Thu, 10-6: Roman--and American--Republics

In Class: The Flaws of Republican Government, Past and Present


Practice Seminar: 

• What were the main causes of the failure of Republican democracy in ancient Rome?
• List them by category > specific examples
• Are there parallels to the USA today?
• Case study: Warren Buffett's "Buffett Rule"
  

Roman Republic Podcast is done.  You don't have to watch it now, but remember it when it comes test-review time. It includes many connections between past and present, and occasional analysis and insight that our boring textbook tragically lacks.

I did my best to squeeze the entire 500 years of the Republic into about 30 minutes. Download it here. Again: if you use iTunes to watch it, you can jump around to the chapters that you want to review quickly and easily. (Subscribe to the podcast channel in iTunes by going here.)

Here's the YouTube version. It has no chapter navigation, so iTunes is really a smarter choice.

Fri., Sep. 30: DBQ Prep

**Update 2**: Sunday, midnight: Greece Podcast
Another podcast: Ancient Greece, from Beginning to End (Crete, Mycenae, Dorians, Classical Athens, Alexander and Hellenism--with a long pause for Socrates and Philosophy, and a few comparisons with China. You don't have to listen to it before the DBQ--it's long (45 minutes), and the textbook chapters are enough--but it will be assigned before the Unit Test, so it's your choice. And I think those of you who are thinkers will see that I tried to make it interesting (because it is). Right-click and "Save as..." here.  

**Update 1**: Sunday, 12.45 p.m.
As promised, an overview of China in a podcast. Download it here (Right Click > "Save as..."), and open it in iTunes or any player that plays m4v files. 

I did the whole Shang, Zhou, Qin, and Han. If you just want to skip to Qin and Han, scroll to about 15.45 (if you go to View > Chapters, you'll see each dynasty's chapter. Click on it to go straight to that section). Qin and Han are about 30 minutes altogether.

The audio is a bit soft in the Zhou section, but louder in Qin and Han. I didn't have time to add pictures in the Qin/Han section as much as I wanted. Maybe I'll do that later, but for now--take notes on the audio. I tell you what textbook pages I'm discussing as I go, so follow along in your textbook if you think that will help.  

 

For the DBQ Tuesday:

You won't see the question until you are in class. You'll have ten minutes to gather your thoughts, outline, make new groupings, and so forth.

Annotate DBQ at home with:

• analysis and background info (see Ashley's DBQ draft for success here, and for a pretty good "advanced road map" in her thesis)
• "insights" about the meaning and significance of the subject, and of the individual docs themselves (Brett's formative DBQ is a fine and depressingly rare example of insightful student writing)
• Good possible groupings that are general enough to include 2-3 docs, but not vague. See the "common social studies categories" in an earlier post, and remember our mini-lesson on the board about "bucketing."

FAQs:
1. "What can we bring to class?"

• the DBQ, annotated on laptop OR on print-out. Your choice.
• hand-written notes: NO FULL PARAGRAPHS: short bullet points only of 2/3 of one line maximum. If it looks like a paragraph, I WILL CONFISCATE IT!!! (Yes, I'm screaming and using !!!. That's how serious this is.) 
• the Formative Greek DBQ rubric with my red-ink feedback (to remind you what to improve over last time) 

2. "Can we write on our laptops?"
--No. Hand-written. WRITE LARGE AND CLEARLY. DOUBLE-SPACE. LEAVE MARGINS.

3. "What other docs will we have?"
--DBQ checklist
--Rubric (new: simpler, clearer, cleaner)

Monday, 9/26: Writing Workshop 2 + Greek Philosophy

Announcements
1. See updated HW at bottom.

Why 9/11? Is America an empire? 

Watch adults debate that here. Our first Summative Seminar (the week after the DBQ) will include the question, "Is America an empire?" So this might give you good evidence to discuss:



In Class:
A. Writing Workshop 
1. Hand-Outs:

1. Cause/Effect Essay Drafts--look at feedback, clarify the changes you need to make for final revision, hand back to me. I'll return them later for you to revise and submit for Summative Grade.
2. Revised Essay/DBQ Rubric
3. "Formal Academic Essay Don'ts"

2. Collect Greece DBQ drafts.
--I'll check only these things:

• Complete Thesis Sentence + Road Map 
• Body Paragraphs (I'll only check one):
• Full Topic Sentence at beginning of paragraph
• Proper Document inclusion and citation
• Transitions within and between paragraphs

 3. Mini-Lesson: Writing Introductions and Conclusions (Powerpoint here)

B. Greek Philosophy:

Mini-Seminar: Practice making contributions before we have a Seminar Test

1. The Babylonians were not harsh to all the societies they conquered. They were very harsh to the Hebrews in Israel, though. What do you think made the Babylonians decide to destroy the Jewish Temple and deport the leading Jews to Babylon?

2. What was the difference between the Jews, who the Babylonians punished, and the other cultures that they tolerated?

3. What do you know about Jesus? What was his religion? Who crucified him? Why was he killed?

4. What do you know about Socrates? 

5. What do Socrates and Jesus have in common? Why did Confucius' life escape this?

What is philosophy, and why is it dangerous to practice it?

Watch the three videos below:



Confused? See if this clears things up:



HW:
1. Watch this podcast (download it) on Confucianism and Taoism. Since your DBQ will include China, going a bit deeper into these two philosophies will help. Pay attention to specific quotes and main ideas, because they may show up on tests.

2. Watch this clip from The Matrix, and be prepared to discuss how it relates to Plato's Allegory of the Cave: