US China Relations

Today we finished looking at the documentary the Tank Man.  It left us with the conditions in the factories in China, and introduced the notion of the 200 million floating population, both of which we will come back to in a bit.  If you want to check out the whole video, it is at this link. It might be useful for a future paper...Speaking of, don't forget the one that is due tomorrow...

AP World History

Confucianism everywhere.  We talked through the main components of Confucius' thoughts. Tonight you get to read through the book's point of view on the subject. Read pages 182-189 and we'll talk about Daoism tomorrow briefly before going to the computer lab to work on the project.

US-China Relations

Protests are things that we tend to take for granted in the US--after all the right to assemble is protected by the Constitution.  In China though, they are not allowed. We started watching the The Tank Man  video in class today.  Pay attention to the details of the US response to the events in Tiananmen Square.  We'll be talking about how the US responded and whether or not it was the "right one" to make.

Classical/Axial Age Thinkers Go To Starbucks

In groups, divide up the regions: Persia, India, China and Greece.  Each of you must take responsibility for becoming an expert on the thinkers described in that region by reading the appropriate section of the document.

One member of your group should create a Google Document that is shared among the four of you and me (twhittenburlington@gmail.com.)  Check the Sharing settings to be certain that all of us can both edit and view the document.  Once I have the invitation to the document, I will write the topic as the heading of the document.

The following modern dilemmas will be used as topics:

·      The American occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan

·      The current economic crisis in the U.S.

·      Global warming

·      The health care crisis

Develop a dialogue that illustrates how each one of these characters would react to or explain the modern dilemma. Make sure you are being true to each philosopher’s own unique nature.

This should be a dialogue, not a series of monologues, so make sure your characters are responding to one another.

Each character must “speak” at least five times. (And “I agree.” Doesn’t count as speaking…)

You may begin the discussion any way you like, but you should be sure to identify who you are, address your fellow group members in character and start the conversation about your modern dilemma. You can add stage directions also, that makes if more fun. For example:

Zoroaster: (Walks into Starbucks and orders a black, fire-roasted coffee with lots of foam)

“Hello there friends. Have you heard the news? President Obama is planning on taking troops out of Iraq and adding troops in Afghanistan. I applaud his attempts to maintain balance …"

This will be due (the document will be finished) by midnight on Friday, October 22^nd.  We will have performances of the skits beginning on Monday, October 25^th.

AP World Goes to Starbucks

So now that you are all set with Google Documents and how they can be used, we are going to start a project.  Read pages 143-147 in the reading "The Axial Age" article that was shared with you via This link You will then be set in groups to compose a play in which the axial age thinkers meet up at a starbucks to discuss a current problem facing the world...venti latte anyone?

AP World History

The homework for yesterday was to read the essay on pages 156 and 157 in the textbook that sets up the classical age...

US China Relations--Escalation?

As we started following the Chinese-Japanese dust-up over the fishing vessel, events continue to unfold.  Captain Crazypants is home in China, but the Chinese want an apology.  Japan wants China to pay for the damage to its vessels,...check out the article from the AP.  Things are going to get more interesting, and now the Russians are weighing in...

US-China Relations--The Tell

Today we looked at an article describing the current tension between China and Japan (article is here) to see how the notion of Quid Pro Quo is playing out in real time, and to explore how countries determine a rival's "tell."  As you work on your paper, you might be interested to look at this page, as it gives a pretty good description of the Chinese government.  Of course, if you do use it, or any other source, don't forget to include a bibliography!  The homework for tomorrow is to read Chapter 7 and think about why it is called "Reagan and the Golden Years."

Compare and contrast AP World History with...

Today we had fun with Venn Diagrams as a way to view comparisons and contrasts.  The blog Indexed is a fun way to think about simplification of complex topics (and it's funny, too!) As you are reviewing, you can find the Mesoamerica and Oceania PPT I used in class here, and the score sheet for the AP's Compare and Contrast essay format is here.  Remember that the test Tuesdsay will cover chapters 4, 5, and 6, so target your studying on India, China, Mesoamerica and Oceania!  The homework for tonight is to make Pocket Maps (small maps of the regions incorporating bodies of water, cities and empires) for Mesoamerica and for Oceania, and to spend some time thinking about childhood games we can adapt for review purposes.

US China Relations

Google may be out of China, but we'll get Google to work for us...You should be mindful of the upcoming paper deadline of October 1 for the first paper.  Here's a map that might be interesting to contemplate as you put that paper together...population density map of China.

AP World: Meso-America and Oceania

Today we suffered death by PowerPoint and ran through the information about the formation of complex societies in our hemisphere and in the Pacific ocean.  The homework is to create a chart that shows similarities between Mesoamerica and __________ (society of your choosing) and Oceania and _______________ (society of your choosing), and bring that chart with you to class tomorrow.

US China Relations

Today we reviewed the history of China's economy from the end of WWII to  Deng Xiaoping's rise to power. The homework is to read chapter 6 if you have not done so already. Chinese students in the US was raised as a point of interest, and the following article is a bit old, but still contains some good information about Chinese students coming to the US to study today, a practice begun under the Carter Administration, that the Obama administration is further promoting. http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-12-08-1Achinesestudents08_CV_N.htm

AP World: A soul-ful discussion

Today we discussed the conceptions of the soul/afterlife for Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and India, and charted them for similarities and differences.  The homework for tonight is to read page 152 in the textbook and write up a paragraph in answer to the italicized question at the bottom of the page. Email your paragraph to me as either an attachment or just as a regular email.  If you are interested in how the Mayan Calendar works and how the world will end, you can check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZIfyXc8RWk (just for fun.  The description of the calendar and how it works is accurate--from a TimeLife video--the context in which it is placed is not!)

An interesting link

Going off of the Guns, Germs and Steel reading that all of AP World read, this article is about a Stanford professor who is going in a slightly different direction with the argument.  Check it out! http://news.stanford.edu/news/2010/september/morris-west-rules-091410.html

Day 1 of the blog

Welcome to Mr. Whitten's blog! This will be a place where I will post homework assignments for the various classes I teach, share information that I think will help you with your understanding of what we discuss in class, and offer any additional commentary on what's happening in class.  So check in if you need to know what's going on.