Hi all,

Here are the orders of the day...

Intro to Business

Complete the journal entry below and then work on Section 2 of your business plans.  I will give you until Monday at the start of class to turn it in.  It should be 2-3 pages in length (using reasonable settings in Word).

Digital Communications

Complete the journal entry below and then work on either Section 5 of your business plans or your business projects.  Many of you have not turned in your Advertising Agency and Propaganda Homework assignments - there is still time to get credit for those, but the clock is ticking.  Some of your grades have dropped significantly lately due to not turning things in.

This Week's Journal Topic

You have been stranded on a tropical island.  There is no technology of any kind, no buildings or structures, no other people, and nothing manmade.  There are mountains, rivers, beaches, and plenty of vegetation.  You have no idea where you are or how close or far off civilization may be.  You are given an opportunity to have any 10 items with the following restrictions: 

1 - the item must be real and not something "magical"

2 - the item must be smaller than a refrigerator

Some things you might consider when deciding are items useful for survival, escape, communication/signaling, entertainment, tools or equipment, clothing, shelter, etc.  For your journal entry, list the items you would request and why you would want them.  Put them in priority order.

In your blog entry, paste this entire entry and then insert your answers below each question.

What do you think about the following situations?  Is what you would 'actually' do different from what you 'should' do? If so, why?

1. You run an orphanage and have had a hard time making ends meet. A car dealership offers you a new van worth $15,000 for free if you will falsely report to the government that the dealership donated a van worth $30,000. You really need the van and it will give you an opportunity to make the children happy. Do you agree to take the van?

2. You are shopping and notice a woman stuffing a shirt off the rack into her purse. Do you report her?

3. You discover a wallet lying on the street. It contains $1000.00 Do you send it back to the owner (using the address on their ID)?  Would it make a difference if it belonged to Bill Gates?

4. It is 3 a.m. and you are late getting home. As you approach the intersection in your car you notice that no one is around. Do you drive through the red light?

5. Would it be justifiable to whip pigs to death if it resulted in better tasting pork?

6. Should someone who stole $1000 be punished more than someone who stole $100?  Does it make a difference who they stole it from?

7. Should we punish attempted murder less than murder?  Why?

8. You can only rescue one of each of the following, which do you save?  Why?

a) A child or an adult
b) A stranger or your dog
c) Hitler or lassie
d) Your boyfriend/girlfriend or a famous scientist
e) A dog or a weasel
f) Your entire family or the entire canine species
g) A bottle with the cure for cancer or your brother
h) A bottle with the cure for cancer or your brother who just gave you one of his kidneys

9. Are the following acceptable grounds for a person to take the life of a non-human animal?

a) Its noise bothers you at night.
b) The wolf is killing your sheep.
c) Its meat makes a tasty dish.
d) You enjoy seeing it squirm.
e) The gophers are destroying your vegetable garden.
f) You just don't like snakes
g) The condor (an endangered species) keeps killing your prized carrier pigeons.
h) I enjoy hunting.

10. Are any of the following situations objectionable?

a) Raising and killing rabbits for food.
b) Raising and killing rabbits for fur.
d) Raising chickens under crowded conditions on wire netting.
e) Slitting open the bodies of cattle in slaughterhouses before they are unconscious.
f) A highly rated television show which depicts the actual torture of a convicted murderer.
g) A highly rated television show which depicts the actual torture of a poor homeless orphan.
h) Torturing a person (who will die from the injuries) as the only means to find out where they have hidden a nuclear bomb.

And lastly, read the situation and answer the questions below:

THE SITUATION

Jeff and his best friend, Steven go to different high schools. They’ve been friends since third grade, but since Jeff transferred to another school for 10th grade, they’ve started to grow apart.

One Saturday, Steven asked Jeff if he would drive him into the nearest city. He didn’t have his license yet and said he thought it would be fun for them to hang out. Jeff felt uncomfortable saying yes because he’d only had his license for six months and his parents told him he wasn’t allowed to drive into the city yet. But, Steven said that he wouldn’t be able to go without Jeff’s help and they never got to see each other anymore. Jeff agreed and they left that afternoon after telling Jeff’s parents they were driving to another friend’s house.

When they got to the city, Steven asked Jeff to drive across town to a particular address. When they arrived, Steven asked Jeff to wait in the car while he ran inside for a few minutes. After Steven returned to the car Jeff asked what was going on and Steven pulled out a bag of white powder. He admitted it was his drug connection and that the powder was crystal meth. When Jeff asked him why he didn’t tell him that was why they came to the city. Steven said he didn’t tell him because he figured Jeff wouldn’t go.

That night Jeff couldn’t sleep because he felt overwhelmed by what he had found out. He knew meth was no good and that Steven would continue using it with or without his help. He was angry that Steven had put him in the position of driving with an illegal substance, but even more importantly, he was worried about his friend.

Jeff had promised Steven he wouldn’t tell anyone about all this but it was driving him crazy. He had a teacher at school he really liked and trusted. He wanted to go to him and ask his advice. But what if the teacher decided to turn in his best friend? Jeff was torn about how best to protect Steven.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

11. What do you think about what Steven asks of Jeff? Is it fair? What would you do if your friend asked you to do the same thing?

12. What obstacles did Jeff face in telling Steven he would go to the city with him?

13. Have you ever been in a position where you had trouble saying you didn’t want to do something with a friend? What obstacles did you face?

14. What would you tell someone to do that was in the same position as Jeff?

15. Do you think Jeff should talk to the teacher he respects? If not, should he talk to anyone else? If so, who?

16. How do you think it would affect the friendship if Steven finds out that Jeff told an adult the situation?

17. How do you think Jeff will feel if he doesn’t tell anyone and Steven overdoses on meth?

18. How do you think Jeff will feel if he tells his teacher and the teacher tells him that he has to tell his own parents, or tell Steven to tell someone?

19. How do you personally weigh the friendship against the fact that the friend is doing something illegal and potentially problematic or harmful to themselves?

20. What do you do with those thoughts/feelings that can arise when you are doing something that you intuitively know is maybe not the best thing to be doing?

Bonus:

The definition of dilemma is a difficult choice to be made between two equally undesirable alternatives.  How do we decide? And, how do we choose to live with our choices? Have you ever been in a dilemma? What was it like and how did you deal with it?


 

If you know of any videos that are cool or funny or weird or related to anything we are doing in class, comment below and I will pick my favorites to show.  Don't bother posting videos that are not school appropriate.  If you wouldn't be okay showing the principal or your parents, it's probably not ok. 

I will be at the FBLA Fall Conference today.  While I am gone, I expect you all to behave and respect the substitute teacher.  Here is what I want you guys to be working on...

Intro to Business

1. We will finish up the Job Interviews tomorrow, so those of you who have not gone should be ready to go.

2. Our next project is going to have you all writing a business plan for your own business.  We will be talking about entreprenuerism.  You task for today is to brainstorm business ideas.  I want you to choose a product or service company to start.  It has to be something legal, ethical, and most of all, something that won't get me in trouble...  LOL.   You will need to write up a proposal for me to review.  Your proposal should be in a business letter format (professional).  You should talk about your idea and why you chose it.  You should also tell me a little bit about it.  What will you sell or what service will you perform?  What will make your business different from others that are similar?  Who will you sell to?  This is an individual assignment as is the business plan that you will create.  We will work on the business plan over the next several weeks. 

The letter is due tomorrow (Thursday) in class.  I will read through them and approve or disapprove of them next week.  Tomorrow we will finish up interviews.  Friday we will do journal entries.  Monday will be a review day for the unit we just went through, and Tuesday I will plan on giving you the test.

If you come up with an idea and finish a letter, then feel free to come up with a business name and a logo.

Digital Communications

Today is a project workday for you.  You should be working on one or more of the following:

1. Propaganda homework from last week.  This is due by Thursday at the end of class.  This is an individual assignment so if you are working on this, you should be working alone.

2. Advertising Agency assignment from Monday.  This is also due by the end of class on Thursday.  You were allowed to work with up to one other person for this assignment.  If you are working on this, you should be working with no more than one person.

3. Section 4 of the business plan.  This is due at the end of class on Friday.  There should be one document for each group.  Each group has no more than 3 people so if you are working on this, there should be no more than 3 people working together.

4. Business Project.  If all else is done, you are to be working on your business projects.  You may collaborate with your group members, but the work on each item is to be done individually as you know.

I am going to ask the substitute teacher to walk around and observe each of you and ask you to show them what you are working on.  Your project grade for the day depends on you being on task.

Part 1

Another week has come and gone...  Take some time to reflect on the week both what we did in my class as well as how the rest of your week has been.  After you reflect some, tell me what your goals for next week are - what do you hope to accomplish?  Try to go beyond just "I want to do good in school".  Think about where you are in your classes and at home.  Set a couple of goals that will help you better yourself in one or two areas.  Next week we will reflect on how that goes.

Part 2

This week I want you to dream a little.  There was a movie out not too long ago called the Bucket List.  Basically there were a couple of guys that were terminally ill.  They decided not to let their circumstances keep them down.  They made a list of things they wanted to do before they died and set out to do them.  I want you do do the same thing...  What do you hope to do before you die?  What accomplishments do you want to achieve?  What do you want to learn about and explore?  Who do you want to meet?  Where do you want to go?  What experiences do you want to have?

Part 1

Reflect on last week at school.  What went well?  What didn't?  Did anything significant happen?  How do you think this class went?  What did you like or not like?

Part 2

Give me your thoughts on the Critical Thinking exercise we did.  Did you have good ideas?  Were your ideas listened to?  Who led your group?  Did they do a good job?  What was your strategy for choosing the six people to live?

 Part 1: Reflection

For the first part of your journal this week, I would like you to reflect on this week at school.  What went well, what didn't, and what did you learn?  Be sure to talk about this class in your entry as well - what did you learn this week if anything, and what did you like or not like about what we have been working on.

Part 2: In all things give thanks

It's much too easy in life to take for granted the very things that we enjoy or depend on the most.  We get busy and tend to focus on the fires in our lives.  Unfortunately we can get to a place where it seems like everything is going bad or wrong.  When actually, if you take a moment to pause, you would see that you have a ton of things to be thankful for.  So, for this part of your journal, I want you to list as many things as you can that you have to be thankful for.  Think about things at home, school, work (if applicable), your friends, your town, your country, things you own, things people do for you (even the people behind the scenes that make everything work).  List as many as you can.

CHALLENGE

This part is not required, but I challenge you to take a few moments to say thank you to the people around you that work hard to make things good for you.  Say thanks, send a note, letter, or email, or take the time to tell their supervisor how good of a job they do.  It means a lot and getting into that habit will make you a better person!

I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same. --Rachel Scott, age 17

I want you to reflect on the assembly today.  What did you think?  Do you accept these challenges?  Talk about what it all means to you.