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The World Civilization/Geography Current Event Assignment
< http://www.sonic.net/bantam1/ce9th.html>
click here to download as Word or Works file
Current
Event Schedule
and Student
Work
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The Current Event Project will count as 10% of your semester grade. The presentations will be made throughout the semester. Each student will work with one partner. Your current event will focus on the geography theme of Human-Environmental Interaction. Your teacher will provide you with a schedule of presentation dates.
You will be required to turn a draft in to the teacher 2 weeks in advance of your presentation. This draft will be reviewed and returned to you the next class session. You make any necessary revisions and return it to your teacher at least one week in advance of your presentation. It must include a hard copy of the CE report and a copy of the CE report on a disk. The disk copy must use MS Word. See your teacher for assistance on converting to this, if necessary.
Requirements for Students Presenting and Facilitating the Discussion
Check the schedule to find out when you will present your current event. Begin looking for a current event immediately. Two weeks before you are scheduled to present, be sure to hand in the following:
Tasks for Non-Presenting students
On the day of each presentation, all non-presenting students are required to turn in a 1 - 2 paragraph response for each of the of the five questions prepared by the presenting students. Your notes must demonstrate your preparation and depth of understanding of the issues presented during the discussion. Make references to the main article and the 3 supporting articles prepared by the presenters.
Assignment point distribution:
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Presenter: Current Event paper, Article, and support items/links |
....... 50 points |
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Presenter: The five critical thing questions |
....... 20 points |
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Presenter: Class presentation and discussion of your CE |
....... 30 points |
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Non-presenters: Critical thinking question responses [each presentation set] note: these responses are a part of your regular grade period scores. |
....... 30 points |
Some suggested general topics of Global Significance:
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Class Presentation Schedule:
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Current Event Example of Presenter's Article, Summary and Support URLs
click here to down load as a Word or Works file
Title, Author, Source, Date & URL
[if available online]
Fitzhugh, Jennie. "Miguel's Mission." San Francisco Chronicle,
September 22, 2000.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/09/22/PN107027.DTL
Half page summary of article (why you
chose the article, the central and underlying issues, regional
relevance)
The story "Miguel's Mission" traces the journey of a
Shipbo-Conibo Indian's journey to the San Francisco Bay Area. The
article focuses on the cultural contrasts Miguel experiences as he
adapts from a traditional isolated cultural environment to the
cutting edge lifestyle practiced on the west coast of the United
States. As Miguel prepares to return to his isolated rain forest
homeland, he must decide what cultural baggage from California to
bring with him and what to leave behind.
I chose this article because I am interested in the interplay between traditional and modern cultures and the question of whether traditional cultures can borrow ideas from the modern world and manage to maintain their traditional values and cultural integrity.
The central issue of this article is how Miguel has changed as a result of his journey and what cultural baggage he will choose to bring with him and what he will discard when he returns to Peru.
Underlying issues include the tensions and struggles between developed and developing societies and cultures, the problem of preserving tribal and traditional wisdom in a rapidly developing world, the problems of environmental degradation, the clashing of cultures, the price of change, the looming extinction of indigenous societies and the potential of education to preserve or destroy.
This story focuses on two primary regions: the Amazon rain forest and the West coast of California. The underlying issues described above pertain to all areas of the world where indigenous or traditional cultures fight to preserve cultural norms against the inexorable tide of the developed world.
5 Critical Thinking
Discussion Questions
1. How would you define culture? What are the main differences
between traditional and modern culture?
2. How would you define your family's culture-- are you traditional,
modern, American? What is American culture?
3. Why should we care about preserving traditional cultures? What
does traditional culture have to offer those who live in the modern
world?
4. If you were Miguel, which ideas or American cultural values would
you bring back to your home village? Which aspects of American
culture would you leave behind? Why?
5. If you could give Miguel one American cultural artifact, tool or
idea to bring back with him to Peru, what would it be? How would you
want him to use it?
3 Supporting URLs (background info, maps, photos that support the main article)
Miguel is from the area around Pucallpa
located on the Ucayali River near the far Western border of Peru
& Brazil (see map).
http://www.realtime.net/~raintree/peru/mapperu.gif
This site provides general information
and several photos of the Shipbo-Conibo Indians of Peru.
http://www.latinsynergy.org/shipibo.htm
This site contains a couple of paragraphs
of general background information on the Shipbo-Conibo Indians.
http://www.amazontribes.org/Shipibo-Conibo.html
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Links to News Sources and Maps
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