Political Cartoonists Speak Out on Sudan!

So, by now you know that we're working with Mr. Mayo's class to raise awareness on the genocide occurring in Darfur, right?  We've written an open letter to the President of Sudan and created our own pledge to fight against Genocide. 

We're also starting to work on a Voicethread presentation looking at political cartoons about Darfur and trying to figure out how political cartoonists feel about the world's response to the genocide in Darfur. 

Do you want to add some comments with us?  If so, you can check out our growing Voicethread here:

http://ed.voicethread.com/share/62276/

(Comments are moderated.  That means they won't appear until they're approved by us!)

Here's a small version that you can see right on our site:

Here are some questions that you can ask when looking at political cartoons:

• What is the subject of this cartoon?
• What is the cartoon's purpose?
• Who is the intendend audience for this cartoon?  Why are they the intended audience?
• What point is the cartoonist trying to make?  How do you know?
• Wht is left unsaid in the cartoon?
• What opposing views are left out of the cartoon?
• What is the artist's personal bias?  How do you know?

And here is a handout that gives you tips about how to be a great Voicethreader:

Download commenting_tips_for_voicethreaders_93.doc

Remember that Voicethreads are conversations between viewers!  The best commenters respond to the thinking of others.  Challenge their thinking.  Add to their thinking.  Elaborate on their thinking. 

And don't forget tha Mr. Mayo's 8th grade class is working to help raise awarness of the cause.  On March 6th and 7th, they hope to get over 1,000 comments on their blog.  Help us make this cause a world issue and stop it once and for all.

Image retrieved from http://www.soschildrensvillages.org.uk/imgs/content/sudan-child-soldier.jpg on February 19, 2008.

Comments

[The Warlord]

Speaking of politics, I heard yesterday on the news that the world has one more country, Kosovo. I remember we looked into these people's plight for their own country last year, I think we made a post on it, and I know we did a lesson on Kosovo. I'd like to see some more about this, and get your opinion on the matter.

Can you make a post telling about Kosovo, because my memory of it is a little fuzzy, just that it was a group of people in southern Serbia who wanted their own country.

I hope you'll remind last year's class about Kosovo.

Signed,

The Warlord

P.S.
I hope Mr. Omar Hasan Ahmad al-Bashir isn't like Mr. Putin, because if he is, you'll be as dead as Ms Politkovskaya, a reporter in Russia 'mysteriously' shot sometime around October of 2006.

[Mr. Mayo]

This is another excellent post about our collective Many Voices for Darfur project. I will have some students add comments to this Voicethread throughout today and tomorrow. Thanks for all you great contributions to this project.