Blog #28 Thanks for your Service and Sacrifice this coming Memorial Day.

Cadets, it's that time of year again where we try to honor those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice and gave their all serving our country. As we have learned studying the Korean Conflict, the award of the Medal of Honor is the highest tribute our country can pay to those that sacrifice themselves for the protection of all.  Your task this week is to post the URL for a video that pays tribute to those soldiers for Memorial Day. If you create your own and post it to Youtube, you will get double bonus points for this homework so let's get started. Here is my post and I hope you like it. Remember to comment on your peer's work and to pay your respects.

Blog #27 Korean Conflict and Term Project Download

Good morning cadets. Hope that you and your mother's had
a great day together.  Your mission this week is to find out
information about the Korean Conflict that started in 1950
and ended in 1953.  You should try to find interesting information
that can be discussed in class and also bring to light new
details about the Korean Conflict.  As you have already learned,
the Soviet Union installed a Puppet Government in N. Korea
after the end of WWII and North Korea wanted to have a
united Korea while South Korea wanted to keep their
Democratic Government. That is my fact for this blog and
here is the website to confirm this fact:
Kim Il Sung Puppet Government

As promised, here is the link to download your worksheets
for the term project on the Vietnam War.  You can download
either document, MS Word or Adobe PDF.
Vietnam Term Project MSWord

Vietnam Term Project PDF

Blog #26 Pearl Harbor survivor receives last Navy Medal.

Hi again Cadets. Since we are moving from the end of WWII to the cold war and into the Korean Conflict, I thought I would give you one last video to watch about Pearl Harbor. This one is very fitting and honors a survivor that fought there. As promised, your information about your term project will be attached to this blog so be ready to be first to get a chance to select your Vietnam War movie. After the video posting is a list of Vietnam War Movies that are available. Select at least 3 that you would like to watch. You will be able to select your movie by the end of this coming week so make sure your posting is up first to get the best choice in class.

Here are a few of the Vietnam War movies that are available to watch online or downloadable from various sources. Remember to post your 3 choices and you must explain why you want to watch at least two of the movies. Post a URL for the movies and also comment on other Cadet's work. Good luck and I hope that you are one of the lucky ones to post first in your class.

Movie Name	Year		Movie Name	Year
84 Charlie MoPic	1989		Platoon Leader	1988
A Bright Shining Lie	1998		Rescue Dawn	2006
A Yank in Vietnam	1964		The Anderson Platoon	1967
Apocalypse Now	1979		The Deer Hunter	1978
Bat 21	1988		The Green Berets	1968
Born on the 4th of July	1989		The Hanoi Hilton	1887
Casualties of War	1989		The Iron Triangle	1989
Coming Home	1978		The Odd Angry Shot	1979
Faith of My Fathers	2005		The Siege of Firebase Gloria	1989
Full Metal Jacket	1987		The Walking Dead	1995
Go Tell The Spartans	1978		Tigerland	2000
Good Morning Vietnam	1987		Tunnel Rats	2008
Hamburger Hill	1987		Uncommon Valor	1983
Heaven and Earth	1993		Under Heavy Fire	2001
Platoon	1986		We Were Soldiers	2002

Remember to look again next weekend for your Movie Worksheet to download for your term project. Good luck and remember that Memorial Day is fast approaching to make sure you are working on making your Tribute Videos to post on You-Tube as well for your bonus points.

Blog #25 Cold War outcomes and the Sequestration

Good morning Cadets.  Since we are learning about the cold war, the one outcome of WWII was the creation of the Marshall Plan that helped rebuild and restore war ravaged/damaged Europe and speed their economic recovery.  Along with that, the United States started to spend more money on Foreign Aide for countries around the world. With Sequestration in place, we are required now to decrease spending to help foreign governments.  Your goal this week is to select a country from around the world and find out how much money the US is sending that country for foreign aid. Along with that, you need to find out what that country does with the money that we send them.  As usual, post your URL for the website where you obtained your information and also comment on other cadet's work.  You must complete all 3 tasks to receive full credit for this work.  Good luck and here is my posting:
Foreign Aid to China  . According to this article, we are giving China $12,000,000 in foreign aid, $4,000,000 for environmental issues.  That is right, 12 Million Dollars to a country that we owe money.  Wow, I am surprised.

Here is the link to download the Cold War/Military Booklet we are using in class as well:
Cold War & Military History JROTC Let2

Army JROTC Chain of Command

Blog #24 Drugs, drugs, & more drugs. What's your choice to learn about and teach?

Good morning Cadets.  This week you are involved with teaching about the different drugs that you may come into contact during your life. Each student is required to work as a team and use Google-Docs. You have created your presentation and will show your group work and knowledge in your classroom setting. Your task for this blog is to post the Drug that you and your group is teaching about.  You must identify information that you learned while researching about the drug and then must post the URL for the site that you collected your information.  If you have a video that you used, please post the URL link to that video as well.  Once you have accomplished these tasks, your final one is to comment on other students works.  Remember that you will get extra bonus points for creating a video yourself using your material as well as making a wall poster for our classroom.  Good luck and here is a video that I chose about music and Psychedelic drugs from the sixties.

Although some of these songs are not related to drugs, the bands music played a major part in expanding the use of mind expanding drugs in our culture during the sixties.

Blog #23 In Honor of National Women's Month

Good morning cadets.  This week we are paying our respects to the women
in our lives and the ones that have made a difference in society.  I can never
say enough about my mom and the support that she gave me while I was
growing up, she was truly an amazing woman.  So this week your task is to
select a woman that has made a difference in our society and honor her by
placing your comments and a URL for the website/link for that person on our
blog as well. Remember to comment on your peer's work and once you
have done that, you will be finished with your assignment for this week.  I hope
you enjoy this video about a woman that made a difference for our society.

Blog #22 It's All About Bloomberg

Good morning cadets, I hope that you are all doing well. As you are aware, Mayor Bloomberg's larger sugary drink ban was overturned by a NYC Judge that ruled against the Mayor.  During his time in office, Mayor Bloomberg has championed many initiatives to improve the health of NYC.  He was behind the ban on saturated fats in restaurants; the ban on over-sized sodas; the ban on unhealthy foods in school lunchroom  cafeterias and has also stated that he wants to champion the end of ear-bud headphones that damage the hearing of those that choose to use them.  Your task is to comment and give your opinion on whether you are for or against these ideas. Be specific and make sure that you cite documents or web-sites that support your information.  Lastly as always, remember that you must comment on your peer's work.  Good luck and I look forward to hearing your opinions.  Here is my video for you to watch:

Blog #21, Salt, sugar, fats, and there's a reason for that.

Good Morning Cadets.  I am very proud of your work so far on our health unit. Your work has been excellent both in class and online.  We have found out that there are some errors in labeling when it comes to the correct amount of calories listed on the food that we eat. We have found out that restaurants in NYC don't always label their calories correctly because they are not being held accountable for their honesty.  The real question now is why does the food that we eat taste so good; who makes it that way; and who is responsible for deciding how to advertise the products the way that they do?  Read the following story from NPR by a Pulitzer Prize winning author and I hope you are as surprised with this information as I am. Once you have read the article, your must do the following: 1, list what food or drink you bought with your own money the first time you spent your own money. 2, Find a website for advertising the product that you bought and post their URL to our blog, and 3, explain if you still buy or use the same product/item today.  Remember to explain your answers and also to comment on other students work.  Good luck and here's your story.
Salt Sugar Fats article NPR

Salt, sugar, fat, Audio Author Interview

Blog #20 How to get your kid into a Service Academy

Cadets, share the bottom link with your friends and family if you are
seriously interested in applying to one of the Service Academy's. The
story is great and so is the information, it will open your eyes to the
possibilities that are available to you. Good luck and I hope that
you find this information useful.

Service Academy (How To)

Blog #19 Bonus Calorie Information

Again, with Mayor Bloomberg, his worry is about the soda that our
citizens consume but I guess he isn't worried about the issue of false
calorie counts at restaurants.  Watch the following video and post
your opinions and comments. Also find other links or URL's to show
more information about calories.  Good luck and I hope that you are
getting wise to the information that is being passed around.