Abbey and I watched a portion of the film Skin that deals with Racism in South Africa. She took notes because we will be writing a paper on the different types of conflicts ion the film. We will be finishing up the film tomorrow.
Today Abbey delved in depth into Hinduism, Buddhism, and African ethnic religions including Animism. We discussed the tenets, history/origins, and geographic distribution of the religions, and how each relates or differs to the other religions we have studied.
In continuing the study of world religions, Abbey explored Islam in depth. We discussed/read about the branches of Islam, the reasons for the separate sects, and the world distribution of Islam, including populations in various countries in the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. We discussed how religions became distributed in such ways, as well as the U.S. branch of Islam, Nation of Islam, and a brief biography of Malcolm X. Through this process we discussed non-violence, ethnic and racial discrimination, and how varying religious views influence the politics of a locale.
Abbey and I worked on Chapter 7 outline. We also created an online quiz for all of her vocabulary terms. She will; be working on chapter 7 for the next few days.
Abbey and I completed a review of the five major world religions, and a "So What?" review (in short, the reasons for studying and the significance of particular topic). We then began exploring the branches of Christianity and the concepts of disagreements and historical issues within the Christian faith. We deconstructed the reasons for in-fighting among sects of religions (i.e. philosophical disputes, deviations from central faith (schisms), independence, land disputes, politics, resources). We discussed the three decades of "The Troubles" in Ireland, its causes, consequences, aftermath, and treaty. We also discussed a related example in terms of land/independence as we talked about Tibet's struggle for independence from China.
Abbey is learning about ethnicity in chapter 7. we decided that Hotel Rowanda would assist in explaining the concept of Ethic cleansing. We watched the movie in its entirety and discussed its importance.
Abbey and I continued constructing a comprehensive graphic organizer for the 5 major world religions. We compared, contrasted and delved in depth into the reasoning behind their creation and organization and how world religions impact laws, government, and human rights. We discussed their commonalities, major tenets, and "big names".
Today was an introduction to ethnicity as a topic and specifically then we focused on ethnic cleansing. We focused on the four questions at the start of the chapter as a guide for reading today. For a real-world connection, we used the recent-past political issue in Rwanda, Africa as a topic of discussion. Abbey actively participated in the lesson by adding her experience in Thailand.
