Class Schedule Through Thanksgiving

What follows is a detailed overview of the Humanities 9 class over the next three weeks (taking us to Thanksgiving). This is subject to change, of course, but I expect we'll stick fairly close to this schedule.

Monday, November 9 - Classical Athens: The Big Picture
Homework Due - Blogpost and Vocab 5A-C

In class, we will go over general expectations for the course over the next few months, address any vocab-related questions that you have, and I will provide a quick overview of Classical Greece, focusing specifically on Athens, so that you can have a general feel for what took place before we move ahead. In Writing Lab, students will examine the many forms of government that have existed over human history, culminating in a blogpost assignment.

Tuesday, November 10 - The Rise of Athenian Democracy
Homework Due - Read Pericles's Funeral Oration (Handout)

Our focus this week is on government and more specifically on the development and different forms of democracy. Pericles, as documented by Thucydides, provides us with one of the best summations of Athens's government.

Wednesday, November 11 - The Democracies of Athens and the US
Homework Due - Read Democracy in Brief, 7-16 (Not nearly as bad as it seems) (Handout)

While Athens is the world's first democracy, there are some stark differences between how it functioned and the US democracy does. We will zoom out today from Athens to the American system and others in existence today.

Thursday, November 12 - Athens vs. Sparta and Other Famous "Others"
Homework Due - Read Plutarch on Sparta (Handout)

Athens and Sparta have always been paired as contrasts, a dichotomy setting up the tension between, among other things, "freedom"/"equality" and "good"/"evil." We will chart similarities and differences between the two polises and then consider other famous historical parallels (with the help of Walt Disney). In Writing Lab, students will consider their examination of different political systems with a poster assignment.

Friday, November 13 - Vocab Test
Homework Due - Study for the vocab test

After we finish the vocab test, we'll use today to wrap up any lingering questions from the week.

Monday, November 16 - Essay Writing
Homework Due - Greece Map Assignment

Today, we pause our examination of Ancient Greece to discuss best practices in essay organization and writing. Students will be given time in Writing Lab to continue the development of their Athens/Sparta essays.

Tuesday, November 17 - What is justice?
Homework Due - Read Solon: Selected Fragments (Handout)

The rule of law was a new concept in Ancient Greece. We will start with Draco and Solon, the early lawgivers, and continue to explore how justice in general was perceived and achieved.

Wednesday, November 18 - No School
Student-Parent-Teacher Conferences

Thursday, November 19 - Freedom and justice in the US Constitution
Homework Due - Read "Democracy in Brief"

Today, we will continue our examination of the constitution, focusing specifically on how it guarantees specific types of freedom and justice. In writing lab, students will have time to continue working on their Athens/Sparta essay.

Friday, November 20 - Service Day

Monday, November 23 - Why did the Athenian democracy fail?
Homework Due - Read "The Fall of Athens" (Handout)

As the question suggests, we will focus on the decline of Athens's democracy today, trying to identify reasons for its fall. The assigned reading from the WSJ, though, focuses on a different event, allowing for some potentially interesting comparisons to be drawn. In Writing Lab, students will participate in an online activity, built around Jared Diamond's compelling work on why societies fail, Collapse.

Tuesday, November 24 - Are there flaws in the US democracy?
Homework Due - ATHENS/SPARTA ESSAY - FINAL DRAFT

Much has been written over the last decade in particular about the waning of American power and prominence. At times, American democracy has come into question, for a number of reasons. We will try to unpack those issues.

Wednesday, 11/25 - Friday, 11/27 - Thanksgiving Break

Monday Blogpost

For Monday, the assignment is quite simple - find the best three websites you can on Ancient Greece. Provide links to these on your blog and a short explanation (2-3 sentences) of what you like about each. Be picky! Don't just use the first three websites that you find; look through at least ten before selecting your three.

One catch - all of the websites linked on your group blog must be different. In other words, if someone else posts in your group before you do, you can't use any of the websites that they do. Also, I would prefer that you not use online encyclopedias. Yes, wikipedia is cool. Find something else.

You can either copy the url for each website into your blogpost, or you can make a link. Making a link in blogger is easy. For example, let's say that I wanted to link to a website focused on Ancient Egypt. My blogpost might start, "My first choice was the British Library's Ancient Egypt site." Next, I would highlight the text that I want to be my link - I would probably select "British Library's Ancient Egypt." After highlighting, I would then look to the toolbar just above the textbox where I type my blogpost. In that toolbar, you'll see a lot of buttons. Starting from the left, there is a Font box, then Text Size icon, then Bold, then Italics, then Text Color. Then, you'll see what looks a little like a globe with a chain link on top of it. Click this. It will ask you for a url - paste the url for your website here.

Once complete, it will look like this: "My first choice was the British Library's Ancient Egypt site."

Greetings / First Assignment

Welcome to the new Humanities 9 course blog. This will serve several purposes. First, I will use it to pass on basic information, involving things like schedule changes. Second, I will use it as a place to follow up on class discussions, answering unsolved questions or providing links to sites with more info on the subject. Finally, you will find prompts here for assignments on your own group blogs, which will sometimes be homework and other times tasks for writing lab.

One question that I couldn't sufficiently address this week came up in one of the Humanities sections - how exactly did the Colosseum deteriorate over the years? Were there specific events that damaged it, or did it just slowly crumble over time? This website does a nice job of outlining the great building's decline and is worth a look.

For today, in Writing Lab, I would like you to write a short blogpost on the readings from the last two nights. Please respond to the following two questions, devoting a similar amount of time to each:

• From "The Hero's Adventure" - Joseph Campbell states that "our world seems drained of spiritual values. People feel impotent. To me, that's the curse of modern society, the impotence, the ennui that people feel, the alienation of people from the world around them." His point is that where the ancient and medieval worlds were places of action, in which heroism was a tangible and possible thing, we don't have that today. Instead, people in the modern world feel powerless, lifeless, and out of touch. Do you agree or disagree with Campbell? Don't just state your opinion - bring up specific examples that support it.

• From "Reports of The Origins of Athens" - As the title suggests, these readings help to explain how Athens came to be. Based on all of the readings (and please refer specifically to each reading as you go), what existed before Athens? And, what did Athens look like or involve once it was established?