Forced Choice, Day 1 - Class Recap

Fireworks over Niagara Falls, in 2009. Turning in your historical investigation today is worthy of some fireworks!

Hi everyone,

Welcome to your weekend - a weekend blissfully free of work on your historical investigation, I hope! Here's what we did today in class:

Learning Targets Addressed: 
SS.HS.RE.ALT.04: I can use evidence from my research to effectively address the research topic.
SS.HS.CO.ALT.01: I can organize ideas in a logically sequenced manner and in a way that is appropriate to the content area.
SS.HS.CR.ALT.04: I can evaluate information and explanations within a given context and develop a relevant conclusion.
SS.HS.RE.ALT.02: I can access relevant information from multiple and varied sources.
SS.HS.CR.ALT.05: I can justify and support arguments or interpretation with appropriate evidence.

Soundtrack: “We Like To Party!” by Vengaboys. Selected for today because, again, you should feel like having a party with your historical investigation done! Lyrics here.

AGENDA 2/28/14:
News Brief
Share Time
Forced Choice

Homework: Have a great weekend! Read the blog! Next news brief: Stacey.

News Brief: Today's article was brought in by Isidro, who selected this story: FOXNews.com - Alabama girl, 4, dies after being attacked by dogs, police say. We talked a bit about the legal implications of this story, and whether or not the owners of the dogs might be held accountable. A sad way to start out the day, for sure.

Share Time: Next, I split up the class into about groups of 3, and had students just check in with each other for a few minutes about how the historical investigation went, the research question and answer, and just generally how things are.

Forced Choice: The rest of class was spent doing a forced choice debate, which I always enjoy. These were the questions I asked students to answer with a Yes or No, with no in between. We talked about the first four - we won't do all of the rest next class, but we will probably do some, then write a reflection.

1. Giving up some of our rights (like our phones being listened to without a warrant) is necessary for our own protection.
2. The Second Amendment (A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.) means that everyone in the US has the right to have any weapons that they want.
3. Same-sex marriage should be allowed everywhere.
4. Marijuana should be legalized everywhere for recreational use.
5. Organized prayer in public schools should be allowed.
6. It bothers me that the National Security Administration/federal government can see whatever we do online.
7. The government of a country should have the power to make decisions that the majority of the people in it do not support.
8. Should the motto “In God We Trust” be removed from our currency?
9. People in power are always corrupt in some way.
10. Democracy is always the best form of government for anywhere in the world.

Thank you for your active participation here! I also really appreciate the respect and open minds displayed. I hope that you enjoyed this activity as much as I do. Next class, we will talk a little bit more about this, then really get into the Civil Rights unit. Have a wonderful weekend!