WHAP Home Reading Help

29/9/2012

I think we need a forum devoted to the Strayer readings, since that is where we will spend most of out time through April.

34 Comments

Bingham

29/9/2012 04:19:37

Okay, just some thoughts about Strayer 22:
1. You know me, if there is a social or cultural angle in this chapter, I'm going to assess you on it. Not only because that's who I am philosophically, but also because that's what College Board is increasingly emphasizing (read, likely to show up on the exam in May). So here in 22 is a social issue that should leap of the pages at you: the gains women made under communist rule; specifically in Russia in the 1920's and China in the 1950's! Why not in other communist countries? Because Strayer does address that! Did it happen? Yes. Is it too much detail for this class/exam? Yes! The "big picture" idea here is that there was movement toward gender equality under communist governments.
So just to carry the burden for you a little further, I notice the following gains for women in in Russia, at least for a while until the chauvinist pigs took some of it away!
*women received legal and political parity with men
*marriage became a civil procedure between consenting adults
*divorce was made legal and simpler
*abortion was treated similarly
* Illegitimacy was abolished (look it up)
*Women didn't have to take their husband's surnames
*Employed women got pregnancy leave
*Women were part of the move to industrialize the economy (al la Rosie the Riveter) as industrial workers (jobs)
*Zhenotdel were established and all the stuff those women leaders pushed for including conferences for women, women run day care centers and medical clinics, publishing newspapers and magazines targeted at a female audience, literacy and prenatal classes for women, encouraging Muslim women to take off their veils (you can decide if that is a liberating agenda item, Strayer seems to think so).
All pretty encouraging stuff for women, too bad the men screwed it all up. Clearly though, in this area, the communist world was well ahead of the Western/capitalist world.

Bingham

29/9/2012 04:25:39

Edits: I shouldn't try to do such a big post on my phone! I meant to say Strayer DOES NOT address women's issues in other communist counties. Also I made an item "1." without a two, but maybe that's coming later this weekend! Maybe....you?....read!

Nik Liebster

29/9/2012 14:57:12

Yay for having a guilty WHAP teacher! thanks, this helps so much to guide us through the reading, especially this weekend when we are absolutely loaded with stuff to do.

Bingham

29/9/2012 07:09:51

No action yet, huh? Okay fine, just to relieve a tiny piece of guilt I'm feeling about you poor puppies, I'll give you one more tidbit, and that's it unless other people get on here and get me interested.
So, I was asking myself, "if I were Bingham, and I was writing test questions for my amazing students, what kind of question would I ask that is both easy to pull from Strayer, AND helps my students work toward the content knowledge they need to get a 5 on the WHAP exam in May?" No really, I actually had that thought, crazy right? Any way, this popped in to my mind: Identify which countries lived under communist regimes in the 20th century. No bad huh?- right out of the first section of Strayer. But then, it's kinda too easy for grown up WHAP people. Then I thought to myself, "self? yes? why don't you add some basic skill knowledge they'll need to know?" This is a smart guy I'm working with here! So I add to the above: . Identify the specific region of the world in which each country in located. (Based on the WHAP regions PDF, “A Closer Look”, e.g. Middle East). Then, my students know where communism existed, are rewarded for paying attention to the handouts I give them, AND might just see a pattern emerge, which is super good stuff for World Historians to be able to do!
So any way, what do you think? Good test question? Evil test question? Manageable? I'd really love to hear what you think, um, before you get smoked by the test next week!

Margaret Fisher

1/10/2012 14:21:44

This is why I check the website regularly! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Becca

29/9/2012 13:19:22

Thank you Bingham!! That was really helpful! :)

Becca Carter

29/9/2012 13:21:56

Oops! Forgot to put my last name..

Bingham

29/9/2012 15:20:50

You guys are welcome. This is so obvious I'm worried it will insult you, but you should be ready to compare and contrast the Russian and Chinese revolutions and regimes. Just saying.

Elizabeth Martinsen

1/10/2012 16:29:26

You're the man Mr. Bingham! :)

Sofia Michaelides

30/9/2012 03:45:25

yeah thanks dude :3

Camille Collins

30/9/2012 04:21:17

Thank you! This is insanely helpful.

Camille Collins

30/9/2012 04:56:42

Is this discussion specifically tailored for the test on Thursday or will it also apply to the reading check on Tuesday?

Also, are you interested in the ways in which Russia and China each became Communist countries?

Another thing: I don't know if this is too specific, but what about the competition between the U.S and the USSR for third world countries and the conflicts that appeared as a result?

Finally, regarding the map, "specific region?" What type of defining term are we looking for?

Bingham

30/9/2012 05:30:16

In my mind, preparing for the reading check and preparing for the test are the same thing. These are identical in content, the idea is to use techniques like I described above so that you are completely engaged with what Strayer is saying, you are internalizing the topics of the chapter. If you do that, the differences in format (multiple choice vs. open ended, or later essays) don't matter. Because you "get it."

You asked me what I'm interested in, the point is for you figure about what Strayer is interested in; we've agreed to trust that if we understand Strayer, we'll be successful. I am going to consider any of that fair game for a test question, just as College board will So, after saying that, I think what you mean is, "am I going to ask that on a reading check or test?", then the answer is, "yes." Part of what you need to know is their different paths to communism, consider the differences in the peasant populations, the differences in pre-communist industrialization, the differing leadership of the two revolutions. Then of course, how their versions of communism differed in practice. Strayer is all over this, it's even the way the early part of the chapter is organized.

For your third question, again, Strayer is all over this, so you should be too. The Third World rivalry is a big part of the story.

As for regions, I gave you an "e.g." which means, "for example". I mentioned the Middle East to direct you toward the correct regions breakdown. Make sure you are familiar with the "WHAP Regions" file on the WHAP page of this site.

Whew! That was a lot. But thanks for asking, maybe you'll inspire others!

Camille C

30/9/2012 05:53:13

Okay, I understand.
Haha sorry, thank you though!

Camille Collins

30/9/2012 04:57:09

Are you interested in the ways in which Russia and China each became Communist countries?

Another thing: I don't know if this is too specific, but what about the competition between the U.S and the USSR for third world countries and the conflicts that appeared as a result?

Finally, regarding the map, "specific region?" What type of defining term are we looking for?

Bingham

30/9/2012 05:33:24

I think I answered your questions in the earlier post. But let me know!

Camille C

30/9/2012 05:51:01

Yeah, I just accidentally duplicated. Thank you!

Steffannie Alter

30/9/2012 09:25:23

Mr. Bingham, I'm a bit confused on how to classify some of the regions using the "A Closer Look" chart. For example, some of the countries in eastern Europe were under communist control, but on the map, none of Europe is labeled with a region. Do we just consider "Eastern Europe" the region for these countries, or are we only supposed to be using the labels on that chart? If the latter is the case, what do we do about the countries in these undefined regions?

Bingham

30/9/2012 09:39:06

Great point Stephanie. What's going on is that College Board want's you to think of Russia and Europe as the same region of the world, you know, all that anti-Eurocentrism stuff.
So, from my point of view, EITHER "Europe" or "Eurasia" works as the location for Russia or other communist satellite states such as Bulgaria, Romania, or Poland. Afghanistan would really be "Central Asia" in this model.
Does that help?

Jeremiah Pratt

30/9/2012 09:56:09

Hey Bingham,
So as I am annotating the chapter, I am quite fearful that I may be missing key information that could appear on the quiz. You tell us to concentrate on the margin and big picture questions, but does this mean that I should totally disregard information that does not pertain to those? Should I take side notes as well? If I am answering those margin questions fully, should that even be necessary? Thanks a lot.

Bingham

30/9/2012 21:41:01

Jeremiah, if you are doing that you are just being thorough. The stuff that is not in a margin review or big picture question is fair game for a reading check. The point of a reading check is to, go figure, prove that you're reading. The reason im

Bingham

30/9/2012 21:54:56

Sorry, my phone keyboard had a tantrum. The reason I'm emphasizing the big picture and margin question is that they focus you on what's important. One of the tough things for you guys is prioritizing the data, pulling the significant out of the sea of facts. You are better than you used to be at this, but nobody is there completely on a college kind of level.
So, the questions focus your reading and are likely to get you to the right place to kill the test at the end of the week and also point you to most of the reading check questions. The trick, as I mentioned to Camille above, is to fully engage with Strayer, then everything will fall in to place for you.

William Sommer

30/9/2012 15:32:30

Thanks for posting this stuff

Herlinda Castagnoli

2/10/2012 12:54:46

Thanks for this! It's super helpful! This is not related to the post, but I just realized I did last weeks extra credit paper rather than this weeks, and I just submitted it.....

Herlinda Castagnoli

2/10/2012 13:07:40

Wait never mind.. all the turn in dates are the same...

Bingham

3/10/2012 09:54:44

I'm going back over Strayer 22 thinking about you guys and the test tomorrow (and Friday) and I noticed six similarities (things that are true of both) between the Russian and the Chinese REVOLUTIONS - as opposed to Russia and China AFTER the revolutions. And let me see...I come up with, one, two...seven differences!
Peace out.

Giovanni

3/10/2012 12:36:48

Hey Bingham, first of all thank you for the posts, very helpful. Second I must admit your last post is freaking me out quite a bit. By Russia and china after the revolution do you mean while the communist government is still in full swing or after things start to fall apart for them? Also are the differences you came up with Post or pre revolution?

Bingham

3/10/2012 13:32:57

Giovani, read what I said again. By definition a revolution precedes the communist governments.

Giovanni

3/10/2012 13:47:48

Yeah I get that now, I only found five differences though.. I'm not sure where else to look

Bingham

3/10/2012 13:49:50

Well dig harder man. I'm not going to do it all for you!

Natalia Kian

3/10/2012 14:06:31

So Bingham, I was looking through the margin questions for the fifteen-millionth time and realized I was still confused as to how to answer the one on page 675: "In what different ways was the cold war expressed?" How can a war be "expressed"? I know if I find it this utterly confusing that it has to be a key word in how I answer the question. Any ideas/thoughts/answers/Binghamisms????? Please?

Bingham

3/10/2012 14:14:00

Natalia, while that may be a confusing term, you only need to look at what follows the question. For example, Strayer discusses plenty, e. g. rival military alliances, the iron curtain, North Korean invasion, ect.

Crowder, Shylah

6/10/2012 02:25:17

So usually the calendar shows red days and the grey days do the exact same thing the next day, but on the calendar for this week it says that the reading check is on Tuesday. Does that mean that the reading check for red day people is Monday or Wednesday?

Bngham

6/10/2012 02:59:47

Yeah, remember, that's the patter, reading check on either Tues. or Wed., test on either Thurs or Friday.

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