Basketball Losses and American History

I will not lie in composing this blog. I am writing this after a tough loss in conference finals game, so if my usual witticisms or precision might be lacking, please do forgive.
While heartache and melancholy do present themselves, I am immediately reminded about the Progressivist mantra: "The fight goes on, the cause endures, and the dream shall never die." Indeed, this might cover much of what our students will be working on in history in the upcoming week.

7th Grade Students
Students will be absorbing more of the Constitution this week. Students should be engaging in nightly study of these concepts. Seeing that the Final Exam is coming up in under a month, I would suggest that students invest in studying skills such as the development of note cards to assist them. Creating flash cards on concepts covered, as they are covered, will ensure that students cover all relevant information and will allow for a very strong base of knowledge to increase in strength and fortitude through nightly and incremental steps towards success. Goals, principles, legislative, executive, and judicial branches will have been studied by next Friday. This is ample enough to start the flash card process.

8th Grade Students
Students need to be reading chapter 20 and completing their chapter 20 assessments. These will be due Friday, 1/21. Students will have to ensure that they complete the required work and reading in a timely fashion to complete the assessments on time. This weekend will be very big towards this end.

As students receive progress reports soon, conference sign ups even sooner, and ensure that their focus lies on achieving academic success at this point in the year where the difficulty and toughness increases, one is reminded of the always encouraging mantra of "forming a more perfect union." The Framers understood, perhaps better than anyone else, that the drive for perfection is perfection in its own right. In this light, students have to see how much of what they have been trained to do in this class embodies the very best of our nation and what we profess to believe as part of that creed.

Apparently, I have to link my class to American historical consciousness to feel better after a loss in the Finals.
All best.
Mr. Kannan

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