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Class Service Learning Notes

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Title: We’re all Americans!

Area of service: Civic Responsibility

Grade level/setting: 9-12 grade

Subject area: Civics/Government

Unit Description:
➢ Students will begin the lesson by learning about the September 11th terrorist attacks in class. They will watch video clips of a few different stations news coverage of the actual attacks; discuss personal feelings/emotions about the event including how they perceived the reactions of central adult figures in their lives.
➢ The class will then be divided into groups of 5-7 students. Each group will be have a designated newspaper publisher (for example, The New York Times.) Each group will then research newspaper articles that were released by their specific publisher for the week following the September 11th attacks. The students will then analyze the articles, pulling out the main ideas and schemes of the articles. As a group they will hypothesize what influence the articles had on the public, as well as how the articles may be used to represent the common attitudes and feelings of the public following the attacks during that time.
➢ Each group will present their findings; students will compare and contrast main ideas in a class discussion organizing the information into an overall summary incorporating each group’s key concepts.
➢ Students will create a questionnaire about the 2001 Patriot Act, including the following questions: what are the basic ideas that it is aimed at, when was it implemented, why was it implemented, who was affected, when was it removed, and why was it removed. The questionnaire will also include personal questions such as: age/sex/ethnicity, do they know anyone Muslim, how do they feel about Muslims, did their feelings change after September 11th, how do you think Muslim people should be treated in America, and do you agree or disagree with the government’s policies following September 11th, including current immigration policies.
➢ The students will then interview various members of their neighborhood and community using the questionnaires they created. They will use their findings to discuss current public awareness, or lack there of, of the Patriot Act, as well as common attitudes regarding Muslim-Americans. Using their findings they will critically discuss as a class what the common themes are.
➢ Students will continue their project by reading a trade book called Ask Me No Questions by Marina Budhos. The book is about a teenage immigrant from Bangladesh and her life in America following the September 11th attacks. After reading the book, they will incorporate their findings to critically analyze and hypothesize about the current public perceptions of the Patriot Act; what implications the terrorist attacks had on Muslim-Americans lives.
➢ Finally, each student will create a Podcast of a mock Public Service Announcement addressing the implications of the Patriot Act and what it had on the lives of Muslim Americans. The Podcasts should be approximately 5-10 minutes long, including information gathered from their newspaper article research, their interview findings, as well as personal reflections.
➢ The goal is for students to gain a better understanding of some of the common obstacles Muslim-Americans face, as well as highlight common negative treatments they receive due to misinformed/uninformed public perceptions/beliefs.
➢ Students can use their newly gained understandings to help shed light to these common misconceptions and help spread public awareness and acceptance.
➢ For a celebration the class can have a cultural party at the end of the unit based on popular Muslim culture. Students can bring in traditional Muslim dishes and music, and they can even dress in traditional attire.

Sunshine State Standards:
➢ SS.912.C.2.5: Conduct a service project to further the public good.
➢ SS.912.C.2.7: Explain why rights have limits and are not absolute.
➢ SS.912.C.2.2: Evaluate the importance of political participation and civic participation.
➢ SS.912.C.2.8: Analyze the impact of citizen participation as a means of achieving political and social change.

NET Standards:
➢ Creativity and Innovation: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.
➢ Communication and Collaboration: Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
➢ Research and Information Fluency: Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
➢ Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making: Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.
➢ Digital Citizenship: Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior.

Technologies/Web applications:
➢ Video equipment- viewing of news clips pertaining to the attacks on September 11, 2001.
➢ Internet search engines- research for newspaper archives to find newspaper articles published the week following the attacks
➢ iMovie or other video editing software: Podcasts for students to create mock Public Service Announcements

Assessment:
➢ Students will be assessed on participation in class discussions, as well as their contributions to questionnaires.
➢ Students will be assessed on their behavior during interviews by analyzing the data collected.
➢ The Podcasts will be the main assessment tool. Each student will have to create a Podcast of a mock Public Service Announcement addressing all of the information they gathered during the lesson. The length and detail of the Podcast will demonstrate what the students gained and how well they perceived the goals of the lesson.

Article about Being an American Muslim since September 11, 2001

Conspiracy?

Social technology would definitely change history as we know it…immediate updates about world news and events would have had enormous implications on a bulk of the major historical events throughout history.

I personally think the JFK assassination would have dramatically changed from social technological sites such as twitter and etc.

Imagine that is was Friday, November 22, 1963 at 12:25pm. Thousands of Texans have their iPhones, Blackberrys, digital cameras capable of snapping 1,000 frames per second, or whatever technological handheld computer out now days…all ready to snap a picture and prove they were within the close proximity of the highly popular JFK. Before they know it, they hear loud gunshots and witness the mayhem of observing the assassination of the 35th president of the United States of America. “Witnesses” in Dealey Plaza would have immediately tweeted what they believe they saw, uploaded images they incredulously snapped, and/or recorded personal videos about the outrage they felt…everyone having wanted to establish his or her part in such a historical time. The whole conspiracy would have had an entirely new twist, if one whatsoever. Not to mention, an enormous amount of discussion groups/debates would have emerged, and I feel like the government would have had a lot more questions to answer/ “cover up.” Would a ten-month investigation of the Warren Commission have been avoided, or prolonged? Would the outcome of the 1966 poll amongst the American public regarding the findings against Lee Harvey Oswald have changed? Increased public awareness and attention through means of twitter and etc. could have had am enormous influence over results. Would there have been such a huge conspiracy if all of this digital technology existed? Would we have a better understanding of what happened that gloomy day in American history?

"Whateva, whateva...I do what I want!"

I was a little weary to watch a half hour video, but I must admit I was pleasantly surprised. I thought Wesch brought up a lot of interesting points and he kept me entertained throughout his presentation. His comparison of the “what-ever” was brilliant and I really enjoyed it. I particularly enjoyed watching the later part of lecture where he showed examples of “heroes” on YouTube. It was extremely interesting reading the different “palm sayings.” His description of the “self” in self-networking and “context collapse” was intriguing too, “presenting different versions of oneself.” When thinking about my own personal experience, I can agree that I take a lot more time and thought in what I put on the Internet because it available to a large audience.

If safety measures are taken into account, I think social networking could definitely have positive implications in education. It promotes students to produce their best efforts while also creating better communication and diversity.

After watching this video I definitely added to my definition of social networking. I had thought about the quickness, the availability, the diversity, and even the connection of Internet social networking before, but I had never really thought about the new language. This new shift to Internet social networking is definitely creating a new language based on the shear fact of the new self-awareness and etc. that the Internet creates.

I also enjoyed his references to the YouTube debates because I remember thinking the same thing when I watched them…that the TV combination part to the debate made the YouTube part pointless really. They could have better utilized that, but at least it’s a start.

What do you predict will be some other ways politics will use social networking in the future? And do you think this will increase political involvement by America’s youth? Will it affect the voting patterns, and if so, can Internet accessibility play a role?

Blog #5

Eric and I began our search for a Sociology-related topic, and ended up with a Civic based idea. As we researched, our ideas developed into a Religious/Political focus, particularly in modern times. A majority of the Podcasts we found pertain to religion and how it is accepted/unaccepted in society, as well as its role in major political policies/events.

1) Roger Scruton on freedom of religion 1:20:03
2) Religion and Politics in the 2008 Election 50:24
3) Susannah Heschel, Professor of Religion, Dartmouth College 7:29
4) Geography of Religion: Animism (May 15, 2007) 1:51:08
5) Conversations with History: Freedom of Expression Tolerance and Human Rights with T.M. Scanlon 53:48
6) "Political Participation and Building Tolerance: The Iraqi and Afghani Women's Experience," by Shirin Tahir-Kheli, PhD 29:05
7) David Pilgrim, Chief Diversity Officer and Professor of Sociology, Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Michigan 7:25
8) The Role of Christians in Sociology 6:40
9) Antisemitism & Hatred 5:09

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/vanderbilt.edu.1329404864?i=2040030723

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/vanderbilt.edu.1385340076?i=2010863210

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/ushmm.org.1917815447?i=1163339889

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/itunes.stanford.edu.1318066311?i=1623525266

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/uctv.tv.1746404445?i=1624206357

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/isc.upenn.edu.1430128107?i=1264815807

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/ushmm.org.2070529030?i=1481214978

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/covenant.edu.1932927870?i=2008447337

http://deimos3.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/Browse/ushmm.org.1917815417?i=1074122618

How has religion affected political platforms?
--September 11th and the Iraqi war/ Political Election of 2009.

Students will listen to podcasts to learn about tolerance and freedom of religion, as well as examine historical religious/political events such as the Holocaust. Students will also examine the foreign policy platforms of Barack Obama and John McCain in the 2009 elections. Combining both resources, students will attempt to describe the correlation of public opinion if form of religion and the outcome of the election.
Students will use the resources as bases to think critically and develop possible correlations. Some questions they will critically discuss:

What foreign policies did the public find more attractive? Why?
What ethnic groups were attracted to different policies? Why?
Did religion play any factor in a person’s vote?