Tis the season for giving!

Yay! Today is the last day! AGHHHH!!

Time for all the Netflix, sleeping in, pet cuddling, relaxing, and time with friends and family!

How we feel after our last exam.

How we feel when we realize it's all over!

Truth, Office Space, truth.

As we part before the holidays, I wanted to give people thoughts on some places to give to those less fortunate in case you were in a giving mood over the break!

PetSmart Charities - Help homeless pets find a home! According to their website, approximately 7 million animals go to shelters every year.

UNICEF - If you've been paying attention to the news, we have a humanitarian crisis in Aleppo, Syria.  They are are in need of basic medical supplies.  UNICEF specifically helps out children in need.

North Texas Food Bank - This local non-profit organization helps hungry families and individuals by providing them with meals.

Dwell with Dignity - Help the homeless find homes! This is a Dallas-based non-profit organization that helps families find and settle into furnished homes.

Have a wonderful break, everyone! See you in 2017!

- Ms. Siddiqui

All the Netflix

Hope your 2nd and 3rd period exams went well today! We're almost halfway there! So keep trying; don't give up.  If you're feeling pressed for time, then focus on material that either confuses you the most or material from the beginning of the semester.  Stick to your exam reviews!

Today's entry is about TV show recommendations! Breaks from school are the perfect opportunity to decompress by watching a new show.  So, here are some of my personal favorites:

1. Parks and Recreation

• Where can you watch it: Netflix or Hulu
• Who you may know: Amy Poehler of SNL fame, Aziz Ansari, and Chris Pratt (from recent blockbusters like Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World)
• Why you should watch: The ensemble cast is hilarious! I don't know who I like most - April with her deadpan humor, Ben with his nerdiness, Andy and his lovable stupidity...they all work so well together!

2. Black-ish

• Where you can watch it: Hulu
• Who you may know: Anthony Anderson has been around for a while in bit roles and Laurence Fishburne played Morpheus in The Matrix
• Why you should watch: I'm picky with my family comedies, and I thoroughly enjoyed Modern Family in its early seasons, so Black-ish is kind of a fresh and funny show for me.  There have been literal LOL moments and it finally got some Golden Globe recognition! 

3. Brooklyn Nine-Nine

• Where you can watch it: Hulu
• Who you may know: Andy Samberg from SNL
• Why you should watch: It's another great ensemble cast...I had my doubts because I'm not a huge fan of police shows, but the odd mix of characters is pretty funny

4. The Crown

• Where you can watch it: Netflix
• Who you may know: Probably no one; they're almost all English actors, with the exception of John Lithgow who plays Churchill
• Why you should watch: It's Netflix's golden show for the moment! They've nabbed a few Golden Globe nominations.  It's a great drama about the life of Queen Elizabeth II as she comes to power shortly after WWII (some inappropriate language, btw!)

5. Stranger Things

• Where you can watch it: Netflix
• Who you may know: Probably no one; the most famous actress is Winona Ryder, who used to be a big actress in the 90's and she earned a Golden Globe nomination for her role in this show
• Why you should watch it: It's another Netflix darling right now.  It's a great throw back to the adventure moves of the 80's, like The Goonies or E.T. It's a little scary...but then again, I scare easily! 

There are also a bunch of others I love - Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Scrubs, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Office, How I Met Your Mother, to name a few.  Well, I hope I've given you some shows to consider! 

I'm planning to finish up The Crown and perhaps get started on Westworld this break. 

- Ms. Siddiqui

Ms. Siddiqui's Holiday Gift Guide

And we've officially begun exams! We hope your 1st period exam went well - on the bright side, only six more exams to go!

Since there's nothing curricular to discuss, I thought I'd take the time to give any desperate holiday shoppers some suggestions.  Or if you don't need to buy any gifts for others, maybe a gift for yourself? After Friday, you'll have sat in on several exams; the least you could do is treat yo self!

Btw, the gif on the left is from one of the best shows ever, Parks and Recreation.  But TV show recommendations will be the basis for another entry this week.

For the couch potato who loves Christmas and appreciates pizza - Merry Crustmas socks!

A Karl Marx doll for your favorite Communist!

A unicorn coloring book for a beloved artist!

For the Star Wars and breakfast aficionado, a Death Star waffle maker!

A trendy scarf for your fashionista friend!

For the Humanities student who can't bear to be away from class for two weeks!

Happy shopping! And good luck on your 2nd and 3rd period exams tomorrow! 

- Ms. Siddiqui

Let the reviewing commence!

We hope you had a terrible weekend filled with reviewing and studying! Us teachers were busy as well, frantically getting all the things graded (with small breaks for a much needed manicure and accidentally watching all of Season 2 of Fuller House and going wedding cake testing).

Take that, teachers!

Today we gave you time to review in class.  Some of you took this opportunity to ask us questions, some of you chose to study for other exams, and I'm not sure what some of y'all did. Regardless, we hope however you chose to spend your time in class was of some benefit to you.

Remember, we completed 25% of your exam grade already (the essay).  Stick to your review to help you focus on the remaining 75%.  Make sure you know those figurative language devices!




So, since there's not much else to say, here are some Internet funnies.

Students before exams be like

Truth.

Lols...you totally do this.

Here are some ideas for short breaks, should you need to pull away from the enthralling world of Humanities.

Watch this video of a kitten and a lab being best friends

Listen to my favorite Christmas song

Watch the trailer for Kong: Skull Island (because hello, Tom Hiddleston)

Watch this scene from one of my favorite Christmas movies, Love Actually

Or this scene from my other favorite Christmas movie, Elf

Good luck on your 1st period exam tomorrow, everyone!

- Ms. Siddiqui

I hope you have the worst weekend ever

Humanitarians,

I wish this on you because I hope that you are STUDYING all weekend long; REMEMBER trade 1 weekend for 2 whole weeks of glorious glorious freedom!


Some study tips:

And now to channel my inner Virdin - some words of encouragement. 

 

You can do this!! I believe in you!

- cbg

Sccccccccience

Humanitarians,

Today we finished up our last bit o'learnin before we tackle exams. The take away? That the early Islamic empires rocked at science! This is especially important when we look at what a lot of the rest of the world is doing (we will next semester) at the same time, which is basically not science.

me, everytime we talk about science

Then tomorrow is the big day. Or one of many big days. It's semester exam essay writing day. How should you prepare?! Well, step 1. look at the 7 prompts online - one of them will be yours! 2. Brainstorm! What concrete facts do you know about each? Maybe craft a thesis statement for each. DON'T write an entire essay, that is a big ole waste of time! 3. Find paper and a blue or black pen so you are super duper prepared!

What are we looking for in this essay?!?!

1. a good thesis

2. concrete and correct examples

3. organization - basically give us paragraphs!

anything for you Ryan

hey girl. and boy. 

Friday we will begin to review! Then it's semester exam timeeeee! Your review is already online, so che-check it if you are already feelin good about those essay topics. 

accurate although it shouldn't be 

Good luck friends! Remember, sleep is important!

- cbg

Meet ya on the Silk Road

Humanitarians,

Yesterday and today we continued in our exploration of Islam.

Yesterday we finished talking about the basic beliefs of Islam, which pops up around 600 CE and is a major cause of our shift from Classical to Post-Classical Ages. As our other religions, if you know the founder, major sects, religious texts, and basic beliefs, you should be good to go!

or coffee, or water, or whatever

honestly, too many different references happening here

Today, we talked about TRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADE! Silk Roads, Indian Ocean, it's all pretty awesome. Big take aways?? Luxury goods are what is being traded, the Islamic Empires are acting generally as the middle men between China and the West, which means lots of money for them. Both the silk road and Indian Ocean trade are a continuity from the Classical Period, but the domination of the Islamic empires in said routes is NEW!

yall knew this, right? 

Tomorrow, we will wrap up our learnin' about early Islam and the Islamic Empires by focusing on their scientific achievements. Yasss, science. Call Kraft. 

Then it's onto exam review! 

This day in history??

• 1884: Construction of the Washington Monument was completed. 

• 1889: Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederate States of America, died.
• 

• 1923: A presidential address was broadcast on the radio for the first time when Calvin Coolidge spoke before Congress

ok, so the internet is full of lies, but I HOPE THIS IS REAL

• 1973: Gerald Ford was sworn in as vice president, replacing Spiro T. Agnew. Ford would go on to be the only president never elected into office (since he was appointed as VP and then became president when Nixon resigned). SO MUCH PRESIDENTIAL TRIVIA TODAY. 
• 
• 1992: The destruction of a mosque in India by Hindu extremists set off two months of Muslim-Hindu fighting that claimed at least 2000 lives. Learn more here. 

Have a great evening! Don't forget to read WHAP pages 275-78 for tomorrow!

- cbg

taco tuesday, taco tuesday, i think i've used this meme before

And the winner is....

Just kidding. You will find out the winners later next week...hopefully. :)

These Jasper Games have been full of wonderful moments. Where's NBC with OUR Olympic streaming coverage? Just saying. My personal highlights have been watching all of you bring your Beauty and the Beast and Mickey Mouse bed sheets as togas, seeing students bust out amazing singing voices, "OMG Becky, look. at that. aqueduct" (that's for you, seventh period), all the fried dough resembling a Classical doughnut, and so much more. We hope you've enjoyed it as much as you have.

Rest up this weekend, because I know this week has been crazy, and we all need to pace ourselves before finals. Go be in the sunshine, do hoodrat stuff with your friends, have intentional conversations over a stack of pancakes, whatever brings you joy. Do remember that your Humanities Experiences are due Monday, so if you want to go explorin', this weekend is your last chance to do so! We also have a WHAP reading due Tuesday, the LAST ONE OF THE SEMESTER! Crazy how fast this semester has flown by.

So many of your faces this week. And yes, that's two Leslie Knope memes because she is my role model.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend friends!! You guys rock.

Quran you tell me about Islam?!

Hola Humanitarians! Sorry for no post yesterday, but I hope you survived the test. Last test until finals...that is crazy! How are we almost to December?!

Today we started our last mini-unit of information with a brief exploration on one of the most influential and important religions in the world, Islam. We quickly detailed the basic tenets of Islam, including the life of Muhammad and the Five Pillars of Islam. In case you missed it, these would be...

1. Declaration of faith
2. Prayer
3. Charity
4. Fasting during Ramadan
5. Hajj

The fifth member of the Humanities team, John Green, also made a helpful video to outline an overview of Islamic beliefs. We watched some in class, but if you want the whole thing, have at it!

We'll continue our study of Islam, its empires, and Islamic art and science next week to give Islam more of the due it deserves, but tomorrow is the OLYMPICS. Don't forget that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is due tomorrow, even if your group's event doesn't present till Friday! Wash your sheets, break out the togas and the epic poems, we are READY! It's on like Donkey Kong!

I found this picture of Mr. Stanton in college. 

We're also getting to the end of the semester, so you know what that means...Humanities Experiences! In case you need some last minute ideas that aren't the DMA, here are some cool happenings this weekend:

• UTD's Chamber Ensemble is performing Bach and more contemporary composers on Friday!
• The Texas Ballet Theater is performing the Nutcracker. Here come all of the holiday performances, check other local ballets and theaters as well for performances of the Nutcracker or The Christmas Carol if this one is too far for you guys!
• The Crow Collection downtown has a pretty sweet ceramics exhibit, Clay Between Two Seas, including some sweet Islamic art that we will explore next Wednesday!

Have a rocking Wednesday friends. Enjoy the beautiful weather :)

Turkey and casserole and pie, oh my!

Welcome back friends! I hope that your break was filled with all the mashed potatoes and cranberries and turkey, but more importantly, that you were able to take some well-deserved time with the people you love...and that crazy uncle that always shows up for Thanksgiving.

Wake up from your carbohydrate comas, because it's back to the grind! Tomorrow we have our Classical Test. And yes, I said test, as in a massively important chunk of your grade that I know you are planning to study for tonight. Right? Got it. Today in class, after our last SAQ, we answered some of your questions from the Google Doc and important terms you didn't understand. In case you missed, here are some of the study guide terms confusing people:

• city-kingdom
• monasticism
• Upanishads
• shamanism
• Classical ideal
• Sassanid
• Achaemenid
• latifundia
• Zarathustra

If you still have any questions that didn't get answered today in class, stop by tutorials before school tomorrow at 8:15 in the big Humanities room (2035/6). Come with questions...or we'll just stare at you while we sip on our coffee. And that's awkward.

Just a tip as you study, make sure that you know all of the terms on your study guide, but can you use them to explain some of the bigger concepts? A good way to study is to come up with your own test questions. Grab some friends (who you can actually study with) and see if you can answer each other's questions. Or try explaining concepts to a little sibling or pet that will sit and listen to you...although that's not likely. What five year old wants to hear what a latifundia is? Unless they're just cool like that.

My book for the week, in case you are already making your Winter Break reading list (maybe that's just me), is Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. I'm a sucker for a book about books, but really this book has gotten rave reviews for its story of a mysterious bookstore that holds more within its walls than appearances show. It's super whimsical and endearing so far...read along with me?

HAPPY STUDYING FRIENDS! You got this.
-Virdin