 Alright, so when you walked in this morning, you picked up an entrance ticket on the counter. Make sure your name's on it. We are going to write these two vocabulary words you are not familiar with. We've never learned. And in pencil, I want you to make an educated guess what you think they are. Can't look at your notes. And at the end of the class, our entrance ticket is going to become our exit ticket. When you say you teach middle school, people are always like, oh bless you. I love middle school. It's very awkward time for a lot of them. They're uncertain. And in my room, by actively learning in groups, they feel comfortable with each other. And if they don't, then the next unit, they're going to have new partners. And they will get to know each other in my class. Alright, so here we go. You guys are called Braumans. Alright? So in ancient Egypt, who was at the top of their social pyramid? You can tell me. The Pharaoh. The who? The Pharaoh. Was he sometimes a god on earth? Yes. Yes. So Braumans in ancient India, the caste system, they're going to be our priests. Okay? So we're going to write some notes about them. It's also a safe environment where we have rules on discussion and how we are respectful to other people's opinions. We may not agree with them, but we're respectful. Their goal is to have their soul so perfect that they can be with their god. So a Brahmin, you're an old soul. They believe that this is the last stop before they can be with God, which is called Brahma. Do you think these people would have bad karma? Would they risk it? Would you risk it? No. I want the environment to be safe. So socially, they don't have to be nervous about making a mistake because that's how we learn. And I say that all the time, you know, there's no mistakes. You must learn from them. We're going to now, we're going to talk about, it's called two sides. Okay? I'm going to get the ball of knowledge. I'm going to ask a question and listen carefully. This is the yes side if you agree to it. And this will be the no side. When I have a subject that is kind of opinion oriented, sometimes I do something called two squares and it's a yes or no answer. And I'll ask the question and they move to the side of the room depending on their opinion. Now they have to defend their answer and we have to be respectful of the other groups. So for example, today they will say I move to the side because my opinion is the caste system was too strict in ancient society because and the other group would have to do the same thing. And being respectful and taking their turns and there's no such thing as wrong answer. These are opinions as long as you can back them up intellectually. All right. Griffin, if I throw the ball to you, can you answer it? Can you defend it? Okay. Here we go. Griffin, why would it be difficult? It would be difficult because untouchables would. I have something I utilize called the ball of knowledge. And when we use that, I use it in different ways. Sometimes I use it for review at the beginning of class, but the rule is only one person can talk at a time. And so whoever's holding it, they rule the discussion. And nobody else can say anything until the ball has been transferred to somebody else. Do you have rules already in your life? Are you used to following rules? All right. Throw it to Rowan. Rowan, answer. I think it would be quite easy to follow. And you can only have the ball of knowledge one time a day. And we also try and rotate through the week so everybody has a chance. And they'll let you know if they don't have the ball of knowledge. In our society today, we're talking about where we live. Do we treat people differently who are born into different economic situations? Economic has to do with what? Money. Money. I don't treat, I don't think we treat them differently because I had this mentor who said he would, when he was in school, he didn't even have a house, but nobody, he never let anybody else know. Okay, so everyone go back to their seats and get out that little piece of paper we started our class with and it's now going to be your exit ticket, okay? In order to have kids ask better questions, I always try and model that. For example, one of their exit ticket questions today was does the world need social hierarchy in order to work successfully? And I told them you can't just say yes or no. You need to say why and you need to be able to list it with your facts and your opinions. Okay, so we have three minutes left, okay? Here's what I need you to do. This question right here is your opinion. You need to back it up with why you think that. This was going to be a ball of knowledge question. Do you feel it is necessary to have social classes in order to have a well-working society? Do we have to have social classes? No. And here's why. Yes, we have to have social classes in order for a society to work well. And here's why. That's an opinion, but you got to back it up, okay? And that's taken a few months. We're in November now. At this point, they feel comfortable and they know my expectations, so modeling is always the key to that.