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Read MorePreparation for MUN 2013-2014
NSA Spying, Drones in America, Historic Weather and Floods, a new Iranian president, the Keystone pipeline, the IRS scandal, GMO foods and Monsanto, the Turkish Uprising, and we’re not even at the halfway point of 2013 yet. If you aren’t familiar with these headlines AND you want to have a successful year in Model UN, consider this your summer reading list. The earlier you begin training your eyes and ears for the arguments you’ll be hearing in the next year, the better you’ll be at debating with your peers. The college students who are in charge of the coming year’s conferences are hard at work shaping these controversies into background guides. They are intently watching the news, reading online reports, and studying the background of the key players in these world events. Considering the fact that most high school students have the entire summer off, it’s a really great opportunity to transition 30 minutes of your daily TV time into 30 minutes of active engagement in a news program. The best option, in my opinion, is to lump all of your news watching into Sunday morning on CNN. There are three programs in particular that are back-to-back and offer very clear delineation (SAT word for description) of political segmentation (SAT word for differences): (1) State of the Union with Candy Crowley, followed by (2) Fareed Zakaria’s GPS, followed by (3) Reliable Sources. State of the Union is a show dedicated to US national affairs, Fareed Zakaria’s GPS is a show dedicated to international affairs, and Reliable Sources is a show that turns the spotlight onto the news itself, analyzing how “newsworthy” are the stories being told and if there is any “spin” being given to the major stories of the week. These three TV shows may be the most informative 3-hours of television that you can observe any given week of the year, especially as they relate to the stories you hear about on a daily basis. Make these shows a part of your summer TV entertainment routine… and watch it with a friend so that you two can argue your own opinions in preparation of the upcoming year of debate! And you should buy our book for summer reading. Cause it’s awesome. Didn’t you read the testimonials? [BuyBookCenter]...
Read MoreModel UN Preparation
We’re going to paste some instructions for those of you preparing your research for a present day committees (as opposed to a historical committee) at a Model UN Conference. This is just a preview of the details we give in our book! [BuyBookCenter] Remember, follow these steps as we’ve laid them out. Whenever questions come up in your own research, you must find the answers to those questions. Don’t be afraid to ask your fellow delegates or a social studies teacher in your school. Most people get great satisfaction from teaching you something you want to learn. RESEARCH STEPS FOR PRESENT-DAYCOMMITTEES Step 0 (we call it ‘Zero’ because it should be obvious) Read the background guide… duh. Research everything in the background guide that you don’t know about. Start a small journal and write about how you feel about the details of this topic thus far. If you can establish an emotional connection to this content, you’ll retain it much better. Step 1 One or two months ahead of time, you need current information. Get a good magazine: The Economist. One comes out every week. Get it every week. Read at least a quarter of the whole magazine. A quarter is not much… but you’ll quickly understand why I told you to read this magazine once you get started. Step 2 Go to the CIA factbook. Read everything about your country and your country’s neighbors. Who are your allies? Who does your country have a poor relationship with? If you are a person, go to wikipedia and start there (if you want REAL references from wikipedia about a particular subject, pay attention to the little numbers that look like this “[9]”… click on them for the actual reference and see if you can find that reference on the internet). Then ask yourself the same questions about allies and enemies. TAKE NOTES as you do this stuff! Step 3 Based on the topic of committee, the current world’s political pulse, and the major players in your community, choose a motivation and go check out the next appendix for help with the position paper. Write a draft of your position paper EARLY. You don’t need to have the final draft done for a while… but you should still do it EARLY. When any project is nearly done, it becomes natural to keep your eyes open for more ideas! If you want proof of this, read ahead in one of your classes. In a few days, you’ll notice that you understand the teacher much better than you did before. Step 4 Concentrate on the current issues in the world that directly relate to your country’s positions and “supposed” intentions. Start thinking about your potential arguments, compromises, strategies, and goals. Do it in that order. Write them down. Step 5 Go find facts to prove your arguments. Go back to chapter 5 in our book and remind yourself of those concepts about directing your arguments properly. Now with a friend explain the important issues in your committee, your delegation’s place in it, and then have some practice arguments. Step 6 (If you’re ready for Expert Level Research) Go to the United Nations website and search for recent resolutions passed in your exact committee… or research trade and military agreements between your nation,...
Read MoreHoward Zinn, MUN, & The Future of Education
After spending weeks thinking about the presentation and education panel I would be leading at ChoMUN, I found a new perspective on our current systems. The group at the Da Vinci Institute had a great deal of experience in “Futurist” thought. In the first few paragraphs of their treatise on the future of education, they cite the inefficiency of systems as they exist today. It is a distant past, but before I continue I want to explain their first reference to an inefficient system that hindered progress in the ancient world: the Roman Number system. It is accepted by most mathematics historians (yes, they exist) that the progress of the Greeks ground to a complete halt when the Romans asserted their grip over most of Europe and the Mediterranean coastline. Writing a number in Roman numerals is an addition and subtraction equation in itself! Think about the number MDCCCXLIV = 1844. Imagine trying to do bookkeeping and data entry with this system. Imagine division problems… never mind exponents and decimals!! Now go a step further and imagine how engineering and finance must’ve been held back by this inefficient numerical system. In our country today, we have developed a tax code that is now 64,000 pages long. We have so many laws that most lawyers believe they are uncountable. Another system that is becoming utterly decrepit is the education system. Each of us were born with the natural proclivity towards learning (we witness, we crawl, we walk, we speak, we write, we develop language and vocabulary…) yet by the time we’ve reached adolescence, most students grow sick of the tedium of grades, papers, exams, standardized tests, rigid classrooms, and they question the “reasons” for knowing math or history. Something has gone wrong with our current investments, and our future deserves a fresh perspective. Students deserve to be inspired and teachers deserve inspired students. Our system has been slow to adapt to the revolution of the internet. The academics who are revealing a renaissance of education research are slow to push their discoveries into the classroom. The local public education districts are so oppressed by budgetary constraints that they struggle more with balance sheets, completely losing sight of advantageous reform. As a graduate student in the most quantitative field that currently exists in education (An outline of a program in psychometrics), I am a first-hand witness of the trench that lies between the practices of policy makers and educational researchers. When imagining the future of education, we must make room for the creativity of learners to pursue their interests and motivations. The extent of subject matter that can be learned has become so vast, each with a depth unrivaled in any historical context. When we restrict each student to read a subset of classical novels, whitewashed interpretations of history, and terse outlines of science, we dull the beauty and richness of the human experience. Then we take it a step further and force today’s students to bubble in dots for more than two weeks of the school year, instigating anxieties and insecurities that negate the confidence building activities that should be...
Read MoreGet Educated!
You can get it on Amazon NOW! In our book, you’ll learn the most important characteristics of leadership and how YOU can develop this all by yourself! The training of the best Model UN delegates doesn’t come in the form of historical knowledge and parliamentary procedure… instead, it’s a development of your social skills and personality! The best delegates are recognizable for their PRESENCE, not their policy. How do we know this? Because when we ask you about the first day of a conference and who you think will be the most powerful delegates in your committee, you point out two or three delegates who “spoke confidently,” “had a strong voice,” or sometimes you say “You can just tell!“ We wrote down these tricks and techniques of being confident, using strong body language, and vocalizing your position with charisma and poise! This is only the second lesson in TEN chapters that teach you how to do these things… we then also include a scouting report (th e Cast of Characters) profiling the delegates you’ll encounter in committee! Did you know that you can restructure an argument? If you pay attention to the person who disagrees with you, you can literally RE-SHAPE a disagreement into mutual respect with a few words… that’s the subject of Chapter 5. (btw: this works in life too) Do you know how to polarize debate? Have you strategized your notes? Where do you sit? Where should you stand? What to wear, how to be noticed, what to pack & what’s the secret to “looking good AND professional!” We’ll tell you the difference between normal English papers and Position papers and help you structure the writing clearly. Resolution writing is demonstrated and reprinted with working examples. Oh, and yes: Crisis Committees. No one has given you a good explanation of the inner workings of a Specialized Agency, Security Council, or a Politboro… until you’ve read Chapter 9. Still confused after your first crisis? You need MUN-E. And lastly, are you familiar with the GRAY (sometimes interpreted as evil) area in Model UN? People jockey for position, steal resolutions, steal blocs, and usurp command without regard… and it’s almost impossible to avoid those situations. If you didn’t know that this obscene world exists, you will suffer the consequences of other delegates’ shady ways. We finish our book with a chapter on the Dark Arts so you can prevent yourself from falling victim to the power delegates who obnoxiously demand control of the room. This book isn’t just a strategy guide for Model UN, it’s actually a series of skills that can change your future. We know that you’ve heard that inspiring keynote speech by that former MUN-ner who explains all those incredible “leadership” skills he or she learned doing Model UN… and we describe what those skills are in exact detail. We formulate the exact process for you to develop those skills, and suddenly you realize how powerful your voice really can be. Interview skills, dialogue, rapport, and clear communication are just a few of the benefits to practicing the MUN-E skillset. If you’ve seen the growth of...
Read MoreCharisma 101 – A video Lesson
I was asked to come into my old school and give the newcomers some sage advice on basics for General Assemblies and “being noticed.” I gave about 45 minutes of a talk on Charisma and Presence. Most of the material you’ll see in the following videos are from Chapters 2 & 3 of our book. Can you imagine what’s in the other 8 chapters…? [BuyBookCenter] Charisma 101 - Part 1No. of Hits : 2448Charisma 101 - Part 2No. of Hits : 5439Charisma 101 - Part 3No. of Hits :...
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