Thursday, June 4, 2020

Zoom Protocol for EU Mock Council

Zoom Protocol for EU Mock Council


(5 minutes): Opening ceremony of EU Charter Preamble and “United in Diversity” statement read in 7 languages. 


(5-10 minutes): “Share my Screen” Political proposal videos shown (e.g., Croatia’s A Strong Europe in a World of Challenges). 


(35 minutes): Students manually sorted into political, economic and cultural identity breakout rooms. Negotiations proceed, building consensus toward an EU Response that aligns with nation team’s individual priorities. Students record Conclusions on its assigned, blank Google Slide. 


(10 minutes): Whole class share-out by breakout room of the Conclusions negotiated as well as any impasses. 


1) Each nation’s team should work together to figure out what is happening in their nation and the general sentiment toward the European Union right now. Your team needs a coordinated policy, meaning that your individual proposals should not be contradictory (e.g., one student is arguing for regional integration while another is arguing for sovereign control).  Having trouble figuring out how to engage in this activity? 


Political Questions/Vocab   Economic Questions/Vocab Identity Questions/Vocab


2) Each student will prepare a roughly 1-page individual proposal, specific to your chosen topic (political, economic, or cultural identity) with footnotes for at least six, well-evidenced sources. This may include your textbook.  Gerst sample here.


3) Each nation’s team will prepare a very short political video (think: commercial) of your total nation proposal going into the Council (Zoom meeting). Your example is Croatia’s EU video (3:35-6:35) we used in class at the beginning of second semester.  (Make these fairly short, please. No shorter than 1 minute (which would be 20 seconds per topic) and no longer than 3 minutes. Note how it ends with a strong thesis: “A Strong Europe in a World of Challenges.” Appeal to the lessons of history you’ve learned in this class this year. This also will ensure your group has coordinated across classes to ensure consistency.


4) Each class period will work together in its final Zoom meeting, scheduled on the date listed on the special assessment calendar for the final week of school, for approximately 60 minutes, or until complete. 


One student will be assigned the co-host role, so that the break-out room sessions may be recorded,  and Ms. Gerst and Mr. Janus can view them afterwards. After each class period finishes their Google slides, Ms. Gerst will share first the slides of the individual class and then all the classes, so that everyone may reflect on the different Conclusions that were negotiated.  The grading rubric used by Ms. Gerst and Mr. Janus may be found HERE: all of your work (individual paper, political commercial video, and breakout room performance) will be used in calculating the core and enrichment categories. 


Monday, May 25, 2020

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Personal Narrative Virtual Field Trip

The historian Marvin Perry asks students to answer the question of the meaning of the Holocaust for Western Civilization, for Jews, for Germans, and for Christians. This strikes at the very heart of the “kaleidoscope” (a/k/a "shifting perspective") method at the root of this class.  Please take a Virtual Field Trip to the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. to find personal narratives of the survivors of the Holocaust to enrich and expand your understanding of the horrors of the Holocaust for the 6 million whose lives were extinguished, often having suffered fates worse than death, as well as the aftermath as survivors took on new identities as displaced peoples, orphans, refugees, and survivors. Both primary source written and video accounts of survivors are exhibited on these pages.
Step 1: Please go to exhibit entitled Personal Histories https://www.ushmm.org/exhibition/personal-history/

Step 2: Notice the navigation bar on the left that sub-divides the personal histories as follows:
·      Aftermath
·      Camps
·      Children
·      Deportations
·      Ghettos
·      Hiding
·      Individuals
·      Liberation
·      Refugees
·      Rescue
·      Resistance
·      Survival

Step 3: Begin to explore the personal histories exhibited. Find personal histories that enrich and expand your pre-existing knowledge of the meaning of the Holocaust. Think in particular about living in the aftermath as a survivor.  It is a difficult task to exactly pinpoint how many Jews perished in the Holocaust, though estimates suggest upwards of 6 million. (USHMMPlease find at least 6 survivors to focus on and read their accounts and listen to their stories.

Step 4: Get ready for Harkness discussion. In our next reading, Perry will argue "The Holocaust was heightened irrationality and organized evil on an unprecedented scale. . . . Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor, and the other death factories represent the triumph of human irrationality over reason—the surrender of the mind to a bizarre racial mythology that provided a meta- physical and pseudoscientific justification for mass murder. They also represent the ultimate perversion of reason. A calculating reason manufactured and organized lies and demented beliefs into a structured system with its own inner logic and em- ployed sophisticated technology and administrative techniques to destroy human beings spiritually and physically. Science and technology, venerated as the great achievement of the Western mind, had made mass extermination possible. The philosophes had not foreseen the destructive power inherent in reason."  Based on the sources provided from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, what is the meaning and legacy of the Holocaust for Western civilization? For Jews? For Christians? For Germans?  

The EU Mock Council Officially Begins


2020 EU MOCK COUNCIL WELCOME VIDEO 



Are we in a world war one stalemate with COVID-19?

Will the post-coronavirus economy come roaring back? Lessons from 1918 and the Roaring 20s

A World of Hardening Borders? 

Note the new "tabs" on the Blog with current event articles from past years on all topics. Great historical context for our present crisis. Politics  Economy Cultural Identity 

Thursday, May 14, 2020

It pays to believe in America

Despite market pullbacks, stocks have risen over the long term

The data in the chart is described in the text.

Monday, May 11, 2020

Diversity in Europe Today


How did Indians Migrate Across the World?


Muslims in Britain 

Hindu temple in Hamm, Germany 


Inside Europe's Largest Sikh Temple 


Sikh charity feeding homeless people in London 


Turks in Germany then and now 


Turkey/Germany: 50 Years Later 


Immigration in Germany (circa 2012-2014)

 
A New Record: Germany Attracts More Immigrants (2013)


Bosnia and Herzegovina: An Ethnically Divided Country

UNIT TEN QUESTION FOR JANUS’ STUDENTS

Euro test is due on Tuesday, May 12 at 8:00 am on Turnitin.It is a take home test. THE QUESTION IS: Using the skill of perspective make the case that World War 1 was a Late Modernity War. Make sure  to define Late Modernity, and please  use Perry, Marshall, Craig, Gopnik in your answers. I would also like you to refer to Dadaism and comment on how relevant this Late Modernity perspective is in thinking about recent wars the United States has been involved in: I.e. the Vietnam War, the Afghanistan War and our two incursions into Iraq.

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Week 3 Modern Art Virtual Field Trip Enrichment

Here's a link to today's recorded lecture on Pablo Picasso and twentieth-century European modernism in art.

Special message to SPRING ART STUDENTS ONLY: Virtual Art Institute Modern Art Field Trip REQ (Due May 15). If you went on the Fall Renaissance/Reformation trip, this does NOT apply to you.

With museums and most institutions closed to the public for the foreseeable future, we are unable to visit the Art Institute in May as planned. If you planned to attend the spring field trip, I have created a virtual field trip. Please take a look at the new assignment guidelinessign up sheet, and grading rubric. Don't hesitate to get in touch with questions about the assignment. You can reach me via email at nrouss3@uic.edu. -- Ms. Rousseva

Monday, April 6, 2020

Week 3 Remote Learning: Take-at-Home Exam & Birth of Social Science

This is an important week in our remote learning sequence. Your first take-at-home exam has been posted via Schoology and the blog. Ms. Gerst's different classes will access their own unique documents and questions via Schoology (go to Materials) and you will submit your response to Turnitin.com. We will be incorporating feedback on your response within your midterm comments (due April 20).

More specific instructions are on the blog's ASSIGNED WORK page. Look for Week 3 (April 13-17). We will discuss Freud and Zweig during Video Call #1 and the Sociologists during Video Call #2.

While Ms. Gerst's students are moving to Zoom (check your email and calendar for the link and password), Mr. Janus's students will continue to use Google Hangouts for Harkness Discussions. They will be held per week as follows: 1st period Tuesdays and Thursdays 8-8:45 am; 5th period on Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:35-12:20; 7th period on Monday and Wednesday 1:50-2:35; 8th period Tuesday 2:20-3:05 and Thursday 2:40-3:25 pm. You should be ready to communicate your understanding of the Harkness question(s). If your teacher is dropped from the call, students should hang up and wait for the teacher to re-initiate the call.


Saturday, April 4, 2020

Week 2 Remote Learning Plan: Late Modernity Irrationalism


 
Welcome Video for Week 2 Remote Learning Plan: Late Modernity Irrationalism  
Our remote learning statement has been updated with our pass/fail policy. See below. 
Please watch the Week 2 welcome VIDEO from Mr. Janus and myself above. 
Your instructions are on the blog's ASSIGNED WORK page. Look for Week 2 (April 6-10). 
Google Hangouts is still our “go to” for now for Harkness Discussions. They will be held per week as follows: 1st period Tuesdays and Thursdays 8-8:45 am; 5th period on Tuesdays and Thursdays 11:35-12:20; 7th period, Wednesday 1:50-2:35 and Friday 2:20-3:05; 8th period Tuesday 2:20-3:05 and Thursday 2:40-3:25 pm.  Your teacher will initiate the video conference. You should be ready to communicate your understanding of the Harkness question(s).  If your teacher is dropped from the call, students should hang up and wait for the teacher to re-initiate the call.
UPDATED REMOTE LEARNING STATEMENT
The EU Mock Council will address the global response to COVID-19.  Each class will have two Harkness discussions via Google Hangout or Zoom per week. This is your synchronous (at the same time) learningYou should finish Reading One before the first call and Reading Two before the second call.  Reading Three will introduce you to material for the next week, and should be paired with your own asynchronous (at your own pace) learning activities listed for that week on the Unit’s Study Guide to help you master the material. Written assessment of your work will take the same form as in the past, but will be completed at home and uploaded to turnitin.com. You should use your books and notes. You may not use the Internet or consult with other students. Work alone! Violating the Academic Integrity policy when we are pass/fail would be totally irrational. Violators will be referred to Ms. Campos for disciplinary action.  

[UPDATE] Our current understanding of pass/fail for AT Modern European History is that you demonstrate sufficient mastery of the major concepts and ideas such that you may carry them forward to the next unit (e.g., Unit 7 "extreme nationalism" to Unit 8 "economic nationalism" to Unit 10 "nationalism as a cause of WWI" to Unit 11 "the Third Reich deployed racial nationalism against Jews" to current events today that divide nations amidst the COVID-19 crisis.  Assessment will continue to be skill-based: our two weekly call assess your ability to communicate clearly regarding concepts and ideas, your unit written analysis assesses your ability to break down piece-by-piece the ideas within primary and secondary sources using historical thinking skills, and your EU Mock Council COVID-19 Schoology Group assesses your ability to juxtapose current events with their historical antecedents.  We are available to you as usual by email daily and we have developed asynchronous, multimedia resources to help you. 

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Remote Learning Week 1: Welcome back video from Ms. Gerst and Mr. Janus

Welcome Back Video From Ms. Gerst and Mr. Janus


REMOTE LEARNING STATEMENT
The EU Mock Council will address the global response to COVID-19.  Each class will have two Harkness discussions via Google Hangout or Zoom per week. This is your synchronous (at the same time) learningYou should finish Reading One before the first call and Reading Two before the second call.  Reading Three will introduce you to material for the next week, and should be paired with your own asynchronous (at your own pace) learning activities listed for that week on the Unit’s Study Guide to help you master the material. Written assessment of your work will take the same form as in the past, but will be completed at home and uploaded to turnitin.com. You should use your books and notes. You may not use the Internet or consult with other students. Work alone! Violating the Academic Integrity policy when we are pass/fail would be totally irrational. Violators will be referred to Ms. Campos for disciplinary action.  

[UPDATE] Our current understanding of pass/fail for AT Modern European History is that you demonstrate sufficient mastery of the major concepts and ideas such that you may carry them forward to the next unit (e.g., Unit 7 "extreme nationalism" to Unit 8 "economic nationalism" to Unit 10 "nationalism as a cause of WWI" to Unit 11 "the Third Reich deployed racial nationalism against Jews" to current events today that divide nations amidst the COVID-19 crisis.  Assessment will continue to be skill-based: our two weekly call assess your ability to communicate clearly regarding concepts and ideas, your unit written analysis assesses your ability to break down piece-by-piece the ideas within primary and secondary sources using historical thinking skills, and your EU Mock Council COVID-19 Schoology Group assesses your ability to juxtapose current events with their historical antecedents.  We are available to you as usual by email daily and we have developed asynchronous, multimedia resources to help you. 





Wednesday, February 5, 2020

2020 Draft Mock EU Council Roster

2020 Draft EU Mock Council Roster: Please see me for possible changes. In order to honor the multilingual character of the EU, groups crossed classes for language and heritage. It was challenging that no one signed up for many countries and others signed up for the same set of countries. Finally, a handful of students never signed up. Nonetheless, I am open to movement. Groups may not be larger than three and every country needs at least one representative.  If students want to switch, both students must agree to the switch. With some rebalancing, I'm particularly hopeful that groups with only one representative could have two. This is the master list on which Ms. Gerst will make approved changes.  It will have the most up-to-date roster.

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Hegel's Philosophy of History and Romanticism Redux: Phillis Wheatley

#1 Please watch this video on Hegel. How does he view history?  
Hegel 

#2 Please watch this video on Phillis Wheatley. How does her church remember her today?
Phillis Wheatley and her Church

#3 Read Wheatley's poem On Imagination and find as many references to themes of Romanticism as you can. Annotate those and be ready to link to pages 507-509 in your textbook.

#4 If you missed class, read this argument about Wheatley's place in the tradition of Romanticism.  What does Shields argue?


OPTIONAL WATCHING:

Hume

Kant


How the Far Right Became Europe’s New Normal


https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/opinion/far-right-europe-austria.html?referringSource=articleShare

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

How was the European Union begun and how does it work today?


EU: From WWII to Today


How does the EU Actually Work (Today)? 




(Start at 2:30, and the Presidency Moves to Croatia January 2020 . . .)
How does the video reflect Croatia's perspective on itself in Europe and the world? 




And Brexit was approved by the European Parliament last night! 




Thursday, January 23, 2020

Art History Lecture - French Revolution & Industrial Revolution

Hello all,

Please access the images from today's lecture using this link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Wo_lAsAzk8H8_im2mEW85EoRkq5MEyD0/view?usp=sharing

warm regards,
Ms. Rousseva