked about the election campaign again, and developments related to the major party's platforms. Here is the study guide for the upcoming Government Test, which will be next Tuesday. It will consist of 50 multiple choice questions.

Government Test Study Guide:

1. Key Concepts (see outline)

• most of these concepts can be found in the initial PowerPoint presentation that I delivered with this theme

2. Structure and Function of Government (see outline, I'm doing this from memory):

• focus on the first PowerPoint, and notes that you took from the videos
• executive, legislative, judicial branches
• BNA Act (1867)
• Constitution Act (1982)
• powers and responsibilities of the branches of government
• federalism/federal system
• how a bill becomes a law
• House of Commons and Senate
• roles of the constitutional monarchy

3. The Role of Pressure Groups and the Media (focus on today's presentation) in the Government

Social 23

You read the case study on China from your textbook, and answered the following questions from the book: Q32-37 on pages 223-226. This is also due tomorrow!
Don't forget that the Country Report Assignment is due tomorrow.
Here are some useful websites to help you in your research:

• UNICEF
• United Nations CyberSchoolBus-Infonation
• CIA World Factbook
• BBC Country Profiles
• Country Reports.org (Emulateme)
• Library of Congress (Country Studies)

Assignments will no longer be accepted past 3 days late! In other words, if this assignment isn't complete by Friday, you will receive a mark of zero for it.

December 5

Social 10

Today we went over some of the recent developments in the political platforms of the major parties thus far in this election campaign. Here are some helpful hyperlinks to help you to continue working on your retrieval charts:

• CBC Canada Votes: Leaders, Parties and Issues (scroll down to Issues, there are two versions: "interactive" and "HTML", either will let you know where the parties stand on particular issues). On this same page, there is the "Voter Quiz". Please take it to see which political party you might support if you could vote in the 2006 election.
  

Social 23

We watched a video today entitled, "China's Only Child". There were some readings that went along with the video. Please complete the readings and the questions associated with those readings.

December 2

Social 10

You wrote a pop quiz in class today. Additionally, I asked you to start making a chart to track progress of the election campaign. The chart that you make should look as described in the following section:

• The top row should have the main political parties in Canada, from left to right: Conservatives, Liberals, New Democrats, Bloc Quebecois, and Green (so your chart with have 6 columns, one for each political party, and another for the descriptions of what is contained in the following three rows).
• The next row of your chart should list the leader each of these political parties.
• The next row should list the number of seats that each political party won in the 2004 election, and where those seats are located, so for example, the Bloc Quebecois won 53 seats in the last sitting of Parliament, and they were all in Quebec.
• The last row (which should be most of your chart) is reserved for each party's political platform and policies. As the election campaign progresses almost every day the various political parties will be announcing new party ideas, initiatives, and campaign promises. (For example, the Conservative party promise to lower the GST from 7% to 5% over the next two years) To aid you in this endeavor, please keep watching the TV news, reading the newspaper, and you may also be able to use the permanent hyperlinks located on the right-hand side of this blog under the "Social 10 Links" heading. Unfortunately, the Bloc Quebecois don't seem to have an English version, so many of you will be more dependent on the news media for your information on this political party.

Have a great weekend!

Social 23

We watched the second part of "World in the Balance" entitled "China Revs Up" today in class. Please don't forget to work on your Country Research Project, which is due on Wednesday. There are a couple of you who have not been assigned a country yet. If this applies to you, please e-mail me, and I'll let you know what countries are still available. My e-mail address is located under my profile on the right-hand side of this blog.

December 1

Social 23

Today we watched some short videos from "The People Bomb" series. There was a worksheet to accompany this video. Additionally, the following questions were assigned for homework today: pg.204 Q1, pg.207 Q5-6, pg.208 Q7, pg.209 Q10a, pg.211 Q11a-11b.

Social 10

After current events today we watched a fascinating video on "Our Constitution". This video was not only informative, but also contained a fantastic soundtrack, and was a landmark in animation. All sarcasm aside, the video was the last in the series that we will be viewing. Please review your glossary of key terms and the floor plan of the House of Commons and the process of "How a Bill Becomes a Law".