Doubt Prevails

The Washington Post is running an article entitled, "Israelis, Palestinians Skeptical of Peace." The article states, "While the morning newspapers carried extensive coverage of the Annapolis conference -- some hopeful, much of it doubtful -- there were few indications on the ground that what Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called a "historic" moment in the six-decade conflict had taken place." "'The event in Annapolis was a nonevent,' said Ali Jarbawi, a political science professor at Bir Zeit University near the West Bank city of Ramallah. 'There was nothing there -- three speeches and that's it. For people here, the reaction is simple. We'll believe it when we see it.'"

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Younger Children

• Ask students to respond to the following statement thoughtfully: "It is sometimes very difficult to make up with other kids after a fight or an argument."
• What is the nicest thing that somebody can say to somebody else?
• Have students ever gotten mad at their parents? What did they get mad about? Do students think it's possible for them to have an argument with their parents and for them to be right? Why/why not?
• What does the word "peace" mean? Do students think that peace is important? Explain!!

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: Skeptical; Inaugurated; Dismantle; and, Uprooting.
• Ask students to identify the necessary characteristics for a moment in time to be considered historically significant. When can it be determined whether or not a moment was historically significant? Explain!
• Do students think it's more important for the leaders of two nations to want peace or the people who live in the nations to want peace? Consider the strengths and weaknesses of each perspective.
• In what ways might the U.S. involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian tensions support the peace initiative? In what ways might such involvement hinder the peace initiative? How do students think Iranian students, who support their government, might think about this answer differently than American students?

Thanksgiving

I'd like to wish all of my friends in the U.S. a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.

For what do you have to be thankful?

Black Friday

The Washington Post is running an article entitled, "When Every Day Feels Like Black Friday." The article states, "Once heralded as the symbolic kickoff to the holiday shopping season, Black Friday is sacred no more. Retailers this year began touting door-buster discounts weeks before anyone thought about roasting a turkey. And the deals will continue long after the leftovers are eaten, with online retailers and even infomercials touting events to prolong the hype." "Because it expects Saturday to be so similar to Black Friday, Wal-Mart has requested that the two days be merged into one, creating a 48-hour Friday. The company even sent a letter to honorary Astronomer Royal Martin Rees, professor of cosmology and astrophysics at the University of Cambridge in England, to request his blessing," according to the article.

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Younger Children

• Ask your students where they think the toys in a toy store come from. Who buys the toys for a toy store? Do students think more toys are bought by people around Christmas/Hanukkah time or in the middle of August? Encourage students to support their opinions.
• Ask students to imagine that they owned a toy store? Would they want people to shop at their store? Why/why not? What would students do to encourage customers to come into the store and buy toys? Why would they do this?
  
• Ask your students if they ever wished they could have stayed up later at night. Why would they want to stay up later? Do students think it would be good if somehow a day could be made longer? Why/why not?
• If students could have any one Christmas/Hanukkah gift what would they want? If students could give the world one Christmas/Hanukkah gift what would they give it? Why? What do students think they might give their parents for the holiday season? Does every gift have to cost money? Why/why not?

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: Flummoxed; Cosmology; "In the Black"; and, Symbolic.
  
• Ask students to imagine that they are economists working for the government. Do the "economists" think that it is good for the economy that so many stores have begun actively promoting bargains several weeks before Thanksgiving? Why/why not? What questions do students think should be answered in order to respond to this question as intelligently as possible? Why do students think that these questions should be answered?
• Traditionally store owners have not broken even until Black Friday, hence the name. What kinds of expenses do students think that store owners have? Do students think that large stores or small stores would break even sooner? Is this question fair? Why/why not? If students owned stores what would they try and do to limit expenses? Ask them to explain potential consequences of these actions.
  
• What is a day? Do students think that days are artificial constructs created by people or are they real phenomena? Encourage students to explain their opinions. How would days be different if they lasted for 48 hours instead of 24?
  

Stem Cells

The New York Times is running an article entitled, "New Stem Cell Method Could Ease Ethical Concerns." The article begins, " Two teams of scientists are reporting today that they turned human skin cells into what appear to be embryonic stem cells without having to make or destroy an embryo — a feat that could quell the ethical debate troubling the field." "The two independent teams, from Japan and Wisconsin, note that their method also creates stem cells that genetically match the donor without having to resort to the controversial step of cloning. If stem cells are used to make replacement cells and tissues for patients, it would be invaluable to have genetically matched cells because they would not be rejected by the immune system. Even more important, scientists say, is that genetically matched cells from patients will enable them to study complex diseases, like Alzheimer's, in the lab," according to the article.

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Younger Children

• Ask your students to describe a time when they learned something new. What did they learn? How did it feel to learn something new? Why did it feel this way? Ask students to select one thing that they would like to learn.
  
• Do your students think that adults continue to learn new things? Why/why not? Do your students think it is easier for children to learn or adults to learn? Encourage them to explain their thoughts.
  
• Ask students what it means to be healthy. What kinds of things should a person do to keep him/herself healthy? Ask students what it means to be sick. What kinds of things should somebody do when he/she is sick to get better?
  
• Have your students ever worked really hard at something so that they could be the best at it? What did they work really hard at? Why did students want to be the best at this thing? Do students think it's OK to come in second or third place sometimes instead of first place? Why/why not?
  

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: Embryonic; Subtle; Cloning; and, Extract.
  
• Do students think it would be OK to take stem cells from an embryo, thereby preventing the embryo from growing, if the stem cell could enable somebody to recover from a serious illness? Why/why not?
  
• Ask students what can be learned about scientists from this article. Do students think that certain parts of a scientists job could be invigorating? Why/why not? If so, what parts of the job could be invigorating?
  
• Ask students to imagine that they are stem cell researchers. Now that colleagues have discovered how to create embryonic cells without using human embryos what questions do the "researchers" think they should attempt to answer. Why these questions?
  

Indicting Barry Bonds

The Boston Globe is running an article entitled, "Federal Grand Jury Indicts Barry Bonds." The article begins, "Barry Bonds was indicted Thursday for perjury and obstruction of justice, charged with lying when he told a federal grand jury that he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs." The article reports, "In August, the 43-year-old Bonds passed Hank Aaron to become baseball's career home run leader. Late in the season, the San Francisco Giants told the seven-time National League MVP they didn't want him back next year. He is currently a free agent."

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Younger Children

• Ask students if they have ever cheated to win in a game. Why would some people cheat to win games? Do students think its OK to cheat if it does not really hurt anybody? Why/why not? Is it possible to cheat without really hurting somebody? Consider putting cheating on trial in your classroom.
• Ask students to imagine that they knew somebody who felt really bad after losing a game. What might they say to this person to make him/her feel better? Do students think they could make this person feel better? Why/why not? Consider asking students to develop skits in which they demonstrate how they might attempt to help somebody feel better after they lost a game.
• Ask students to name their favorite sports. What do they like about these sports? Do they think it's hard to be good at these sports? Why/why not? If students could create one new rule for the sport, what rule would they create? Why? Consider inviting students to play the sport using their newly developed rules. (Note: If they play another kind of game that's obviously just as good.)
• Do students think it's important to tell the truth? Why/why not? What kinds of problems might occur if people lied a lot? Consider using a T-Chart with the class to compare the consequences of telling the truth to the consequences of lying.

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: Indicted; Enhancing; Steroids; and, Perjury.
• Ask students if they think that Barry Bonds would have taken steroids to enhance his career if he could go back in time and relive his career? Why/why not? Do students think that Barry Bonds would have been a good baseball player if he had not taken steroids? Encourage them to support their opinions logically. Ask students to develop a conversation between Barry Bonds and themselves in which they ask Mr. Bonds if he would have taken steroids if he had the opportunity to go back in time.
• If Barry Bonds were to retire and agree to never play baseball again, do students think that he should still have to go before the Grand Jury? Why/why not? Do students think that the federal government has the right to outlaw lying in a court of law, perjury? Why/why not? These questions might prompt an interesting class discussion.
• Challenge students to draw lessons from this newspaper article that could be applied to their own lives. Challenge them to think of lessons that have nothing to do with truth, sports, or drugs. Ask students how they developed these lessons from the story. Students might write reflective essays in response to these questions.

Foreign Languages

The Washington Post is running an article entitled, "Looking to Adopt a Foreign Tongue." The article states, "...Interest in non-European languages, traditionally less commonly taught in the United States, has been surging, according to survey results released yesterday by the Modern Language Association." The article adds, "More college students across the country are enrolling in language classes, and that is particularly true for Middle Eastern and Asian languages. Chinese language classes jumped 51 percent from 2002 to 2006 to nearly 52,000, and Korean grew 37 percent to more than 7,000. Arabic classes increased more than 126 percent to nearly 24,000."

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Younger Children

• Ask students if they have ever met somebody who spoke a language other than English. (Do any of your students speak a foreign language at home? If so, which language?) Ask students how they think two people might communicate with one another if they don't speak the same language. Would this be a good way to communicate? Why/why not?
  
• Are any of the students in your class learning to speak a foreign language? If so, what language? Do students think it would be hard to learn to speak another language? Why/why not? What kinds of things would a person have to do in order to learn to speak a foreign language? Explain!
• Why do students think that somebody would want to learn to speak a foreign language? Do students think it would be easier for people to be friends and accomplish things together if they could speak the same language? Why/why not? Do students think that people who could not speak the same language would ever be able to get along with one another? Why/why not?
• Have students ever had a hard time understanding somebody even when they spoke the same language? Encourage students to describe this experience. What kinds of things did they do to better understand the other person?
  

Discussion starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: Obscure; Fractious; Pragmatic; and, Coup.
  
• Ask students if they think it's important for English speakers to also learn how to speak languages from Asia? Why/why not? What questions do students think they should answer when determining whether or not to study a foreign language and what language to specifically study? Why do students think that answers to these questions would
  help them make effective decisions?
  
• Do students think it's more important to learn a foreign language today than it might have been to learn a foreign language twenty five years ago? Why/why not? In what ways has modern technology made it more important to learn foreign languages?
  
• Ask students to consider economic reasons for learning foreign languages. In what ways might learning a foreign language enable individuals generate greater income?
  

The Right to Bear Arms

The New York Times is running an article entitled, "Justices May Hear Second Amendment Case." The article begins, "Both sides in a closely watched legal battle over the District of Columbia’s strict gun-control law are urging the Supreme Court to hear the case. If the justices agree — a step they may announce as early as Tuesday — the Roberts court is likely to find itself back on the front lines of the culture wars with an intensity unmatched even by the cases on abortion and race that defined the court’s last term." The article reports, "The Supreme Court has never answered the Second Amendment question directly, and it has been nearly 70 years since the court even approached it obliquely. A decision in 1939, United States v. Miller, held that a sawed-off shotgun was not one of the 'arms' to which the Second Amendment referred in its single, densely written, and oddly punctuated sentence: 'A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.'”

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Younger Children

• Do students think that they should be allowed to bring toys from home to school? Why/why not? Ask students if they can think of any reasons why they should not be allowed to bring toys from home to school. Can they think of any reasons why they should be allowed to do so?
  
• As a class consider developing a rule specifying whether or not toys should be allowed to be brought to school, from home.
  
• Ask students if they have ever been asked to make a decision that they did not want to make? What decision were they asked to make? Why did they not want to make the decision? What happened in the end?
  
• The class might develop a collaborative story about somebody who does not want to make a decision about something.
  
• Tell students that a certain type of horn exists that could really hurt people's ears if blown in their ears. Ask them to imagine that in the past children have sometimes blown the horn for fun, not knowing what kind of harm it could cause, and hurt people very badly. Do students think that children should be allowed to play with these horns? Why/why not? It's possible if adults leave these horns in their homes that children would be able to get to them and play with them. Do students think that people should be allowed to keep these horns in their homes? Why/why not?
• As a class consider putting the issue of horn ownership on trial. Individual groups could decide whether or not individuals should be allowed to keep the horn in their home, and then report back to the whole class.
  
• Ask students what it means to follow a rule. Can students think of any rules that they follow because they have to, but they have a very hard time following the rule? Ask them to give examples. Ask students if they think that the rule is a good rule. Why/why not?
• Students might develop skits demonstrating that it is sometimes difficult to follow rules.
  

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: Obliquely; Collective; Libertarian; and, Polarized.
  
• Do students think that the United States Supreme Court has a responsibility to hear the case and decide whether or not people should be allowed to own guns? Why/why not? What reasons might the Court, as a whole, have for not hearing the case if they choose not to hear it?
  
• Students might write letters to the U.S. Supreme Court indicating whether or not the Court has an obligation to hear this case.
  
• Ask students to develop a metaphor to explain the current tension that exists in the United States as to whether or not private citizens should be allowed to own guns.
• Students could develop these metaphors in groups of two or three and then report back to the class.
  
• What is the difference between "literal meaning" and "interpretation"? Do students think that the framers of the United States Constitution ever thought about whether or not individual citizens who were not enlisted in a militia should be allowed to own guns? Why/why not? Do students think that the framers would have allowed individual citizens to own guns? Why/why not? Should the framers intentions matter today? Why/why not? What does it mean for a document to be a "living text?" Could individuals who argue that the framers intentions do matter, accept the Constitution as a living text? Why/why not?
• These questions might prompt an interesting class discussion.
  

Cable Regulations

The New York Times is running an article entitled, "F.C.C. Planning Rules to Open Cable Market." The article begins, "The Federal Communications Commission is preparing to impose significant new regulations to open the cable television market to independent programmers and rival video services after determining that cable companies have become too dominant in the industry, senior commission officials said." The article states, "How dominant the cable industry is has been a matter of dispute. The largest cable companies say they are under increasing competition from the satellite and telephone companies. But commission officials and consumer groups say that the large cable companies dominate the marketplace. They cite as evidence the fact that cable rates have risen significantly faster than inflation."

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Younger Children

• Ask students to identify their favorite television channels. Ask them why they like these channels. Inform students that at one time very few television channels existed. Many cities only had three channels. Ask students if they'd prefer to have many television channels to choose from or just a few. Encourage them to explain their thoughts.
  
• Ask students to write the word "Choice" across the top of a piece of paper. Now ask them to write a word that begins with each of the letters in the word "choice."
  
• Ask students to imagine that they could make their own television channel. What shows would they put on their television channel? Do they think that other people might like this channel, as well? Why/why not? How do they think that their channel would differ from their parents' channel(s)?
  
• Ask students to interview their parents, asking what shows their parents would put on a television station if they could develop their own station.
  
• If students owned their own television channel do they think it would be fair for a police officer to tell them what shows they could put on the channel and what shows they could not put on the channel. Why/why not? Do students think it's OK for people to tell television channels what shows they want to watch and what shows they don't want to watch? Why/why not? How might people tell channels what shows they want to watch?
  
• Consider writing a collaborative class letter to a television station in either support or against the airing of a specific television show.
  
• Do students think it's better for people to watch television or to play outside? Do they think it's better for people to watch television or to play on the computer? Do they think it's better for people to play outside or to play on the computer? Encourage them to explain their thoughts. Do students think it's possible to learn things by watching television? Why/why not?
  
• Students might compare one or more of these options with a T-Chart.
  

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: Open; Deregulatory; Uniform; and, Conglomerate.
  
• Do students think it's necessary for the Federal Communications Commission (F.C.C.) to regulate the cable television industry? Why/why not? Do students think it would make sense for the F.C.C. to require every city to have at least three different companies that provide cable television? Why/why not? Do students think it would make sense to allow anybody to run a television station and broadcast whatever they wanted to broadcast? Why/why not?
  
• Ask students to respond to these questions in persuasive essays. The purpose of the essay might be to define a line at which point the government should regulate television.
  
• Ask students to define the term "economic choice." In what ways, if any, do students think that economic choice benefits society? In what ways, if any, do students think that economic choice hinders society? Ask students why they think that some societies limit economic choice while others encourage it.
• Students might develop graphic organizers demonstrating the influence that economic choice has on society.
  
• Thirty five years ago the cable industry did not exist. Do students think that the cable industry will exist in another thirty five years? Why/why not? In what ways will broadcast networks be different in thirty five years than they are today? Encourage students to explain their thoughts.
  
• These questions might prompt an interesting class discussion.
  

Down They Go

The New York Times is running an article entitled, "Stocks Tumble on Weak Dollar and Oil Prices." The article begins, "Stock markets were hit today by their second sharp sell-off in less than a week, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down 360 points to a level last seen in September, before the Federal Reserve cut interest rates." The article adds, "Investor confidence was further shaken by the news from G.M. that it will write down $38.6 billion in future tax benefits after a string of poor sales in North America and Germany. Shares of G.M. dropped 6 percent, to $33.97. Meanwhile, Time Warner announced a 53 percent decline in third-quarter profit. Its shares were down on the news to $17.80, a 2.9 percent decline."

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Younger Children

• Do students think that it's good for schools to have recess? Why/why not? Ask your students how they would feel if they were told that from now on recess was going to be ten minutes shorter. Why would they feel this way?
  
• The class might put the idea of a shorter recess on trial. Encourage students to argue both sides.
  
• Ask students to explain how somebody buys something. What do students think happens with the money that somebody pays for something? Why do they think this? Ask students to imagine that they worked at a store. How would they get paid?
  
• Ask students to draw a series of small pictures explaining what happens when somebody buys something.
  
• Ask students if they've ever bought something with their own money. What did they buy? Why did they buy it? Ask students if they would have bought this thing if it cost much more money? Why/why not?
  
• Consider holding a small fair in your class in which students would have the opportunity to buy goods from other students. Students would have to decide how much money they would spend for a particular good. They might even use fake money and products that students made in class.
  
• Identify something in the classroom and ask students how much money they think it is worth. Ask them to identify two things in the classroom that might cost somewhere around the same amount of money. Now ask students to imagine that the first item was damaged in some way. Do students think that the damaged item would be worth more or less money than the undamaged item? Encourage them to support their opinions.
  

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: "Stock Market"; Brokerage; Bellwether; and, Appraisals.
  
• What does an investor do? What do students think it means for investors to have confidence in a company? What does it mean for investors to have confidence in the economy? Do students think that confidence is important? Why/why not?
• These questions might spark an interesting class discussion.
  
• Ask students to imagine that they worked for the Federal Reserve Bank and it was their responsibility to advise policymakers on how to help investors develop confidence in the economy. What are some strategies that students might advise? Why would they advise these strategies?
  
• Students might develop these policy proposals in small groups and then discuss them.
  
• Ask students to explain how the price of oil could effect the price of other goods and services for sale in the economy. Encourage them to explain their thought processes.
  
• Students could develop graphic organizers depicting how the price of oil effects other prices.
  

Writers on Strike

The New York Times is running an article entitled, "Screenwriters Take to Picket Lines as Strike Begins." The article states, "About 75 members of Writers Guild East set up a picket line at Rockefeller Center, just above the fabled ice rink. Picketers chanted: 'No money? No downloads. No downloads? No peace.'" "More than 12,000 movie and television writers represented by the Writers Guild of America West and the Writers Guild of America East walked out today, after three months of acrimonious negotiations proved fruitless. It is the first industrywide strike by writers since 1988; that strike lasted five months and cost the entertainment industry an estimated $500 million."

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Younger Children

• Have your students ever written a letter, either in traditional or electronic form, to somebody? To whom did they write? What did they write? Do students think it is important to be able to write? Why/why not?
  
• Consider inviting students to write a letter to one of their family members that they can give to them after school.
  
• Ask students to identify their favorite movies and/or television shows? Do students think it would be fun to tell the actors/actresses what to say? Why/why not? If students could tell any television character what to say who would they tell? What would they tell this individual?
  
• Students could create lines for a skit of their own.
  
• Have students ever given somebody the silent treatment? Why did they give somebody the silent treatment? Have they ever been given the silent treatment by somebody else? How did it feel to be given the silent treatment?
  
• Ask students if they can think of any better ways to let somebody else know how they feel other than by giving them the silent treatment. The class might develop a list of options for communicating feelings.
  
• Ask students if they think it's possible to let somebody know something by drawing pictures instead of writing words. Can students think of any pictures that tell stories?
  
• Consider challenging students to draw pictures that have messages.
  

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: Avert; Guild; Acrimonious; and, Unison.
  
• Ask students if they think think it's appropriate for well paid writers to strike in the hopes of earning even greater income. What questions do students think should be answered before offering an intelligent response to this question.
  
• Students might research the questions that they consider important and develop answers to the questions posed here in small groups.
  
• In what ways do students think that professional writers contribute to the culture of the country in which they live? Do students think that writing is important for cultural development? Why/why not?
  
• These questions might prompt an interesting class discussion.
  
• Ask students to imagine a conversation between the head of the writers guild and their employers, who obviously want the strike to end. What might be said in this discussion?
  
• Students could write scripts for such a discussion.
  

Fighting in Pakistan

The New York Times is running an article entitled, "Militants Draw New Front Line Inside Pakistan." The article begins, "For much of the last century, the mountainous region of Swat was ruled as a princely kingdom where a benign autocrat, the wali, bestowed schools for girls, health care for everyone and the chance to get a degree abroad for the talented." It continues, "Now the region is the newest front line in the battle between Islamic militants, who are sympathetic to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, and Pakistan’s nervous security forces. For the first time, heavy fighting has moved beyond Pakistan’s tribal fringe and into more settled areas of the country."

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Young Children

• Ask your students if they know what the word "stubborn" means? Have they ever been stubborn about anything? What have they been stubborn about? Do students think they get what they want when they are stubborn? Why/why not?
  
• Do students think that all children should be allowed to go to school? Why/why not? What would students think if all of the sudden girls or boys were not allowed to go to school? What problems might somebody have if they didn't go to school?
  
• Do students think it's good to be smart? Why/why not? Can students think of any reason why somebody might not want somebody else to learn how to do things? What are these reasons? Who do students think would get what they want most of the time: somebody who knows a lot or somebody who knows a little. Encourage students to explain their thoughts.
  
• Ask students if they would like to live in a community where there was a lot of fighting. Encourage them to explain their thoughts. What might be some of the problems with living in such a community? Do students think that there are any communities where a lot of fighting does take place?
  

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: "Benign Autocrat"; Insurgency; Passivity; and, Quell.
  
• What do students think it means to believe in something? Is there a difference between believing in something and knowing something? What is the difference?
  
• Ask students to imagine that they lived in the region of Swat. What would they feel towards the militants? Would they prefer to have a peaceful community governed by fundamentalists or a community in which fundamentalists constantly battled government forces? Encourage them to explain their thoughts.
  
• If students could say or do one thing to stop the fighting in Pakistan what would they say or do? Why would they say or do this? Is it more powerful to say something or more powerful to do something? Explain!!