Gideon v. Wainwright

The case of Gideon v. Wainwright established the right of indigent defendants to have a lawyer in criminal trials. This political cartoon gives an opinion about what has happened since the decision was made.

"P_" (class period) and your first name and last initials

1. Who does the man represent?

2. Who does the woman represent?

3. What do you think is the message of the political cartoon?

4. Should indigent defendants be provided with an attorney at the public's expense? Why or why not?

(adapted from www.landmarkcases.org)

September 11th Terrorist Attacks

This week marks the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. Work with your partner to respond to the following prompts, in paragraph format:

Don't forget to enter your class period, and your first name and last initial at the start of the prompt.

What is the best way that we can remember and honor those people that lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks? Explain why you think that way. What is important for students to know about the 9/11 attacks? Why are those things important? What lessons can we learn from what happened on September 11, 2001?

Andersonville

Andersonville was built in 1864 to hold 10,000 Union prisoners of war. By the time the camp was closed over 14 months later, over 45,000 prisoners were living there in squalid conditions, without enough food,water, shelter, or medical attention. Over 13,000 Union prisoners of war died at Andersonville. Captain Henry Wirz, the commandant at Andersonville, was held responsible and hanged as a war criminal. Andersonville is now a memorial that honors prisoners of war from all U.S. wars.

Although Captain Wirz was punished for what happened at Andersonville, there are those who believe that he was a victim as well as the prisoners of war who suffered and died. So now it's your turn. Think about what it means to be responsible for something. Who was really responsible for what happened at Andersonville?

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

With your partner, answer the following questions about the Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863:
1. A score equals 20. To what year does Lincoln take us back? Why?

2. To what is Lincoln referring when he says the United States was born "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal"?

3. According to Lincoln, what was the Civil War testing?

4. What advice does Lincoln give? What does he want them to realize about the purpose of the Civil War?

5. According to Lincoln, what might happen if the North loses the Civil War?

Global Classrooms Dialogue April

Welcome to our diaglogue between the students at Hassan II Secondary School in Beni Mellal, Morocco, and South Gate Middle School in South Gate, California, USA.

U.S. Students: Click on "comments" and write the following information:

1. your first name

2. something you like to do outside of school for fun

3. tell where in the US international visitors should travel to

4. a question for your Moroccan friends in Beni Mellal.

Moroccan Students: Click on "comments" and read what the US students wrote, then add your own comments to the blog:

1.your first (given) name

2.what you like to do outside of school for fun,

3. where in Morocco should international visitors travel to

4. a question for your American friends in South Gate

5. and finally, if you would like to answer any of the questions of the US students, that would be great!

Back from Morocco

So now that I'm back from Morocco, and settled once again in my daily routine, what do I take away from the trip? As a historian, I know that over time, the lessons from Morocco will become clearer as time passes. But I also know that it's important to record my impressions as they occur, so here are a few, in no particular order:

-- The hospitality that we were shown throughout the country, in schools, and in homes throughout Morocco was amazing. One of the joys of our trip was being able to spend so much time in private homes, and away from the hotels and tourist spots (although being a tourist was fun, too). However, the food was amazing, and trying to find mint tea that tastes like what we had in Morocco is proving to be a challenge. I also loved the fact that people wanted to discuss politics with us. We had gotten the advice to avoid politics and religion, and it was a delight that the second question we were asked (after, "How do you like Morocco?") was, "Will President Obama be re-elected?" It allowed us to share our ideas openly, and to ask questions that helped us understand their view of the US and its policies. While I didn't agree with everything I heard, I understand their perspective in a way atha I hadn't before. Hospitality is an ancient custom, but what can we all learn to be more hospitable?

-- Tolerance is something that we often talk about in our class, but I don't think that I realized the impact that some of the dialogue in the US had on the students in Morocco. The Moroccan students knew about the Qur'an burning in Florida, the Islamic center in Manhattan, and the Congressional hearings on Islamic radicalization, and they were hurt and even offended by many of those comments. I think that the one lesson that I would like to bring back to my US students is that scapegoating people is never justified. The one lesson that I hope that the students in Morocco understand is that the vast majority of Americans do not share those prejudices. It makes me think of my own prejudices and biases, and what can I do to change them?

-- The visit to Bayt Bahia, the orphanage for abandoned special needs children, was also a difficult experience that I will never forget. I'm not really a "baby person," but when I held and rocked those children and played with them, I realized that all of us need to do more to prevent children from being neglected, and need to do more to help those that are neglected. If you and I don't help, who will? My goal is to have our church make Bayt Bahia a mission project, and take up a collection at least once per year to help benefit the children. It's hard enough for special needs children under the best circumstances, but these little ones have been dealt a difficult hand. Bayt Bahia reminds me of the power of service -- I hope that many of the students in Beni Mellal take up Madame Massaq's challenge, and volunateer there.

-- Most of the time, it is difficult to know what events will be historically significant until they are over, and we have the chance to see that event with the benefit of hindsight. I believe that the revolutions that occured in the Arab world in the spring of 2011 will be seen as historical. What started in Tunisia and Egypt, and expanded to Libya, Syria, and other places has the potential to bring changes to people on the same scale as the fall of communism did in the 1990s. It was exciting to speak to students who are in the midst of history, and to see their reactions. I was also thrilled that King Mohammed VI addressed the Moroccan people during our stay, and promised to set up a commission with the charge to limit the constitution power of the monarchy in Morocco. As a historian, I am naturally reluctant to make predictions, since it is hard to understand what has already happened, but even harder to understand things that are happening now. However, I believe that the events across the "Middle East" and in Morocco in particular are historic. I think that Thomas Jefferson, wherever he is, is happy to see that more people are choosing independence, and self-government, as he knew that they would.

-- Overall, going to Morocco reminded me that of the value of travel and dialogue. I've been fortunate to travel to many places in the US, Canada and Mexico, but this was my first experience traveling beyond North America. Just being in Morocco and being able to talk to people, visit places like Chellah in Rabat (the Roman ruins) that pre-date anything in the US, and understand a society that functions much like our own, but with unique differences, was something that helped me grow and learn, and that was a good feeling.

So, that is all for now. Please check the blog archives for March 2011 for my entries while I was traveling in Morocco, and on Flickr, look for "Morocco 2011" to see the pictures I took during my trip. This is a good time to mention that the opinions that I expressed in these blog posts are my own, and do not represent the opinions of the US Department of State, IREX, Teaching Excellence Awards, International Leaders in Education Program, or the Global Classrooms program. I am also grateful to those entities for their support in my travels and experiences. Au revoir!

On the Road in Morocco -- March 16th - 17th (Part II)

Our last two days were working with teachers and students back in Beni Mellal and nearby schools. Ms. Skarsten and I presented workshops for teachers of English on Professional Learning Communities and Service Learning. Professional Learning Communities are an idea that means that teachers work together to plan activities, rather than just working independently. It also means that teachers work together to have a plan when students are not learning. During the workshop, the teachers were able to create a plan to help students who were having trouble with writing essays. We also asked the teachers to think about obstacles that they faced if they decided to have PLCs in their school. The biggest problem that they could foresee was a lack of time. Our advice was to try to set up PLCs in small steps, in other words, to solve one little problem at a time, rather than trying to solve big problems right away. Hopefully, that is good advice to solve any problem.

The next presentation was a lesson that Ms. Skarsten prepared for the students about climate change. Students and teachers from the school participated together the lesson, and then the teachers stayed when students went to their next class. Then I presented a workshop on Service Learning. The idea is that if students are studying a problem in class, there might be a chance to actually do a service project related to what is being studied. So for example, if students are studying climate change, what kind of service could they do to actually help reduce global warming?

We also had the opportunity to visit more classes during our last two days. We saw a literature class, a Spanish class, and spent more time with Ms. Massaq's English class. We were very impressed that the literature class was answering difficult questions regarding a novel that they were reading, and that almost all of the students were participating. Since the class was taught in French, I was fortunate that one of the students was whispering the answers in my ear (in English). The Spanish class was also impressive. It was taught completely in Spanish, rather than translating things from Arabic or French, which were the languages that the students knew. However, the teacher was also putting English and Italian on the board, just to show how all those languages were connected. It was definitely a stretch to keep up for me, but the students seemed to expect it.

One of the more interesting things that we were able to see was on our visit to a private school. While the teaching in the public school classes we saw was excellent, there was no way getting around the fact that the classrooms were very spartan, classes were crowded with 40 students crammed into a class, and students often had to share books. There was no technology in classrooms, no heat or air conditioning, and often broken windows. The computer lab was not state-of-the-art. Yet, teachers were teaching and students were learning. The private K-12 school was very different. In fact, they looked like a U.S. classroom. They were bright, had bulletin boards on the walls, nice desks, and were definitely less crowded. The technology center was more up-to-date with computers and internet access, and there was also art instruction going on, which was not available in the public school. Equity in schools is an issue in the U.S. as well as Morocco. Even though learning does not require all kinds of fancy buildings and equipment, it's important to think about whether it's fair that some children have more advantages then others? What do you think? And what is the solution? Would you take things away from schools that have more or better facilities? is that fair? If our country spent more on education, who would have to pay for it?

We had the opportunity to have one more dinner at a restaurant in Beni Mellal, which was nice since the rain finally stopped (it had been raining since Saturday). Our final dinner was a delicious couscous with sweet raisins on top, at Ms. Massaq's home. Several relatives were there, and it was a nice ending to the last full day of our trip. After our goodbyes, the only thing left was the trip the following morning to the airport in Casablanca for our flight back home. So that is all I have for now. These notes were actually typed back in California, since I was unable to get online before leaving Morocco. I will also post some final thoughts in a day or two, and add some pictures to the blog posts. So for now, thanks for reading!