1925 vs. 2013: are we stupider?

A friend of mine sent me this link ...

http://www.scribd.com/doc/127806081/High-School-entry-quiz 

Pretty interesting to take a look at this Ontario high school entrance exam ... some of the questions are tough! I like the mathematical word problems that involve selling cattle, farmers supplying milk, and buying a house for $4000. I also enjoy one of the options for a composition: "A frolic in grandfather's hay-mow."

A few weeks ago I had my grade 11 English class read the article, "Are We Raising a Generation of Nincompoops?" by Beth J. Harpaz. The class is pretty feisty so I knew that it would trigger a good discussion. Many of them argued skills and knowledge that used to be valued is no longer useful. Why should they commit to memory the historical facts that students in 1925 had to, when they can access Google from their cell phones? And, they added, while teachers call them nincompoops for relying on spellcheck ... who does the teacher look to when the projector begins to flicker or their computer has a problem? Even as a young teacher, I know where I look: to the students in front of me.

Interestingly enough, while this class defended their own age group they complained that "the next generation" was made up of nincompoops.

"What do you mean, the next generation?" I asked the sixteen-year-olds in front of me.

"You know, kids like five years younger than us. They can't do anything. When we were young we built treeforts and played ... they just sit on their iPads and computers."

The world is changing quickly. Has the older generation always labelled the younger as nincompoops, or has the divide widened to the point that it is unique to our historical context?

global history 12: colonialism in africa mini-unit

I just finished a mini-unit with the Global History 12 class on colonialism in Africa. A skeleton of the unit:

Day 1: 
Focus on the attitudes/motivation behind European colonization, such as racism, eurocentrism, religion, and competition.

• Show a map of Africa and ask students: what comes to mind when you think, "Africa?" Have students share what immediately comes to mind and write it on the board.
• Brief powerpoint introducing the colonization of Africa. Between 1880 and 1900, Africa was rapidly divided up between European powers. Why? Introduce some of the reasons as a list. 
• Show the 1927 ad "Jungles Today are Gold Mines Tomorrow" to illustrate economic reasons
• Introduce Rudyard Kipling
• Handout: the poem "The White Man's Burden" (1899) 

• I also included a Pears' Soap advertisement using the phrase "The White Man's Burden" on the back to illustrate how it was a part of Western culture
• Using this poem may depend on the class -- some students were overwhelmed and found it difficult. I told them not to worry about understanding every word, but understanding the main points. 
• TED talk: "The Danger of the Single Story" by Nigerian author Chimamanda Adichie 
• Discuss: Do you think colonial attitudes still affect the way we view Africa? What do you think perpetuate some of the "single stories" we have of Africa (refer back to brainstorm)? Have you ever had a "single story" about someone? Has anyone ever had a "single story" about you because of your age or any other factor? 
• Handout the final assignment rubric and deadline 

Day 2 

Focus on process of colonization. 

• Brief powerpoint introducing the term "The Scramble for Africa" and the Berlin Conference 
• Play "Scramble for Africa" game 
• I found this idea on another teacher's blog 
• Board is a regular sheet of paper with a blank map of Africa 
• Students divide into groups of six 
• Each student is assigned a country and they are given a specific goal which must be kept secret from the other players 
• Each student (country) gets coloured "pieces" (1" x 1" pieces of coloured paper) 
• Starting with Great Britain, each student places one of their pieces on the board at a time based on their goals 
• If students want the same piece of land, they have to "go to war" (rock paper scissors!) 
• Each country gets a different number of pieces, depending on how much African territory they got historically: 
• England: 6 pieces
• France: 5 pieces
• Germany: 4 pieces
• Italy: 2 pieces 
• Portugal: 3 pieces
• Spain: 2 pieces 
• Country goals: 
• England: north-south
• France: east-west 
• Germany: east coast and west coast
• Italy: coastal areas, preferably closer to Italy 
• Portugal: coastal areas
• Spain: coastal areas 
• Rules of War: 
• Countries go to war through rock, paper scissors
• Best two out of three wins 
• The "defeated" piece is dead and cannot be played on the board again 

This game went really well (although grade 12 students had to be reassured that it did indeed have a point)

• show a map of how Africa was divided on the powerpoint, have students compare it to their completed board games
• Clean up board games, return to seats
• Brief notes/powerpoint on the outcome of the Berlin conference, the goals of the different countries, etc. 
• Compare a map of cultural and lingual groups in Africa to a map of how Africa was divided -- any potential problems? What factors were considered in the division of Africa? What factors were not? 

Day 3: 

Focus on the process of de-colonization and the continued effects of colonialism. 

• Recap from the previous day
• Handout: map of colonial Africa and modern Africa 
• Show a world map of country economies. What do students notice? Africa is poor. Gap between north and south. Why? 
• In my students' textbooks ("Viewpoints" pg. 96), there was a piece called "Explaining the Gap" that went into colonialism and neocolonialism
• Have students break into groups of 2-5. Read the textbook piece. Assign each group one of the three textbook questions. 
• Give each group a piece of chart paper and markers. Have them make a poster or diagram of their answer. 
• At the end of class have groups present their answers and allow for discussion. 

Day 4 &5: 

Work periods for students to work on final projects (rubric and project description was handed out the first day)

• Individually or in partners students are to present on the colonial history of one African country 
• Presentations must include a brief description of the country, a history of colonialism, explanation of de-colonization, and the continued impact of colonialism 
• Presentation must include a handout (map/timeline/notes) for classmates 
• Oral presentation rubric 
• In order to keep students on task during the two work periods, I made "Process" part of the presentation rubric 

Day 6&7: 

Presentations. 

• In order to keep audience engaged, I followed my cooperating teacher's advice: have other students write notes on each presentation that must include 1) 3-5 facts 2) a compliment 3) a piece of constructive criticism 
• Collect these notes! 

If I had had extra time in the unit, I would have included a piece from Chinua Achebe's Education of a British-Protected Child and a bit of time dedicated to South Africa, since it is an exception to some of the general patterns of colonialism in Africa. 

history teachers be careful

Next month I'll be starting a novel study of The Book of Negroes with a grade 12 class. I've been looking for resources and ideas to incorporate into the unit -- reading slave narratives, history books, browsing pictures, and watching video clips. I think it would be really interesting to do a lesson on spirituals that slaves sang (you know, "Sweet Chariot" or "Wade in the Water"). I figure this is something many teachers have probably taught before, so, as usual, I thought -- "Why reinvent the wheel?" and did an online search.

One of the ideas I came across: using the supplied handout, "for homework students will write their own Negro spiritual."

???

A class of white upper-middle class kids writing their own spirituals? What a joke! I think sometimes history teachers forget that they are telling the story of real people -- people who deserve respect. When I read about Holocaust crosswords, "write-your-own-spiritual" handouts, or inappropriate role play I realize that this is sometimes lost.

fair trade -- where do i start?

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. 
- Micah 6:8 

I have finished my first two week block of student teaching. One of the classes I was in was a grade 12 Global History class. My cooperating teacher showed them documentary after documentary focused on different issues. Films like Life and Debt (economic situation in Jamaica) and Slavery: A 21st Century Evil confronted kids with major issues in the world. They felt a little overwhelmed. What is their response supposed to be? Guilty enjoyment of their privileged lifestyle?

To be honest, I feel a little overwhelmed, too. Like the students, I get fed up with just hearing about a problem and feeling bad because I know I'm contributing to it. I wanted to research baby steps I can take to act more justly -- especially when it comes to what I buy. I didn't want to read theories about fair trade, I wanted a "cheat sheet" -- a list of things to avoid, things to support, and things to consider.

Here's what I found:

• www.greenamerica.org
• This site has a responsible consumer guide that puts companies in a list from best to worst. Companies are categorized by industry -- if you're about to buy a specific thing, you can browse through that category. The site's "Green Pages" offer better alternatives for the same category of products. 
• www.ethicalconsumer.org
• This site gives different companies a “rating” based on different criteria (environment, people, animals, politics, etc.). What I really liked about this site is that you can decide what is the most important criteria to you -- by changing the emphasis to the environment, for example, the company ratings change. I think you need to subscribe to this to get the full information about the companies, but you can still check out the basic ratings for free. 
• Fair Trade Canada www.fairtrade.ca
• “Most Wanted” Global Exchange List
•        http://www.globalexchange.org/corporateHRviolators
•        This site provides a list of companies that are best to avoid! … along with reasons WHY
• Red Thread: The Best and Worst Corporations
• This is an excellent article -- it gives a list of the best and worst companies for every category of product. Not only does it give the name of the company, it also gives lists the brands that the company owns -- what you as the consumer will actually see on the shelves! 
• aletalane.wordpress.com/2011/05/.../the-best-and-worst-corporations/
• Chocolate and Candy: What to buy and what to avoid
•   http://www.rageagainsttheminivan.com/2012/10/from-problem-to-solution-practical.html
•   Key points I got out of it: avoid Hershey and Nestle! I appreciated how this article gave "not as bad" options and "good" (fair trade!) options. Sometimes I get frustrated when sites only give small, out-of-the-way or online companies as the fair trade options. This article is a bit more realistic -- "If you're going to buy chocolate that's not fair trade, at least stay away from these brands." I was happy to see that Toblerones were on the "not as bad" list!
• www.coffeehabit.com

•  Drink responsibly! -- coffee, that is! This site is all about coffee and provides information on where different coffee brands and coffee buyers (example: Tim Horton's!) stand in the areas of justice. I had heard that if you are going to switch to anything that is fair trade, coffee and chocolate are some of the key industries that need to be held accountable. If I can drink coffee and eat chocolate with a clean conscience, I'm happy! 
• World Vision: Don’t Trade Lives
•      http://www.worldvision.com.au/Act/DontTradeLives.aspx
•     This site has links to information about chocolate, coffee, palm oil, and other industries. It also has articles/guides around certain topics -- for example, how to have an ethical Christmas! 
•  How to Shop for Clothes Ethically
•    http://www.wikihow.com/Shop-for-Ethically-Made-Clothes
• This is one topic that I really struggle with -- I'm cheap, remember?! A good alternative: buying used clothing or hosting clothing swaps! 
• Good Guide
•         www.goodguide.com
•        Guide to the best and worst companies/brands according to category.
• www.labourbehindthelabel.org
•       Click on their “resources” link -- they provide information on different companies and events, links and material to help you take action (example: a template of a letter to write to a local politician or your favourite brand).

One teacher at the high school actually has an app on her phone that apparently scans tags of clothes and can give feedback about where/how it's made? I'm not sure exactly how this works (I'm a little technologically challenged), but maybe this website can help: 

• MacLife: 8 Apps for Fair Trade and Ethical Shopping          http://www.maclife.com/article/gallery/8_apps_fair_trade_and_ethical_shopping

If anyone else has any resources or ideas, please share!