Welcome to my blog!

Hello everyone!

The purpose of this blog is to supplement my classes and continue our class discussions. It occurred to me that this might be a good idea when we missed a bunch of snow days, resulting in the untimely death of the brain cells of my students. No problem! We'll just have school online! I also think that if we're going to SAY we're going to be 21st Century Learners, then we darn well better find ways to do it, lest we be the worst kind of hypocrites. This blog seems to be one way we can accomplish that.

Finally, for those of you who aren't too keen on verbal participation in our discussions during class, this blog will serve as an opportunity for you to improve your class participation grade without actually speaking out during class. Just visit the most recent posts on the blog, read one or more of the articles, and post your comments. Hopefully, we can get some good debates going right here! It's easy for me to keep track of your online participation here so you can get some credit in your class participation grade.

So bear with me while I figure out what I'm doing here. I will begin by directing you to several news stories that I believe are of interest to my classes in that they provide current applications to ideas, people, places and events that connect with either U. S. Government or World History. But regardless of which class you're in, you can benefit by being aware of what's going on in the world in which you are about to launch yourself. As my dad always says, "It's a great day to joust with the world!"

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U. S. Recognition of the New Nation of Kosovo:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080221/ap_on_re_eu/serbia_kosovo_independence

Questions to ponder:

Why are the rioters so angry? Why are taking it out on the United States?
Should the U.S. have extended Kosovo diplomatic recognition? Why or why not?

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The Presidential Campaign:

Latest polling data: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/21/AR2008022102097.html?referrer=emailarticle

The Obama Delusion:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/19/AR2008021902336.html?referrer=emailarticle

Questions to ponder:

What accounts for Obama's surge of momentum? Why is Hillary losing ground?

Do you agree or disagree with the premise of "The Obama Delusion"? Why?

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If I can figure out how to allow you to respond to these questions here, I'll be very impressed with myself. Come back soon!