Turn in test corrections please!

Check out this document with quality resources for our Justice project. Please add to this if you find a resource that is "on fleek".  It will be up on my Documents page too.

1. Lieutenant Ed Aber and Test Tracks Camp Host, Tom!

2. Continue focus group research!

• ​Honors Conferences?
• Let's take a quick look at the "on fleek" resource recommendation spreadsheet

Understand the issues of homelessness as seen through the eyes of Durango City Council members and learn about what solutions they are working on.

Please come up with some questions for Melissa and Chris for our panel. These could be your focus group's research questions OR other questions you may have specific to Durango City Council's work on homelessness.

Melissa Youseff's Bio
Chris Bettin's Bio

11am and 1pm: City Council Panel with Melissa Youseff and Chris Bettin 

Work Time Goals today:

• Morning class: Let's mind-map the issues related to homelessness and then get into focus research groups.  SEE BELOW FOR DIRECTIONS ON FOCUS GROUP RESEARCH TIME!
• Afternoon class: First, we'll review  THIS RUBRIC for your research, then get together with your focus group and come up with a system for organizing your research notes (if you don't want to receive ONE group grade, be sure to break it up into individual student's notes) then start researching answers to your group's questions!

We've spent all this time talking about what laws/rules should govern our society.....but what about a city with NO LAWS??  

Let's watch the 10 minute video about Slab City that Sarah Vontersch shared with me and discuss our thoughts on the pros/cons of a lawless city:

• Would you ever want to live in a place like this?
• What would be the pros/cons of a lawless community? 
• Are laws immoral? Is it immoral for the government to create and enforce laws?

1. What are you specifically trying to accomplish during work time today?  Here are your options:

• Honors Rhetorical Analysis Essay thesis statement (due Friday, end of day)
• Test Corrections (review the guidelines from Tuesday's Blog). These are due Tuesday, 10/10.
• Ryan: Turning video footage into youtube for We Are All Homeless's social media
• Volunteer: Thank you card for Willie
• LAST option would be classwork in another class.

2.  What support do you need from Ashley or resources more broadly (i.e. Justice book, powerpoint on philosophies, Ashley's honors page and thesis statement handout) to be successful?

​1st Period: 8:25-9:05
2nd Period: 9:08-9:43
3rd Period: 9:46-10:21
4th Period: 10:24-10:59
 
PSAT:  11:02-12:02.

Share your seminar preps with me please!

Skype with Willie Baronet from Signs of Humanity!!

• Welcome + explanation of our Justice Project
• Student volunteers to answer his question about how they define home
• Q and A
• What does Wilie mean when he says “We are all homeless”? Do you guys agree?

Just Project Next Steps Seminar (Fishbowl style-- outside group takes notes on the questions on page 2 of the seminar prep. Inside group talks, option for a “hot seat”)

I will pass back your philosophy of justice tests.  Please look over it and then write a reflection in your starter answering the following prompts, as relevant to your test results:

1. Calculate your percentage. What is it?
2. How do you feel about your score?
3. Why do you think you ended up performing the way you performed on this test? What class activities/assignments/study prep did you do or NOT do that you think most impacted your test score?
4. What specifically does it seem you had trouble with?  What was the most challenging part of the test?  Did you not understand the key terms? Did you not understand which terms went with which philosophy? Did you not follow instructions fully? Did you not apply the philosophies in a complete way to the scenarios? etc....

1. A note from Ashley on the test

• I'm looking for more nuance and complexity in your application of the philosophies
• Avoid using a philosophy to support a prior belief of your own or mapping the philosophies too neatly onto political parties.  I want you to use philosophy to think thoughtfully about what justice really entails and make your decisions about politics from there!
• Rawls and Libertarians are not exactly like Democrats and Republicans. Rawls supports equal basic and negative liberties just like Libertarians do BUT he also adds positive liberties to the mix.
• Class average was 41/51=80%

2. Ashley will go over the test corrections and then we will ALL listen to Planet Money podcast on Universal Basic Income and BRIEFLY apply the philosophies to this dilemma.  

• Briefly break down how each philosophy would argue on this issue.
• The Finland experiment in design thinking is exactly how we will go about testing our own solution ideas for the issue of injustice we choose as a class.

3. Work Time: I want to give you all some work time today so that you can hav a chance to get caught up before we dive into the real work of our Justice project so that you can all ideally feel as successful in my class as possible.  PLEASE take full advantage of this time.  Work time options are as follows.....

Work Time Options
FIRST-- PLEASE FINISH the seminar prep we started yesterday. I want to start class tomorrow with seminar as I have to leave at 11 to head to Carbondale to put my dog down (sad face) and want to be able to leave clear plans for Thursday. I'll give you back work time Thursday for test corrections and honors work!

Option 1: Honors-- begin analyzing your rhetorical discourse and try to craft a thesis statement (due to me by Friday)

Option 2: Test Corrections-- Mandatory for all students who received less than a 70% on the exam. PLEASE CAREFULLY READ EVERYTHING BELOW THIS ON TODAY's BLOG.

1. If you scored below a 70% on this test, please check out a copy of the student examples from me in class today. Read the example and compare it with your test answers.  Try to identify areas of improvement for yourself.
2. Before you can begin test corrections, check in with Ashley or a peer tutor and make sure you understand each key term AND which term goes with which philosopher. YOU MUST DO THIS BEFORE YOU CAN TAKE THE TEST!
3. Begin test corrections, but make sure you clarify confusions with me or  a peer who earned an A on the exam.  Make sure you understand all the key terms listed on page 3 of the test as well as which terms relate to which philosophies and HOW so.  

​
Option 3: Not in honors and you don't need to do test corrections? Please volunteer to help go over confusions/questions on the philosophies-- but DON'T assist with the test correction prompt in anyway.

Test correction guidelines
Essential Question: According to a Utilitarian, Libertarian and Rawlsian, is Universal Basic Income a JUST governmental policy? Would it ensure greater justice?
After having listened to the Planet Money podcast on Universal Basic Income, explain how each of the three philosophies listed would answer the essential question listed just above.

Please structure your response in the following format:

Paragraph 1:  Describe what Universal Basic Income is and how Finland is experimenting with UBI as explained in the podcast.

Paragraph 2: How would Jeremy Bentham, the Utilitarian, respond to the essential question?  Use ALL of the key terms/big ideas associated with that philosopher.  For at least ONE key term you MUST find a quote from the Justice book by Michael Sandel that supports your claim.  Include the quote, page #,  and explain how that key term relates to

Example:  Utilitarians belief in cost-benefit analysis which Michael Sandel explains as "QUOTE about cost-benefit analysis"(33).  Using this idea, Jeremy Bentham would argue that Universal Basic Income is justified because.............(explain WHY it would be justified using the idea of cost-benefit analysis.

Paragraph 3:  Rawls, Key terms, quotes from book (same as above)

Paragraph 4:  Libertarians, Key terms, quotes from book (same as above)

​

​1. What is one line/phrase that stood out to you from the above youtube video?
​
2. What gives your life a sense of purpose, meaning? In other words, what makes you get out of bed in the morning?

Ashley's Spiel
This quote from the starter video stood out to me: "Be willing to go from a 'tomorrow' person to a 'right now' person!" 

• I kept putting off my vision for transformative learning experiences, transformative teaching, projects, etc.....  but why wait?  
• VISION-- what is my vision? What is yours? Can our visions align on this project so that we can accomplish even more amazing things as a class to make a difference in other people's lives?
• Making a positive impact on other people's lives is perhaps the most fulfilling sense of accomplishment-- feels like success-- gives you a sense of purpose, a reason to get out of bed in the morning.  That's what I want you all to feel during this project!

Ashley's Vision
Create more authentic, thought-provoking and meaningful learning experiences, that seek to engage my students in a stronger sense of purpose that brings together a diverse array of people and organizations around a common goal.  In doing so, we will develop authentic relationships built on trust, mutual respect and shared passions. 

In short, I want to create a learning environment that makes me, my students, and those outside our classroom leap for joy!