Block 3 2010!

Good Morning classes. I can't tell you how excited I am to be your teacher at Alta Vista High School. I have many great lessons planned for the next 10 weeks. There are a few things that we must cover first before we begin this fantastic journey.

1. We will get to know one another both individually and collectively. I need to know what your limits are so that I can push you beyond what you think you are capable of.

2. My expectations of you are what are know as the 'Big 5'.
1. Be Here Every Day.
2. Be Here On Time.
3. Come Prepared.
4. Be Ready To Learn.
5. Have A Great Attitude.
If you can do the following 5 things on a daily basis, I guarantee you you will have success in everything you choose to do.

3. We work daily. There are no days off in our class. You will have assignments to do on a daily basis. Some are worth more than others, but they all count. Choose to do your work daily.

4. I will teach you the root of the problem in every aspect. Many of the ills that fall on us as a society have ancient roots. In order to solve a problem, you must seek out the root or you will exacerbate (make worse) the problem.

5. We have 4 themes that will run throughout the course. These themes are present in everything we learn about in history:

- Control: Systems of control have changed throughout time. However, controlling one another has been an aim of every government since the dawn of man. How we go about controlling sets up the other themes.

- Conflict: When one side cannot agree with the other side, we have tension which eventually leads to conflict. Since 2001 the United States has been engaged in a conflict in Afghanistan and since 2003 in Iraq. Conflict is a lucrative business today.

- Religion: Some of the greatest conflicts in human history have been caused by those beloning to organized Religion. The big 5 (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism) have been in perpetual conflict between themselves and others since the dawn of man.

- Spread of Culture: When one culture becomes popular and spreads to another culture, there is a level of assimilation that takes place. There is also a seed of domination that gets planted at the same time. Language, Sport, Food, Music, technology, etc. are all ways that a culture spreads from one to the other. We truly live in the fastest spread of information and culture today with our ever shrinking yet ever powerful hand held devices. We will touch on an idea called 'The Singularity' that will dominate the landscape of ideology and sociology in the very near futre.