Wednesday, April 30, 2008

April 30


We discussed some underlying issues related to outsourcing today, and made the distinction between outsourcing and offshoring. I also gave you the Unit 3 in-class position paper sheet that you will be allowed to bring into class when you write your essays on May 7th. I also did a presentation on "The Impacts of Globalization on Environments" (which roughly corresponds to Chapter 13 in your textbook Perspectives on Globalization).

  • TNC Dossier Assignment is due Monday, May 5th
  • Unit 3 In-Class Position Paper is on Wednesday, May 7th
  • Unit 3 Part A In-Class Writing Assignment is on Friday, May 9th
  • Unit 3 Final Exam (multiple choice) is on Wednesday, May 14th


I gave you back the results on the Interwar Years Quiz today (excellent results!). We went through some Causes of WWII by looking at the concept web at the back of your Causes of World War II Assignment booklet (this booklet is due on May 7th). I gave you some time to work on your Events of World War II booklet.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

April 29


You wrote your Interwar Years Quiz today. Also, you were given a few handouts today, one on the causes of WWII booklet and the other was a booklet that you were working through on events in WWII.


You watched the video "The Other Side of Outsourcing" today and completed an accompanying worksheet to go with it. We'll be talking about the position paper a little bit more tomorrow.

Monday, April 28, 2008

April 28


I spent most of the period going through how to write an effective position paper. We looked at the difference between arguments and examples, and I gave you a handout called "The Recipe for Success: How to Write Effective Position Papers". I will be giving you the essay question sheet on Wednesday. Please check your e-mail, I will be sending out the TNC Dossier Assignment marking guide as well as the essay marking guide. I also gave back the results of your Chapter 10-11 Quiz today.


We did a brief review of the MAIN causes of World War I, and the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (GARGLe). I taught you a new mnemonic today for FAILURe of the League of Nations. commit these mnemonic tools to memory, they will help out tremendously on your Diploma Exam. I gave you some time to read 6.4 "Hitler's Words and Hitler's Actions" to 6.6 "The Nazi-Soviet Pact". Then we moved on to A History of the Twentieth Century, specifically reading p.26-29 and p.30-33. You are to do the following questions from p.28: Q 1 a+b, Q 2 a-g, and on page 29 Q 3 a-f. On page 32: Q 2 a-d, and on page 33 Q 4 a-d. I will be doing a homework check on this on Wednesday, so please make sure that it is all completed. Please remember that you have your Interwar Years Quiz tomorrow, here is the study guide again:


This quiz has 3 parts to it: a True or False section, a Matching Section, and a Multiple Choice Section. Here are some key events and people that you should be knowledgeable about:

  • Treaty of Versailles (terms of the treaty, remember GARGLe)
  • "The Big Three" (Clemenceau, Wilson, Lloyd George: what did they each want at the Paris Peace Conference? What are their positions?)
  • League of Nations (remember the mnemonic device: FAILURe)
  • examples of the failure of the League of Nations (Japan in Manchuria, Italy in Abyssinia, and the Spanish Civil War)
  • Abyssinia
  • Potsdam
  • Rhineland
  • Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
  • Communist Manifesto
  • Weimar Republic
  • Maginot Line
  • Anschluss
  • Mein Kampf
  • Spanish Civil War
  • Anti-Comintern Pact
  • Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, Japan)
  • Lebensraum
  • Munich Conference
  • appeasement
  • rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany (key steps)
  • outbreak of WWII (what was it that finally got France and Britain to declare war on Germany?)

Friday, April 25, 2008

April 25


We watched a video today called "Impacts of Globalization", it contains a really good case study of the Republic of Ireland, which could be very useful for your upcoming Unit 3 position paper. This would be a really good weekend to get some work/research completed for your TNC Dossier Assignment. I will give you results of your Chapter 10-11 Quiz on Monday.


Some of you completed computer access request forms for Part A of your Diploma Exam. You'll find out soon enough whether you will get a computer to use for Part A. We also watched a video called "Why Appeasement?". I also gave you a handout/booklet called "Was Appeasement a Good Idea?" Please remember to study for your Interwar Years Quiz which is on Tuesday, April 29th, the study guide is in the April 24th post (just scroll down a bit to find it).

Thursday, April 24, 2008

April 24


We started class by doing a quick review of the MAIN causes of WWI and the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (GARGLe). Which led into looking at the League of Nations and the Interwar Years. If you missed today's class, you need to pick up a few handouts on the League of Nations and a booklet/timeline of key events in the Interwar Years. You will write a quiz on the Interwar Years on Tuesday, April 29th. The study guide is below.


This quiz has 3 parts to it: a True or False section, a Matching Section, and a Multiple Choice Section. Here are some key events and people that you should be knowledgeable about:

  • Treaty of Versailles (terms of the treaty, remember GARGLe)
  • "The Big Three" (Clemenceau, Wilson, Lloyd George: what did they each want at the Paris Peace Conference? What are their positions?)
  • League of Nations (remember the mnemonic device: FAILURe)
  • examples of the failure of the League of Nations (Japan in Manchuria, Italy in Abyssinia, and the Spanish Civil War)
  • Abyssinia
  • Potsdam
  • Rhineland
  • Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
  • Communist Manifesto
  • Weimar Republic
  • Maginot Line
  • Anschluss
  • Mein Kampf
  • Spanish Civil War
  • Anti-Comintern Pact
  • Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, Japan)
  • Lebensraum
  • Munich Conference
  • appeasement
  • rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Germany (key steps)
  • outbreak of WWII (what was it that finally got France and Britain to declare war on Germany?)

For most of the period, you wrote your Chapter 10-11 Quiz in class. I also took in your Chapter 12 Questions as a homework check.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

April 23

I delivered a presentation today that corresponds to material in Chapter 12 material. I will be sending this presentation to you this afternoon, so please check your e-mail. Your Chapter 12 Questions are due tomorrow. Please remember that you have your Chapter 10-11 Quiz tomorrow. The study guide is here. On another note, here are some hyperlinks that I mentioned in class today: the cost of the Iraq War, and the Oreo cookie presentation.

Please print off this presentation when you get it.



We finished watching "Hitler: Rise of Evil" in class today. We'll begin looking at the League of Nations tomorrow.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

April 22


We continued watching "Hitler: Rise of Evil" today in class, we'll be hard-pressed to finish it tomorrow, but we'll continue watching it nonetheless.


We continued watching "The Age of Wal-Mart" in class today. If you are researching Wal-Mart as part of your TNC Dossier Assignment, please check out the hyperlinks on the right hand side of the blog, in particular the hyperlink "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" I've included other TNC hyperlinks on this page. You might also want to check out the Multinational Monitor hyperlink that is under Social 10 Links as well, just as I showed you in class today. Your Chapter 12 Key Terms are due tomorrow.Please remember that your Chapter 10-11 Quiz is on Thursday, here is the study guide (scroll down to find it). Your TNC Dossier Assigment is due on Monday, May 5th, so please start working on it.

Monday, April 21, 2008

April 21


We finished off something that we started on Friday, namely selecting the transnational corporation that you will be profiling with your TNC Dossier Assignment. If you ever have questions about resources or need some help with this assignment, just ask, I tend to have a fair number of resources for a lot of the TNCs on the list. If you want to start doing some research on your TNC a good place to start might be the Multinational Monitor. They keep tabs on the activities of transnational corporations. When you go to the Multinational Monitor website it's not a bad idea to do a simple search on the TNC that you are researching. You might find a fair bit of information on your TNC this way, or least find out if it's ever been mentioned in the Multinational Monitor.

We also started to look at the Wal-Mart corporation today. We watched part of "The Age of Wal-Mart" in class, and we'll finish it tomorrow. Please remember that you have your Chapter 10-11 Quiz on Thursday, here is the study guide (scroll down to find it).


Big Box Mart Funny Jokes at JibJab




We watched a short video today called "Make Germany Pay". I also gave you a worksheet on Adolf Hitler's Rise to Power (using the textbook A History of the Twentieth Century). We then started watching "Hitler: Rise of Evil", and we'll continue watching it tomorrow.

Friday, April 18, 2008

April 18


We finished watching "The Corporation" today in class. I finally gave back your WTO charts, and your Chapter 11 Key Terms and Questions. Also, I handed out your next project sheet, this one is a Transnational Corporation Dossier Assignment. We will be drawing lots on Monday to see which TNC you will be able to research. The TNC Dossier Assignment will be due on Monday, May 5th. I also announced today that you will have your Chapter 10-11 Quiz next Thursday, I'm posting the study guide below.



This quiz has a matching section and a short answer section. Please make sure that you review Chapters 10 and 11. Please review your answers to questions/activities from your Unit 3 worksheet, as well as the key terms (from Chapter 10-11 and from the PowerPoint presentations). Please review the following two PowerPoint presentations:
1. "Foundations of Economic Globalization"
2. "Expansion of Economic Globalization"


You should know these key terms really well:

  • Bretton Woods Agreement
  • international monetary system
  • fixed exchange rate
  • gold standard
  • floating exchange rate
  • World Bank
  • International Monetary Fund (IMF)
  • centrally planned economy
  • free market economy
  • recession
  • John Maynard Keynes
  • Friedrich Hayek
  • Milton Friedman
  • totalitarian
  • General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
  • tariff
  • World Trade Organization (WTO)
  • Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
  • North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

You should also be able to answer the following questions:

  • What is economic globalization?
  • How did 20th century world events shape contemporary economic globalization?
  • What factors laid the foundations of contemporary global economics?
  • What were the major global institutions that were created at the Bretton Woods Agreement?
  • What are the major differences between the ideas of John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek?
  • What factors contribute to expanding globalization?
  • How do international agreements and organizations contribute to expanding globalization?
  • How do transnational corporations contribute to expanding globalization?
  • How do communication technologies contribute to expanding globalization?
  • What are the benefits of the WTO system?
  • What are some criticisms of the WTO?




I gave you a few readings on the end of WWI, the Treaty of Versailles, and the League of Nations. We'll be continuing these themes next week as well as getting into the rise of Hitler in Nazi Germany.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

April 16


We finished watching "Life + Debt" today, and then we started watching "The Corporation". We'll continue watching "The Corporation" tomorrow. I also gave you back your Unit 2 Final Exam results.


I started doing Topic B material today, I delivered a presentation that was meant to be a review of the Causes of WWI. I will send this presentation to you today, so please check your e-mail and let me know if you don't get this presentation. We also started watching "One Day of War", and we'll finish it tomorrow.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

April 15


You wrote your Economic Systems Unit Final today, and you will get the results of this test and others that you have written in the last two classes. We will continue our study of Topic B tomorrow.


We started watching "Life + Debt" today in class, we'll finish it tomorrow. There is still time to write a post for your group's blog and to comment on someone else's posting. I'll be checking your blogs tomorrow morning.

Monday, April 14, 2008

April 14


You wrote your Unit 2 Final Exam today for most of the period. If you finished early, you should have worked on your Chapter 11 Key Terms and Questions, which are due tomorrow. Also due tomorrow is your WTO chart in which you must make point form chart with the arguments in favor of and against the WTO. Please use the WTO website itself to complete this as well, in particular: Ten Common Misunderstandings about the WTO. You will get the results of your Unit 2 Final Exam tomorrow.


You wrote your Economic Systems Test today, which covered the market economy, the mixed economy, and writing assignment covered the command economy. You will be writing your Economic Systems Unit Final tomorrow in class, it is 50 multiple choice questions. Once you were finished your test today, you were to study for this unit final. Here is the study guide once again.

Friday, April 11, 2008

April 11


I gave you a handout today on the World Trade Organization, this is testable material so please make sure that you are really well-versed with this material. You must go to the following part of the World Trade Organization's website in order to complete your chart (which is for homework, for Tuesday): Ten Common Misunderstandings about the WTO. At this website, you will find criticisms of the WTO, and the WTO's response to these criticisms. What you need to do is make a chart listing off the arguments against the WTO and arguments in favor of the WTO. Also, your Chapter 11 Key Terms and Questions will be due on Tuesday. Your Unit 2 Final Exam is on Monday, April 14th. I posted the study guide on the blog again yesterday, so please check there for the study guide. Please make sure that you post to your group blog prior to Monday! Thanks!


We played a review game today which covered our economic systems unit. I will be sending this PowerPoint presentation to you by e-mail. Please study for these exams (you have one on Monday, and one on Tuesday). The study guides are posted below.


Next week, you will be writing a couple of tests covering the Economic Systems unit that we have been working on. I've decided to combine the study guide into one, however, please realize that there are two tests:

  • Economic Systems Unit Quiz (fill in the blanks format) + a writing assignment from a past Diploma Exam, this quiz is on Monday, April 14th
  • Economic Systems Unit Final (multiple choice questions) is on Tuesday, April 15th

The following study guide covers both tests:

1. Market Economy

  • synonyms for a Market Economy
  • Economic Values associated with Market Economy
  • Advantages/Disadvantages of a Market Economy
  • Adam Smith
  • Invisible Hand
  • Business Cycle (booms, busts, depression, recession, recovery)
  • Law of supply and Demand (effect on price; equilibrium)
  • Characteristics of a Market Economy
  • Basic Economic Questions (what are the basic economic questions? how does a market economy 'answer' them?)
  • USA (model example, please see Ch. 8-9 in A Changing World)
  • FDR and the New Deal
  • the Great Depression
  • Means of Production (examples)
  • Economic Individualism
  • Competition
  • Monopoly
  • Private Ownership
  • Profit Motive
  • Consumer Sovereignty

2. Command Economy

  • synonyms for a Command Economy
  • Economic Values associated with a Command Economy
  • Advantages/Disadvantages of a Command Economy
  • Basic Economic Questions (what are they? how does a Command economy 'answer' them?)
  • Karl Marx (Das Kapital and The Communist Manifesto)
  • Characteristics of a Command Economy
  • Structure of the Soviet Economy
  • "storming"
  • the second economy
  • Central Planning of Production in the Soviet Union
  • Gosplan
  • top-down decision making in Soviet economy
  • Economic Planning in the USSR (booklet)
  • Lenin
  • Stalin
  • Five Year Plans
  • collective farms
  • Stalin and Modernization
  • collectivization
  • Gorbachev and his economic reforms
  • Perestroika
  • Glasnost
  • please see Chapters 10-11 in A Changing World

3. Mixed Economy

  • Economic Values associated with a Mixed Economy
  • Characteristics of a Mixed Economy
  • Advantages/Disadvantages of a Mixed Economy
  • Monetary Policy
  • Fiscal Policy
  • Basic Economic Questions (what are they? how does a mixed economy 'answer' them?)
  • privatization
  • Utopian socialism
  • Louis Blanc
  • Robert Owen
  • Business Cycle
  • John Maynard Keynes
  • Keynesian Economics
  • tax incentives
  • government subsidies
  • please see Chapter 12 in A Changing World
  • case studies (Canada-Ch. 14 and Sweden- Ch. 13 in A Changing World)

Thursday, April 10, 2008

April 10


Today was a day where you could get work completed that you hadn't finished off in the semester and get full homework check credit for it. You also have a homework assignment for tonight: you must e-mail me 10 review questions from our Economic Systems Unit before 9 p.m. tonight in order to get full homework check credit. We will be playing a review game tomorrow. Please review for your upcoming tests and unit final. You have an Economic Systems Test on Monday (fill-in-blank and short answer questions, plus a writing assignment). You also have your Economic Systems Unit Final (50 multiple choice questions) on Tuesday. Study! I will post study guides for these exams in tomorrow's post.

I delivered a presentation today that corresponds with your Chapter 11 material. I will send you "The Expansion of Economic Globalization" this afternoon, so please check your e-mail and print it off. Please remember to post to your group's blog and make a comment on someone else's posting. Also, you could be doing a review for your Unit 2 Final Exam, which is on Monday, April 14th. Here is the study guide.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

April 9


We finished off "China Rises: Getting Rich" today, and then we revisited some of the dilemmas of global trade that we looked at on Monday. I have posted an assignment on your group blogs related to these scenarios. Please post on your group blogs tonight, and let's get the online debate going! You also have Chapter 10 questions due tomorrow as well. Please remember that your Unit 2 Final Exam has been moved to Monday, April 14th. Here is the study guide again.



This final exam is entirely multiple choice format. There are 57 multiple choice questions. This Unit 2 Final Exam will be on Thursday, April 10th. Please make sure that you study your key terms from Unit 2 (Chapters 6-9), as well as the three PowerPoint presentations from this unit:

  • "Historical Globalization and Imperialism"
  • "Legacies of Historical Globalization"
  • "Legacies of Historical Globalization in Canada"

Key Concepts from Unit 2:

  • world views
  • historical globalization
  • cultural contact
  • depopulation
  • the Silk Road
  • international trade
  • mercantilism
  • capitalism
  • free market
  • entrepreneurs
  • Adam Smith
  • exploitation
  • communism
  • industrialization
  • Industrial Revolution
  • cottage industries
  • imperialism
  • "new" imperialism
  • "old" imperialism
  • colony
  • protectorate
  • sphere of influence
  • paternalistic
  • Confederation
  • residential schools
  • the Oka crisis
  • First Nations Policing Policy
  • legacy
  • ethnocentrism
  • Eurocentrism
  • Scramble for Africa
  • Leopold II
  • migration
  • displacement
  • British East India Company
  • Queen Elizabeth I
  • the Raj
  • Mohandas Gandhi
  • swadeshi
  • deindustrialization
  • colonization
  • the Hundred Associates
  • Hudson’s Bay Company
  • Rupert’s Land
  • North West Company
  • Seven Years’ War
  • Proclamation of 1763
  • Quebec Act of 1774
  • the Numbered Treaties
  • the Indian Act
  • Status Indian
  • Non-Status Indian
  • multiculturalism
  • specific claims
  • comprehensive claims


We did our usual review of economics at the beginning of class today, but we also did some more work at Keynesian economics, monetary and fiscal policy and what a government should do (according to Keynes) in times of economic booms and busts. I gave you some homework tonight: you must complete the "Benefits of Economic Systems" booklet for tomorrow. I'll will be doing a homework check on it.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

April 8


We did our usual review of what we've studied so far in our Economic Systems Unit at the beginning of class today. Next, I gave you a couple of handouts related to democratic socialism in Sweden. We then moved on to our next case study of Canada. I assigned the following questions from A Changing World Chapter 14: Q 1-5, Q8.


I talked a little bit today about your Unit 2 Part A in-class writing assignments (I returned them)and some missed opportunities in the analysis of these three sources. Marks on this writing assignment dropped a little as compared to the Unit 1 writing assignment, which makes sense because it was a more challenging writing assignment. We then moved back into Unit 3 work by watching a video called "China Rises: Getting Rich" and completing a video study as you watched the film. We'll finish this video tomorrow. I have also moved the Unit 2 Final Exam to Monday, April 14th, so you can write it when we're back in R4.

Monday, April 07, 2008

April 7


Today was our first class of the week in the Admiralty Room. Given some of the restrictions of this space, I've decided to postpone your Unit 2 Final Exam until Monday, April 14th when we're back in R4. I collected your Chapter 10 Key Terms at the beginning of class today. We then looked at some "Dilemmas of Global Trade", and we'll be discussing some of the other scenarios in the coming days. We also watched a video on "Global Economic Issues". You should be reviewing for your Unit 2 Final Exam tonight.


We did some review of economics that we've covered so far in Theme II (Economic Systems). We then looked at Keynesian economics and what impact it would have on the business cycle, as well as fiscal and monetary policy. I assigned Chapter 13 (Sweden) Q1, Q3-9 from A Changing World as homework tonight. I also did a homework check on the Chapter 12 worksheet questions, which were due today.

Friday, April 04, 2008

April 4


I gave you the Unit 3 organizational web and worksheet today. Your Chapter 10 Key Terms are due on Monday, April 7th. You have a Unit 2 Final Exam that you could be studying for this weekend, here is a link to the study guide (scroll down to find it).


We continued our look at economic systems today, by starting to examine the mixed economy. I gave you a couple of handouts, one on the "Characteristics of the Mixed Economy" and other one was a worksheet with questions that corresponded to Chapter 12 in A Changing World. All of the questions from this worksheet are due on Monday.

Thursday, April 03, 2008

April 3

We watched a short video called "Stalin and Russia's Modernization" at the beginning of class today. I then gave you a booklet called "Economic Planning in the USSR" which is due tomorrow; you had most of class period to finish this, so hopefully you have no homework tonight.


I was able to finish the presentation "Foundations of Economic Globalization" which I started on Tuesday. I will be sending this presentation to you tonight. If you haven't already read Chapter 10 in Perspectives on Globalization, you probably should tonight, it will help you to understand the presentation even more.

Please print this presentation off tonight, with 4 slides per page. Also, please remember that you should print the following slide off on a piece of paper of its own (full size).


This final exam is entirely multiple choice format. There are 57 multiple choice questions. This Unit 2 Final Exam will be on Thursday, April 10th. Please make sure that you study your key terms from Unit 2 (Chapters 6-9), as well as the three PowerPoint presentations from this unit:

  • "Historical Globalization and Imperialism"
  • "Legacies of Historical Globalization"
  • "Legacies of Historical Globalization in Canada"

Key Concepts from Unit 2:

  • world views
  • historical globalization
  • cultural contact
  • depopulation
  • the Silk Road
  • international trade
  • mercantilism
  • capitalism
  • free market
  • entrepreneurs
  • Adam Smith
  • exploitation
  • communism
  • industrialization
  • Industrial Revolution
  • cottage industries
  • imperialism
  • "new" imperialism
  • "old" imperialism
  • colony
  • protectorate
  • sphere of influence
  • paternalistic
  • Confederation
  • residential schools
  • the Oka crisis
  • First Nations Policing Policy
  • legacy
  • ethnocentrism
  • Eurocentrism
  • Scramble for Africa
  • Leopold II
  • migration
  • displacement
  • British East India Company
  • Queen Elizabeth I
  • the Raj
  • Mohandas Gandhi
  • swadeshi
  • deindustrialization
  • colonization
  • the Hundred Associates
  • Hudson’s Bay Company
  • Rupert’s Land
  • North West Company
  • Seven Years’ War
  • Proclamation of 1763
  • Quebec Act of 1774
  • the Numbered Treaties
  • the Indian Act
  • Status Indian
  • Non-Status Indian
  • multiculturalism
  • specific claims
  • comprehensive claims

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

April 2


For most of the period you wrote your Unit 2 Part A Writing Assignment. I'll try to mark these as quickly as possible, but it is unlikely that you will get these back this week, hopefully mid-week, next week. You should read Chapter 10 from your textbook Perspectives on Globalization in preparation for Unit 3. Your Unit 2 Final Exam is next Thursday (April 10th), and it is all multiple choice. A study guide for this unit final will be posted on blog next week.


We did a brief review of some of the economic concepts that we have covered so far, including: the economic spectrum, economic values, the basic economic questions, and advantages and disadvantages of the command economy. We then looked at Marx's view of history and capitalism, then we looked at the structure of the Soviet economy. Finally, we ended with a GOSPLAN simulation and discussed some of the decisions that we made during the simulation.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

April 1


We spent most of the period in the Blenheim Room playing a couple of computer games to reinforce the ideas and concepts related to the stock market crash of 1929, and the laws of supply and demand in a market economy. We'll be continuing with the command economy tomorrow in class.

I tied up some loose ends in our study of Unit 2, and I gave you a booklet to read on First Nations people in Canadian history. We started Unit 3 today briefly, by starting a presentation called "The Foundations of Economic Globalization". I didn't finish this presentation, hopefully, I will be able to finish it on Thursday. I also collected your Chapter 9 Key Terms and Questions today. Please remember the upcoming important dates:


  • Unit 2 Part A In-Class Writing Assignment is tomorrow (April 2nd)
  • Unit 2 Final Exam is on Thursday, April 10th (a study guide will be posted on the blog this Thursday)