The emergence of intellectual life

It seems that the emergence into the world of scholarship has begun. With signed course descriptions, open and honest personal inventories, it is evident that this struggle, this journey, and this process of embracing the life of scholarship has begun. Certainly, I will be there with our students as they take these critical and formative first steps.

On the 8th grade side of this path lies the world of divergent learning styles. Perception and judgment are being merged with intuition and sensation in order to understand more about ourselves and others. With this, students are embracing a model that will guide their work in Social Studies throughout the year. For the seventh graders, understanding the implications of "the black dot," the symbol of Tessie Hutchinson and friendships like Mrs. Delacroix are a part of this learning process. Students will take these lessons and apply them to the period of Salem in laying the historical groundwork for the study of Arthur Miller's The Crucible.

Please be on the lookout for notices about the upcoming Curriculum Night on the 14th, as well as the unveiling of the team website with electronic copies of the team overview and assignments. If I can be of any further assistance, please note that students received my email address and home number which should be written in their daily planners. Please don't hesitate to contact me at school or at home.
All best.
Mr. Kannan

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/mscaprikell/4733913/sizes/l/in/photostream/ and http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Rising Sun: The start of a new year

At this point, with less than a week to go in summer, some level of thought has to be given to the next year. My hope is that you had a wonderful summer.
However, work is rapidly approaching.

I hope that you are ready to go on Wednesday, 8/24. 7th graders will meet their advisory teacher in the Gym, while the 8th graders will meet their advisory teacher in the Commons. It will be a full day of school on Wednesday, so bring a lunch, be prepared to go down the line, and don't let yourself be taken by surprise.

There are some items to investigate before you start might help you. Perhaps, you might need to become familiar with the school supply list for Team 7.8/3. If you need to read over the list, here is a link. Your Team Teachers' blogs are all hyperlinked on the left side of this blog, so feel free to click away. If you need to examine anything on the Julian website, this is the link.

In terms of Social Studies, the left side of this blog features links to the syllabus for the next two weeks, as well as other items. If you scroll down, there is an extra credit option for quotes that you might want to start reflecting upon now so that when you start seeing the material, you can go ahead and earn some points with some writing. If you need a general introduction to the course, click here.

As always, if I can be of any further help, please do not hesitate to contact me. I look forward to starting up the year... although battling jet lag is a considerable challenge, it will be secondary to guiding all of you through the wilderness of American History.
All best.
Mr. Kannan

Photo courtesy of mehul.antani with rights stipulated at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mehulantani/4270001055/sizes/o/in/photostream/