The ISIS Crisis-

Today in class we viewed a 60 Minutes documentary on ISIS. This week's blog, I would like you to focus on the civil war you are researching for your Internal Assessment and compare and contrast the following points regarding ISIS:

• Syria is a control zone for ISIS - what was the control zone for your specific war
• There is major conflict between Iraqi Sunnis and Shias - what is the difference between these two groups? What groups can you compare and contrast them too for your personal IA?
• The recent beheading of four individuals has been given global stature - what events or issues made your civil war receive global stature?
• The U.S. air strikes clearly have an impact on the hostages held by ISIS - what did you find to be impactful during your research for your specific civil war?
• Syria was the control zone for ISIS - what was the control zone for the civil war that you are focused on within your research? 

Conflict In The Middle East

1. Why and with what results did the Arabs and Israelis fight the wars of 1967 and 1973?
2. "Terrorism and violence rather than peaceful diplomacy." How far would you agree with this view of the activities of the PLO in the Middle East in the period 1973 to 1995?
3. How successful was President Nasser as leader of Egypt?
4. "The USA and the USSR intervened in the Middle East in the period 1956 to 1979 purely to preserve political and economic stability in the region." How valid do you think this view is?
5. Assess the reasons why the Six-Day War of 1967 was followed by the Yom Kippur War only three years later. 
6. To what extent have the violent actions of some Palestinians been the main obstacle to the establishment of a Palestinian state? 

Persian Gulf: Questions to Consider

WELCOME BACK TO BLOG HEAVEN! At this point in time we do not have access to Turn It In. Therefore I will be uploading your responses to another site - DO NOT plagiarise. 

Questions to Consider

1. Why is the Persian Gulf region so important?
2. What are the strategic waterways of the region?
3. What is Huntington’s civilization theory?
4. How are Iran and the Arab countries different?
5. Why did Iran erupt in Islamic revolution?
6. What were the first, second, and third Gulf Wars about?
7. Why did Saddam use chemical weapons in the first but not the second or third Gulf War?
8. How did U.S. diplomacy blunder in Iran and Iraq?
9. Would you be willing to fight to keep Gulf oil flowing?

Alcan Roadtrip

Hi Guys!

Miss me yet? I bet not! Here is the link to our Alaska road trip - be on the look out for blogs beginning July 17th. You will be responsible for posting four weeks of blogs and this will count as four quiz/blog grades towards your grade for term one. DO NOT IGNORE THIS TASK!

When you click on the site, scroll down half way. On the right hand side you will see a "Follow Us" indicator with two buttons, click on the orange blog button and that will bring you to the blog site.

Please text me at 617-413-1903 with any issues - however you are ALL responsible for these blogs. Have a great summer and see you guys soon!

Noce

http://mccarthysnowden.wix.com/alcanroadtrip

Alaska

DUE DATE: Sunday, June 22nd at 9:00 p.m.

Why was Alaska knows as the forgotten war during WWII? Do you agree or disagree with it being called the forgotten war? Why? Explain. Be sure to include in your answer the following components:

Alaska-Canadian Highway
African Americans
Japan
Russia

Fun Facts!

DUE DATE: Sunday, June 15th at 9:00 p.m.

This will be an easy but challenging blog for you!

Each one of you has to come up with 10 facts on Tokyo and 10 facts on Okinawa. Sound easy? Here is the catch - this is a group project blog. Why? Because NO TWO facts can be the same. For example, if one student says that Tokyo is in Japan, another student cannot have that same fact. Have fun!

GOOD LUCK!!!

Compare and Contrast

You guys need practice (and I need to grade a million blogs before Friday)!

For this week I would like you to choose a topic that interests you - whether it be sports, school, coaches, teams, etc. and work on evaluating your answer, being VERY specific with facts to back-up your responses.

For example, I think the Yankees are better than the Red Sox, but can I say that stands true for last year? No, the Red Sox (Dead Sox) won the World Series whereas the Yankees were lucky to even finish off the year. Overall the Yankees are better than the Red Sox in terms of championship wins...but then my question/statement would have to read: The Yankees are better than the Red Sox in terms of the number of years winning those titles. Does this make sense? I would have to dig deep into researching why exactly the Yankees performed better - was it their pitching, coaching, batters, etc.

What makes the coach for the Lakers better than the coach for the Celtics? You would have to look at the number of years each coach has worked with their teams, the number of wins, where did each team finish in that division, etc. Hard core facts of what makes this compare and contrast blog true.

Please do NOT give me a simple simon answer - take this seriously. It is definitely different than your other blogs because you are free to choose your own topic. The one main issue you all had across the board with your Annotated Bibliographies was the lack of specificity along with comparing and contrasting your authors.

Have fun!

Oh!!! I will be updating the Alaska blog with your e-mails and you may be posting to that soon as a test.