Thursday, January 31, 2008

Chapter 1 Section 2 Turning Point: The Neolithic Revolution

Ch. 1 Section 2 Turning Point: The Neolithic Revolution

Terms, People, and Places

Old Stone Age

Paleolithic Period

New Stone Age

Neolithic Period

nomad

animism

Neolithic Revolution

domesticate

Çatalhüyük
Jericho

Note Taking

Checkpoint (3 in section).

What skills did Old Stone Age people develop in order to adapt their surroundings to their needs?

What major lifestyle changes did farming allow people to make?

What new technologies did people invent as a result of agriculture?

HW
SECTION 2 Assessment

Reading Skill: Summarize

2. Use your completed chart to answer the Focus Question: How was the introduction of agriculture a turning point in prehistory?

Comprehension and Critical Thinking

Predict Consequences

3. How do you think the development of spoken language influenced people’s development of skills and religious beliefs?

Determine Relevance

4. How are our lives today affected by the Neolithic Revolution that occurred 11,000 years ago?

Make Comparisons

5. How was settled village life different from nomadic life? Consider population size, social status, and technology in your answer.

Writing About History
Quick Write: Gather Information

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Agenda Honors WH I

Chapter 1 Foundations of Civilization : Prehistory–300 B.C.

Section 1 Understanding Our Past

Terms, People, and Places

prehistory

historian

artifact

anthropology

culture

archaeology

Mary Leakey

Louis Leakey

Olduvai Gorge

technology

Donald Johanson

Note Taking

Checkpoint (3 in section)

What kinds of evidence do historians use to study the past?

What types of evidence do anthropologists and archaeologists study to learn about prehistory?

What have anthropologists learned about the use of tools during prehistory?

Biography

Louis Leakey

Louis Leakey (1903–1972) was born in Kenya, where his English parents lived with the Kikuyu people. Leakey was initiated as a Kikuyu warrior at age 13 and continued to speak the Kikuyu language for many years after leaving Kenya. Leakey moved to England to attend Cambridge University, where he studied anthropology. Afterward, he returned to East Africa to search for the remains of early humans. He and his wife, Mary, found many tools, bones, and other artifacts. In later life, he traveled all over the world, lecturing and raising funds for new research projects. Leakey’s enthusiasm inspired a generation of anthropologists. Why might someone devote his or her life to studying early humans?

Mary Leakey

Mary Leakey (1913–1996) was born in London, England. During her childhood, she traveled throughout Europe and visited numerous prehistoric sites, which increased her interest in the fields of archaeology and geology. Because of her natural artistic talent, Leakey began working as an illustrator at archaeological sites during her teenage years. In particular, she focused on drawing Stone Age tools. Through this work, she met Louis Leakey, whom she married in 1936. Together they spent 30 years digging for early humans in East Africa. Mary Leakey found many remains that have become key to our understanding of early hominids. How did Mary Leakey become interested in studying the ancient past?

HW
SECTION 1 Assessment

Reading Skill: Summarize

2. Use your completed concept web and table to answer the Focus Question: What have scholars learned about the ancestors of humans, and how have they done so?

Comprehension and Critical Thinking

Express Problems Clearly

3. What types of obstacles do historians have to overcome to give a straightforward account of events? How do you think they might do this?

Analyze Information

4. In what ways do archaeologists work with new technologies and other scholars in their work?

Synthesize Information

5. Describe the story that anthropologists think the bones and tools they have discovered reveal about prehistory. Hint

EC
Writing About History
Quick Write: Explore a Topic

6C55BE72F39D2AFF7EE4 Enroll in Course 211-01 1st Period Honors World History I Spring 2008 textbook site

Class/Group and Student Information

Teacher name: Dr. Smith
Class/Group name: 211-01 Per. 1 Honors WH I Spring 2008

Class access code: 6C55BE72F39D2AFF7EE4
When you enroll or register, type the access code exactly as shown above.
Use all uppercase letters, and include dashes.

Student Name:

User Name:

Registration/Enrollment Instructions
First time users:
To register in SuccessNet:

1. Go to www.pearsonsuccessnet.com
2. Click Register
3. On the first screen, type the class access code above in the access code field.
4. Follow the instructions to register, and write your user name on the blank line above exactly as you typed it.
5. At the end of registration process, the SuccessNet login page appears.
6. Log in by typing your user name and password.

Existing users:
To enroll in this class:

1. Go to www.pearsonsuccessnet.com.
2. Log in by typing your existing user name and password.
3. From your Home Page, click My Account.
4. Click Add Class/Group
5. Follow the instructions, and use the class access code above to enroll in this class or group.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Back to School Night

Back to School Night: 29 January 2008

World History I and AP Government according to the Social Studies Standards of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia

COURSE GUIDELINES AND INFORMATION

a) Lesson Plans, Homework, course information can always be found on my blog:
http://gmicksmithsocialstudies.blogspot.com/

b) World History Online textbook, notices, assignments:
http://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com/

c) World History Textbook Code/Student Information
Period 1: TBA

d) Page for collaboration:
http://www.seedwiki.com/wiki/gmicksmith/gmicksmith.cfm

e) Course information and additional content can always be heard on my Podcast:
http://www.gcast.com/u/gmicksmith/

f) Grades can always be found on:
http://www.gradeconnect.com/

Listed below are expectations for the class.

1. Be in your seat and prepared for class when the bell rings with pencil/pen, notebook, and textbook(s), or any other assigned materials.
2. Obtain permission by raising your hand before speaking, or leaving your seat for any reason once the bell rings.
3. Follow directions and complete all assignments on time.
4. Remain alert, awake, and on task during the entire class period.
5. Above all, respect yourself, your teacher, and others and their possessions.

Grading Calculation is a “Straight Point Based” system. I do not calculate grades on GradeConnect, the programming algorithms perform this task automatically, and all I do is accurately enter the student points earned.

I adhere to a policy of PDP (Positive Daily Performance), which is based on my understanding that lifetime success arises out of what you do, day in and day out. Being prepared and ready to apply yourself with your school materials everyday is crucial.

Absence Policy on Test Day or any class work:
If you are absent for a test/quiz it is your responsibility to make arrangements with me to take it. This is scheduled the day after you return to school. Points will be deducted each day you fail to do make up work.




Contact Information and Brief Biography

Dr. G. Mick Smith, Room #267, and contact info: gmicksmith@muchomail.com (fastest and direct contact), 215.276.2300 (slower, indirect contact).

Dr. Smith earned his PhD in History at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was also awarded a Masters degree in History from UCLA, and he obtained a second Masters in Theology. Smith was a Johannes Quasten Scholar in Patristics at The Catholic University of America and he holds a Distance Learning Administrator’s Certificate from Texas A&M University and the Center for Distance Learning Research. He has published over 110 mostly peer-reviewed publications in history, technology and education, and computing. Dr. Smith has been President of the American Association for History and Computing. Smith has also taught at colleges on the Left and Right Coasts as well as locally at Northeast Catholic High School, Lansdale Catholic, Villa Maria Academy, Phila Academy, and Hahnemann University. At Cardinal Dougherty Smith is Assistant Chair of the Technology Committee and Moderator of Mock Trial. Dr. Smith is a widower and a full-time single parent; he wrote his first novel about parenting the greatest daughter ever born.

Monday, January 21, 2008

"Teach the Children," Crosby, Stills, and Nash: A Contemporary Application

"Teach the Children" is an anti-war song made famous during the Vietnam conflict by Crosby, Stills, and Nash. This is the same group who memorialized the four students killed at Kent State by National Guardsmen in the song "Ohio."

Monday, January 14, 2008

India Transformed

India does not need to be considered a developing country but one that is transformed.

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Material to Finish Course: Cold War and Following

In addition to Chapter 30 The Cold War 1945-1991, you should be prepared to consider Chapter 31 Section 4, The Modern Middle East; Chapter 32 Section 3 Conflicts in the Middle East; Chapter 33 China and India: Two Giants of Asia; Chapter 34 Section 2 Globalization; and, Chapter 34 Section 4 Security. With these sections, we will finish the course.

"China: Emerging Powers" Video

China: Emerging Powers video

1. communist
2. capitalism
3. IBM
4. CPB
5. standing army
6. restrained
7. Beijing
8. modernization
9. represssion
10. contradiction
11. superpower
12. nuclear
13. Cultural Revolution
14. Mao
15. Red Guard
16. commune
17. peasant
18. will power
19. fortitude
20. endurance
21. social status
22. crux
23. wisdom
24. legacy
25. nostalgia
26. revolution
27. investment
28. Gobi Desert
29. backbone
30. destiny
31. Shanghai
32. cosmetics
33. corridors
34. skyscraper
35. country bumpkins
36. investors
37. chaos
38. commodity
39. aspirations
40. regulator
41. market economy
42. innovation
43. PhD
44. socialism
45. monument
46. assembly line
47. utopia
48. cradle to grave
49. "jumping into the sea"
50. pioneering
51. radical
52. reform
53. dislocation
54. private sector
55. state sector
56. abject poverty
57. enterprises
58. national college entrance exam
59. cropland
60. residency
61. migrants
62. harvest
63. defraud
64. insignia
65. racketeering
66. license
67. disparity
68. hazardous
69. structures
70. covenant
71. bankrupt
72. manufacturing
73. conglomerate
74. poultry
75. incubator
76. charcoal
77. mechanized
78. feed (for animals)
79. traitor
80. kilometers
81. ration
82. patriotic
83. undermining
84. uncensored
85. environmental protection
86. dialogue
87. ideology
88. disco
89. waltz
90. foxtrot
91. rock 'n' roll
92. decadent
93. dissidents
94. Tianamen Square
95. alienation
96. corruption
97. human rights
98. Gallup Poll
99. reverberate

Saturday, January 05, 2008

How Many U.S. Troops Are On Okinawa?

Okinawa measures 454 square miles, almost exactly the size of Los Angeles. Although World War II ended with the Japanese surrender in 1945, the island still contains 39 U.S. bases.
42,962 Americans troops inhabit the island (Source: Okinawa: Asia's Last Colony, pp. 34-64.
Chalmers Johnson, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire).

For comparison's sake, the U.S. Troop level in Iraq during December 2007 was 160,000.

The United States maintains 3,731 military installations worldwide.
Source:
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
BASE STRUCTURE REPORT, 2006.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Please comment on the "Impossible Journey"


I noticed this thoughtful piece on YouTube and I am eliciting your comments.


It was posted on YouTube by: Luis Lomeli, MD.


From the ghetto to medical school is an impossible journey.

For a long time, I have studied our failing inner city public schools. It is a social tragedy that half of Latinos and African Americans fail to finish high school. There are many elements that contribute to the academic failure of so many students. Of those that graduate, when tested by me, most cannot add ½ + ¼. The usual response is 2/6 when it should be ¾.

When students are asked to solve X to the third power, when X is equal to 2, the students too often seem lost. When educated that 2x2x2 can be written as 2 with the exponent 3 and therefore the solution is 8, they begin to readily see the need for exponents. If E = MC squared, I then explain that it means that energy contained in a very small amount mass gives a lot of energy since C is the speed of light (300,000 miles per second). When I add that this equation, E = MCxC, was first described by Einstein circa 1905 as a fundamental physical law, they become intrigued. If I ask why is it that we first see lighting and only later we hear the thunder, the curiosity heightens when I explain that sound travels very slowly, at .2 miles per second. Therefore we see lightning almost instantaneously due to the fast speed of light.

Too often history and government are taught in a manner that would make most of us say, "forget it." Last week I met a student that was doing well in the sciences but failing U.S. History. It didn't make sense. Apparently, she had been asked to memorize the names of all U.S. Presidents. What was the point? This student knew very little about how important Alexander Hamilton, a founding father, was in the development of the United States. The student knew nothing about Vietnam or the current Iraq war. When I asked this student to tell me about a few important constitutional amendments, she was clueless. When I discussed the importance of the First Amendment in regard to the freedom of speech, press and right to peaceably assembly, she was keenly interested. When I added that if she were arrested, the Fifth Amendment gives her the right not to self incriminate, she said, "Why don't they teach us those things at school?"

I ask students that are failing, "How does it feel to fail each test you take?" "It doesn't feel good" is the usual response. Therefore, if students aren't properly educated and engaged, how are they to thrive?

If we were to assume that a student's home environment is not suitable for learning, we would make big a leap in public education. Family dysfunction in the inner cities and ghettoes is problematic and leads students to under achieve. If a schools cannot properly teach the required subjects during the school time, when help is available, then they should reassess their function.

A socialized public education is not punished retroactively if students fail to learn or graduate. I was exposed to dismal public school systems in Compton, Lawndale and later in Highland Park California. So how did I educate myself?
There were two public school teachers that greatly influenced me. Mr. Stiff at Walton Junior High School made me stay after school so that he could teach me grammar. In high school, at Franklin Senior High School, the math teacher, Mrs. Gainder, once said to me, "Young man, educate yourself; the physical work you do in construction will wear your body down before you're 40."

While in the U.S. Army I decided to memorize a small dictionary. Since I had not read much in the United States, I figured that my vocabulary had to be limited compared to those kids raised in affluent homes. In addition, I taught myself algebra and grammar.

I remember how frightened I was when I learned that I had to learn to convert cubic inches to cubic centimeters. "There is nothing to fear more than fear itself." Soon I fell in love with the physical sciences, but I always had a disdain for some non-scientific courses.

So to get from the ghetto to a medical school, there is a lot you need to learn. For instance, what is XX÷ X? It is X. Let's give X the number 2, then 2x2 ÷ 2 = 2. What is X ÷ X? It is 1. How do we apply the latter question into a general scheme? Any number X divided by itself is one as long as X is not zero. Therefore, 7 is divided by 7 is 1; 9 divided by 9 is 1; we can say that 7/7 = 9/9 = 1. Let's use this information in science. If one inch is equal to 2.54 cm, how many centimeters (cm) are equal to 8 inches? 8 inch x 2.54 cm/1 inch = 20.32 cm. You must notice that the inch units cancel each other out and you end up with centimeters only. You can see me using this logic when I work out the amount of medicine I must give to a very sick patient.

In closing, most of what I do today is self-thought, including the Art of Medicine. Develop a passion for learning and you'll surprise yourself. Most ghetto schools are failing society.




Luis Lomeli MD/Beta