Mrs. Sullivan’s History Blog

Directions:  Use the internet and your knowledge to answer these questions.  You may type or handwrite your answers.

1.     What arguments are made in favor of the death penalty?

2.     What arguments are made against the death penalty?

3.     Which states currently allow the death penalty?

4.     Which crimes are punishable by death?

5.     What was the total number of people executed worldwide in 2005?

6.     Why do think some people feel this number is misleading?

7.     How much money is spent on executions?

8.     Which is more cost effective- death or a life sentence?  Explain.

9.     Which political and interest groups tend to support the death penalty?

10. Oppose it?

11. Many people who support the death penalty are pro-life.  Some believe that this is inconsistent.  What do you think?  Explain.

12. Which 3 countries world wide are the greatest proponents of the death penalty?

13. Does the United States seem to have a lot in common with these countries?

14. Which topic would you like to discuss next? (first and second choice please!).

You’ve watched a very lengthy documentary (that we didn’t even finish!!) and are hopefully more aware of how complex the conflict in Iraq is.  You may have a new perspective on what goes on behind the scenes. 

In groups of 3 or smaller develop a comprehensive plan to address the problems in Iraq.  Your findings and plan will be presented to Congress (our class) and The President (me!).  We will vote on the plans, and the plan that passes will get extra credit. 

 Your plan needs to be specific.  For example, if you saw that you want a troop withdrawl, make sure to discuss a timeline and the number of troops that are coming home at once.  Also, you need to address what American involvement (if any) do you want after we remove troops.

Due: Tuesday in class (which means that you have 2 days in class and a weekend… which means that it should be good… really good).

Value:  50 points

The NYTimes has a nice section on Iraq…

Answer the following questions-

e-mail or print!

 1. What arguments are made in favor of the death penalty?

2. What arguments are made against the death penalty?

3. Which states currently allow the death penalty?

4. Which crimes are punishable by death?

5. What was the total number of people executed worldwide in 2005?

6. Why do think some people feel this number is misleading?

7. How much money is spent on executions?

8. Which is more cost effective- death or a life sentence? Explain.

9. Which political and interest groups tend to support the death penalty?

10. Oppose it?

11. Many people who support the death penalty are pro-life. Is this inconsistent? Why or why not.

12. Which 3 countries world wide are the greatest proponents of the death penalty?

13. Does the United States seem to have a lot in common with these countries?

14. Which topic would you like to discuss next? (first and second choice please!).

Objective: Create a 15 minute

presentation to teach the class about a

 genocide in a particular area

Your presentation must include:

-geographical information

-what happened?

-death toll

-how it ended

-long-lasting effects

-an activity for the class to do

Use your notes and the internet to answer the following questions.  When you are done, you can e-mail your answers to erin.sullivan@redclay.k12.de.us.  Alternatively, you can print out your answers and hand them in.  This is due at the end of the period.  

1. Who were the Khmer Rouge?

 2. How did they gain control in Cambodia?

3. Who is Pol Pot?

4. Who did they target as victims?

5. Why do you think these people were targeted as “threats” by the Khmer Rouge?

6. Where were the main work camps located?

7. What was life like for the people in the work camps?

8. A historian Christopher Browning wrote a book called Ordinary Men. What is the main idea of this book?

9. How does this apply to what happened in Cambodia and the people who were members of Khmer Rouge?

10. How and why did the regime end?

11. What effect did this event have on Cambodia today?

Working in groups of 3, develop a presentation about the Genocide in one of the following countries:  (countries will be assigned on a first come, first serve basis.

Cambodia,

Yugoslavia,

Rwanda,

Sudan (Darfur).

For your presentation, please include the following:

1.  Title page: name of country, picture, your names

2.  A map of the region

3.  The History:  1-2 slides explaining what happened in the country and the conflict

4.  The Response: how did the US respond?  How did the World respond?

5.  Special focus on a victim: their story

6.  Pictures to enhance presentation

7.  Your interpretation & reaction to the situation.

8.  A bibliography: use www.easybib.com to cite your sources…

Grades will be based on

25% – in class work

25% – in class presentation

35% – content

15% – use of technology

Immigration Survey Assignment:

1.  Select a partner or decide to work alone.

2.  One of you must sign up for a free account at Survey Monkey.

3.  Create a 7-15 question survey on the topic of immigration. 

a.  Check out some survey guidelines.  Remember to make sure that your questions do not suggest an answer and are written clearly in everyday English.

b.  Identify the purpose of your survey.  If you’re only interested in what high school students think about immigration, design questions that are appropriate for high school students. 

c.  You need to have at least 100 people take this survey.  Think about how you will conduct this survey: e-mail, post on a blog, word or mouth, bug your friends/family/teachers? 

d.  Think about accuracy: make sure that you have a random sample.

4.  Conduct the survey.  100 people must take the survey.  Post the link to your survey as a comment to this post, and we can all take your survey. 

5.  Report your finding:  you can download all of the data once the survey is conducted.  Prepare a presentation for the class with visuals to report your data.  Your presentation can be in PowerPoint, Thumstacks (a free on-line version of PowerPoint), or another method that you and your partner select.

Due: 9/17/07

Value: 100 points

Grading will be based on:

20% -in-class work

30% -quality of your questions

20% -survey method: validity/reliability

20%  -presentation

10% -creativity in your approach

1.  Complete assignment on this page: http://copland.udel.edu/~ejs/sheetday1.htm

due by the end of the period…

2.  Browse the NYTimes online edition.  Select an article to review on your blog.  For your review please post the following:

-the title & author of the article

-a hyperlink to the article

-a brief summary of the article

-your assessment of the article

Please post a link to your blog in the comment field below…

Homework:  By 9/7 @ 10pm, please post a comment on two other peoples blogs (responding to the article they selected…)

Please set up a personal blog and e-mail me the link… I will publish a list of our class links, so if you already have a personal blog you may want to open one specifically for this class.  I will be asking you to reflect on news, and comment on other’s blogs during the semester.

 Not sure where to get started?

Blogger.com (powered by Google) has free blogs that are very user-friendly.  You will need a gmail account for this, which is also has other free features.

Welcome to your first homework assignment!
Please take the following survey…
Click Here to take survey