Being Thankful

Welcome back from our Thanksgiving break. Before we jump right back into the content of World History I think it important we take a couple minutes to acknowledge Thanksgiving and why we had three days off of school.

Watch President Obama's address on Thanksgiving (at least the first two minutes worth, then it gets a little political).
-What do you personally have to be thankful for in your life?
-Obama says Americans "... come together and do what’s required to make tomorrow better than today." What steps are you taking to make tomorrow better for yourself, your family, or our community? If you aren't why aren't you and what could/should you be doing?
-What was your overall impression of Obama's message (support your answer with one or two things you liked or disliked)?

[guiding questions]
How did the geography of China effect its growth?
How was Ancient China organized?
How were the rise and fall of leadership in China a cycle?

[vocabulary]
Mandate of Heaven
Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han

Quiz today!

Here are the Core 3 test/quiz spots. The desks by themselves are in the front of the classroom.Here are the Core 4 test/quiz spots. The desks by themselves are in the front of the classroom.

After you find your spot you should glance back at the guiding questions from the last couple weeks to review. You should also look at your Religions of the World Chart or your notes on the religions.

Advice.

[warmup]
Here is a story...

Read about it then give me a prediction of what advice a follower of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism would give me.

Paul, a 22-year-old premedical student, leaves his local college and decides he doesn't want to be a doctor. He moves across the country to work as a ranger in a remote forest. He is happy working in the forest, cleaning trails, and caring for plants and trees. His parents, however, miss him and want him to return to college. What advice do you think a follower of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism would give Paul?

1) A buddhist might tell Paul to...
2) A Confucianist might tell Paul to...
3) A Daoist might tell Paul to...

[todays class]
Out of these three options which do you want to do the next two days?


-Watch a video explaining why some countries are rich and other are poor.


-Take a quiz on the major religions of Asia. (This one needs to be done before Thanksgiving break so we don't make it harder be forgetting it all enjoying our time off. We can take the quiz today or tomorrow.)


-Learn about early Chinese civilization and how has a repeating cycle of prosperity/unhappiness/war/revolution/new leadership (and repeat).

[links]

http://www.bigmyth.com/webpages/myths/english/2_chinese_full.htmhttp://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/ancient_china/neolithic.html

Body Painting, Designs and Tattoos

[warmup]

PICTURE ONE: The hands of a woman in Jaipur are covered with mehndi patterns painted with henna. Trendy in recent years, the lacework decorations are part of a 5,000-year-old tradition of creating designs to ward off evil or declare one’s happiness. These decorations are temporary and wear off after a couple weeks.

PICTURE TWO: British soccer player David Beckham has been collecting tattoos for many years. The total has just gone up to over nine. All the tattoos have a special meaning behind them from supporting his family to Chinese proverbs, "Death and life have determined appointments, Riches and honors depends upon heaven." 

For your warmup today free-write about henna and/or tattoos. The expectation for today is that you will free-write for the entire eight minutes of warmup. You can either post your free-write as a comment or drop it in my dropbox (especially if it gets too long or personal).

-What do you think about henna & tattoos? 

-Would you ever get either?

-What do you know about the symbolism behind henna & tattoos?

-Do you know people that have gotten either? Why did they get them done?

[guiding questions]

What is the oldest know tattoo(s)? 

What kind of images or symbols might the major religions of Asia use to represent themselves?

[links]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17469-worlds-oldest-tattoos-were-made-of-soot.html

http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/11/2005/hm11_3_30.html

http://iceman.eurac.edu/

Himilayas

[warmup]
1. Go to the virtual tour of the Himilayas.
2. Explore it and answer the following questions.
-What do you think of this area of the world?
-What would it be like to live in this environment?
-How might these mountains effect the people of Asia and how they live? (two ways)

[guiding questions]
For each of the four major religions of Asia:
What is its origin?
Who do they view of God and/or Universe?
What is human’s purpose on earth and in life?

[vocab]

Eightfold Path

[warmup]
1) Read this story.
2) Answer the following two questions:
-What step or steps of the eightfold path do this person seem to be following?
-What evidence did you find that supports your answer to question 1? (What made you think it?)

You are standing in line. How much do you like that? Oh, what's your mind doing? Thinking about this and you look down the line and they're taking that, they got a really big pile of stuff, it's going to take a long time... aahhh!"And then you are thinking this and you are thinking that." Don't do that...
You see the dissatisfaction that arises, "Oh I'm bored, and I'm looking at my watch and I got to get going, and I can't stand here in line... and oh! They just dropped something, now they got to clean it up!"
All of those kinds of thoughts, those kinds of dissatisfaction thoughts. What you think and ponder on, that's the inclination of your mind. You think and ponder dissatisfaction, dislike thoughts, your Harmonious Lifestyle is not so Harmonious at that time. So what to do? LET GO of that stuff!, every body in line is thinking basically the same thing. And it’s just nonsense thoughts. Impatient thoughts. All of that.
Put a little smile, start radiating some Loving-Kindness. Send some Loving-Kindness to the clerk. That's a hard job. Having a big line of people that are all impatient and quite often they are not very nice... all they want to do is pay for this stuff and get out of there. So send her some Loving-Kindness, she needs it. When you get up to her, practice the eightfold path.

[guiding questions]
What does the eightfold path look like in everyday life?
How does or might geography effect people?
What are major geographic features of Asia?
How does or might they effect the history of Asia?

[vocabulary]
To be decided by you (the class)!

Tibetan Prayer Wheel

[warmup] 

1. Read this paragraph on the Tibetan prayer wheel and watch the video. 

2. Post a comment answering the following questions:

-What is a tibetan prayer wheel?
-Can you see any connections between what you know about buddhism and the Tibetan practice of using a prayer wheel?

This is a giant prayer wheel located at the top of a hill beside a temple in the "old town" of Zhongdian city, or "Shangri-La." Tibetan buddhists believe that each time a prayer moves, it floats up into heaven. Therefore, in addition to moving prayers by whispering or chanting them, Tibetans also hang them up on prayer flags that send the prayer to heaven with each gust of wind, write them down and store them inside prayer wheels that they can spin in their hands, carve them onto prayer beads that they can run through their fingers, or, in this case, inscribe them on a tower-size prayer wheel that spins by the casual effort of two dozen monks, or the full strength of five.


[guiding questions]
1. What do each of the steps of the eightfold path mean (right knowledge, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration)?
2. How buddhist believe these steps work together to help end suffering?
3. How can these steps be applied to everyday life?

Story time

[warmup]

1. Go to http://pbskids.org/clifford/stories/index.html and choose a kids story to read/watch.
2. Answer the following questions:
- What do you notice about kids books that makes it unique compared to other types of stories?
- Most children books use tools (this can be anything from sentence structure to images) help beginning readers learn to read and follow the story even when they don't know how to read all the words of the story yet. What tools could you use in your story?

Buddhism

[warmup]
1. Read this quote from Buddha.
"Words have the power to both destroy and heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.

2. Answer these questions:
-What is this quote talking about?
-Do you agree with it?

3.Post your answer as a comment. Remember you have to login (same as your computer) as name_lastname@wmep.k12.mn.us

[today's guiding questions]
Who was Buddha?
How did Buddha come to become the founder of Buddhism
What do Buddhist believe?
What is the eightfold path?
What are the four noble truths?

[today's vocabulary terms]
1st - 4th Noble Truth
8 steps of the Eightfold Path
enlightenment

Diwali

Diwali-The Festival of Lights is today. 

The Hindu Festival of Lights, Diwali, is today. Diwali or Deepavali (row of lamps), according to Hindu belief, is celebrated to mark the return of Lord Rama (an incarnation of Vishnu) to Ayodhya from his exile after vanquishing demon-king Ravana. Diwali is as important to Hindus and Christmas is to Christians. Watch this 3 minute clip on Diwali. After watching it comment below on what you saw and learned about Diwali.

Later you'll have a chance to clean your laptop.

Knowledge Check!

Family Tree

[warmup]
1. Do a quick google image search for "family tree".
2. Choose one interesting image.
3. Answer these two questions:
- What is the tree attempting to show?
- How does the tree use shapes (like lines) to show relationships?

Post your answer as a comment. Remember you have to login (same as your computer) as name_lastname@wmep.k12.mn.us

[today's guiding questions]
Who are the major gods in Hinduism?
What are these gods like?
How are they related?
How are these gods similar or dissimilar to each other and/or other gods?

[today's vocabulary terms]
Brahma
Vishnu
Shiva
incarnations

http://www.sanatansociety.org/hindu_gods_and_goddesses.htm

Hinduism

[warmup]
Play Level 1 - Beginner Asian Countries for 6 minutes. You will need to have your headphones on or sound on but no music because the game requires sound! Once the timer goes off post a comment on this post with your "score information". Also screen shot your "score information" just incase you have trouble with the comment posting.
-Try the regions of East Asia & South Asia first. (Game Controls pull down menu in the upper left corner)

[guiding questions]
What are the primary beliefs of Hindu people and what is their concept of God?
Who are the major gods in Hinduism and how are they related?
What was the social structure in India?
How did dharma support the caste system?

[vocabulary terms]
atman
reincarnation
karma
dharma
yoga

[links]
Hindu gods website