The seniors have been exploring how bias appears in media, and as part of that study we have been reading several news articles (chosen by the students). Some articles have alluded to Russia playing a role in current U.S. politics, which has prompted students to ask for more information about the current political scene.
Currently the following concerns are being explored by three groups: the U.S. House of Representatives (see the Nunes controversy), the U.S. Senate, and the U.S. Intelligence Community. These are three separate, on-going investigations (i.e. they are happening right now). In brief, these are the concerns: Remember, it's a worry, not a conclusion. These are the worries that are currently being explored by various groups in our nation's government. One of our tenets (core beliefs) is that accused individuals deserve due process. However much we might dislike someone, a person still deserves the due process of law according to our system. In this case, that is an investigation within the legislative branch of the government. 1. That Russia has intentionally meddled in the U.S. election process. The concern here is that Russia--lead by Vladimir Putin--has intentionally manipulated the U.S. Election process to result in a Trump Presidency because they see Trump as a "soft target," as someone they can manipulate to be sympathetic to their interests. The U.S. Intelligence Community has reported that Russia did this (See the report's page titled "Key Judgments" for a summary). 2. That members of the Trump campaign illegally communicated with Russian officials prior to the election. It is illegal for an individual to represent the interests of the U.S. government if that individual has not been granted the capacity to do so by the U.S. government. Basically, I can't go to England and say, "Yeah, I'm planning to be elected as a U.S. President, so let's talk about how I'll change government policy between our countries once I get into office." That's illegal. Imagine if it wasn't: England could say, "Dude, you give us the kind of deal we want, and we'll do what we can to help get you elected!" Basically, England would be able to buy my cooperation with promised campaign funds and similar support. I would literally be selling out the office of President of my country to another country. That country would have influence over my actions as President. You can see why this is illegal. It would be a betrayal of my country, and possibly rise to the level of treason. Michael Flynn, Trump's choice for National Security adviser, has already resigned after reports surfaced of his interactions with Russia prior to his appointment. Facts about his interaction with Russian representatives did not match his testimony to the U.S. confirmation committee. Some people would call that a lie. Other Trump appointees have long histories of interaction with Russia, and U.S. citizens have expressed concerns and suspicions about whether or not these people have misled the U.S. public about the extent of their connections to Russia. Could these people be puppets of Putin? That is the worry. This is being investigated. 3. That Trump himself knowingly colluded (illegally and secretly worked with) Russian elements. This would be really, really bad. A couple of different concerns exist around this. One of those concerns is that Trump has a history of business dealings in Russia and European areas largely controlled by investment closely tied to Putin's cronies; this raises the question of whether Trump is colluding with Russian elements for the purpose of mutual profit. This would be a conflict of interest. Ethics laws say it is illegal for the President to use his office for personal profit. For the past 40 years, all candidates for U.S. President have released their tax returns in an effort to be transparent--to be up front and honest--with the U.S. public about what their business interests are so that U.S. voters can tell whether or not those candidates might have selfish motives for their policy decisions. Trump has never released his tax returns, so the public has no idea what if any personal interest he has in the policy decisions; we do not know if he is making decisions for the betterment of the U.S. citizenry or simply for personal profit. His appointment of his own relatives to key positions in government has been perceived as nepotism and an indication that he is not a very ethical person. This only fuels suspicions that he might be the kind of person who would make unethical decisions like colluding with Russia to win the U.S. Presidential election. The focus of this first concern is the conflict of interest, that Trump is using his elected position for personal profit. The other concern is that Trump knowingly cooperated with Russian intelligence agents to get elected. When Trump suggested that the Russian hackers illegally break into into his opponent's email, people raised a concerned eyebrow. That sounded like a candidate for U.S. President asking a foreign government to aid him in getting elected. Those concerns have not gone away, and evidence of server traffic between Trump Tower and Russian elements during the election, along with suspiciously coincidental appearances of a Russian operative at cities timed to coincide with Trump visits have fueled continued speculation. The focus of this second concern is that Trump conspired secretly and treacherously with Russia to win the 2016 Presidential election. This would be really, really, really bad. It would mean that the American people have been tricked into electing a President who is working not for them, but for a foreign government. If the investigations showed wrong doing, either of these scenarios would be the kind of thing that could get Trump impeached and removed from office. In the case of treason, one can be fined, sent to prison, or even executed. Remember, these are suspicions. We do not know at this point whether these accusations are true or not. The investigators intend to find the truth. The following links provide some additional information exploring the concerns about recently elected President Donald Trump and a connection to Russia. [SOURCE} Article Title
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Myth & Legend
We continued analysis of "Dark Crystal." Remember to fill out your heroic cycle analysis diagrams as you view the text. HOMEWORK: Read chapters 7 & 8 of The Hobbit. Freshmen We turned in the quarterly reading assignment. We wrote an analytical paragraph using evidence from the text to express an opinion about which character is to blame for the catastrophic ending of the novel. We reviewed for the exam tomorrow. Tomorrow's exam will include roots, and will cover the novel. You will not be able to use notes or the book on the exam, so it's important to make sure you know who the character are and what the plot is prior to tomorrow's exam period. HOMEWORK: Study for tomorrow's exam. Seniors We took media analysis quiz #6. HOMEWORK: Consider the use of bias in media you see online, on television, and in what you read. Myth & Legend
We began analysis of "The Dark Crystal" using the heroic cycle. HOMEWORK: Read chapters 7 & 8 of The Hobbit. Freshmen Today we read chapter 6, the last chapter in the novel. We began a discussion of the theme of the novel. HOMEWORK: Complete your quarterly reading assignment is due tomorrow! Seniors We took media bias quiz #5. Remember to write your paragraph and submit it to the inbox by Friday, March 31. HOMEWORK: Complete your 4.4 paragraph. Myth & Legend
We took quiz #6. HOMEWORK: Read chapters 7 & 8 of The Hobbit. Freshmen We read chapter 5 and discussed elements of the plot. If you missed notes today, get a copy from peers. HOMEWORK: Complete your quarterly reading assignment, which is due Thursday. Seniors We took media bias quiz #4. Remember to write your paragraph and submit it to the inbox by Friday, March 31. HOMEWORK: Complete your 4.4 paragraph. Myth & Legend
We continued analysis of "Labyrinth" using the heroic cycle pattern. HOMEWORK: Read chapters 7 & 8 of The Hobbit. Freshmen Today was registration. Students who were done with registration watched a film adaptation of the novel. HOMEWORK: Complete your quarterly reading assignment, which is due Thursday. Seniors We took media bias quiz #3. Remember to write your paragraph and submit it to the inbox by Friday, March 31. HOMEWORK: Complete your 4.4 paragraph. Myth & Legend
We continued analysis of "Labyrinth" using the heroic cycle pattern. HOMEWORK: Read chapters 7 & 8 of The Hobbit. Freshmen We scored last week's quiz, and we took the next quiz. New roots:
Seniors We took media bias quiz #2. Remember to write your paragraph and submit it to the inbox by Friday, March 31. HOMEWORK: Complete your 4.4 paragraph. Myth & Legend
We began analysis of "Labyrinth" using the heroic cycle pattern. HOMEWORK: Read chapters 5 & 6 of The Hobbit. Freshmen We took a quiz on chapter 4 and analyzed why those four characters are left behind. HOMEWORK: Complete your quarterly reading assignment by next week (due March 30!). Study roots for tomorrow. Seniors We took the first of seven media bias quizzes, this one written by Ms. Kelsey. Tomorrow we will start on your quizzes. Remember to write your paragraph and submit it to the inbox by Friday, March 31. HOMEWORK: Complete your 4.4 paragraph. Myth & Legend
We completed the analysis of Star Wars using the Heroic Cycle packet. Remember to complete the back page. Students should keep this as we will use it to analyze other hero stories. Ms. Kelsey will collect it at the end of the unit. HOMEWORK: Read chapters 5 & 6 of The Hobbit. Freshmen We read chapter 4 of Of Mice and Men. Today's guiding question was: Why does Steinbeck leave those four characters behind in chapter 4? HOMEWORK: Study roots. Work on the independent reading assignment. Seniors Today was our last day to work on the Media Bias quiz assignment. HOMEWORK: Study the various forms of media bias on your Springboard 4.4 notes. Please remember you see a live copy of the online grade book. You are watching grading in progress.Unfortunately the inbox does not grade your work; an actual person has to take time to do that. (If only I could have R2D2 as my inbox!) That means that some time passes between when you place an assignment into the inbox and when it's corresponding score appears in the grade book. Depending on what assignments came in recently, that could take longer than one might think. Essays typically take 10-15 minutes to grade (usually 10 minutes for no feedback at all, and 15-20 minutes for feedback). When you realize that a teacher has about 150 students in a day, and only about 35 minutes per day to actually grade papers, that's really not enough. That means teachers grade many, many hours beyond their contract to score your work. We still have to make meals, do laundry, and meet various other day-to-day obligations, so I appreciate your patience as I and other teachers like me work to complete grading this week after the quarter has ended. By the way, if you ever come across one of those time-stopping devices that occasionally appear in science fiction stories, I would appreciate borrowing it at each quater end. image source: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/fd/6f/f8/fd6ff8e1765ec6a71919a990ccc0e764.jpg Myth & Legend
We continued analysis of the final leg of the Luke Skywalker trilogy. HOMEWORK: Read chapters 5 & 6 of The Hobbit. Freshmen 1. Quiz on chapter 3. 2. Discussion of plot parallels 3. Started chapter 4. HOMEWORK: Continue work on independent reading project. Seniors Media Bias Analysis Assignment <<< Click here! HOMEWORK: continue work on your media bias assignment. Myth & Legend
Today we continued our analysis of Return of the Jedi according to the Heroic Cycle. HOMEWORK: read chapters 5 & 6 of The Hobbit. Freshmen Today we read chapter 3 of Of Mice and Men, and considered how the author is developing the conflicts between and within the characters. HOMEWORK: finish reading chapter 3. Seniors Today we completed activity 4.4 by watching and analyzing the other perspective on the issue. Tomorrow we will be meeting in the library alcove. HOMEWORK: Complete the paragraph for activity 4.4. Myth & Legend
We took quiz #5. If you missed today, contact Ms. Kelsey about making up the quiz ASAP. HOMEWORK: Read chapters 5 & 6 of The Hobbit. Freshmen We took the next roots quiz, and we wrote a paragraph (8-sentence model) based on our character notes from Thursday. New roots:
Senior We worked on Springboard activity 4.4, and completed the analysis of the first text. Mainstream source Conservative source Liberal source HOMEWORK: Consider the elements of bias in the media you experience this weekend. Myth & Legend
We completed Empire, and started Return of the Jedi. Remember to watch for the nadir as we complete Luke's heroic cycle. ]' We will have a quiz tomorrow. Anything we have covered so far, including all the notes on the pantheons, Star Wars, and The Hobbit up through chapter 4, is fair game for the quiz . HOMEWORK: Read chapters 3 & 4 of The Hobbit. Freshmen Today we learned about elements of characterization. If you missed today, get those notes from a peer. We analyzed one character together as a class, then we broke into groups to examine the book for examples of characterization. Tomorrow after the quiz, we will write a paragraph of character analysis. HOMEWORK: Finish collecting evidence for your character analysis. Study roots. Continue work on your independent reading. The project is due in 2 weeks. Seniors We reviewed our analysis of the argument in the second article in activity 4.3. We answered the questions at the end and then turned this activity in. Make sure your name is on it! We started work on activity 4.4,, which explains how to identify bias in a text using "rhetorical slanters." After reading the definitions, we took a short quiz to test our ability to identify them. HOMEWORK: Listen for rhetorical slanters in the media you view and hear today. Myth & Legend
We continued our heroic cycle analysis of Empire Strikes Back. HOMEWORK: Read chapters 3 & 4 of The Hobbit. Freshmen We finished reading chapter 2 of Of Mice and Men and took a quiz. HOMEWORK: Continue work on your independent reading project. Seniors We continued work on activity 4.3 from Springboard. HOMEWORK: Finish reading the second article in activity 4.3. Myth & Legend
We continued watching Empire Strikes Back and analyzing the story using the heroic cycle. We did not take a quiz today; we need to finish the film first. HOMEWORK: Read chapters 3 & 4 of The Hobbit. Freshmen We received the new roots.
We continued Of Mice and Men, chapter 2. HOMEWORK: Continue reading your quarterly reading assignment. Seniors We spend 10 minutes finishing our homework from yesterday. If you did not turn in your paragraph today, turn it in tomorrow. We started work on activity 4.3 in Springboard, which asks us to compare two articles presenting arguments about media bias. If you missed today, get those pages from your book and read the first seven paragraphs of the article. HOMEWORK: Complete your paragraph if you did not finish. Consider how the diction of the media skews your perception of events as good or bad. Below you can see the media diagram seniors talked about today. Remember, this is NOT a statistical analysis; this is just one person's perception (a patent attorney) of media quality and bias. Myth & Legend
We scored quiz #3. Be prepared for quiz #4 tomorrow. It will be open note, and cumulative. We continued watching Empire Strikes Back and analyzing using the Heroic Cycle. HOMEWORK: read chapters 3&4 of The Hobbit. Freshmen We finished chapter 1 of Of Mice and Men, and took a quiz on chapter 1. We wrote a paragraph answering this prompt: Who is the protagonist? HOMEWORK: Finish your paragraph. Continue work on your independent reading assignment. Seniors We finished our analysis of the Frontline piece, News Wars, and we analyzed various quotes for their usefulness in supporting our own thesis statements for a particular critical perspective. HOMEWORK: Write a paragraph supporting your thesis and using at least three specific details from the story (the quotes we covered will work), to support the article. Use commentary for each quote to explain how it supports your thesis. Add a meaningful conclusion. Myth & Legend
We continued with Star Wars analysis. We completed New Hope and started Empire Strikes Back. HOMEWORK: Read chapters 3 & 4 of The Hobbit. Freshmen 1. STAR test 2. Friday Quiz, online! Click this link. Seniors We continued our critical lens analysis of the Frontline News Wars piece. HOMEWORK: Consider who funds your news sources. What economic factors influence the information you receive? Myth & Legend
We continued to analyze Luke Skywalker's journey using Joseph Campbell's Heroic Cycle pattern. We're in the Road of Trials now. Watch for Luke's helpers and lessons. HOMEWORK: Remember to read chapters 1 & 2 of The Hobbit. Freshmen WE WILL MEET IN THE LIBRARY ALCOVE FRIDAY! We began reading Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. We acknowledged that people read books for a few different reasons, sometimes for pleasure and sometimes to think critically about people, life, and the world in which we live. This book will ask us to think critically. We reviewed the elements of plot (Ms. Kelsey was impressed by your recollection!), and we will look for elements of exposition in the start of this text. We began reading the book aloud. HOMEWORK: Continue work on your independent reading novel. Seniors We continued our critical analysis of the Frontline video about News. HOMEWORK: Consider what forces influence your own news sources. What biases do they have? What drives the content? How might that impact your perception of the truth? Myth & Legend
We continued our analysis of Star Wars using Joseph Campbell's heroic cycle pattern. HOMEWORK: Read chapters 1 & 2 of The Hobbit. Freshmen We completed our timeline presentations, and we discussed generations and important moments in U.S. History. HOMEWORK: Complete the reflection part of your timeline. Bring your Of Mice and Men book to school tomorrow. Period 5, remember to interview an adult about the three most important historical events of his/her lifetime. Seniors We started unit 4 today, and previewed the unit goals for embedded assessment 4.A. Essentially, we are analyzing sources of media using the critical lenses. Today we began watching a 2007 Frontline episode about news, and our purpose is to look for cultural, historical, and economic factors influencing the news. HOMEWORK: Consider your news sources. Are they reliable? How do you verify information? What biases might your news sources have? Myth & Legend
We completed the notes on the Heroic Cycle. Students received a Heroic Cycle packet. If you missed today, get one from Ms .Kelsey on your return to class. We began our analysis of the Star Wars original trilogy. HOMEWORK: Read chapters 1&2 of The Hobbit. Freshmen We continued presenting our timeline presentations and taking notes on our own timelines. HOMEWORK: continue reading your quarterly reading novel Seniors We completed our critical analysis essays on Oscar Wilde's play. HOMEWORK: Think about where you get your news. |
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