Louis D. Brandeis High School Pre­AP WORLD GEOGRAPHY World Geography is the discipline that brings together the physical and human dimensions of the world in the study of people, places, and environments. Welcome The entire Social Studies Department wishes to extend to you our warmest welcome and best wishes for a successful freshman year at Brandeis High School. We hope next year will be a challenging and exciting adventure as we explore our world. As you consider registration for academic classes and extracurricular activities, please keep in mind that Pre‐AP World Geography will require reading outside of class and a larger homework load than a regular class. Requirements Students are required to complete two assignments outside of class. First, all freshmen coming to Brandeis High School and taking a Pre‐AP social studies or English I course, must purchase and read George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Students will need to complete the project on pages 2‐4 of this assignment as their summer reading project. Second, students must complete an extensive independent research endeavor: History Fair. Students will present this research in December, and the best projects from our campus will compete at the Regional History Fair. You need to start your research this summer in order to ease the time demand on you during the school year. Please visit the National History Day website for additional and very valuable information and examples. http://www.nhd.org/Contest.htm http://www.nhd.org/GettingStarted.htm Animal Farm Summer Reading Project As students are reading, there are mini projects for selected chapters. The students must type their report (12 point font, double spaced) and hand in to their teacher the first week of school (DUE AUGUST 31). Your final project should be creative and cohesive. A portion of the final grade will come from the appearance (neatness and organization) of the project. 1. Purpose: CHAPTER 1: To think about the effect political leaders have on the public and to look at the psychology and intention behind Major's speech in Animal Farm. Assignment: Find a speech by a famous political leader (from any country) and summarize the theme of his/her speech. Include in your analysis: •
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What was the political leader's message? What were the people of the country expected to do in response to the speech? Do you agree or disagree with the arguments made in the speech? Why or Why not? Please include a copy of the speech you found. 2. Purpose: CHAPTER 2: To understand the idea and enormity of a dictatorship. Think about what happens when you become a leader of highest order and make intelligent decisions based on what you create Assignment: Imagine that you were given a piece of land the size of Texas. You have plenty of farm land, plenty of water resources, plenty of oil reserves, and enough forest land to cover over half of your country. •
View a World Atlas. Notice how the countries are drawn and labeled. •
Create a map of your country, and include capital, rivers, lakes, forest land, and ranges you would like to have. This should be drawn and colored onto its own piece of paper, large enough that it is easy to read. •
Name this country that you have inherited and write the name on the top of the drawing. In your write up, include: Why did you choose this name? What does it stand for? •
Determine the population of your country. •
Determine the rules (about 5) that govern your country. Explain why these particular rules were chosen. 3. Purpose: CHAPTER 4. Understand national pride and victories and comparing modern day to the events in Animal Farm. Assignment: Almost all countries dedicate monuments to their heroes and leaders. •
Research the histories of three national monuments of three countries that exist in the modern world. •
Compare and contrast the significance of the three, and discuss the histories of each as they apply to the politics of today. •
Include pictures of all three of the monuments. 4. Purpose: To understand how important the windmill was to the farm and how devastating it's destruction was to the farm in Animal Farm. Assignment: Windmills are used to generate power for a farm, community, or in our case a school. Find a picture or diagram of a windmill that currently exists •
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Research how a windmill (NOT a wind turbine) operates and explain its operation in one page. (DO NOT COPY‐‐RESEARCH AND REWRITE the information in your own words) Include a picture of the windmill you found 5. Purpose: CHAPTER 6. Not only are the animals in Animal Farm running a political campaign they are also running a business. Think about how to effectively manage the farm, and what problems might you have. How could you use problem solving to overcome these issues? Assignment: Managing employees is a difficult job. You have to organize work hours and scheduling. Create a fictional company and a product that the company will manufacture and sell. •
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Name your company Describe the product to be manufactured Determine the cost of manufacturing the product •
Determine the selling price of the product •
Hire five fake employees •
Write a one week schedule for the work of those employees •
Determine how much you are going to pay the employees •
Determine the profit for one week if all of the product is sold. •
6. Purpose: CHAPTER 7. Things fall apart when the ruler or boss begins to neglect the well being of the employees. How were those strikes similar to the protests in Animal Farm? Assignment: Over the centuries, many people have gone on strike against companies and industries. These strikes (especially during the early 1900's in America) were often brutal and long. • Find pictures from a strike in the 1900's in America (include the picture) • Explain why the strike occurred. • What did the workers hope to accomplish? What was the position of management? • Research whether or not the employees were successful? • Who were the key players in the strike for the employees? For the management? • How was the strike resolved? • DO NOT COPY AND PASTE 7. Purpose: CHAPTER 10. Squealer tried to make the rules much more complicated by excusing behavior for some animals and limiting it for others. This shows how exceptions to rules can sometimes cause problems within a society or even within a school. Assignment: Laws and rules are a part of everyone's life. Some are obeyed, some are not, and some are just outright ignored. Some rules are "bent" to help an individual or group when they are caught disobeying them. •
View the rules of the Brandeis High School student dress code: http://www.nisd.net/schools/dresscode/ •
Rewrite these rules (just as Squealer did) to make exceptions for certain people or groups. Place your rewritten rules on a piece of paper (making sure to keep the numbering the same) •
Add an annotation of WHY you changed each rule and who would benefit. 8. Make sure you’ve answered all questions for each part of the assignment. Make sure to keep a works cited of ALL sources used—please use MLA format. Once you’re finished, you should compile your pages in order, fasten them in a folder with a title page, and turn in to your teacher. 9. Plagiarism (copy and pasting) is not allowed. You will receive zero credit for anything that is plagiarized (copied and pasted).