Project presentations tomorrow!

Today you freshmen have your retreat.  I hope you all get your souls recharged, and come out of retreat ready to take on the world!


Tomorrow you will begin presenting your projects to the rest of the class in small groups.  I am not the only one who will be grading your presentations.  You will be assessing each other.  Click here to see the form you will be using to evaluate each other.


If you need to tweak your project one last time to make sure you meet all these standards, tonight is your last chance.  Any questions, just email me.

update on projects

Here is another reminder to let you know that since school has been cancelled for tomorrow, the projects are now due on Thursday. Nov. 18.  We will begin sharing the projects with each other right at the beginning of class, so be ready.
Tomorrow, keep in mind the members of Mrs. Moeser's family, as well as all her friends and former students, who will be celebrating her life.  Please make sure your parents, especially those who may have known Mrs. Moeser, know the details of the funeral service in case they wish to attend.  Details can be found here.

Mr. Barker's tribute can be found here, and the John Carroll Campus Ministry page on Facebook has many personal remembrances.

an extra day for the projects

Since school has been cancelled for Wednesday, the projects are now due on Thursday. Nov. 18.  We will begin sharing the projects with each other right at the beginning of class, so be ready.

Also, please take a moment to pray for Mrs. Moeser, and her family and friends in the John Carroll community and beyond.

If you want to learn a little more about this wonderful woman, whom, sadly, most of you never got a chance to know, click here for a nice tribute written by Mr. Barker.

You may also want to visit the John Carroll Campus Ministry page on Facebook.

great work today

Today in class we worked and worked hard on our coffee projects.  I'll repeat what I said in class - you should put some time in on this project over the weekend.  I realize you are not very familiar with a lot of the concepts and material in this assignment, but you're doing a great job, and I think you are going to learn quite a bit about Latin America, global trade, economics, and even coffee.

One more important thing.  You heard on this morning's announcements about Billy Decker's sister being in a car accident.  Please keep our friend Billy and his family, especially his sister Morgan, in your thoughts and prayers this weekend.

Thanks for being so incredible.  And everyone involved in Peter Pan - break a leg!  See you next week.

Group Assignment

Today in class I introduced our next project.  We are going to research many aspects of coffee growing in Latin America (and around the world!).  The assignment is listed under Hot Links, and it can also be found here.

There are two parts in this assignment. Everyone is required to do Part One.  Part Two involves individual topics, which you chose in class today.  You will become such experts on your topic, that you will be able to give a highly informative presentation to the other members of the class next Wednesday, November 17.

I recommend using Google Docs for your project, so you will be able to collaborate at night and over the weekend.  You will get some class time to work on this, but there is no way you will be able to do a good job on this without doing a lot of research outside of class.

This is a research project, so you are expected to cite your sources every step of the way.  A Works Cited is not necessary, but in-text citations are required.

John Dau update

The John Dau Foundation responded to the email I sent them a couple weeks ago.  I can give you details in class today.  If you are interested in friending the Foundation on Facebook, the link is
http://www.facebook.com/johndaufoundation.

beginning the research

Tonight for homework, take the terms we discussed  and the questions you came up with, and find websites that will help you define these terms and answer your questions.  Make sure you find legitimate websites (no Wikipedia!).  Find at least five websites and post them on your blog.  Due tomorrow before the beginning of class.

new unit

Now that all three sections have seen the video, here is your assignment, as stated in class.

Based on the video, find five terms that need to be defined if we are to discuss this topic intelligently.  Examples we came with in class included fair trade coffee and certified organic coffee.

Also, come up with five questions that you need to ask in order to understand this topic.  Examples: What are the biggest coffee exporting countries?  How does coffee get from the field to the breakfast table?

The link to the video is found under Hot Links to the right.  Don't forget to view part two of the video, too.

Another reminder: tomorrow is make up day for those who missed the last quiz.

movie quiz

I have posted the grades for the God Grew Tired of Us quiz.  We will review these in class as soon as the last people have taken the quiz.

The following people still need to take the quiz: Mark M in Section 01, and Brad P and Gus L in Section 04.  You make take the quiz on Monday or Tuesday if you are ready, but you must make it up no later than this Wednesday.  I suggest you look over your notes, or check with one of your classmates if you missed part of the movie.  If you like, stop by the TV Studio after school either Monday or Tuesday, and you can watch all or part of the film.  You may also find useful information here and here.

Congratulations - mission accomplished!

Today we finished our magazine articles, and submitted them for e-publication.

Those of you who didn't get them to me will hear from me by email this weekend.

Relax, have a good weekend, and we'll get back to work next week.

the e-magazine deadline approaches

Section 01 seemed to make a lot of progress on their Migration magazine project today.

Good thing, because we publish at the end of class this Friday.

three-day weekend! (for you...)

Today in class we will be taking a quiz on God Grew Tired of Us.  It's worth 50 points, and it will be your first grade of the second quarter.

The Migration magazine assignment is due next Friday (11/5) at the end of class.  While we will devote some class time to this 100-point project, I highly recommend you work together over the three-day weekend.  In order to do a good job, you will need to spend a significant amount of time researching your topic, writing your article, editing your work, and composing your Microsoft Publisher pages.  It is possible to do very, very well on this assignment - it is also possible to bomb it by not preparing enough.  The choice is yours.

Finally, today is the last day of the first quarter.  I will be entering your grades this weekend.

publishing our magazine

Today we worked on our magazine on Migration.  Work on this project will be completed by the end of next week.  I definitely recommend you do some work at home, and especially over the weekend, on this 100-point assignment.

Just to make sure you have this covered, here are a few of the definitions we went over in class:

• in-migration: people moving into one place from another place within a nation
• out-migration: people moving out of one place to another place within a nation
• net internal migration: the numerical difference between in-migration and out-migration
• movers from abroad: people coming into a nation from another country or part of the world
• net migration: the difference between net internal migration and movers from abroad
• internally displaced person (IDP):  someone who is forced to flee their home but who, unlike a refugee, remains within their country's borders.

magazine project underway!

To wrap up our unit on Migration, we will be publishing an online magazine.  This issue will cover God Grew Tired of Us, plus culture, migration, modern Sudanese history, twentieth century African history, and social activism.  Our magazine will include articles on many of the following:

• British colonization and African independence
• Sudanese civil war
• the incredible journey of the Lost Boys
• the Dinka tribe
• cultural identity, cultural differences, culture shock, cultural assimilation
• working to effect social change
• current efforts at southern Sudanese independence
• by the numbers - statistics on world migration

Your article should include good writing, links to informative sites, descriptive images, useful maps, embedded videos, etc.  We will be using Issuu which you can check out tonight if you are interested.  More details will be coming in class.

This assignment will be worth 100 points.

There will also be a quiz on God Grew Tired of Us this Friday, 10/29.