Humanities Update (5/20)

Welcome to another update from humanities!

We started this week by introducing the upcoming unit about food insecurity. Students were given an anticipation guide for a documentary called A Place at the Table. This guide asked students to mark statements true or false based on their understanding before watching. As we watched the video, students evaluated their assumptions and identified evidence that supported their new findings. This material will be used as we enter this new unit.

On Tuesday, we reflected on our work in the classroom debates and learned who “won” (as decided by their peers, who were asked to evaluate the evidence presented and the manner in which it was presented). Students reviewed some of the feedback they received from their peers and discussed it with their teams. We pushed their learning a step farther by having students trace the development of an argument in a piece of writing. This assessment will be used to identify what parts of arguments need to be emphasized in future lessons.

We spent time this week writing our argument. We began with our introductions (Claim and Context) and then added our first two confirmation paragraphs (where students identify the evidence that supports their claims and provide reasoning to explain that evidence). Friday allowed us to have a little bit of fun with our arguments as we discussed who our audience is and how a different tone or voice impacts a piece of writing.

Our plan is to finish writing the first draft of these arguments by Tuesday. In order to stay on target, students should have three paragraphs done by Monday (one introduction and two confirmation). Some students have been sharing their writing with their parents. This is a good conversation starter, and it’s a good way to make sure that our students stay on track to finish. The digital version of the argument should be entered into Google Classroom.

Independent book projects and blog posts are due in a little over a week (on May 31). Those assignments are on the Google Classroom. To support work on the blog posts, we presented a mini-lesson about empathizing with a text. We talked about Harry Potter’s qualities and what happened to him over the course of his story. Students were then asked to come up with ways that they are “like” Harry Potter. This resulted in some fun discussions.

This coming week, we will take a break from United States geography and capitals. After the eighth graders return from Boston, we will have one more practice (on June 1) and then one final assessment (on June 8). This final score will be used on their upcoming report card. Links to practice are also on the Google Classroom.

Please let us know if you have any questions. We hope you have a great weekend.