The start of our study in Holocaust Poetry

This is the week we commence our study of the poetry of the Holocaust.  A unit where students have been moved emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually, moves into the artistic realm with poetry of the Holocaust.  Here's our work for this week:
Monday night homework:  Work on quote analysis for extra credit.
Tuesday night homework:  Discuss your thoughts on Rumkowski in seven sentences.  Two of them have to be factual, the rest, opinions of questions.
Wednesday night homework:  Explain two themes from Holocaust Literature that Rumkowski represents.
Thursday night homework:  Work on quote analysis for extra credit.
Friday night homework:  Annotate Vogel's "How Can I See You, Love" for one theme of Holocaust literature.  Explain in detail.

Time is running out on grades.  I hope students do the best they can to close out strong.
All best.
Mr. Kannan

This is a big week... At this point, aren't they all?

In the most direct of terms....

For the week of 4.15

1) Along with nightly work, students must be ready to submit their Close Reading Activity on John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men."  Each student has been assigned a passage and their work is due on Thursday. 

Their work should be in small paragraphs, devoted to each question.  In addition, the rubric is below:

_______ Submitted in a professional manner with passage on top of student work.  Name is present.

________ Thorough detail in responses on separate sheets of paper.

________ Every answer featured has textual support from specific passages in quotation marks.

________  All questions are sufficiently answered.  This includes multiple questions in one question.

________ “Because” or other substantiation evident.

_________ Craftsmanship present in work.

Students will receive full credit if all of these items have been met in their work.

2)  Nightly homework in the Holocaust unit will be assigned- Please refer to student planners/ team syllabi to assist.

3)  Students are being given nightly extra credit tasks which can be used for a "rainy day..."

All best.

Mr. Kannan

The Start of the Final Act: World War II and the Holocaust in 8.2 Social Studies

We start our last unit this week.  It is challenging to believe that from Learning Styles in Autumn and index cards with "The Moldau" playing in the background we have progressed to this point.  Yet, indeed, we have done so. 

Before going through the assignments for the week, a special thanks goes out to our guest speaker on Friday and our students on Friday.  I am indebted for the instruction that Mrs. Batia gave to our team on Friday in her discussion about poverty.  She was able to initiate thought and reflection in our students and there is no greater end than this.  Her open and collaborative approach allowed us to conclude one of the most meaningful units on Poverty I have witnessed.  I am thankful to her as we all benefited from her guidance and insight.

I am also thankful to our students.  I gave this small item for students to meet me in the Team Area if they wanted an early shot at their Close Reading assignment for Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.  I go out to the team area at 3:29, expecting a handful of students and a start for the weekend.  All of a sudden, it becomes a bull rush and a line that spanned two classrooms. At one point, I could not see the end of the line of students.  It seemed like a line for an Indian temple.  I was taken aback and I wanted to get them out to their after school obligations in so many ways that I could not marvel and thank them for caring.  There was something rather magical to see a group of 8th graders wait in line for a writing assignment.  It was at this moment that I saw the embodiment of scholarship- the transformation from what is to what can be.  Few other 8th graders would do that and so many of ours did.  I am humbled and honored to serve as their history teacher.  It is a title that I will never relinquish.

Our work for this week follows below.  Please keep in mind that the Close Reading on Steinbeck assignment should be done in Final Draft Form, on separate sheets of paper, and with thorough detail including textual support.  It is due on 4.25.

Monday- Collect Enrichment Sheets and distribute Close Reading Assessment. Start working

on Chapter 24, sections 1 and 2 Enrichment Sheets in Holocaust Packet.  

Tuesday- In class work or break out on sections 1 and 2. Finish chapter 24, sections 3 and

4.

Wednesday- Break out sessions on chapter 24, sections 3 and 4.  All enrichment sheets need to be done.

Thursday- Check of all Enrichment Sheets-Nothing is left blank. Leave no

answer behind. Outline basics of Holocaust Unit- Expectations, format, where it goes and where you

should be heading with it. Discuss literature of Holocaust. Read the textbook understanding of the Holocaust.

Friday- Begin Holocaust Unit on the day before Hitler’s Birthday. Discuss Wiley’s political cartoon and opening poems to unit.

If I can be of any further help or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

All best.

Mr. Kannan

Focus on Poverty and Close Reading of Steinbeck

"Gonna work us a stake."

Absolutely right.

This week in Social Studies:
Monday- Finish chapter 3 and half of Chapter 4 in Of Mice and Men.  Lennie throws down and Crooks' home are revealed.
HW:  Projects on Poverty are due at 9:00 AM on Friday.  2 Reflection Sheets on Steinbeck are due on Monday, 4.15.

Tuesday- Finish Chapter 4 and chapter 5  in Of Mice and Men.  "Pitchers" and venom....
HW:  Projects on Poverty are due at 9:00 AM on Friday.  2 Reflection Sheets on Steinbeck are due on Monday, 4.15.

Wednesday- That ending....
HW:  Projects on Poverty are due at 9:00 AM on Friday.  2 Reflection Sheets on Steinbeck are due on Monday, 4.15.

Thursday- Analysis on poverty through pictures.
HW:  Projects on Poverty are due at 9:00 AM on Friday.  2 Reflection Sheets on Steinbeck are due on Monday, 4.15.

Friday- Projects due and guest speaker on Poverty.
HW:  2 Reflection Sheets on Steinbeck are due on Monday, 4.15.  If you want an easier passage for Steinbeck close reading assignment, stop by for five minutes at 3:30 today.

All best.
Mr. Kannan

It's Spring... and time for Rabbits!

After some hibernation, I feel really anxious to greet the students for the last waltz in their 8th grade year.
(Students:  You should be really worried :)

Our return will see us beginning our study of poverty and the Great Depression.  Students will be working outside of class on their projects on poverty.  In class, we will be focusing on reading Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men."  (Hence, the rabbits.)

Monday- Introduce Projects on Poverty.  All work is due 9:00 AM on Friday, 4.12.
Tuesday- Introduce Steinbeck, Social Realism, and student obligations.  HW:  All projects are due on 4.12 at 9:00 AM.
Wednesday- Read Chapter 1 from "Of Mice and Men" in class.  HW:  All projects are due on 4.12 at 9:00 AM and Steinbeck Reflection Sheets are due on 4.15 at the start of class.
Thursday- Read Chapter 2  from "Of Mice and Men" in class.  HW:  All projects are due on 4.12 at 9:00 AM and Steinbeck Reflection Sheets are due on 4.15 at the start of class.
Friday- Read Chapter 3  from "Of Mice and Men" in class.  HW:  All projects are due on 4.12 at 9:00 AM and Steinbeck Reflection Sheets are due on 4.15 at the start of class.

Over the next couple of weeks, our students will be interacting with some great literature and the close reading that accompanies it.  I hope you will allow me the opportunity to help me help your students emerge into the pantheon of scholarship.  Many of them are well on their way!

If I can be of any further help or assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
All best.
Mr. Kannan

Tommy Guns', the 1920s, and the completion of work: Two out of three from the Jazz Age Ain't Bad!

Prior to going over what is on tap next week, all students are reminded of the following:
1)  Completed World War I Assessment- Even if this was not submitted for a grade in second trimester, it is needed in order to go to Tommy Guns.
2)  "Midnight in Paris" Enrichment Sheet- Numbers 1, 3, 6, and 11 are needed.
3)  Study Guides for Chapter 22, sections 1- 4 (Pages 9, 11, 13, and 15 of yellow packets)
4)  Enrichment Sheet for Fitzgerald's "Winter Dreams"- Starts on page 51 of packet.
5)  Identification for a person or concept of the 1920s- Paragraphs must include three facts about the subject matter, two reasons why the subject matter is relevant to the decade, and a theme from the 1920s to which it connects.
6)  Completed Clive James Enrichment Sheet on "Fame in the 1920s"- Found on pages 71 and 72 in packet as well as the page towards the end of the packet with questions 1-10 on it.
All of these need to be done by Monday, 3.11 as students will have additional work assigned from Monday of next week.  All permission slips and money is due on 3.15.

For the week of 3.11, we begin our station rotation of the 1920s.  This will consist of 15 stations where students will spend time absorbing different aspects of the time period.  We have stations that deal with Gershwin on a train, the Marx Brothers going to another part of the country, Madonna "Voguing," as well as Bessie Smith crooning, the Klan protesting, the Harlem Renaissance battling, and nostalgia waxing.  Students will be exposed to varied items of the time period that helped to make the Jazz Age "Roar."  There are questions assigned to each station and what is not finished in class is completed for homework.  This will constitute the last two stamps from Social Studies, along with the declaration of figure for Tommy Guns.  With students completing a Stock Market Project in Math, students should have all of their work in for Tommy Guns by Friday.
Please let me know if I can of any further assistance as we explore a time period in which celebrity "roared."
All best.
Mr. Kannan

Week of 3.4 to 3.8: ISATs Await!

With this week of ISATs, here lies the work for Social Studies:
3.5- In class reading of James' "Fame in the 20th Century."
3.6- Continuation of In class reading of James.
3.7- In class work on Enrichment Sheet and James Questions.  HW:  Finish by Monday.
3.8- Ensure all James questions are done, ready for a stamp on Monday.

All best with this your last standardized test in District 97.
Mr. Kannan