Week Two

Weekly Update

Students had a great week this week as we began building our "toolbox" for understanding the 20th Century. We read the Time Magazine article Astonishing 20th Century by Paul Gray, outlining some of the major developments of the 20th Century, talked about how to set up our notes this year to prepare for our end-of-year debates, learned about Max Weber's definition of "politics," and read a small portion of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "World House Essay," using this as a discussion topic for how to truly debate the year's essential question, "Was the 20th Century one of Progress or Decline?" Students also took their second Geo Quiz over Central America, which is the same one they will take again next week to ensure mastery of content.

We also had a lot of fun on Tuesday at the Westcott House in Springfield for Mr. Polk's class field trip. I managed to snap a couple shots of the trip as well.

Students taking photos of the Westcott House

Working on geometry sketches in the backyard

Students working on their geometry sketches

We have had a number of assignments entered into GradeBook already. Don't forget to set up alerts to let you know if your student has missed any assignments.

Mrs. Strickland and Mrs. Fisher went over expectations for 10th grade with students today in the "greenhouse" space

Upcoming next week

We move now into some case studies that help us understand how societies changed during the 20th Century, starting with Iran next week. We will study early Iranian (or Persian) history, look at the Iranian Revolution, and prepare for a role-playing activity on Friday whereby students will debate the "future of Iran" as if they were living in 1979 after the fall of the Shah of Iran. It promises to be a fun activity and I'm looking forward to the debates!

Additionally, Mr. Lydy and I will be holding an informational meeting for the STEM school's chapter of the Dayton Junior Council on World Affairs (or "JAWS COMET") on Monday (8/25/14) at 12:15pm in my room. If your son or daughter is interested please make sure they attend this meeting. Last year we had a group that was able to compete in Washington DC and we hope to go again! You can find a video about JCOWA produced by one of our former students here -

Tyler, Zach, Tess, me, Mr. Lydy, David and Olivia meet with Singaporean Ambassador Mirpuri at his official residence on April 25, 2014

As always, if you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me at arch.grieve@wright.edu.


Have a great weekend,

~Mr. Grieve

PS - Ms. Reid said to remind students that their "I Am" poems are due next Friday!