A/C Block: History 12-2, 12-3

Today we reviewed (or wrote and reviewed) a paragraph linked to the Rayfield reading from yesterday's class.  I asked students to share one sentence from that piece.  The assignment was highly structured in that I gave you the reading, the bullet points and the topic sentence.  As we move on, I'll ask you to do more and more of the work independently.

I also visited the website from yesterday's blog link.  We looked at examples of photographs that were "doctored" by Stalin's regime.  It is important to understand how extensive the manipulation of information (reality) was in Stalin's time.  Production figures were fabricated, crises were exaggerated and enemies of "socialism" were invented as needed.  It is difficult for us to image the level of suffering and depravity that the Soviet people endured during this time.  George Orwell's 1984 is an excellent vehicle to help understand what it was like.

I also showed three political cartoons from the Stalin era.  Remember that Stalin's caricature is easily identifiable by the big 'stache.  Look for clues given by any text or labels and then ask what the cartoon might be referring to.  Use the cartoon as a vehicle to share what you know about the topic; details and factoids are good, but remember to address the comment the cartoonist is making.

The big class completed page one of the Stalin worksheet that compared the USSR to Canada.  The small class ail do that tomorrow. Here are some screen shots:

The small class also did a nasty time-line review activity that involved millions of little pieces of paper. The big class should expect the same tomorrow. Both groups will be completing the Russia Google doc as part of a unit review and then start prepping for the unit test (that will likely be written on Monday).