Week 7 - Saturday, January 9th, 2015
Aim: What is fact and what is fiction about the JFK Assassination and Warren Commission and subsequent investigations since 1963?
Do Now: What is an Informational Cascade?
JFK Assassination
Fact vs. Fiction
Information/Activity Cascades
Global warming
Extreme weather events provide opportunities to raise the availability of global warming. In the United States, the mass media devoted little coverage to global warming until the drought of 1988, and the testimony of James E. Hansen to the United States Senate, which explicitly attributed "the abnormally hot weather plaguing our nation" to global warming.[14] The global warming controversy has attracted availability entrepreneurs on both sides, e.g. the book Merchants of Doubt claiming that scientific consensus had long ago been reached, and climatologist Patrick Michaels providing the skeptical viewpoint.
Gun violence
The media inclination to sensationalism results in a tendency to devote disproportionate coverage to sympathetic victims (e.g. missing white woman syndrome), terrifying assailants (e.g. Media coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre), and incidents with multiple victims. Though half the victims of gun violence in the United States are black, generally young urban black males,[15] media coverage and public awareness spike after suburban school shootings, as do calls for stricter gun control laws.
Poisoned candy myths
Poisoned candy myths are urban legends that malevolent individuals could hide poison or drugs, or sharp objects such as razor blades, needles, or broken glass in candy and distribute the candy in order to harm random children, especially during Halloween trick-or-treating. Several events fostered the candy tampering myth. The first took place in 1964, when an annoyed Long Island, New York housewife started giving out packages of inedible objects to children whom she believed were too old to be trick-or-treating. The packages contained items such as steel wool, dog biscuits, and ant buttons (which were clearly labeled with the word "poison"). Though nobody was injured, she was prosecuted and pleaded guilty to endangering children. The same year saw reports of lye-filled bubble gum being handed out in Detroit and rat poison being given in Philadelphia.[16]
The second milestone in the spread of the candy-tampering myths was an article published in the New York Times in 1970. It claimed that "Those Halloween goodies that children collect this weekend on their rounds of ‘trick or treating’ may bring them more horror than happiness", and provided specific examples of potential tamperings.[17]
In 2008, candy was found with metal shavings and metal blades embedded in it. The candy was Pokémon Valentine's Day lollipops purchased from a Dollar General store in Polk County, Florida. The candy was determined to have been manufactured in China and not tampered with within the United States. The lollipops were pulled from the shelves after a mother reported a blade in her child's lollipop and after several more lollipops with metal shavings in them were confiscated from a local elementary school.[18] Also in 2008, some cold medicine was discovered in cases of Smarties that were handed out to children in Ontario.[19]
Over the years, various experts have tried to debunk the various candy tampering stories. Among this group is Joel Best, a University of Delaware sociologist who specializes in investigating candy tampering legends. In his studies, and the book Threatened Children: Rhetoric and Concern about Child-Victims, he researched newspapers from 1958 on in search of candy tampering.[20] Of these stories, fewer than 90 instances might have qualified as actual candy tampering. Best has found five child deaths that were initially thought by local authorities to be caused by homicidal strangers, but none of those were sustained by investigation.[21]
Despite the falsity of these claims the news media promoted the story continuously throughout the 1980s, with local news stations featuring frequent coverage. During this time, cases of poisoning were repeatedly reported based on unsubstantiated claims or before a full investigation could be completed and often never followed up on. This one-sided coverage contributed to the overall panic and caused rival media outlets to issue reports of candy tampering as well. By 1985, the media had driven the hysteria about candy poisonings to such a point that an ABC News/Washington Post poll that found 60% of parents feared that their children would be injured or killed because of Halloween candy sabotage.
Classwork & Homework
Lesson Video: JFK - Oliver Stone (1991)
Homework: Assignments
Special Education Modifications
- Teaching Model: Co-Teaching
- Special Education Teacher will work with All students General Ed and Special Ed.
- Special Ed Students:
- Teacher will read-aloud to students when necessary.
- Teachers will break down assignments into smaller tasks.
- Teachers will work with students on vocabulary acquisition by breaking down words into prefixes/suffixes and etymology.
- Teachers will group students according to learning style inventory as a homogeneous group.
- Teachers will keep students on-task by managing distractions and on-task behavior.
- Teachers will modify note-taking by modeling notes from PowerPoint to chalkboard/whiteboard.
- Teachers will differentiate lessons by using; verbal cues for auditory learners, graphic organizers for visual learners, and hands-on cues for tactile learners.
- Special Ed Students: