Week Nineteen - End of the Semester!

This Week

This has been a really busy week as we have been introducing the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict now for nearly the entire week, with a one day break Wednesday when Mrs. Montgomery came in to talk to the students about their posters, which we will be working on incrementally after we get back next year. For those who have been out - each day I have recorded the lectures from 4th period so students can find these online if they are missing them, so please direct them to do so if they are absent for long periods of time this week, as they will need this background information when they return and it will be difficult for them to catch up if they are not taking time to listen to the lectures and go through the PowerPoints over break. A good extension opportunity for you at home would be to check out the New York Times piece from this week by Thomas Friedman on the upcoming Israeli elections and discuss with your son or daughter what he or she believes is the correct path forward, as this will be the topic of their letters when we return.

Secondly, Prezis have finally been graded and I wanted to highlight a few that were very well done (and which will probably be templates for students next year. Brian Bollinger's Prezi looks great, is well-written, and includes the appropriate sources. Colleen Fulton's Prezi and Edward Love's Prezi also look great and are very informative. Nice work all!

Check out Edward's portfolio here!

Also this week students were putting on Healthy Living seminars for teachers. My favorite was when Starr, Ben, and Vyshu came and gave me food. Thanks!

Ben, Starr, and Vyshu came to tell me how bad my eating habits are at Wendy's, but how I can make better choices when I am in a hurry and walk across the parking lot to get fast food! I suppose now I have to lay off the Baconators...

Upcoming Week

Obviously, next week is winter break! When we return we will be continuing with the Israeli-Palestinian Conference. I'm very excited that on January 8th we will host our first-ever Israeli-Palestinian Peace Conference, whereby students will hear from three of four speakers on the topic of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Each speaker has a different perspective. Below are their bios.

• Angela Frydman - Presenting the Israeli perspective, Angela Frydman was an assistant Montgomery County Prosecuting Attorney for 21 years, specializing in child abuse and high profile violent crime cases. Since 2005, she has been teaching a course entitled “Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict” to Jewish HS students in an effort to prepare them for Anti-Israel and Anti-Semitic sentiment on college campuses.
• Dr. Donna Schlagheck - Presenting the U.S. Perspective, Dr. Schlagheck has published a number of  books and articles and her research is focused on the topics of terrorism and diplomacy. She is the Chair of the Political Science Department and the advisor for the Model UN Team.
• Dr. Vaughn Shannon - Presenting the U.S. Perspective, Dr. Shannon has written a number of books and articles about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and is an Associate Professor at Wright State in the Political Science Department and advisor for the Model Arab League Team.
• Safa Suleiman - Presenting the Palestinian perspective, Safa Suleiman is a history, political science, and liberal education instructor at Park University.  Her courses include Modern Middle East, Arab and Muslim Women's Writing, and American Foreign Policy.  Safa was born and raised in Colorado and is of Palestinian heritage.

I'm really looking forward to the conference and working on the posters when we get back!

I hope you and your family have a great break and I wish everyone who celebrates them a Happy Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, Feast of St. John's, Christmas Octave, New Year's, Mawlid Un Nabi, and, of course, a Happy Festivus!

~Mr. Grieve