Our review of the Parts of Speech begins with
nouns and pronouns and is followed by adjectives, verbs, adverbs,
prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections. Also includes a handy-dandy
checklist.
Our study of Islam covers the life of Muhammad, spread of the religion,
Muslim contributions to society, the crusades, and modern cultural, social,
political concepts.
Literature Circles provide opportunities
for boys to read books about modern experiences of young adults in various
African countries. Boys will choose their book and discuss using
Literature Circle strategies.
A study of the people, culture, art, economy,
health, and challenges of African countries. We will be monitoring current
events, communicating with people, and exploring what it means to live in
Africa today.
Literature Circles enable
students choose one of four books to read and discuss with a small group.
Each of the four coming-of-age options focus on the experience of
young men learning important life lessons. The books address meaningful and
provocative issues around character development, including bullying,
popularity, political activism, and environmental consciousness.
The goal of the free-choice reading is to
encourage you to enjoy good books on a regular basis. You may read books of
your own choosing, as long as they are at your reading level. We also want
you to try genres that you normally do not read as well. We are happy to
make book suggestions for you.
An
one-month unit on the short story in which students will investigate 8
elements of story telling, including character, plot, setting/atmosphere,
point of view, irony, symbol, and theme.
The "GO TO" guide for students during
Literature Circles. Includes the schedule of readings, the assignment
of roles, and the description and questions corresponding to the roles.
The rubric that
teachers use to evaluate student discussions. Teachers will evaluate
approximately 6 students/session. Each student will be evaluated twice
during the course of literature circles.
The note-taking guide for each TUESDAY Literature
Circle meeting. These are to help students during discussion,
and are the teachers' way to check in with students' reading
comprehension.
Teachers will collect and grade each regular discussion
log. At the end of literature circles students will have 5 of these (9/26,
10/3, 10/10, 10/17, and 10/24).
Graded discussion logs should be filed in the
literature circle folder.
A more
"laid-back" version of the regular discussion log. This discussion log
WILL NOT BE COLLECTED for a grade and is provided solely to guide students'
roles in their discussion.
At the end of literature circles students will have 4
of these.
Friday discussion logs will be observed as part of the
"prepared" section of discussion observation rubric.
Friday discussion logs should be filed in the
literature circle folder.
"So far . . . "
my opinion of this book is___. Students should type a 1/2-1 page
response, considering characters, plot, theme, and style of the literature
circle book.
Due each Friday for a 20 point writing grade, Events Charts
will include 3 important, interesting, or otherwise notable events from your
reading that week.
Literature
Circles are an approach to reading that allows students to own their learning by
choosing one of four books to read and discuss with a small group. This year,
each of our four action-adventure book options focus on the life experience of
young adults in various African countries. Many of the books touch on powerful
and provocative issues, including political turmoil, oppression, social
disorder, and various coming of age experiences. We invite you to engage in
frequent conversations with your son about these topics.
THE BOOKS
A Girl Named Disaster
by Nancy Farmer
An adventure novel about a young girl from
Zimbabwe who tries to escape an arranged marriage.
The Other Side of
Truth by Beverly Naidoo
An adventure story that addresses “the
critical themes of political oppression, exile, Africa, and childhood,”
through the lives to two Nigerian teens who are smuggled from their country
to London.
Somehow Tenderness Survives
by Beverly Naidoo
A collection of short stories about life in
South Africa.
THE PROCESS
The boys
design their own reading schedule with the members of their group. In class, we will host mini-lessons that
address common themes and techniques used in all of the novels, and the boys
will then discuss the book with their group and write journal responses. Please
refer to the attached calendar for a general and tentative overview of our
schedule.
An explanation
of the events following Muhammad's death, including the origin of the Sunni/Shi'ite
conflict, the Umayyad Dynasty, and the beginnings of Muslim Spain.
A
five-paragraph persuasive essay on the spread of Islam. This document
includes general instructions, guiding questions, method, format, and the
rubric.
3. Address the person in the first line by typing "Dear"
and then the name. For example, "Dear Mr. Finkleberger,"
4. Copy the following into the body of the email:
I hope you are
well. The reason I’m writing you today is that my Humanities class is
studying Islamic history, culture and faith as part of our global education.
We are conducting a survey on current attitudes and beliefs about Islam.
We’ll be using the results of the survey to make an educational film for our
class.
Would you mind
taking this survey to help my class out?
This online
survey is completely confidential and anonymous. We’d also be happy to share
the results with you when finished. This survey will only take about 10
minutes, and we'd be very grateful if you finished it by Tuesday, January
12th.
I’ve cc:’d my
teacher, David Kyle, if you have any questions.
