Welcome to Meridian School! I am Mr. Lynch. I teach TX History and US History.

1. Welcome to Meridian School! I am Mr. Lynch. I teach TX History and US History. I have a Government degree with a minor in History from the University of Texas. I have a good (and often strange) sense of humor. This is my 5th year teaching social studies. I love teaching. You will have homework and always with a purpose. Much of your homework will involve working on projects. You will struggle. This class will be challenging for everyone. Smart people struggle too. It’s part of learning. You are the most important person in your education. If you are willing to work hard and dedicate yourself to personal growth, you will be successful in this class and at Meridian. I will help you with almost anything. After you have done your best to find an answer, please ask me for help. You can also come to me for help with anything else that you are struggling with, including social situations. I will serve as an adult guide for you, but remember to approach me as your teacher and not as a peer. You will create a social contract with your classmates in order to define how to accomplish these two expectation: respect and kindness. All students at Meridian should display these two values to everyone you encounter. Disrespect and rudeness will not be tolerated. Please refrain from laughter if you think it may hurt someone’s feelings.

2. IB Middle Years Program (MYP)-Humanities (Social Studies) 7th-10th Grade MYP humanities aims to build on PYP social studies and to challenge students to look beyond their understanding of their immediate time, place and culture. It enables students to acquire a knowledge and understanding of such significant concepts as time, place and space, change, systems, and global awareness that extend into the subjects in the Diploma Programme (DP) group 3 individuals and societies. In your group, summarize the whole paragraph in ten words or less.

3. IB Diploma Program-Humanities (Social Studies) 11th-12th Grade The aims of the DP group 3 include fostering in students a critical understanding of human experience and behavior; the physical, economic and social environments; and the history and development of social and cultural institutions. The technical, analytical, decision-making and investigative skills required in MYP humanities also serve as a foundation to the skills and methodologies required in the various subjects in the DP group 3 individuals and societies. In your group of three, summarize the whole paragraph in ten words or less.

4. Come to an agreement with your group about the definition for these terms: Then discuss this question. Why should we study history? Write down bullet points to present to the class. Then consider the opposite perspective: Why shouldn’t we study history? History- Economics- Geography- Timeline- Government- Society- Community- Nation- State- Environment-

5. Starting tomorrow, please bring a notebook that is for this class only, a pen, a pencil, loose notebook paper, and a positive attitude. If you have a spiral notebook to start using now, title it TX History and write your name in it. You will be using it almost every day for warm-ups, notes and assignments. When you make an entry, please put the date in the outside margin (to help you find it easier). Whenever you define a term, always write the term. Incomplete notes are a waste of paper. My website is: www.meridianhumanities.weebly.com

6. EXPLORATION. Human exploration of the future Texas began during the Pleistocene, when lower sea levels exposed a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska and Homo sapiens sapiens migrated into what is now North America. The first explorers and perhaps colonizers possibly reached the continent during a convenient interglacial period, perhaps some 24,000 or more years ago. Why do you think there was a land bridge long ago that isn’t there anymore?

8. You are going to make a map of Texas using paper and glue. Only after you have finished working with paper and glue, will you label anything with pen. Show: Austin, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Mexico, Davis Mountains, Gulf Coastal Plains, Colorado River, Rio Grande River, Red River, Brazos River, Sabine River, Nueces River, Gulf of Mexico. Use a black pen to outline and label the 5 regions of Texas.

9. Did they get the regions right? What are the regions useful for? What aren’t the regions good at telling us? How are the five regions of Texas geographic generalizations? Discuss with your group examples of other generalizations that aren’t geographic. Write down your findings. What are they useful for? What aren’t they good at telling us?

10. Man vs. Wild: How can Texans maintain a positive relationship with the natural environment? What is service learning? Community and Service 8(B) analyze and interpret geographic distributions and patterns in Texas during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. 9(B) compare places and regions of Texas in terms of physical and human characteristics; and 9(C) analyze the effects of physical and human factors such as climate, weather, landforms, irrigation, transportation, and communication on major events in Texas. 10(A) identify ways in which Texans have adapted to and modified the environment and analyze the positive and negative consequences of the modifications; and 10(B) explain ways in which geographic factors such as the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, the Dust Bowl, limited water resources, and alternative energy sources have affected the political, economic, and social development of Texas.

11. Why is the community in crisis? How can we serve the community? How can we learn while serving?

12. Which of these scenes looks most susceptible to wildfire? Why?

13. Essays are due tomorrow (Tuesday) !!! If you are having problems with it, you may meet with me during lunch in the cafeteria. Wildfire Map Objectives for today: Start planning collection of stuffed animals, blankets and clothes Plan fire safety education (decide what exactly we’re doing) Consider how you would like to show your own learning in regards to the fires and the Texas natural and human environment. (project?)

14. Answer in your notebook in complete sentences: Daily Grade Remain silent What environmental factors led to the recent fires in Texas? How have they impacted the community? How has the community responded to the fires? What good can come from a situation like this?

17. Your group has twenty minutes to complete your map. Include a key (legend), scale, title, and compass rose. Texas Natural Environments Quiz: Use complete sentences that are complete pieces of information. Why would it be difficult to start a farm in the Mountains and Basins Region? If a person were to drive from West Texas to East Texas, explain three environmental factors that would change? (based on your maps) Explain three effects of drought? Most of the people in Texas live in the Coastal Plains Region. Why is that the case?

18. You will begin talking at a normal volume. I will place three stickies on the board. If the volume gets too loud, I will remove the stickies until there are none, and then we will go to a whisper. • You will have a quiz tomorrow. Make sure that your notes are correct. If they are missing, you may have a very difficult time with the quiz. • You have arrived in the Spanish colony of Tejas. You have some basic supplies including tools and food, but your only shelters are canvas tents. Along the beach your ship smashed against the rocks and you don’t think it would be able to make it back across the Atlantic. • It is currently September, which means that fall is fast approaching and you don’t know much about the climate. You believe that you have landed in east Texas. • You need to establish some type of leadership and begin to prepare for the fall and winter. You’ve got one chance to get this right. Your families are depending on you. • Everything that is decided needs to be written down. At the end of 25 minutes, we will stop and compare the groups and the different paths that were taken. • How will you make decisions? • How will you deal with natives? • How will you eat? • How will you handle the winter? • Will you try to make contact with other colonies and settlements? • Put everything on paper!

19. Thought for the day: Stay positive. Even tragedy gives way to opportunity. Your assignment is this: Create and write ten sentences that correctly use ALL of the terms below in a way that shows your understanding of the term. Each sentence only counts once it has correct grammar and has passed the inspection of everyone at your table. If you agree that a sentence is correct, write your initials next to it. If you finish early, read about the regions in the textbook (p42-59) Geography Environment Culture Ecosystem Migration Urbanization Roy Bedichek Relative location Map scale Map legend Reference map Thematic map Map projection Statistics Bar graph Line graph Pie chart Flowchart Causal relation Correlation Tributary Irrigation Agriculture Reservoir Aquifer Habitat Demographic Growth rate Birthrate Death rate Age distribution

20. You have 10 minutes to check your group members’ sentences! Vocabulary Quiz (you may use your vocab) Write these sentences with the correct terms and underline them. We are surrounded by our 1. map projection/ecosystem. A 2. reference/thematic map usually shows basic 3. causal relations/geography, while a 4. thematic map/tributary sometimes shows 5. demographic/Roy Bedicheckinformation. 6. Urbanization/habitat is often correlated with 7. age distribution/aquifer, death rate and birth rate, because migration to cities causes changes in the 8. culture/map legend and the 9. environment/flow chart. 10. Irrigation/migration can drain aquifers faster than they can refill.

21. There are graphs, charts, tables and maps on the following pages in the book. With your table create a question for each one. The question involve analyzing the data or asking how or why something is the case. The other groups in the class will be answering your questions. They should require some thought, but the information to answer them needs to be in the book. Do not make questions that simply ask the student to identify something that is immediately obvious. I must approve! 11, 15, 21, 26, 34, 583, 594, 605a, 605b, 611, 623, 630, 646, 653, 656 Finish Fast!

22. Maps/Charts/Graphs Quiz 1.How does the population distribution of Texas relate to its physical geography? *Food for thought? Why do you think that counties are so much larger in west Texas?

23. 2. Which state is consistently irrigating (crop watering) more land than Texas after 1974?

24. What region contained most of Texas’ active oil wells (green) in 2005?

25. 4. In 2008, were Hispanic people in Texas more likely to vote for Obama or McCain? 5. Were voters in urban areas of Texas more likely to vote for Obama or McCain?

26. How Does Executive Function Affect Learning? • In school, at home, or in the workplace, we're called on all day, every day, to self-regulate behavior. Executive function allows us to: • Make plans • Keep track of time and finish work on time • Keep track of more than one thing at once • Meaningfully include past knowledge in discussions • Evaluate ideas and reflect on our work • Change our minds and make mid-course corrections while thinking, reading, and writing • Ask for help or seek more information when we need it • Engage in group dynamics • Wait to speak until we're called on • 1. Try to define executive function in one sentence. • 2. If you are struggling with some of these tasks, you should… • Ask Mr. Lynch about how to improve your executive function • Seek help from people such as parents, friends or internet research • Cry and bang your head against your desk • Tell yourself there isn’t a problem, and go about business as usual • Both a. and b.

27. Today’s vocabulary: Population Distribution, Urbanization Write the definition of each AND draw a picture AND use it in a sentence. Do this in your notebook. On a blank page of your notebook, draw a huge Texas outline. Outline the four regions and label them in small writing in the corner of each. On the map mark and label (small writing) Houston, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, El Paso, Lubbock, Amarillo and Corpus Christi Inside each region, write a sentence describing the physical landscape. If it changes then describe how it changes and where. Write a sentence about the population distribution in each region. Write a sentence about the economic activity in each region. Use your textbook to find information. Use the index and table of contents. I will not provide page numbers!

28. Vocabulary Homework: Population Density, Topography; definition/sentence/picture Use well-written paragraphs to answer these questions. You will work with a partner, but everyone will write their own. Explain reasons for urbanization in Texas. What are the five largest businesses based in Texas and what industries are they in? Describe three demographic trends in Texas, and explain their causes and effects. Give three examples of how graphs and charts can be used to better understand our environment.

29. Rather than giving you a test review that is a worksheet, you are receiving a reviewthat tells you what willbe applied on the upcoming test. You will need to consider how to use this information to prepare for the test. Test preparation is an important academic skill. Consult with your table about ways to prepare for the test. Use all of the strategies you think will work for you. Your test will be written in sentences. It will not be multiple choice or matching. However, some material will be available to you during the test.