Communism and You

Agenda

I. Do Now
II. Music Quiz
III. Communist Research

I. Do Now: Communism was supposed to have brought racial, gender, and economic equality by having a strong dictatorship that prevented the rich from controlling society. At the same time, communist governments were very authoritarian and limited rights such as freedom of speech and a free press. Many see this as an evil of communism yet many others see this as a necessity in order to keep the wealthy classes from controlling the poor. Would you give up your freedom of speech in order to have equality?

II. Music Quiz - Take the following Music Quiz (click here) and have Mr. Amador check you off when you have completed the quiz.

III. Communist Revolution Research - How many people have tried to bring equality to their own countries? Today you will research a communist revolution. You will begin by searching for "communist revolution" on google.com or on wikipedia.org. Pick any communist revolution. You will download the following research template (click here) and complete it. When you are finished, email the completed file to Mr. Amador (omar.amador.79@gmail.com). If you are not able to complete it, email the incomplete file to yourself and finish it for homework.

The Budget and the Arts

AGENDA:
I. Blog Question
II. Continue working on GarageBand track

I. Blog Question - We are in the middle of a great financial crisis in California. Currently, we do not have enough money from taxes to provide a decent education for students. School districts across the state are being forced to cut spending where ever they see possible. In some districts, 4000 teachers have been laid off.
Many people feel that the Arts should be cut because they feel it is not important as Math, Science, and English because the arts will not prepare students for college. Others feel that arts provide more to students than just a hobby and should not be cut. What do you feel? Are art programs such as music, painting, and poetry important? Should people try to save those programs from being cut? Explain.

II. Some of you started with a Garageband beat. Make sure to continue working on that and have a Melody and a Rhythm by the end of this week.

GarageBand Track

Agenda:
1. Blog Question
2. GarageBand Track
3. Record your lyrics to your new track.

Today, you will create a song for the lyrics you have made using GarageBand, a software used to create music. Remember that your song should have a total of at least 10 measures of lyrics (each measure has 4 beats). This includes 4 measures for the first stanza, 4 measures for the second stanza, and 2 measures for the chorus. With music, you will have at least 6 measures per stanza and 4 measures of music for the chorus.

1. Blog Question - What is the meaning behind the cartoon above?

Finish your contreversial song

Agenda:
I. Blog Question - sign in and answer on comments
II. Finish Song - when finished, email song to Mr. Amador (omar.amador.79@gmail.com)
III. Music Game - see below.

I. Blog Question - Obama has urged the country to start using Biofuel, a new type of energy that is made from organic material such as corn. The administration will start giving incentives such as tax cuts to businesses that will start using biofuel; a new source of energy that will save the environment and decrease our need for foreign oil. At the same time, this process will be very expensive, putting the cost on taxpayers or businesses. Should the country start using biofuel, even if it may cost you more money?

II. By today, you should have finished a song based on controversy. Controversy is an issue that can be debated easily by two opposing sides. Your song had to be based on something you feel strongly about and you feel needs to change.

If you are having trouble picking a song, here are a few topics:
Abortion, immigration, religion, war on terror, body image and beauty, race in the US., legalizing certain items, banning certain items, judicial system and the law, and the government to name a few.

Your song must have 2 - 4 stanzas, each having 4 bars or measures. Your song must also have a chorus (2 -4 bars or measures). This makes your song have a total of 10 - 20 lines (most have 16).

Make sure you use the rhyme scheme you learned on the wiki article and the ones you learned from Myron. Your lines should try to rhyme.

III. Music Game - When finished, play the following game and when you are done, have Mr. Amdor see your score so he can give you extra credit points. (Click here to play)