Red Space Rocket

10.2 have started our overview of 1900 to 1945. Here are the general points we covered.

1900

* Boxer Rebellion in China
* Kodak Introduces $1 Brownie Cameras

1901

* Queen Victoria dies.
* The Commonwealth of Australia is formed.
* U.S. President McKinley Assassinated

1902

* Edward VII is crowned King of the United Kingdom.
* The Teddy Bear is introduced.

1903

* Henry Ford starts Ford Motor Company.
* The Wright brothers fly the first plane at Kitty Hawk, N.C.

1900 to 1909 – Red Space Rocket Wiki

This week two classes started the VCE Geography unit. This is the basic structure.

Overview
No assignment

World War One
Research Skills assignment

The Roaring Twenties
Detailed profile

The Great Depression
Historical story

World War Two
Individual research.

You must hand in all four assignment to a satisfactory standard in order to complete this unit.

British bureaucrats have been warned: no more synergies, stakeholders or sustainable communities.

British authorities told to cut the jargon | theage.com.au

A brief but interested article about how language can get in the way of understanding and being effective.

Last week in class I commented on the Mercedez Benz song which Ella sings in Macbeth: Shakespeare Retold. This song of desire for wealth is effectively contrasted with images of Ella scrubbing away at her hands.

It is not as old as I imagined and was first heard in 1970.

It was performed by Janis Joplin and written by her and two others. You can find the full lyrics here.

In class today we were talking very briefly about the “real” Macbeth movie.

Wikipedia lists fifteen movies of Macbeth ranging from cartoons to Japanese warriors. The first was made in 1908 and the most recent, film in Melbourne of all places, in 2006. The list is worth reading just to get a sense of the many ways this story can work. They also list a further seven versions created for television (including the Shakespeare Retold version we are working with at the moment). To this list you can add the ten musical adaptations.

A simple search on the Internet Movie Database for Macbeth shows 48 filmed works called Macbeth.

You might hope that the text itself was the one true Macbeth. Unfortunately there is widespread belief that some of the currently published play was not written by Shakespeare himself.

I guess my point is that the search for the “real” Macbeth is not as easy as it looks.

I have just started a new quiz on the forum.

Just to let you know I will be using the information found in your blue atlas. This information is also available online.

There are six classification categories for films. G, PG and M are advisory categories. Advisory categories are not restricted to anyone. These classifications are recommendations only. MA 15 , R 18 and X 18 are legally restricted categories – in other words, there are laws regarding who can watch material classified MA 15 and over.

It is also possible for a film to be classified ‘RC’ (Refused Classification) – in other words, banned. The Classification Board is required to apply the law and classification guidelines in order to make its decisions. This occasionally results in material being refused a classification, which means that it cannot legally be shown, sold or hired in Australia.

The Classification Board and Classification Review Board

Since we seem to cover this information over and over again I thought I’d just link to it.

Yesterday in class I read you a couple of pages of the iconic novel Catch 22.

Next Wednesday I’ll be giving you some more tips about reading aloud. Then you’ll be reading for two minutes from a text you have chosen. I am quite happy for this to be anything from Winnie The Pooh, to Shakespeare or a newspaper article.

If you don’t bring a book on the day then I’ll give you some articles to choose from. It would be good to rehearse reading you text at home but I will also give you some time in class to practice.

Someone asked me what software and hosting I use for Red Space Rocket. I know this is not going to be interesting for most people but here it is.

Red Space Rocket is hosted with bluehost, the blog is powered by WordPress, the Wiki is powered by MediaWiki and the discussion forum is powered by Vanilla.

You task is to create a short entry for your chosen topic. This is individual work and only one person can do each topic. You can research using books or the internet. You must cite at least three references so you can’t just write your assignment from Wikipedia or one book.

For full details and the place to do your work follow this link.
World War Two Research – Red Space Rocket Wiki

This assignment is due by the start of school on Thursday 12th June. The full description is here.

Only one person can do each topic and you need to claim your topic on the forum.

Here are some of the remaining topics. You’ll need to claim yours on the forum. Do a quick check to see that no-one has beaten you to it while you are there.

Appeasement
Code breakers
Fascism in Italy
Occupation of France
President Roosevelt
Structure of the Germany armed forces
The Resistance in France
Women, the war effort and Rosie the Riveter.

You have one session in the computer lab today. These are the tasks you should be working on. Please do them in this order.

1. Volcano Part A: Eruption and Safety (this was due last week). Please put this in my drop box when it is finished. You can find this on the W drive at school.

2. Volcano Part B: Volcano Profile (I will mark these on Tuesday June 10)

3. My favourite recipe. Please write your work on the wiki.

DO NOT use this time to play games or generally phaff. If you have finished and submitted all of these tasks then you can work on other school tasks during these sessions.

You have two sessions in the computer labs today. These are the tasks you should be working on. Please do them in this order.

1. Volcano Part A: Eruption and Safety (this was due last week). Please put this in my drop box when it is finished. You can find this on the W drive at school.

2. Volcano Part B: Volcano Profile (I will mark these on Tuesday June 10)

3. Dante’s Peak Tasks (please only do this if you have completed the first two).

DO NOT use this time to play games or generally phaff. If you have finished and submitted all of these tasks then you can work on other school tasks during these sessions.