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