A Chapter Closing: The Last District 97 ISAT Weeek

It is a significant moment in time. ISAT week brings with it the last set of ISATs our children will experience in District 97.  I suppose that after this week, the countdown can start at different points.  The weather is changing, and with it, the thoughts of what lies next should be entering the minds of our students.  With this, we progress into the week ahead:

Monday:

Introduce Station Rotation.  Outline what you need to do and what must be done in order to define success.  Form your groups and hit your first station.  Have you finished everything on your checklist from last week?  If not, get it done. Click here to access permission slip for Tommy Guns.

Find your 15 minutes.  Enrichment reading:  Read this article by Anna Quindlen.  Write up any thoughts you have about it and, perhaps, even the best line from it and explain why you feel the way you do.

Tuesday:

Report to the station you left off at yesterday.  Continue your rotation. Have you finished everything on your checklist from last week?  If not, get it done.

Find your 15 minutes.  Enrichment reading:  Read pages 39 to 43 of the following excerpt from Ed Whelchel’s book on teaching history.  What are your thoughts?  Represent them any way you wish.

Wednesday:

Report to the station you left off at yesterday.  Continue your rotation.  Have you finished everything on your checklist from last week?  If not, get it done.

Find your 15 minutes.  Enrichment reading:  Read this article from Alfie Kohn, a fairly interesting cat. So, whaddya think?  Digitally display your findings.  (Go on DW, wordle it!)

Thursday:

Report to the station you left off at yesterday.  Continue your rotation. Have you finished everything on your checklist from last week?  If not, get it done.

Find your 15 minutes.  Diane Ravitch is an interesting thinker.  At her blog, read this article.  What are your thoughts on this?  Discuss your findings with a colleague who has also read it and represent your findings in any way you wish.  (Wouldn’t it be cool if you both actually read the blog together?  So many students opt to be with friends so much, wouldn’t it make sense that you and your friends embrace the path of scholarship side by side with one another in reading educational blogs?  I mean, is that what defines social popularity these days?  “Yeah, I didn’t go to the movies Friday night- That’s played out- Instead, I read Ravitch’s blog on standardized testing.  Take that, social popularity!)

Friday:

Report to the station you left off at yesterday.  Continue your rotation.  Have you finished everything on your checklist from last week?  If not, get it done.

Find your 15 minutes.  Enrichment reading:  Click here for another blog, this time from Berkeley.  Read over the article.  Pay special attention to the drawing from the elementary school student.  What does it say when a child of elementary school age would draw such a picture?  Through such a picture, what is wrong with our current system of education?  How can we make right that which does such harm to so many students?

Best of luck to our students this week.  Tommy Guns' Money is due soon.  Finally, I want to extend a personal thank you to so many of our students/ parents who donated so that other students may go to Tommy Guns'.  The cost of the field trip is a challenge, but it is made easier with generous people who kicked in five or seven dollars for another child to go.  Many thanks.  In a world where there is a lack of generosity and compassion, it is nice to see 8.2 families represent those elements that are best in pursuit of "the good, the true, and the beautiful"... as well as the affordable.
Thanks so much.
Mr. Kannan

Clive James and Fame in the 1920s... and 8.2 Students

We progress through the 1920s this week with a celebrity based study of fame.  Clive James is our guide through a celebrity- centered view of historical development.  Students will have to keep up with their fame logs and ensure that in class focus is present.  While we won't have any major assessments this week, failure to pay attention in class could simply be that- failure.
At the same time, students received their Tommy Guns' Field Trip permission slips on Friday.  Students who wish to go should make the necessary arrangements for payment and ensure that their tickets are stamped.  All tickets need to be stamped by March 10.  Let us progress towards work completion and having fun at Tommy Guns.  There are no refunds for Tommy Guns, so work completion must be our focus.
With that, the roar of work awaits this week:

Monday, 2.24

Continue reading James’ “Fame in the 20th Century.”

Find your 15 Minutes.  Work on your Celebrity Log.

Tuesday, 2.25

Finish reading James “Fame in the 20th Century.”

Find your 15 minutes, work on your celebrity log, and finish specified questions from packet.

Wednesday, 2.26

Finish reading James’ Fame in the 20th Century..

Find your 15 Minutes. Tomorrow will be an all purpose stamp day.  It should be one where nearly half of your ticket to Tommy Guns is punched.  Collect Celebrity Logs tomorrow as the enrichment sheet to be stamped.

Thursday, 2.27

Slang Lesson of the 1920s.  Start with Slang Tasks to be done in groups.  Finish by end of class for stamp.   Celebrity Logs to be Stamped for Enrichment Sheet.

Find your 15 minutes.  Catch up on your work.  Tommy Guns’ Tickets need to be punched in 14 days.

Friday, 2.28

“A Feeling in the Air:”  The Harlem Renaissance.  Annotate for the voice of “the other.”  Discuss what “the other” is in American society.

Find your 15 minutes.  Extra credit: Define “the other” in the 1920s and in American Society.  Any way you can represent your findings is fine with me.  (Yeah, you heard me- go on and define “the other.”)

All best and happy hunting.

Mr. Kannan

Winter Dreams: Scott Fitzgerald and 8.2

Winter Dreams.  Not merely the state of where we are with the frigid temperatures, but a reflection of the 1920s.  F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story is on the mind of our students as we continue with our study of the 1920s.  Students should make sure they are keeping up with the nightly assignments both from the textbook as well as from their packets.  We are making progress through the "roaring '20s."  Let us strive to make sure it does not deafen us in the process.

Work for this  week:

2.17- Finish work from pages 8-11 in 1920s Packet.  These notetaking guides should be ready to go for stamping tomorrow.

2.18- Continue to read "Winter Dreams" in class.  Finish assigned questions from Enrichment Sheet in packet.

2.19- Continue/ Conclude "Winter Dreams."  Finish assigned questions from Enrichment Sheet in packet.

2.20- Either finish "Winter Dreams" or use it as a day to stamp away tickets to Tommy Guns.  HW:  Make progress on your Tommy Guns' ticket.

Permission slips for Tommy Guns' field trip will be sent home this week.  All tickets must be stamped by March 10, at which time the signed permission slip is due.

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

All best.

Mr. Kannan

The 1920s and Close Reading: Time to Roar!

We start the 1920s this week.  It is a time period that the 8th graders seem to embrace.  I mean, we get to spend the next two weeks listening to Jazz music, studying the tragic nature of fashion, and examine what made "the beautiful people" beautiful.  That cannot be a bad thing.

It is in this light where our study of the 1920s commences this week.  At the same time, students will work towards submitting the final drafts of their Close Reading Assignments that are due on Thursday.

Best of luck this week.

Monday:


Start on the videos of the 19020s.  

Find your 15 Minutes.  Close Reading assignments due Thursday..


Tuesday:


Continue on the 1920s Unit with videos in class.    Absorb the feel of the time period.
Find your 15 Minutes.  Close Reading assignments due Thursday..


Wednesday:

Introduce Themes of the 1920s.  
Find your 15 Minutes.  Finish Notetaking Guides on Chapter 22, sections 1-4 by Monday.  Close Reading Assignments due Thursday.


Thursday:


Introduce Themes of 1920s.  Explore situations where themes are present.  Introduce our first 1920s Figure with F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald.  Two stamps on your Tommy Guns' tickets should be evident.
Find your 15 Minutes.  Finish Notetaking Guides on Chapter 22, sections 1-4 by Monday.

All best.

Mr. Kannan

Moving Toward Assessing the War's Impact... Personally and Academically

Like all campaigns, this one is coming to an end.  Those who endure it probably never see it, but it is reaching its end.  Moments of initial elation meet with interminable moments of labor and toil, only to find its end.  For some, this end is a desert, for others, a relief.  For some, it's Eros benevolently ending the reign of Thanatos.

Am I describing the war or Julian for an 8th grader???

The initial burst of energy can be seen at the war's start.  Young people elated and excited about a new frontier.  They enter a realm where they are wide eyed about new opportunities and new possibilities.

They tell their friends of what exists in front of them and they make new friends in the process.  The surge of "newness" courses through their veins and they are overcome with what can be.

It is with this that the waiting begins.  Waiting for absolution, waiting for redemption.  That which was new has become supplanted with that which is.  The labor and toil have become the dominant experiences.  What once was lush and green has become sepia tinged, reflective of joy that has rusted over.  The initial countenances of innocence have become replaced with the look of weathered experience.  Shells of what once was linger in brief moments, but the overall experience has become one of grim reality as opposed to potentially transformative joy.

And then it ends.  On one hand, there is the joy of liberation for it is over.  Yet, the question that haunts is what was gained from it.  The shadows of experience linger as it becomes difficult to assert anything in way of true and valid meaning.  The only purpose it can serve is a mark of existence, something that demonstrated that at a certain point, one was alive, one existed, one had the capacity to dream and the reservoir of pain to match it.







Ok, this is getting too weird in describing how some of our 8th graders feel about their Julian experiences.

And now for something completely different!

You will notice that we have two plans for this week.  If we have computers available in class, we will start our World War I Assessment.  It is a technological survey of the war on the web.  If we do not have computers, we will continue with our work and offer a backup assessment which is more traditional and not dependent on District technology.  Students are reminded that their Close Reading Passages are due on Thursday, February 13.  Rough drafts will not be ready past this Thursday.

Monday, 2.3

Collect Theme Logs from All Quiet on the Western Front.  Read “Statement to the Court” annotate for WWI Themes.  Check at end of class.    Bring headphones for tomorrow.  Don’t wear them in the building.  Bring them for class though because we might have computers for our WWI  assessment.

Find your 15 Minutes.  Close Reading Activity due on 2.13.  Rough Drafts are will not be read after Thursday, 2.6.

Tuesday, 2.4

Sacco and Vanzetti, the Textbook, and Howard Zinn.  Talk about “Shine on, You Crazy Diamond.”  E.C.  Due at the end of class.  If we have computers, we will start the World War I assessment today.  Make sure you have headphones. If we have computers, we move Sacco and Vanzetti to next week.  (They have been so badly mistreated that this is not that too much of an offense.)

Find your 15 Minutes.  Close Reading Activity due on 2.13.  Rough Drafts are will not be read after Thursday, 2.6.

Wednesday, 2.5

Common Core Assessment on All Quiet on the Western Front.  Discuss your WWI Assessment.  If we have computers, we will run with Common Core Assessment next week.

Find your 15 Minutes.  Close Reading Activity due on 2.13.  Rough Drafts are will not be read after today at 7:00 PM. In class World War I Assessment starts tomorrow.

Thursday, 2.6

Take World War I Assessment.

Find your 15 Minutes.  Close Reading Activity due on 2.13..

Friday, 2.7

Continue to take WWI Assessment.  If you need more time, you need to finish it this weekend and share it with me..

Find your 15 Minutes.  Close Reading Activity due on 2.13..  Preview 1920s Packet.  Make sure your WWI Assessment is shared by Sunday noon.

Happy Hunting.

Mr. Kannan