The French Resistance Movement: WWII

Read the following article and watch the accompanying video.
Raymond Aubrac: How I tricked the Gestapo

Why did Moulin pose such a threat to the Germans?  Do you think the de Gaulle made the right move by creating the government in exile?  Is it better to fight "underground" or to attack directly?  Can you link this to anything else we have studied or a current event?

Jean Moulin

The Black Death Revisited

The is an interesting article that looks at some new insights into the Black Death.
Causes and Consequences of the Black Death - A Reappraisal

Respond to the article and then compare the socio-economic consequences of the Bubonic Plague to the HIV/AIDS issue in society today.  What can we learn from the response to the Plague and what we know now?

Is Blogging the Way of the Future?

Now that we have created rules and guidelines for using weblogs in the classroom, we need to talk about why we use them and how they can enrich the learning experience.

Read and respond to the following video and the New Your Times article, "Blogs vs. Term Papers."  

Here are some questions to get you started:
Do you agree with Professor Davidson's argument?  Why or why not?
Do you think that blogging can provide the same measure of understanding and achievement that an academic paper does?  Why or why not?

Welcome to the Discussion

Blogs can be a great tool to expand our understanding of important topics in European history and current events.  They can also help you to refine your thinking and practice good discussion etiquette while digitally interacting with our peers.  Blogs can inspire you to delve deeper into your writing and gives you access to an instant audience as well as feedback from your peers.
However, as with any technology, with all of its benefits, there are also some safety issues that need to be taken into account.  We must be aware of possible dangers and traps that could detract from the educational success of blogging.  In order to do this we must create and agree on a few blogging guidelines.

Your first assignment is to read the following articles on blogging safety.  Once you read the articles, post a comment reflecting on the following questions.

What are some potential dangers of blogging discussed in the articles?  Can you think of any other issues that were not mentioned?  What types of policies and guidelines should we put into place as a class to avoid these dangers?

Articles:
The Dangers in Blogging
Student Blogging Guidelines
News Article