A week to go with more to do

With this week, the close of work before students leave for Spring Break is rapidly upon us. There is much on tap to be done this week and the hope is that all stakeholders can help us help your students, emerging scholars toward tthe realm of scholarship:

7th Grade:
* Chapter 11 will be demonstrated through the growth of industry and of capitalism through station rotation. Students will have questions to be answered each night with an assessment on Thursday. Students will be graded on a rubric for their successful in class participation in station rotation.

8th Grade
* Students will be working on their assessments for chapter 23. Bags of poverty or alternate assessments are to be submitted on Wednesday.
* The Tommy Guns Field Trip on Friday will require students to come to school in the costume of their historical figure and make sure that they are able to recite three facts about their particular individual.

Third trimester grades will be updated over Spring Break and checking these will ensure that all of us are on the right path for the closing of the year.

All best.
Mr. Kannan

8th Grade Assistance with Bag of Poverty
Here are some links that I found extremely compelling that you might want to include in your bags of poverty, or if you are thinking broadly about the topic of poverty for your Chapter 23 Assessments that are due Wednesday.

Life in the Great Depression
This video clip is from a Wall Street Journal Documentary- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPi9A07HqWg

This clip talks about growing up in the time period and you might find something in there to talk about family life in The Great Depression- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbEVeKIghCk&feature=fvwrel


People of Color in The Great Depression
Langston Hughes is one of the best resources out there. He writes two poems about the Great Depression that can really get you to think about how people of color battled through class and race during the time period.

This is a link of the poem "Ballad of Roosevelt"- The historical detail at the top of the page is invaluable. Last year's eighth graders found it very helpful- http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5096/

Here is a link of the acclaimed actor Danny Glover reading the poem aloud. This brings out the dialect and the feel of the poem alive. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HADGKw_wa5E

This is a text of another Hughes' poem, "Gonna Miss President Roosevelt"- http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5097/

Films that show the 1930s
The 1930s was a time period that Hollywood was able to put to celluloid with some good results. I have included some links to films on YouTube and you might want to investigate some of them on your own to gain a better feel and see if you can integrate any of them into your work. You might want to do a web search about a particular film if you want to include it in your work.

"Cinderella Man"- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbuJIre87j0&feature=fvwrel

"City Lights" by Charlie Chaplin- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5_JqX9EUZQ&feature=related

"Bad Girl"- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKKVEMyU2Tw&playnext=1&list=PL4D755680D0D68712

"I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang"- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QvF2FZZftY

"The Wizard of Oz"- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhzbzwPNgXA

"The Grapes of Wrath"- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yer4L1Uhayc

Social Realism
This is a great clip of the work of Ben Shahn, a social realist- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L24lrWVNVRo

This is a clip about John Steineck and "The Grapes of Wrath" with some great archival footage- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqaTv8cCWeg

The Photography of Dorothea Lange- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvOEE1rJR2I

Modern Poverty
Type "poverty" into YouTube or Google and see what you come up with. There is so much... so much displays of sadness.

Isolationism
This is a video a teacher assembled about U.S. Isolationism in the 1930s- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShejyJZ1Pmc&feature=related

This is a set of AP US History students' video about isolationism- It has some wonderful political cartoons from the time period. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lL6U2CvRRA&feature=related


These should get you started. If you find something good, add it on to this list by posting a comment on the bottom of the blog.
All best.
Mr. Kannan