Do You Believe in Second Chances?

We are beginning a unit where one of the main themes centers around Justice.  Read the following article from Teen Inc., and think about where you stand when it comes to trying teens as adults.  Please respond in the comment section below.  Think about the following:
1.  Do you agree or disagree with the writer's opinion?
2.  In a perfect world, how would you handle a troubled teen that has committed a serious crime?
3.  The article says that young brains are not fully developed until the age of 23.  Do you think the age of "adulthood" should be changed from 18 to 23?
4.  Do you think the parents of adolescent criminals should be punished for not teaching them right from wrong?  Do you think it would make a difference?

Manners

Please read the following article from Choices Magazine and respond.  What are your feelings on rudeness?  Do you think that Americans could be nicer to one another?

Are bad manners wrecking America?

Ohio School Shooting

There has been another tragic school shooting in Ohio.  Having recently completed a unit on justice, I am interested in hearing your thoughts.  Please watch and read the items below and respond on your own blog.  Submit the URL onto my website
1.  Watch the following video clip
Third Victim Dies
2.  Now read the attached article by John Whitehead, and respond on your blog.  Title your post "School Violence". If you have trouble coming up with a response to this article, think of the following questions: What are your thoughts on the relationship between bullying and school violence.  What do you think adults can do to help students who are bullied?  What do you think students can do to help students who are bullied?
3.  Now read this next article about the Ohio school shooting.  Continuing with your blog post titled "School Violence" explain how you feel the suspect should be justly punished.  Think about the papers you wrote on justice earlier this year.  Does the suspect's history, home life, and or school life influence your opinion?

Block 4 Refugee Relocation Questions

Block 4:

Questions:

1.     What is a secondary migrant?

2.     What does it mean to be a primary refugee

3.     Why do some refugees come in illegally

4.     Why didn’t the U.S. help out while these inhumane things were happening

5.     Is there a lesser refugee than the secondary migrant

6.     Why don’t the asylee’s come here as refugees?

7.     How do you apply for student visas?

8.     How do the refugee camps decide who gets to leave?

9.     Where do most refugees come from?

10. Do families usually move together as secondary migrants?

11. What other places do refugees depend on other than the U.s.

12. What happens in refugee camps?

 


 *Choose one of the questions above and answer it in the comments.  Use the website:  http://www.ccmaine.org/info.php?info_id=194  to find your answers.

Block 3 Refugee Relocation Questions

Block 3 Questions

1.     What is an asylum

2.     Why is Maine so popular to relocate people

3.     Why does it take decades to get someone out of a refugee camp?

4.     Why are refugee camps dangerous

5.     When coming from another country do you still need to get a green card?

6.     What country do the majority of the refugees come from

7.     Do you have to find a place to live by themselves or does the RIS help them?

8.     How much does it cost to place a refugee?

9.     Do they have organizations that give them money?

10. Once arriving in the country can you move around the country freely?

11. Do you have to become a citizen after living here for a certain amount of time?

12.  Is it a coincidence that two of the most frequented two resettlement locations are Portland OR and Portland ME?

13. Why do people come to Maine?  Why not Connecticut or RI? Do they not have choice?

 *In the groups you were in last week, choose three of the questions above and answer them in the comments.  Use the website:  http://www.ccmaine.org/info.php?info_id=194  to find your answers.* 

Block 1 Refugee Relocation Questions

Block 1 Questions

1.     Did you meet up with other local refugees once you got here?

2.     Why does Maine have so many refugees?

3.     How much money is given to refugees when they arrive to the U.S.?

4.     Why does it take so long for refugees to be resettled?

5.     Why does funding only apply to the state in which the refugee starts off in?

6.     Why is it that people searching for freedom come to the U.S.?

7.     How do the Refugee camps decide where to relocate the refugees?

 *In the groups you were in last week, choose three of the questions above and answer them in the comments.  Use the website:  http://www.ccmaine.org/info.php?info_id=194  to find your answers.

Funny In Farsi

Culture Unit

Honors Challenge Assignment

Purpose:  In addition to reading, Children of the River, you will also be responsible for reading some sections from the memoir Funny in Farsi.  The purpose for reading a second text, is so that you can compare and contrast Firoozeh’s experiences from Sundara’s experiences.  This memoir is also about a young woman adapting to U.S. culture, however, she is from Iran.  Her style of writing is also different from COR in the she approaches her experiences from a humorous viewpoint with many of the stories focusing on her father.

Assignment: Create a blog (similar to the one you have in science).  Name it FunnyinFarsiKL (with your initials at the end).  You must create the following posts:

1.  Please read all for the chapters below, but post 10 on your blog.
2.  You need to collect 2 quotes from each chapter and respond to each of the chosen quotes (your thoughts, connections to Children of the River, connection to your own life, confusion).  Use your Double Entry Journals to fill in these blog posts.
3.  Post 10 responses to any of the 15 chapters listed below:
Leffingwell Elementary School
Hot dogs and Wild Geese
In the Gutter
Save Me, Mickey
Swoosh-Swoosh
With a little Help from my friends
A dozen Key Chains
The “F” word
Waterloo
America land of the Free
The Ham experiment
It’s all relatives
Me and Bob Hope
I Ran and I Ran and I Ran
I-raynians Need Not Apply

4.  Comment on two different posts from a fellow student’s blog.

5.  Example of a student blog:
http://funnyinfarsitn.blogspot.com/