Tuesday November 12, 2024

Tuesday November 12, 2024

Vocabulary: Deficit Spending, cultural decline, wealth gap, inequality

Reading/Formative Assessment: Beginning tomorrow you will be assessed on three criteria. 1) Book is brought to class 2) You are reading book 3) You are not a distraction to yourself or others.  This should be an easy 100!  We are going live Tuesday!

Read...

Circle: One thing you wished you had in your room or just off your room?

Fall of Rome...You will be putting together a presentation where you describe the greatness of the Roman Empire and then explain why you think it fell.  You will also be comparing this with the current issues that face the United States.  Are we doomed to repeat the mistakes of the Roman Empire or have we been smart enough to to learn from history so we don't repeat Rome's mistakes.

Map Activity:  Practice Assessment: You will be labeling a map of western Europe, home of the Roman Empire.  Map must include: Name of Country.   Major bodies of water.  Labeled with an RE(Roman Empire) if it was once part of the Roman Empire.  Capital and country matching.  You will be assessed on this in the coming weeks.  We will practice today.  First you will see how many you can personally identify and then you will work with your table to see how many you can label.  We will be practicing this week for an assessment next week.  You will also be be creating flash cards for countries and capitals.

Brainstorm: What are five things you love about contemporary America?  What are five things that worry you about the direction of contemporary America? Share and develop a master list.

Activity: Using the Fall of Rome DBQ you will be identifying the three biggest threats you see facing the US.  Be prepared to to defend your answer.  You will be moving around the room to the different stations to share your concerns.

Many historians cite internal decay as a primary reason behind the eventual fall of Rome.  Choose the top three biggest concerns for you personally.

1. America is becoming an overweight, couch potato culture.  People would rather just sit inside and play video games and stare at social media.  We are becoming lazy.
2. Political fighting between Democrats and Republicans is sinking the nation.
3. Terrorism is a real threat.
4. Income inequality between rich and poor had created the greatest wealth gap in decades.
5. Yearly budget deficits and growing national debt imply a "buy now, let our children pay later" mindset. 
6. Environmental threats- hurricanes, habitat destruction, global warming. Climate related natural disasters like hurricanes are on the rise.
7. Dependance for foreign oil.
8. Moral and cultural decline- music, pop culture, materialism and declining work ethic.
9. A growing distrust of our leaders in both politics and media.

After jotting your answers to those questions, be prepared to move to one side of the room to declare your feeling.  We will call on people from each corner of the room to represent why it does (or doesn't) concern them.  

Activity: As a table group, collaborate to decide which one you can agree is most concerning to you.  Then, come up with an explanation of how America is "doing" with regard to that idea.  Provide 3 pieces of evidence--from your world understanding--of how you know America is currently faring at that level. 

Fall of Rome DBQ...This is really important to hang on to.  This packet will form the basis of your presentation.