Sunday, October 16, 2011

More Class Updates

Travel Journalism

These past few weeks in Global Studies we focused on educating girls in the developing world. Using the book Half the Sky as a lens, we learned that educating young women is one of the most effective ways to fight poverty in the developing world. Girls face many issues. In some countries, families choose to educate boys over girls, believing it is more economically viable to marry off teenage daughters than to keep them in school. In other parts of the world, girls are so devalued that they are aborted or killed as infants. Some young women sent away to earn money for the family often become entangled in the dark world of sex trafficking. The authors of Half the Sky call the unnecessary death and disappearance of thousands of girls across the world each year “gendercide”. They demonstrate through stories and statistics the benefits of keeping girls alive and educated. By questioning the ways aid is implemented in the developing world, the authors investigate various methods of keeping girls in school. The students connected deeply to this topic. They expressed their frustration with the world's general underestimation of girls' potential, and the epidemic devaluing of women worldwide. We began to discuss the idea of aid and how to best affect change and growth in places struggling with human rights issues.

--Caroline


Math Concepts

For the past couple of weeks the math concepts class has focused on the "Game of Life". Characters encountered life twists such as marriage, medical expenses, and job loss/gain. These issues showed the students the importance of saving and planning for the financial responsibilities of adulthood. Students managed checkbooks and credit card registers deepening their understanding of life skills. As the Game of Life concludes the class will move into creating resumes and general understanding of economics.

--Aunge and Brenna



Travel Journalism
When we arrived in Cape Town the girls truly became journalists. I saddled the girls with a "Record and Ask" assignment. The task was to have them write about three of the five activities they did in Cape Town. They were required to ask questions of the tour guide, document the pluses and minuses of the tour or academic activity and record what types of people would enjoy such an activity. The TJ girls were charged with writing in a Lonely Planet style, providing other tourists with pertinent information to help them make decisions during their travels about what to do and see. Look for an update on the blog from the girls and our travels in Cape Town.

--Brenna

1 comment:

  1. "Saddled" you roots are imbedded in Montana with that word, you must be missing your horses and home ~ what a great experience you are having with the girls. Have fun, love, mom

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