"I don't know the future. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin. I'm going to hang up this phone, and then I'm going to show these people what you don't want them to see. I'm going to show them a world without you. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible. Where we go from there is a choice I leave to you." - The Matrix

During this project, we have looked at the world around us and have identified real problems and have imagined real solutions. Maybe your opinions and perspectives have changed since we begun this project. Maybe you see some things differently than you did at first.

So this is my question, what would you do to change the relationship between Mexico and the United States? If you had the power, what would you do?

Acehnese children chant slogans near Lhokseumawe to protest against military oppression.

Students (you all) have more time, more energy and more passion than almost every single adult. Adults are bogged down with deadlines and traffic lines. But you all can do a lot to change the world... if you want to.

My question this week has to do with what we can do -- What are our skills? What are our passions? What are the problems that you see?

This question is challenging, but I'd like you guys to give this some serious thought. Changing the world is nothing something that you can only do if you are grown-up -- you can start now.

(but how?)

much love
(& all my faith)

kay

We are one week shy of our all-day debate tournament! You may be nervous, but do not worry! One week is a lot of time to prepare.

After burning your eyes with researching and straining your minds with debating, you may be wondering why we are going to so much trouble to do this project. You may even be wondering, "What does debate have to do with humanities?"

Humanities are about our stories -- and doing debate is way to get better at telling them. Here are, in my opinion, the top 4 reasons why we should debate.

5) It improves critical thinking - or being able to look at ideas for both their strengths and their weaknesses. If ever someone offers you an idea, you need to be able to test it and see if it's a good or bad idea. Some of the things we do are harmful to our lives! But we do not think critically about ideas, or actions. Debate helps you do this.

4) It helps you know how to research -- if ever you have a question about anything, you could either ask someone who knows the answer, or you can find out for yourself. Debate gives you the tools you need to understand how to find out information on your own, so that you can rely on yourself to find answers to your questions. This is knowledge, and knowledge is power.

3) It improves your ability to listen - in life, with whoever you are around (family, friends or classmates), you need to be able to listen when other people talk to you! How many arguments happen simply because we do not understand one another? If you learn to listen well, you will understand people more, and save yourself a lot of trouble!

2) It helps you communicate confidently and effectively -- debate helps you organize your ideas, and in debate, you also practice delivering your ideas to your audience. We work on finding ways to really say what we need to say. Communication opens so many doors! And your words can change the world.

1) Debate is fun! (Right?!)

Do you have other ideas about why people debate? How has this project gone for you? I know it has been a frustrating experience, but I think Team Alpha is going to rock the house next Friday at our tournament! You guys are great!

Question to ponder: What if the Native Americans told the Pilgrims that the border was closed, and they could not immigrate? Where would we be then? Technically, the pilgrims were illegal immigrants!

Onto the OT...These assignments are designed to help prepare you for your first debates, which will happen on the Tuesday after we get back from break (November 27). The more work and research you do, the better prepared you will be to win your rounds and argue with style.

1) Write a blog post on the question, Why does the world have borders?

2) Try to finish your book, Breaking Through – we will have two literature circles the week we get back, so it needs to be finished by Friday, November 30

3) Write a Negative brief against your own case, with at least 5 pieces of evidence

4) Refine your Affirmative case – make sure that it is 8 minutes long and try to correct any problems that you have found with it during piranha packs

5) Challenge assignment: Contact an expert about the border (by email or phone).

You can call the government and ask questions about policies, and you can also contact many authors by email. See what connections you can make, and what kind of information you can find. Document this contact and show me after break.

Have a great Thanksgiving, and keep checking the Humanities blog for more information and updates.

As you could see when the debaters came on Wednesday, debate is a valuable tool that will teach you public speaking, critical thinking, notetaking, persuasion and poise. In order to gain these things, you must work hard on creating your affirmative case! Writing an affirmative case is hard work, but it is within your power! As with any assignment, please do the best you can.

Here are some helpful questions that will guide you as you write your affirmative case (due TUESDAY).

1. Do you have a catchy introduction?
2. Do you state the resolution, "Resolved: That the United States should significantly change one or more of its policies towards Mexico"?
3. Do you have definitions of words from the resolution, defined with a dictionary?
4. Do you have at least two harms, or problems with how things are right now? (e.g. smuggling, or illegal immigration)
5. Do you have evidence to prove your harms? (Evidence is expert testimony or research from credible sources. You will need to research to finish your case!)
6. Do you have a plan to solve your harms? Remember that you can do anything you want! You can remove the border, or create a wall. The sky is the limit!
7. Do you list your agent (probably Congress and the President), your enforcement (probably the Border Patrol) and your funding (probably taxes)?
8. Do you have at least two advantages, or good things that happen because of your plan?
9. Do you have a conclusion, that encourages your audience to vote for your case?
10. When read out loud, does your case take 6-8 minutes to read?

You may have noticed that high school is getting harder to manage! We are knee-deep in projects all over the place, and we need to work together to stay on top of our assignments. If you need help, please email me. I would like to be a resource for you!

In addition to your affirmative case, you should also continue to read in your book, Breaking Through and you need to post a blog (approx. 10 minutes) answering the question, "How does the US benefit Mexico and how does Mexico benefit the US?"

Debate is hard, but it is worth it! We will be concentrating on this topic for the rest of the semester. Please let me know how I can help you, and I will do my best to guide you through problems.

best of luck.
Kay

Hola mis estudiantes! As announced in class today, we will begin working on our first affirmative cases. Remember that "affirmative" means that you will argue for the resolution, "Resolved: That the United States should significantly change one or more of its policies with Mexico."

An affirmative case is written in a very specific way, but you have complete freedom to choose what you want to write about.

Your affirmative case must outline:
I. Definitions: What words in the resolution are difficult to understand? What words would you like to clarify? Please define at least two words (use a dictionary).
II. Harms: What are the harms of the current system? How do United States policies harm Mexico? Or, how does Mexico abuse United States policies and harm Mexcio? Please list at least two harms.
III. Plan: What steps can we take to fix the problems? Think about how we can solve these problems, too. For example, list mandates (what is your plan of action?), the agent (WHO will be in charge of passing your plan), the enforcer (who will make sure your plan is carried out), and the funding (how we will pay for your plan).
IV. Advantages: What are the good things that come from your plan? Have you solved the harms? Please list at least two advantages.

Affirmative cases take a lot of thought and you will need to do this as outside thinking! Remember that you will be partnered with someone with a similar commitment level to their work, so do a good job on your case outline so I can see how much you want to succeed at this project!

As always, if you have questions, do not hesitate to ask.

Best,
Kay

This week we will concentrate on finding harms (or problems) with United States policies towards Mexico. Our main question is: How does the United States harm Mexico and how does Mexico harm the United States? On Friday for our FIRST thing, many of you talked about different harms you have noticed in the current system. Several people commented on illegal immigration, smuggling, language barriers and the border wall.

By Monday, you should post your opinion about the problems of the US-Mexican border (200 words). You may need to research in order to develop your opinion. If you are having trouble finding harms, please comment back to me on this post or email me.

Looking ahead to the week, we will be reviewing our ideas about San Diego and Tijuana, the differences between Mexico and the United States, and beginning to develop our first Affirmative cases. On Friday, you will also host our first Literature Circle on the book Breaking Through. Be sure to read pages 1-47 so that you can be prepared to discuss the book with your group. Keep checking this blog for more updates!

See you soon.
Kay

I have good news and good news.

The first good news is that we will have an opportunity to start researching in class tomorrow! We will research the relationship between Mexico and the United States, in the first preparation for our debates coming up in just a few weeks. This might be something related to the environment, immigration, pollution, economy, culture or business (or anything else you can think of!).

The second good news is that you will be posting one or two research resource(s) (a website or an article) that you found on your blog! Please post the link, and also a short little description of the website or article and what you found helpful about it.

This way, you can connect to your classmates' blogs and use the resources that they found to help you with your research over the weekend.

Please post your resources by Friday so that we can all access them online in class and over the weekend.

peace,
Kay

Welcome back! I hope everyone stayed safe during the craziness that was Last Week. This week we will launch into our new Border Project full-force & full-speed ahead! We will be asking the question, "What difference does a border make?" and many other questions related to that. For this project, there are three main things to think about.

1. Debate

We will be devising problems and solutions with the current United States policies towards Mexico. This involves research, critical thinking, case writing, and (of course) debating! We will be debating on the following resolution,

Resolved: That the United States should significantly change one or more of its policies with Mexico.

Our first debate rounds will be on November 27 and our tournament will be held all day on Friday, December 7.

2. Reading

We will be reading the book Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez as a class. This is a true story of a young man who came to the United States illegally when he was only 4-years-old. On November 9, 16, 26 and 28, you will be hosting literature circles for your classmates, so we can discuss this book in class. Reading this book will help us understand the immigrant experience, and further explore the difference that a border can make.

3. Change Now Projects

As students, you have more time, more energy, and more passion than most of the adults in the United States. You can make a difference now! As we devise policies for the whole United States, we should also keep in mind the question, "What can HTHCV do to benefit the border region now?" We will be asking this question at the end of our project (Dec 10-20). While we research problems, let's not also forget to think about ways we as a class or as individuals can be change-makers today. These will be individual or group projects -- designed, proposed and created by you. It's open-ended. What kind of changes do you want to make?

We have no time to lose, so I have scheduled out a lot of Outside Thinking assignments to help keep us on track. Remember that Outside Thinking is designed to help you think about our humanities class outside of school, and that you will only receive the benefits of Outside Thinking if you do your thinking outside of class. I don't mean to beat a dead horse, or be too repetitive, but it is critical that you work to stay on top of assignments and be prepared! Like I said, we have no time to lose!

Here are some dates you probably want to know and write in your planners (note: These are the dates that your OT is DUE -- which means you need to DO your OT on the day BEFORE it is due):

- Wednesday, 10/31: Blog Post on the question, "Why do people immigrate?"
- Friday, 11/2: Bost Post
- Monday, 11/5: Blog Post
- Wednesday, 11/7: Case Outline (Definitions, Harms, Plan, Advantages)
- Friday, 11/9: Literature Circle covering pages 1-47 in Breaking Through, Vocab words posted to blog
- Tuesday, 11/13: Blog Post, Case Completed (6-8 minutes long)
- Wednesday, 11/14: Negative Brief on Status Quo Good (5 cards)
- Friday, 11/16: Literature Circle covering pages 48-93 in Breaking Through, Vocab words posted to blog
- Monday, 11/26: Blog Post, Second Draft of Case, Negative Brief #2 Due, & Evidence to show your findings from contact with a field expert (government official, policymaker, researcher, etc.)
- Wednesday, 11/28: Literature Circle covering pages 94-145 in Breaking Through
- Friday, 11/30: Literature Circle covering pages 146-193 in Breaking Through
- Monday, 12/3: Blog Post
- Wednesday, 12/5: Negative Brief #3 Due
- Friday, 12/7: All-Day Debate Tournament (details forthcoming)

Please make reference to this post if you are ever wondering "if something's due." You can always make blog posts late, though! We will use our blogs to keep one another informed, to share our opinions and to keep track of our findings. So let's get in the habit, and keep checking your Team Alphas Humanities blog for more updates and amazing-ly clever blog titles!
much love,
Miss K

Today, with fires raging all over the county, the sky looks different and the air smells and tastes of ash. My eyes are burning as I write this.

In my head, I keep thinking, "Places affecting people. Places affecting people." The places where we live affect the stories that we have. Your history is one part you (your personality, your self and family) and one part your place, your environment.

Today our histories all revolve around this event -- Wildfires blaze across California -- because school is cancelled. Maybe your family has been evacuated. Maybe you were forced to choose some of your things to pack, just in case your family has to leave. My sister is upstairs right now backing up her digital photography "just in case."

How are you affected by the fires? Are you safe? Feel free to comment back (especially Michael and Angela, because I think you both live close to the Harris Fire) -- I'd like to hear from you.

Take care & be safe.
Miss K

p.s. We do not have school tomorrow (Tuesday) -- keep checking the HTHCV website for further updates.

Our new border projects focuses on the question, "What difference does a border make?" and every week, you will be asked to give a short (200-300 word) respond to one of our essential questions. As you answer these questions, remember that there is no right or wrong answer. This is a chance to explore your current ideas, and express your current opinions.

Many of us have had the experience of crossing an international border. In class, some of you pointed out that when you cross the U.S-Mexico border, it even smells different. But why is that? As you answer this week's question ("Why are things different when you cross the U.S.-Mexico border"), think first, "What is different when you cross the border?" and think second, "Why is that true?"

Think especially about the culture -- remembering that "culture" is a "way we do things." It includes things like the food we eat, the language we speak, and the ways we look and dress. Are any of these things different? Why do you think so?

If you run out of things that are different when you cross the border, can you think of some things that are the same?

Check out these two links for more information that might jumpstart slow-starting ideas:

Discovering Mexico at National Geographic
The Border, by PBS

If you are wondering how long 200 words is, this post is exactly 270 words.
Have a terrifically awesome weekend! Don't forget to read the newspaper for our FIRST thing on Monday.

especially,
Miss K

p.s. If you have questions, feel free to comment on this post, or email me!

Bonjour mes estudiantes! We have a vocabulary test tomorrow and it will be on the following 8 words (or the 5 words that you chose to define as part of your Space and Place Project).

1. anomaly
2. exasperation
3. plethora
4. tangible
5. behoove
6. imperative
7. megalomania
8. zealous

As part of our "making changes," we will start building our vocabulary on a regular basis and having quizzes every week. Words are power! If you ever feel like you have trouble making ideas (and I know sometimes you do), then start putting more words in your minds. Words help up make ideas! (And ideas can change the world!)

For this project and here on out, we will do most of our writing on our blogs. Keep this blog bookmarked, and check it daily for Outside Thinking assignments. And you'll find many helpful links and resources that will be sure to make your life better. Whenever you have questions or comments, do not hesitate to email me or post a reply. I am here to help!

I look forward to reading and writing with you!