FR EXCLUSIVE: Class Syllabus of Bush-bashing Colorado Geography Teacher Jay Bennish

Cherry Creek Schools | 3-2-2006 | Jay Bennish

[doug from upland]

ACCELERATED WORLD GEOGRAPHY

Instructor: Mr. Jay Bennish
Office: 1001A
Room: 111A
Phone: 720-747-3780
Office Hours: 2nd & 7th
Email: jbennish@mail.ccsd.k12.co.us

Course Description

This is an exciting time to be studying global and regional geography! In this course you will take a penetrating look into the geographical - or spatial - relationships between human societies and cultures, the natural environment, and historical changes that have shaped the contemporary world. More than answering the question "what is where," this course adopts a conceptual approach to understanding and explaining the dynamic human and natural features of the earth’s surface. Particular geographic themes will e emphasized and applied largely to the regions of South, East, and Southeast Asia, the Middle East (North Africa & South West Asia), Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Russia, and Australia. Important themes include: population, religion, human rights, notions of development and underdevelopment, impact of colonialism historically and currently, sustainability, impacts of modernization on developing countries, globalization of economy and culture, political and international conflict, cultural diversity, and global environmental concerns. To that end, a deeper understanding of current events from a historical and geographical perspective is imperative. Thus, timely issues and events in the news will be tied into the overall framework of the course.

Because of the emphasis on the relationships between social, cultural, political, and environmental components of human societies and regions, world geography combines various aspects of the social sciences. Further, it addresses four essential skills: critical and creative thinking, critical reading, spatial reasoning, and effective writing. Such skills will be derived from a combination of questions sets for reading assignments, mapping exercises, seminar (class discussion), films, lectures, group projects, and essays that synthesize your understanding of concepts and theories related to the themes presented in class.

Course Goals

1. Critical and creative thinking
2. Critical reading
3. Spatial Reasoning
4. Effective writing

Course Objectives

1. Students know how to use and construct maps, globes, and other geographic tools to locate and derive information about people, places, and environments
2. Students know the physical and human characteristics of places, and use this knowledge to define and study regions and their patterns of change
3. Students understand how physical processes shape Earth’s surface patterns and systems
4. Students understand how economic, political, cultural, and social processes interact to shape patterns of human populations, interdependence, cooperation, and conflict
5. Students understand the effects of interactions between human and physical systems and the changes in meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources
6. Students apply knowledge of people, places, and environments to understand thepast and present and to plan for the future

Course Structure

The course is comprise of lecture, readings, films, seminars, map exercises, group projects, participation in the global fair, and writing assignments. Your grade will be calculated from five areas: tests/quizzes, writing assignments, seminar, group work/projects/maps, and homework. Sharing your knowledge, opinions, information, and experiences is a requirement. The format of the course is intended to reinforce learning on the course topics. It is critical that you attend each and every class, keep up with your reading assignments, have questions or problems ready for discussion, and take concise notes from ALL sources of information.

The following materials are required for every class meeting

1. 3-ring binder/fold for handouts and readings
2. Lined paper for notes and class work
3. Pencil and pen
4. Textbook and/or readings

Suggested Materials

1. Colored pencils and black fine point pen
2. Goode’s World Atlas (20th edition or later)
3. Ruler

Grading Policy

Your grade each semester will be determined by total points accumulated from the five areas listed above.
Grading Scale A = 90-100%
B = 80-89%
C = 70-79%
D = 60-69%
*** All written assignments except impromptu essays or tests are on a portfolio grading system, which means they may be re-written as many times as desired for additional points. This is done in the interest of improving writing skills, as well as, generosity.

Make up/Late Work

· Notes should be acquired from a fellow student
· Any assignments given during an excused absence must be turned in within two school days following your return from the absence for full credit
· To get make up work just see me during my office period or pick it up in the classroom
· It is students responsibility to stay up-to-date on assignments, late/make-up work, tests, activities, and notes
· Any assignments given prior to an absence are due the say the student returns
· Unexcused absences – assignments due on the date of an unexcused absence will not be accepted. I reserve the right to refuse collection of work related to an unexcused absence

Extra Credit

Extra credit may be obtained from a variety of sources dealing with current, historical, or geographic events. Students must submit a written/typed paper that includes a brief summary, a connection to course material, and an opinion. Extra credit may not increase your standing more than one letter grade. Sources for extra credit include, but are not limited to:

· NPR (National Public Radio) 1340 AM · The New York Times
· The Wall Street Journal
· The News Hour (PBS) channel 6
· The BBC News (PBS) channel 12
· www.npr.org
· www.pbs.org
· www.guerrillanews.com
· www.tompain.org
· www.cato.org
· www.heritage.org
· www.indymedia.org
· www.freespeech.org
· www.newamericancentury.org
· www.brook.edu
· www.zman.org

Classroom Rules>

· Respect must be shown to myself and fellow peers at all times
· Tolerance for differences, remain open minded
· Turn in all assignments at appropriate time
· Complete all readings and arrive to class attentive, prepared, and willing to participate
· Disregard for these rules will not be tolerated

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Dear Parents/Student,

As your history teacher, it is necessary to inform both of you as to the nature and make up of my class. Two of the primary tenets of my class are respect and tolerance. The classroom must be a safe learning environment. As such, all students are entitled to their own opinions and beliefs. Students will not be permitted to insult or belittle others in the class, respect is paramount, tolerance is also extremely important. Students will be treated as adults, as long as they demonstrate mature, responsible behavior. Since discussions and participation are a significant part of my class, all students must feel comfortable sharing their ideas. Listening skills are essential, interruptions and/or disruptions are inappropriate.

Students will be given weekly syllabi to help organize and manage their time. Students are expected to be prepared, with necessary materials and/or assignments completed. I expect students to be attentive and active participants in their own education; the following is a brief list of classroom rules that are very important:

· Respect must be show to myself and fellow peers at all times
· Tolerance for differences, remain open-minded
· Turn in all assignments at appropriate time
· Complete all readings and arrive to class attentive and prepared

Disregard for these rules will not be tolerated. Students who fail to adhere to these rules will not be permitted to attend class. If the infraction is serious, parents and administrators may be contacted. The main objective of my class is to help students to think for themselves, and to become independent, responsible, upright young adults. This entails showing respect, consideration, and tolerance to all people and ideas in an academic context.

Students’ individual incentives for achievement are personal respect and satisfaction. Grades may, to some extent, determine one’s future opportunities; however, grades should not be the primary motivating factor in education. Students need to learn for themselves, in the end, this make their education more meaningful and relevant.

All students are expected to follow school policy regarding attendance. Make-up work will not be accepted unless the absence is excused. Studetns must complete make-up work within two days of the date of the absence.

Parents will only be contacted in extenuating circumstances, and/or if requested. The lines of communication are always open, students and parents are encouraged to inquire or arrange conferences or meetings. Please read the class syllabi, then sing and print your name at the bottom of this page. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Mr. Jay Bennish

Parent ______________________________ Student ____________________________

[hallo truth]

I think it is important to do one's history research here; may i suggest we read William Shirer's book Berlin Diaries and the stuff on 1937 - 1939 in berlin.

Then we would be capable to assess that teacher's transgression, especially if we compare Hitler's propaganda machine as detailed by Shirer to the news leading up to Iraq.

Likewise with reports and documents of Nazi warfare and that in Iraq. Simple source research = reading and thinking. makes for much better arguments than gang ho forward march type dialog.

Just a thought ...

Hallo truth!

[RileyR]

Not that I am defending this guy or anything, but...
I don't understand why you feel the need to bash public education just because you have issues with this teacher. If I am wrong, and you have issues with public school in general and not just this guy, then perhaps you will take a stand for paying teachers more money. An increase in salary would be an incentive for the USA's better and brighter to seriously consider teaching as a profession. If you pay more, then standards could be raised so that people like this guy wouldn't be certified in the first place. My daddy, a lifelong Republican, always said, "You get what you pay for."

[RileyR]

Again, I don't understand why people have to bash public education in general because of this. How many people in this forum have ever tried to do something to get better qualified teachers in our schools? Everyone wants to blame education system. Like all other "systems," it is not perfect by any means. But in all fairness, there are some really great teachers, who, by the way, get paid very little for the tremendous job they do each and every day. Let's not forget that!

[nopardons]

bttt

[RileyR]

How can you say that public schools are absolute cesspools, but then say that your grandkids' schools are fairly good? Let's stop generalizing about public schools. Some of them are bad, some are excellent, most are somewhere in between. Isn't No Child Left Behind supposed to fix the bad ones? The real point is not to criticize our over-crowded schools with over-worked and under-qualified teachers, stand up and do something to make our schools better! This is America! There is no reason in the world that ANY of our schools should be looked at in a negative light. If you want better teachers than this one, pay them more so that more qualified people will enter that profession!

[iHillary]

If you don't like what you see, let these folks hear from you:

Dr. Monte Moses, Superintendent
Cherry Creek School District
4700 South Yosemite Street
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
Email: rmcintire@cherrycreekschools.org


Dear Dr. Moses:

Jay Bennish instructs us in the urgency of school vouchers.

Bennish is yet another example of the political indoctrination running rampant in public schools, schools that too often see their mission as overruling the basic values of parents. The First Amendment is not a license for teachers to indoctrinate, or otherwise opine beyond the scope of the curriculum and school policy.

If teachers can't teach about 'controversial' issues without neglecting to present all major views fairly, then such issues need to be excised from the curriculum. Period.

The pervasive politicization of public education by teachers like Bennish is just another reason why freedom of choice through measures such as school vouchers is essential to a free society.

Regards,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Copy: Governor Owens (governorowens@state.co.us)
Jana Frieler, Principal, Overland High School, (jfrieler@cherrycreekschools.org )

[KC Burke]

I plugged this thread on the FoxTalkRadio -- John Gibson Show early this evening. Brought up that the rant was just the tip of the iceburg with this guy and that there was probably an entire distortion of the subject and the code words were easily known to the school administrators.

[doug from upland]

Thanks for the input.

[hsstudent]

I have serious problems with those who think that they are attempting to teach HOW to learn when in all actuality they are teaching WHAT to learn. To right the wrongs of what a child learns at school is taking away their ability to choose for themselves. If one wanted to teach how to learn, they would simply show both sides of the argument. I am a registered republican voter and believe in Bush. I am also a high school student in Colorado. I have serious reasons to believe that those who have posted in this forum have not heard the entire speech given by Jay Bennish. The media has done an extremely good job of taking his words out of context, only using those that benefit a story. At the end, he makes it clear to all of his students that he does not necessarily believe in the words he speaks, that they are merely ideas meant to inspire his students to think outside the box. This is a sophomore Advanced Placement class. That means that the level of thinking is advanced and the curriculum is more critical than that of a regular class. As a student having participated in many of these classes throughout my high school career, i am intrigued by a challenge. Mr. Bennish is not teaching his left wing principles to his students, although I do not know which party he is associated with, and he will not admit whether or not he believes in what he says. I compliment Mr. Bennish for being a teacher who stuck to what an advanced placement class should be; a place to expand a students understanding. He poses radical ideas not just to teach them, but instead to fire up the students conversation and spark critical questioning that leads to a healthy education. Mr. Bennish is not teaching Bush-bashing or any such thing to his students. Sticking to what it says in his curriculum, he is posing ideas to make his students think critically and spatially. And as far as his curriculum goes, I personally believe that the geography of our world includes much more than capitals and maps. Especially in an AP class. It entails everything from the history of how our world came to look this way to the relationships that form between countries. This has much to do with current events and how they shape our world. As far as the student who sent this directly to Mr. Rosen, I question his morality. The radical ideas seem to be a reoccurring issue in Mr. Bennish's class. This proves his concern in expanding the intellects of his students and not teaching left wing ideas. If a student were offended by this, why not take this problem up with the teacher or at least the principal where things are normally handled at school? Why go directly to the press? First of all, he invaded Mr. Bennish's privacy by recording him. It is required by law for businesses to post signs when they have surveillance in progress. Would you not feel violated if you knew that someone was recording your every word without your knowing and then had the power to take it to the media and thus bash you with your words taken out of context? The student should have had the respect and human decency to consult his teacher of his problems first. So in my view, Mr. Bennish is not a Bush-bashing ranter who was pushing his radical beliefs on his students. We don't even know if these are his beliefs. Instead, he is a fresh, cutting edge teacher who abandons the "traditional" methods of teaching (which from the past 11 years of experience I can tell you do more harm than good) and dares to make his students actually think and question everything around them, which is much more teaching them HOW to think than WHAT to think.

[Junior_G]

"Tolerance" and "respect for other's opinions" has long been liberal code for leftist group-think. "Open-mindedness" is another term that means anything but.

[Junior_G]

That school protest was pure BS-----nothing more than an excuse to skip school for almost all of them. Back when I was in high school, the kids would do the same thing; but it was usually in the event of the death of a student. You would have 600 kids who never met the kid, supposedly attending his funeral instead of going to class.

Kids will take advantage of any opportunity to skip school.

[hajibaba]

Beware of attacking the "Critical Thinking" term appearing in a syllabus, because it appears in mine. Where are the teachers on this site? I am glad to read the postings, but we must consider that all the "student mentality" bashing is what alienates these kids from being open minded. Personally, I'm trying to get them to listen (because the read newspapers and watch TV and make decisions from those sources). I'm a teacher. Did you realize that they want to tape me too? When my students first "broke" this story in class, I hadn't heard it yet-- so I said, "let's talk about it." They had the facts all wrong, and were reacting to usual liberal confines: "free speech is being eradicated!" First a student said, "there was this teacher in California . . ." then the next one "he was fired for making a speech about not liking Bush." It didn't take long for me to find out the kids had the story wrong-- the wrong state for starters. So I said (you can quote me, though nobody was recording I think), "since you have the state wrong, I'm already questioning your reactions." Kids react quickly. Then they pass judgement and form "facts" as they see it. My only defense, and offense for that matter, is to say "think critically." I used this approach the following days in class when I brought in the text of Bennish's speech. "Look," I said, "thinking critically, I'm not sure I have grounds to fire this guy, but he definitely had a bad day. He'd be in my office if I were an administrator. I would want to know how often this happens." The reaction when I "cornered" the kids? One said, "well, maybe we'll record you some day." They could probably hang me too if they recorded only part of my lecture or comments. I don't feel for Bennish; but I feel for Bennish. Hope this makes sense.

[doug from upland]

I hope you teach paragraphs.

[GladesGuru]

"Well, at least he bothered to list the Cato Institute website."

At first glance, the list compiled by the teacher seems to have two important conservative web sites, www.cato.org and www.heritage.org. But to assume these indicate anything approaching a balanced perspective would be most erroneous.

Perhaps the most telling web site listed is www.tompaine.org - a site with little data other that the following in large letters under the site name: "The World Is My Country, and To Do Good Is My Religion."

Kofi Annan, or any of the swarming number of other UN bachelor's child, couldn't have said it better.

Would any other Free Republic community members want to set up an account to collect some reward money for students who demonstrate the courage to reveal egregious teacher misconduct?

If there were an ongoing reward for such behavior, there would be more of it. And, given that teachers would correctly interpret this as a de facto bounty on socialism impaired propagandizing by teachers, I'd be willing to bet a $100 bill that we could have quite an impact.

Does anyone have any ideas or comments? Perhaps do it at FR? Or should we support a special program at some 501C3 with an orientation towards academic freedom?

[Aquinasfan]

Question everything (except what I tell you.) Take a critical approach to what we read (except for the required materials in this class.) Practice tolerance and look at people as individuals (hear me you evil white racist, sexist, homophobes?)

It fools most of the people most of the time. They're good at what they do.

[The Great RJ]

Tolerance for differences, remain open minded

Apparently this class rule doesn't apply to the instructor.

I would like to see how Bennish's students would fare in a test based on whether they had met any of the class objectives. I seriously doubt given his recorded rantings that any of the subjects described in the syllabus are really being taught.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

I have serious reasons to believe that those who have posted in this forum have not heard the entire speech given by Jay Bennish.

I will be 58 years old on March 28.

I guess most of us posting on this forum have endured teachers like Bennish.

I went to high school and college in the 1960s and I saw plenty of ideological teachers ......on both sides.

I learned more critical thinking at home than at school.

My choices at home had consequences more than a grade.

I was one of those quiet students who listened well and tested well.

I despised the big-mouths who liked to hear themselves talk.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

The radical ideas seem to be a reoccurring issue in Mr. Bennish's class. This proves his concern in expanding the intellects of his students and not teaching left wing ideas. If a student were offended by this, why not take this problem up with the teacher or at least the principal where things are normally handled at school? Why go directly to the press? First of all, he invaded Mr. Bennish's privacy by recording him.

Firstly, please consider paragraphs as a form of human accomplishment.

There is a big difference between a teacher's concern for "expanding intellects" and brain-washing.

Those of us who have taken our concerns to the teacher or the administration have been dealt a lower grade for our critical thinking, and those who have swallowed the pablum and regurgitated it back in class and on tests have been rewarded.

There is no expected privacy in a public school classroom.
Parents who pay the salaries of teachers expect to occasionally get a glimpse of what our hard-earned tax dollars are being spent on!

The student in question checked with the school to discover if recordings were ok.

Seems like many students record classes....easier than taking notes.

In fact, a critical thinker would want to listen intently and stay focused on the lecture and teacher-student exchanges to be fully involved in the class.
The distraction of note-taking might seriously impede that goal.

Listening to the class recording in the privacy of home or a dorm room would have the added benefit of review and study.

As far as the student who sent this directly to Mr. Rosen, I question his morality.

I consider the student's actions to be highly courageous and displaying the moral fiber of sticking with one's convictions.

In that regard, Mr. Bennish has been very successful if his goal was to produce critical thinking in his students.

As students of life, we must always weigh not only the issues of the day, but also be wary of the means by which we learn of them......by teacher.....by newspaper....by government....by tv.

Life is not easy.......but you will learn that in time.

[doug from upland]

Why do I get the feeling that you and hsstudent, each of whom registered on 3-8, are the same person?

[bwteim]

Perhaps not, hajibaba has apparantly mastered the fine art of quote marks liberally peppered in a statement without line breaks. Perhaps a teacher.

Now hsstudent is not a student. He/she/it claims to be 18, yet comes up with statements like:
"Instead, he [Bennish] is a fresh, cutting edge teacher who abandons the "traditional" methods of teaching (which from the past 11 years of experience I can tell you do more harm than good)" That, and age 18, does not compute.