September 7, 2011
An upcoming vote in the General Assembly of the UN on recognizing a Palestinian state is going to be getting more and more attention in the coming days.
Here’s a useful resource from the New York Times on the role of the Green Line in Israeli-Palestinian relations.
There’s a terrific animated map, four short videos with different perspectives on the future, and five images with captions.
As Israelis marched on June 1 to commemorate Israel's capture of the Old City from Jordan in 1967, Palestinians climbed to the rooftops, waving Palestinian flags in protest. The marchers wound their way through Sheikh Jarrah, a neighborhood on the Palestinian side of the Green Line that has become restive in the past few years after Israeli settlers began moving in. (Rina Castelnuovo for The New York Times.)
August 22, 2011
In November 2002, a team of Iraq experts was assembled to meet with Prime Minister Tony Blair and advise him on the consequences of going to war in Iraq. Charles Tripp, a professor of Middle East politics at the University of London, was a member of that team. Here he gives a fascinating, behind-the-scenes account of what happened at that meeting, in response to our question, “Do you think that British and U.S. leaders had a good understanding of Iraqi history when they decided to go to war?”.
This video is part of the Scholars Online collection for A Global Controversy: The U.S. Invasion of Iraq. See the other videos from this interview here.
August 12, 2011
An examination of the values that motivated historical actors is an important part of understanding history. I think one of the most effective elements of Choices materials is the role play that calls on students to first observe the values of historical actors, and then to articulate the values that underlie their proposed option for a contested international issue.
I use the values activity in the Shifting Sands: Balancing U.S. Interests in the Middle East unit in my semester long International Relations class. I first elicit from students (10th-12th graders) the values that they subscribe to and that they think should ideally underlie their own policy option for how the U.S. should interact with the Middle East.
After we discuss the concept of values and identify the values inherent in the four policy options that students are assigned to role play, they are ready to articulate the values that they would draw on to create their own U.S. policy towards the Middle East. In creating their own option, they must demonstrate their understanding of the history of U.S. relations with countries in the Middle East. This year students wrote a U.S. policy towards Libya, just as the U.S. was deciding on its level of involvement in this new regional flare up.
With all of the Choices units I’ve used, students have always commented that they learn more when they have to defend an option they normally wouldn’t support. This makes students more aware of the notion of competing perspectives and points of view in creating policy.
In sum, Choices materials help cultivate a habit of value-based decision making that’s based on a reflection of the values of historical actors, but also forces students’ self reflection on their own values.
How do you use the Values Activity found in many Choices units? What do your students say about the activity?
Posted by guest blogger Kevin Conlon, Francis Parker School, Chicago
July 27, 2011
Media coverage of pro-democracy protests across the Arab world – collectively known as the Arab Spring – has captured the world’s attention. Amy Sanders (Social Studies teacher) and Cathy Wolinsky (Instructional Technology Integrator) at Yarmouth High School in Yarmouth, Maine, seek classroom partners for a collaborative study of the Arab Spring. The project, modeled after the Flat Classroom Project, will begin in early October and last approximately one month. Utilizing the CHOICES Teaching with the News lesson, “Protests, Revolutions, and Democratic Change,” the project envisions students working in international collaborative teams to learn more about the protest movements in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Bahrain. Students also will be asked to reflect on what they have learned and connect this to their experiences with democracy. If you would like to join the project or would like more information, please visit: 
http://arabspring.wikispaces.com/ or contact Amy Sanders at amy_sanders@yarmouthschools.org.
July 25, 2011
In less than two weeks, the Obama administration says the federal government will run out of money to pay its bills unless Congress raises the nation’s $14.3 trillion borrowing limit. Congress is now in a contentious debate with the White House on whether to raise the debt ceiling. Liberal Democrats oppose deep spending cuts, while conservative Republicans refuse to raise taxes, putting the nation at an impasse. If Congress does not raise the limit, the government will likely be forced to default on its debt, which has never happened in U.S. history. The results, most say, would create economic catastrophe.
Since 1980, the debt ceiling has been raised 39 times. With the deadline looming, Brown University political scientist Wendy Schiller explains what makes this time so different.
June 13, 2011
The Teacher Leaders Network (TLN) is a network of highly accomplished teacher leaders from across the nation who are dedicated to student success and the transformation of teaching into a true profession.
Not to be missed on their website is a 5 minute, quirky video A Look at TEACHING 2030. A Look at TEACHING 2030 is visually attractive, innovative and offers several new ideas such as “teacherpreneurs.” What do you think about the ideas presented here? What should the teaching profession look like in the 2030?
June 10, 2011
A nice app for history class, On this day… tells you what important events happened on a particular day in history. (Reposted from Revolutionize Education.)
May 5, 2011
As Choices prepares for our Summer Institute on Afghanistan, and as Afghanistan and Pakistan take center stage in the news again, here are some additional resources that teachers may find useful.
- A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes (2009) - This book contains all of the facts found in a textbook, paired with the human stories, side notes and interesting tidbits that make history fascinating. If you like this book by Afghan-American writer and commentator Tamim Ansary, you may enjoy his site on Afghanistan, where he offers his thoughts and a weekly summary of the news from Afghanistan.
- Homeland Afghanistan - This is a comprehensive, impressive website that explores the geopolitical and cultural heritage of Afghanistan. Teachers can search by themes, eras or highlights. It includes time lines, videos and primary source documents.
- Afghanistan: A Short History of its Peoples and Politics by Martin Ewans. (2002) I find this book to contain just enough background to understand the people and history of the region, yet not so detailed that one is overwhelmed.
- An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan by Jason Elliot (1999) and The Places in Between by Rory Stewart (2006) are two wonderfully written travelogues. Each one does an excellent job of providing students with a sense of the physical and human landscape of Afghanistan. Through their writings, the difficulties faced by the average person and the challenges the country faces as a whole become vivid and real to the reader. Literature and social studies teachers could pair excerpts from either book with the photo collection found at Afghanistan: A Year in Photos for a visually rich introduction to Afghanistan.
- A Crisis Guide to Pakistan – Produced by the Council on Foreign Relations, this site includes an overview, timeline, Five Possible Futures and a list of additional resources. An excellent resource.
May 5, 2011
Interesting data visualization tool from the New York Times showing the reaction to Osama Bin Laden’s death.
April 22, 2011
On April 20, 2010, an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico led to the largest accidental marine oil spill in history. Oil’d, a short animation by Chris Harmon, does a nice job of putting the scale of the disaster into perspective, by showing how those 205 million gallons of oil would have been used.
