Friday, October 09, 2009

President Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

In a move that seems more optimistic about what may be accomplish in the future rather than what's been accomplished, President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today. You can read more about the prize here and here.

How the President will cope with this premature award is yet to be seen but the current headlines (as of 11AM) quote him as seeing the award as a "call to action." You can read more here.

Hope was part of Obama's platform and helped get him elected. He's struggled to maintain focus and get results but I think this award shows that many in the international community are behind him.

I hope that he can get past the backlash and noise that's sure to follow and accomplish many of the ideas encapsulated in the Peace Prize.

1920s & 30s Fashions


20s & 30s Day is just around the corner: Friday, October 23th. You’ve read the handout, now check out some era fashions on the web.

You can use the search terms that we came up with in class. If you find good sites you can post them for us in comment section or let me know in class.

A good site that I found was Fashion Era



These sites are also good as well:
(The first two are actually pages of links to lots of sites. Especially check out the “Chicago Exhibition” listed under history on the 20s site.)
http://www.wtps.org/WTHS/imc/Teacher_Assignment/social_studies/mcfadden%20the%2020s.htm

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s/Print/printindex.html

There's also some fun cultural items here:
http://www.crazyfads.com/20s.htm

This activity is from last year so if there are any broken links or new ones that I should use, let me know.

WebQuest II: Golden Age of Radio




Google "1920s radio" or "1930s radio" and see what sites come up. Share ones that you think are good with your neighbors, the class, and me.







Next, find out about these radio people that we will hear from on 20s & 30s Day:
  1. Abbott & Costello (what's there most famous routine?)
  2. James Cagney
  3. Groucho Marx (pictured above)
  4. Mae West
Write a sentence or two about who they were in your notebook. (They all acted, so be a little more expansive in your description).

When you're done researching these people, check out 20s & 30s fashion.

WebQuest I: Stock Market Simulation


1. Click here and make sure that it opens in another window.

2. Read the introduction and then click on "Trade Traditional Stocks"

3. (You don’t need to update the Shock player. Don't update. If you have trouble, let me know.)

4. Buy stock in Duke, YeeeeeHaw.com, the Electric Co, and hypercola in any combination.

5. You don’t need to spend all of your money right away and you can buy and sell with each turn.

6. Hit the “two week advance” button.

7. Click on the "news flash" option, read and evaluate. Then buy and sell stock.

8. Repeat step 6.

How'd you do? Record your percent return in your notebook.



Bonus question:
When was the biggest stock market crash in U.S. history?

When you've finished, do the Golden Age of Radio WebQuest.