February 13, 2014 · 10:51 am

Google Docs Debate – The “Coming Out” of Michael Sam

Senior Current Issues –  For this Google Docs Debate go here.

Deadline for Post – Monday, February 17 – 11:59 PM

The goal for any Google Docs Debate is for you as an individual, and for we as a class, to take an issue and have an intelligent conversation about that topic.  This is not a rant session – its a thoughtful and collective online discussion.  You have particular requirements that you must fulfill in the process.  More significant however, is that you listen and learn from your fellow compadres.  I will join you.  So, let’s talk.

Go below for you requirements on all Google Docs Debate…

Michael Sam

Continue reading →

Comments Off on Google Docs Debate – The “Coming Out” of Michael Sam

Filed under 1 Senior Current Issues

Tagged as , ,

February 10, 2014 · 6:45 am

Michael Sam to be first openly gay NFL Player…

Go here for New York Times story on the coming out of Michael Sam SEC Defensive player of the year from the University of Missouri.  And here for the Federal Government’s announcement to provide same sex benefits for all federal employees.

The country is changing – your generation will soon see full marriage rights for homosexuals and equal access to Amendment 14 of the United States Constitution for all gay persons within the jurisdiction of the United States.

Comments Off on Michael Sam to be first openly gay NFL Player…

Filed under 1 Senior Current Issues, Uncategorized

February 9, 2014 · 9:44 am

Civil Rights – Student Event Presentations

Please go here to access Mr. Wood’s podcasts on the Civil Rights Movement.

I have used the website Blendspace to organize media access to the following events of the American Civil Rights movement.  I will split the class into groups of three and four.  Each group will have one day to organize themselves on an assigned events below.  Begin with the Blendspace video and continue online to educate yourself  and your partners further.  I will cover each of these in class in the next two weeks.  Your group will be together at the front of the room, clarifying the event.  Your group will earn a fifty point homework grade based the following:

  • Knowledge of the event – I’ll ask questions for you to clarify.
  • The video from Blendspace – walk us through it.
  • Specific significance of Amendment 14 in regard to your issue.
  • Specific significance of Brown v Board in regard to your issue.
  • Specific significance of Amendment 1 in regard to your issue.
  • Specific significance of Amendment 10 in regard to your issue.
  • I will ask questions of ALL group members.  So educate one another
  • Continue reading →

Comments Off on Civil Rights – Student Event Presentations

Filed under 1 Senior Current Issues, Uncategorized

Tagged as , , ,

· 7:12 am

Civil Rights: Jim Crow & Brown vs Board of Education (1954)

Please go here to access Mr. Wood’s podcasts on the Civil Rights Movement.

  • Jim Crow Laws in the Southern United States
  • Go here to watch the Rise and Fall of Jim Crow – Introduction to the documentary by California News Reel.
  • Go here to find a list of Jim Crow laws legally enforced throughout the southern United States

1954 – Brown vs Board of Education

The  Supreme Court Decision Brown vs Board of Education (1954) served as the launching pad for the American Civil Rights Movement.  It is the first time, on a nationwide scale, that the United States Federal government landed fully on the side of civil rights for black Americans.

Continue reading →

Comments Off on Civil Rights: Jim Crow & Brown vs Board of Education (1954)

Filed under 2 Government

Tagged as , , , ,

February 8, 2014 · 5:20 am

Civil Rights Heroines – Billie Holiday & Strange Fruit

Go here for a detailed synopsis of the life of Billie Holiday.  Portions of the summary below are taken from this site.

A troubled and extremely talented human being, Billie Holiday was born in Philadelphia in 1915.  From the beginnings billie-holiday-1915-1959-grangerlife was hard.  Her father was absent; her mother was a teenager.  At the age of nine, because of continual school skipping, Bilie was then sent to the House of Good Shepherd, a facility for troubled African American girls.  There she was sexually assauted.  Things didn’t get much better upon releast.  However, in the midst of all of this chaos Holiday found solace in music.  She followed her mother who had moved to New York City in the late 1920s and worked in a house of prostitution in New York for a time – at the age of 15 she began singing in local night clubs in Harlem.

Striking out on her own, Holiday performed at Greenwhich Village’s  Café Society. She developed some of her trademark stage persona there—wearing gardenias in her hair and singing with her head tilted back. Continue reading →

Comments Off on Civil Rights Heroines – Billie Holiday & Strange Fruit

Filed under 2 Government