In recent years we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of schools who are switching from print textbooks to eTextbooks. The release of the iPad inspired an incredible amount of excitement about integrating technology into the everyday life of the student. Many Catholic high schools are purchasing or requiring students to purchase iPads as the primary learning device.
With so many schools transitioning to the iPad or other 1:1 device, what are the implications for teachers, students, and schools?
In the webinar recording below Jared Dees, Digital Publishing Specialist of Ave Maria Press, presents strategies that teachers can use in 1:1 laptop or tablet programs including a brief overview of cooperative learning and a popular movement toward "flipping the classroom."
Jared also shares some of the challenges and frustrations that Ave Maria Press eTextbooks schools have experienced this year after switching to a 1:1 program.
Finally, you will see why Ave Maria Press has focused on a PDF Site License as the solution for eTextbooks in the coming school year.
eTextbook Webinar Recording
Go straight to the YouTube recording or check it out on the Ave Maria Press Vimeo Channel.
Teaching with the iPad
If you are switching to the iPad and want to share some quick teaching tips with the iPad, feel free to dowload and adopt this presentation which was pulled from the webinar: "5 Quick and Easy Ways to Teach with Your iPad"
View more PowerPoint from Jared Dees
Odds are good that your high school students have already seen the Kony 2012 video. It went viral in the first week of March being viewed roughly 80 million times in only five days. In fact it is now considered to be the most viral video in history defeating the likes of Lada Gaga, Justin Bieber, and Miley Cyrus.
Social justice teachers will see this as an incredible opportunity, but all theology classes should jump at the chance to ignite the passion for social justice that many teens have within them.
About the Kony 2012 Campaign
The Kony 2012 campaign is an effort by a non-profit organization called Invisible Children. Invisible Children, Inc. organizes programs in Uganda in opposition to the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army). They "use film, creativity, and social action to end the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony's rebel war and restore LRA-affected communities in central Africa to peace and prosperity."
It is clear from the video that Invisible Children has been at work for years leading up to the Kony 2012 campaign and in a large part the video tells their story.
The Invisible Children launched the Kony 2012 campaign as a worldwide effort to fight against the LRA and Joseph Kony. The video outlines a vision for a campaign that will inspire many teens, young people, and adults to join a movement.
The Controversy Over the Viral Video
As with any viral piece of content, there comes controversy. Critics of the campaign quickly pointed out that Invisible Children only dedicated 32% of their $8.6 million in funds to services in northern Uganda. It is unclear at this point what the organization will do with the $5 million dollars in funds it raised just 48 hours after the film's release.
Others have pointed out that the problems in Uganda and many other parts of Africa extend far beyond one individual. Kony is just one man and to pin all of Africa's problems on him is to do an injustice to the cause. Some even say that there are worse criminals than Kony and worse threats than the weakening Lord's Resistance Army. The fact that the LRA does not actually reside in Uganda anymore is a big point of contention.
The following articles help illustrate these points:
Gigaom
Good.Is
The Globe and Mail 1
The Globe and Mail 2
Still others point out that the issues are much more complicated than they appear in the video. ForeignPolicy.com cleared up some of the facts in their recent article.
The Invisible Children Response
Showing their wisdom in the digital age, Invisible Children were quick to respond to criticisms with a prominently displayed webpage addressing their critiques. There they respond to all the criticisms in this article as well as many others that have been circulated around the web.
How to Teach with the Kony 2012 Video
Activity 1: Watch the Video as a Class
So that all of your students are on the same page, set aside 30 minutes to watch the video either on YouTube or Vimeo.
Questions to answer while they watch the video:
According to the video, why wouldn't the government get involved in the conflict in Uganda?
According to the video, what did Invisible Children do to help people in Uganda?
Even though the United States authorized forces to be sent to Uganda, why did Invisible Children decide to start this new Kony 2012 campaign?
What are the goals of the Kony 2012 campaign?
What strategies are the Invisibible Children using to make Joseph Kony famous?
According to the video, what would motivate the government to act?
What will happen on April 20, 2012?
What three things can you do right now to support the campaign?
Activity 2: Class Discussion
Discussion questions to raise after watching the video:
Do you think this campaign can work? Why or why not?
Why would the United States government be so resistant to helping people in Africa? Can you justify this type of foreign poicy?
If you could make a similar video for another cause, what elements of the video would you repeat?
Why is it so much easier today to spread an idea like Kony 2012 than it was years ago? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Activity 3: Take Action
The video proposes three actions you can take right now to help the campaign. What other actions can we take to fight this or another social issue?
Activity 4: Research the Claims of the Video
The Kony 2012 video has been criticized for a number of reasons. Research the criticisms floating around the web and read the Invisible Children's response. What critiques are legitimate and which are unfounded? Divide a piece of paper into two halves. On the left write "Critiques" and the left write "Response." Use this sheet to take notes on at least 3 critiques of the campaign.
Activity 5: Debating the Reliability of the Video
If there is time in class, hold a class debate. Assign each of the critiques to one group of students and the responses to another group of students. Have the student sit on opposing sides of the room and debate the issues. Give the students a ball to hold when they talk. When they are finished making their points, they may lightly toss the ball to a student on the opposing side who would like to respond.
Activity 6: Research the Catholic Perspective
There is a rich history of the Church's teaching on social justice. Have students find quotes from Church documents that relate to the fight against Joseph Kony and the LRA starting with the following websites:
http://www.osjspm.org/page.aspx?pid=441
http://www.educationforjustice.org/catholic-social-teaching/encyclicals-and-documents
http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/
Other resources:
The Work of Catholic Relief Services in Uganda
Take some time from telling your students to put away all their NCAA basketball tournament brackets to connect a lesson on Catholic lore, specifically around Catholic colleges in the United States. Yes, it’s time again for March Madness!
As always, start with the basics. Pass out your own blank copies of the brackets and have the students circle all of the Catholic colleges in the tournament. The total is up from eight in 2011 to twelve Catholic colleges in this year’s draw. While they’re at it have them note the power ratings (by seeding) of this year’s Catholic teams:
Catholic Power Ratings
1 (t). Georgetown (3)
1 (t). Marquette (3)
3 (t). Notre Dame (7)
3 (t). Gonzaga (7)
3 (t). St. Mary’s of California (7)
Creighton (8)
Saint Louis (9)
Xavier (10)
9 (t). St. Bonaventure (14)
9 (t). Iona (14)
11 (t). Loyola of Maryland (15)
11 (t). Detroit Mercy (15)
Continuing with the basketball theme, have the students guess the ranking of these schools based on the number of NBA players it has produced.
Notre Dame 50
Georgetown 35
Marquette 32
Detroit Mercy 21
Xavier 17
St. Bonaventure 15
Saint Louis 14
Creighton 12
Gonzaga 7
St. Mary’s 6
Iona 5
Loyola MD 2
To complete the category, see if the sport’s fan types can name which schools produced the following players:
Adrian Dantley (Notre Dame)
Tyronee Hill (Xavier)
Dwyane Wade (Marquette)
Allen Iverson (Georgetown)
John Stockton (Gonzaga)
Bob Lanier (St. Bonaventure)
It’s not all sports: these Catholic colleges have several notable alumni in other areas. Set up a matching exercise to see if the students can guess where these famous people went to college:
Don McLean, “American Pie” composer (Iona)
John Boehner, U.S. House Majority leader (Xavier)
King Abdullah II of Jordan (Georgetown)
Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State (Notre Dame)
Bing Crosby, singer and actor (Gonzaga)
Bringing the discussion back closer to the subject area, don’t forget to have the students list in a table the founding religious orders of each of these colleges. Here they are (with the year founded):
Jesuits
Georgetown (1789)
Saint Louis (1818)
Xavier (1831)
Loyola MD (1852)
Detroit Mercy (1877)
Creighton (1878)
Marquette (1881)
Gonzaga (1887)
Christian Brothers
St. Mary’s of California (1863)
Iona (1940)
Holy Cross
Notre Dame (1842)
Franciscan
St. Bonaventure (1858)
Also, make sure to check the March categories from previous years on the left for other activities that you can connect to tournament time. Check back later for a list of women’s Catholic colleges in the NCAA tourney. And please share your own ideas for the NCAA tournament/Catholic lessons in the comments section below.
Finally, please pray for these Catholic colleges. As with other Catholic institutions, their identity is currently under threat by the federal government mandate to include morally objectionable birth control and abortion-causing drugs in their health care coverage. You may want to share this article by Francis Cardinal George of Chicago on this crucial topic.
There are more serious threats against the lives of the unborn than ever. Now a recent statement by two British doctors has floated the possibility of “after-birth abortions.”
Your students may have heard of this paper published by the Journal of Medical Ethics entitled “After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?” by Drs. Alberto Giubilini (University of Milan) and Francesca Minerva (University of Melbourne) on February 23, 2012. The Journal has since removed the article from its website, however many in the media have offered comment.
This is a summary of this truly reprehensible argument:
It should be permissible to kill a baby after birth for all of the same reasons that is permissible to abort a baby (basically, for any reason at all). Part of their justification, however, is that parents may not find out that their child has a genetic defect until after the baby is born and thus have lost their opportunity to abort the baby.
They see no difference between a fetus and a newborn except that they call them both “potential persons” rather than “persons.” They connect actual personhood with the ability to make aims and appreciate their own life.
“If a potential person, like a fetus and a newborn, does not become an actual person, like you and us, then there is neither an actual nor a future person who can be harmed, which means that there is no harm at all” in killing the child.
The doctors are also uncomfortable with allowing others to adopt these unwanted newborns: “What we are suggesting is that, if interests of actual people should prevail, then after-birth abortion should be considered a permissible option for women who would be damaged by giving up their newborns for adoption.”
You may want to help your students develop an argument against after-birth abortions that will also illustrate the moral flaw in the pro-abortion arguments. These are some other points/questions.
Do you know any “potential persons?” It would seem that children are “potential” according to this argument until they are at least seven or eight, the traditional “age of reason”?
In addition, are adults who are aimless or mentally ill, addicted to drugs, or for some other reason unable to make aims and appreciate their lives also “potential persons”?
If a thirteen-year-old is somewhat brain damaged in a car accident, has she also joined the ranks of the “potential persons?”
Does our national community view unborn and newborn babies as commodities that can be destroyed at will?
Please also add a class prayer for the unborn and for the conversion of people with these anti-life beliefs.
Today is the 175th anniversary of the Congregation of Holy Cross. Ave Maria Press, one of the Congregation's sponsored ministries, joins in celebration.
One of the unique features of the Congregation of Holy Cross was its co-mingling of religious priests and religious brothers. Eventually religious sisters joined in this partnership.
The Congregation of Holy Cross has from its founding focused on religious education. Our efforts at Ave Maria Press are part of its continuing commitment in this area. We support and strive to make complete the words of the Congregation of Holy Cross founder, Blessed Basil Moreau:
I have always understood the education of youth to be the formation of the hearts of young people and the development of a positive response toward religion within them. I have always been convinced that the first duty of any teacher is to produce Christians: Society has a greater need for people of values than it has for scholars. Knowledge itself does not bring about positive values, but positive values to influence knowledge and put it to a good use. If there ever existed a time when this type of education should be an influence in the lives of young people, it is certainly now—at a time when worldly and unchristian values seem to produce such confusion for the young. Christian education alone can influence the evil that we all experience in today's world. Christian education alone can return people to the belief in the practice of Christianity by inspiring values in the coming generations. — Bl. Basil Moreau, 1856
