Update on Chinese Comic Life Project

All of the comics that have been uploaded have been graded and entered into ProgressBook. If you would like to revise, you must follow these special directions (and shortened revision timeline due to the end of the quarter rapidly approaching):

1. View my grade/feedback on Pilot
2. Revise your comic accordingly (fixing everything, not just some of it) 
3. Upload your file back to Pilot
4. Print out a hard copy of your new comic life project 
5. Turn it into your class' turn-in tray no later than 3:30PM on Wednesday, May 13

Thank you,

~Mr. Grieve

Week Thirty Six - Debate Preparation

This Week

We are half way through our debate preparations today with students working on crafting their contentions, finding their evidence, and (for the groups who are really on top of things) tying all of their evidence together with a unifying theme. Students have been given mini-lessons this week on finding evidence, crafting contentions, developing themes, and coming up with reasoning to tie their arguments together. Today I spent the period meeting with students individually to look at their evidence and provide them feedback on how to improve it. They had to fill out a form by this morning at 8:00AM letting me know what their evidence/contentions would be for the debates so I could provide feedback.

Students' Chinese Comic Life projects were also due today, which I will try to finish grading over the weekend. What I've looked at so far looks pretty good!

This is Colleen Fulton's comic life project. She did a great job!

We also had a good time enjoying the beautiful weather this week (while continuing to prepare for the debates):

The weather was too nice to stay inside today, so we went outside!

Upcoming Week

Next week we will be doing the following as we prepare for our final debates:

Monday - I will meet w/students one on one, students will begin practicing constructive speeches w/in their own groups and critiquing one another/refining their arguments

Tuesday - Same as Monday

Wednesday - Class will do a run-through of the whole 1st half of the debates with another like group (progress presents to progress so no potential opponents get an unfair advantage!) and give each other feedback.

Thursday - The class will do run-throughs of the whole debate (cont.) with whole-class critique

Friday - Groups will work on revising based on class feedback after finishing up whole debate run-throughs and preparing for debates, which will start during 1st period on Monday!

I hope you have a restful weekend and come back ready to finish the year strong!

~Mr. Grieve

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

Week Thirty One - Modern China

This Week

We began our studies of Modern China this week by looking at a brief overview of Dynastic China and Chinese geography. If you're looking for a way to deepen your understanding of Chinese history, I'd definitely recommend checking out the Dayton Art Institute, which has a nice collection of Chinese art and artifacts that are very cool. Below are a few that we took last year when we rode our bikes there for our STEM On Wheels course.

A bit about the exhibit

A Watchtower from the Han Dynasty

More about the Watchtower

Figurines from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1544)

Also this week, a big shout out to Joel Baker, whose logo design for the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords was selected by Culture Works of Dayton as the winner of their logo contest! Look out for his logo next November as the anniversary events are advertised. The event is likely to bring dignitaries from around the world to Dayton, all of whom will be reading programs with Joel's logo. Great job, Joel!

We had two more students receive good news as well - Edward Love and Ray Hampton, whose poster Was it Really "Never Again"? won 2nd place in the Max May Memorial Art competition this year! Congratulations to both of them as well!

The 2nd Place Poster for the 2015 Max May Memorial Art Competition - Edward Love and Ray Hampton

Upcoming Week

Obviously next week is spring break! When we get back from that, though, we'll continue with our studies of Modern China by watching the movie, To Live, which is a Chinese movie by the famous Chinese director Zhang Yimou. I use this film to teach the different stages of Modern China up through the Cultural Revolution, as it's a good look at China from a Chinese perspective. It's also important to remember that much of it is simultaneously propaganda, so understanding the difference between how events are depicted and what actually happened is also a good way for us to become familiar with the progress and challenges Modern China has faced since adopting Communism.

I hope you and your family have a great spring break and that you make it out to the Dayton Art Institute at some point this break! If a student goes to the museum and brings back a ticket stub (or, better yet, gets a picture of him or herself with one of the artifacts in the Chinese Art exhibit!) I will give them extra credit, so there's a good reason for a family trip to the museum!

~Mr. Grieve

Week Thirty - Posters Unveiled!

This Week

The week isn't quite over, although the highlight of the week has mostly passed us, which was the poster unveiling at the Wright State Educational Resource Center. It was great seeing so many of you there and seeing all of the student artwork hanging prominently at Wright State University. Please go and 'like' their Facebook page and check out the picture album that Stephanie Bange, the Director of the ERC, has posted. There are many more great pictures of students and parents on there. Thank you so much to her and the ERC for hosting us and our artwork!

The posters will be on display until April 15th if you weren't able to make it out Wednesday. Some of the posters are also being entered into the Max May Memorial Art Contest, so look for those soon!

It was a truly fun evening seeing all the artwork on display, you all did a great job!

Thank you to all the students who showed up!

And the parents!

Thanks to DRSS Board Member Jennifer Winner for showing up and purchasing some of the posters to donate back to the school so they can be on display in our rooms!

And thanks to everyone who wants to shave my beard! We received over $100 last night and had commitments for at least another $100 through auction sales!

Students decided today to donate the proceeds to the non-profit organization United to End Genocide, which helps raise awareness of current ongoing conflicts and genocides going on around the world today. Find out more about how their money is spent HERE. If you missed a chance to donate but still want to see me with a new (or no) facial hair style, you can send in cash (or a check) made payable to either the Dayton Regional STEM School or directly to United to End Genocide. We have until Friday to get to $1,000 and students of all grade levels can donate!

Socratic Seminars have now been entered and all grades are now in ProgressBook depending on which quarter students elected to have their seminars and ticket assignments show up. If you have any questions or the grade book looks inaccurate, please feel free to email me to clear up any confusion at arch.grieve@wright.edu.

Upcoming Week

Testing continues throughout the week, and the most important one, of course, is next Monday. Don't forget to study this weekend using the following Ohio Department of Education test preparation website. Additionally, students can find out the topics for the Social Studies test HERE.

Have a great rest of the week and a great weekend!

~Mr. Grieve