Lighting the lights of scholarship, thought, and complexity

I find myself writing this after finishing an entire day of conferences. This is probably not the best time to be writing a blog entry, but with Constitution Exams and Chapter 5 Exams being graded and inputted this weekend, as well as a wife on the phone with India, it might be as good of a time as any to write what is on tap for next week in Social Studies.
For the seventh grade, we will continue the study of metacognition. We will spend this week bracketing our discussion of historical concepts that led to the Revolution and examine why we learn the way we do. The learning styles lecture will start (or started, depending on when you read this) on Friday and shall continue on Monday and Tuesday. Students will examine their own style of learning as well as the styles of others and engage in a reflective process of where they are now and where they might be later on in the year. This will culminate in the Learning Styles Assessment on Chapter 5, where students will create different work samples on the ideas in Chapter 5 through different learning styles. This task will be completed on Tuesday, November 1. My hope is that students will be able to see themselves through different prisms and understand more about history and all disciplines by first being able to understand more about themselves. What a vision to behold where students and parents sit around a living room talking about the habits of particular learners! (It's late and I can dream.) Student grades will be updated this weekend and with it will be the revision policy that has to be followed in revising work on the Chapter 5 Exam.
For the eighth grade, the study of wealth and power begins with our in class exploration of Monopoly. After enduring a grueling two day and 2000 point exam, students will now play Monopoly in class. Students will have to finish an enrichment sheet about the experience and then begin the process of linking this to Chapters 17 and 18, detailing the growth of industry. Students will find that the grades on the Constitution Exams will be updated this weekend and it is my hope that students take advantage of the revision policy that will be detailed in the gradebook, if they wish to pursue it.
I will be absent from my classes on Wednesday. In celebrating Diwali, I do wish all of you the very best in lighting lights that acknowledge the pursuit of "the good, the true, and the beautiful." May the worldwide joy of this holiday be felt in your lives, as well.
All best.
Mr. Kannan
Photo courtesy of http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ and at http://www.flickr.com/photos/denharsh/5150803362/sizes/l/in/photostream/