Week Thirty Five - Comic Life Project

This Week (and Last Week)

I apologize I didn't get an update posted last week, but I was in Washington DC with my JCOWA students for the annual Academic WorldQuest Competition, put on by the World Affairs Council of America. We had a lot of fun, and you can check out our picture album on our Dayton JCOWA Facebook page.

This is our team with the European Union Ambassador David O'Sullivan! We got to visit the embassy.

Throughout this short week (no school for students Friday!) students have been working on their Comic Life projects whereby they create a comic about an important person or event from Chinese history so that we can create a comic book for each class about Modern Chinese history. On Wednesday we had a visit from Dr. Luehrmann, an expert on China and the Director of the Wright State International and Comparative Politics program (the one I'm in). Students submitted questions to her via a Google Form and she was able to come in during advisory and answer those questions on everything from currency during the Maoist era to the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement to the contradictions of Modern China. Students really benefited from her expertise and we she can visit with us again!

Dr. Luehrmann presenting to students on questions they sent to her ahead of time.

Many students wanted to ask questions so badly that they went late to lunch! Wish there was more time in the day.

There was also some big news on the poster project this week, as United to End Genocide (the organization for which we raised money) wrote an article about the unit we do! I have also decided to make all of their posters available for purchase, so you can check out the posters on our website at www.daytonstemschool.org/conflictandgenocide and then use this Google Form to let me know what posters you would like us to purchase. The form must be filled out and money must be turned in by Friday, May 8th, at 3:15PM. If you have any trouble with the form or questions, please contact me. All net proceeds from the sale of the posters will be donated to United to End Genocide.

Check out the story here!

Use this form to order posters. Find the 2015 posters available for sale on our website here.

Upcoming Week

Next week we begin studying for our "End of Year Debates," whereby students will be taking everything they have learned over the course of the year and fashioning arguments about whether or not they believe the 20th Century was one of "Progress," in addition to defining what "Progress" means. They will be debating in front of a panel of judges on May 18th, 19th, and 20th.

This is also the last weekend you have to visit the Chinese Art Exhibit at the Dayton Art Institute (if you haven't already), so be sure to send me a picture of your visit this week or weekend if you want to take advantage of this opportunity!

Have a great long weekend this weekend and here's to a great Thursday!

~Mr. Grieve

Week Thirty Three - Modern China Continued

This Week

It was fun on Thursday hearing about all of the things students did while on their internships on Wednesday! I heard about making coasters with an etching tool, playing with some pretty impressive video games at the Air Force Research Lab, and even heard my new favorite student say how hard it was to be a teacher after she shadowed one yesterday! One student even shadowed my brother, a writer for Naked Lime, a subsidiary of Reynolds and Reynolds that produces The News Wheel. All in all I was jealous about all the opportunities students got to take advantage of yesterday!

In terms of actual classwork, this week was spent finishing up the movie, To Live, and beginning two of the three readings we still have on Modern China. Students were given class time to complete these readings on Thursday and will have time on Friday as well.

Of course I can't forget to mention that Eddie Love and Ray Hampton placed 2nd in the Max May Memorial Art Competition, and Eddie was on hand to receive the award this past weekend at the Beth Abraham Synagogue. It was a great event and the Holocaust survivors who spoke were very moving. Check out some of the pictures, below.

A cool piece of art from another school

Many of our students' posters were on display

Here is Eddie's and Ray's poster

Eddie receiving the award for he and Ray, delivered by Renate Frydman, granddaughter of the Max May Memorial Art Competition's namesake, Max May

Eddie with his family!

Upcoming Week

I'm still allowing students to visit the museum, and I have to say that one student and her mother have set the bar quite high for letting me know they visited the Dayton Art Institute's Chinese exhibit. While you don't have to go quite this far, the extra effort is definitely appreciated, and I hope you have a chance to check it out as well!

Nice job Sophia and Mrs. Lucas! This is awesome! If this doesn't make you want to visit, I don't know what will.

There are some more pictures to show of others who went to visit the museum too!

We will be continuing with our studies of Modern China next week as we look at the Tiananmen Square protests, the artist Ai Wei Wei, and the challenges of Taiwan. Students were given their homework today for the Plan E day, so they should not need to log into Pilot or Pilot Live next Monday.

Also, I'm excited to announce that I'll be gone (that's not why I'm excited) next Friday because my students placed 1st for the second year in a row in the annual Junior Council on World Affairs competition, so we'll be traveling to Washington DC next week!

Have a great weekend.

~ Mr. Grieve

Week Thirty Two - Modern China Continued

This Week

This has been a slow week of easing back into the groove of school as students on Monday and Tuesday worked independently on a reading about Modern China. We then began our viewing of the movie, To Live, the final three days of the week.

Speaking of Modern China, thanks to all of you who took up my challenge to visit the art museum! I heard from many parents that they were unable to make it, so I'll extend this opportunity out another two weeks in case anyone else would like to visit it. I'm posting some of the better pictures below of students who went.

Thanks as well to those of you who came to the discussion panel about the US Senate torture review panel's findings at Wright State. It was an interesting and enlightening discussion and I'm glad you could make it.

Upcoming Week

Next week we will continue with our studies of Modern China as we finish up the movie and then move onto looking at more modern events, such as the Tiananmen Square protests and Ai Wei Wei's political dissidence. Today I also told students that we are going to (hopefully) have the opportunity to do a Q & A with the Director of the International and Comparative Politics Graduate program at Wright State, Dr. Luehrmann, and I'm asking them to think of things they want to ask her and post them on sticky notes as we go through the unit. With her being a true Modern China expert, I'm really excited for her visit. To get some ideas about things you'd like to research, check out NPR's page on China.

Have a great weekend,

~Mr. Grieve