School Year 2005/2006
7th & 8th Grade Humanities with
Jacki Judd
Scot Keyand our Emeritus member...
Mike Osborn
Last Updated August 17, 2006: Here's last year web page in all it's photographically-intense beauty. Enjoy!
May 22 - 26
Monday: Field Trip Day...or for those deemed unworthy of amusement: a day of staring at a desktop.
Tuesday: The Final Day of the 2005-2006 school year. Yipee! or is that Yippee! I think it's Yippee!...wait, I'll go check at dictionary.com
Wednesday: Enjoy your summer!
Thursday: When in doubt read a book.
Friday: When really filled with doubt read a newspaper, news magazine or social science journal.
It was a great year! See most of you in August! And for those moving on from Jefferson's Humanities Program...it's been great knowing you, and don't be a stranger.
Here are some pictures from our just completed Independent Study Presentations. We had so many different topics! From Irish Step-Dancing to Singing to Kenpo Karate to Whitewater Rafting to Baking Pecan Pies to you name it. Fantastic stuff! And thanks, Jenni for the manicotti! Again, here are some pictures (with one or two Immigration Seminar skits thrown in as well).
May 15 - 19
Monday: Day One of the Independent Study Presentations!
Tuesday: Day Two of the Independent Study Presentations!!
Wednesday: Day Three of the Independent Study Presentations!!!
Thursday: Day Four (and final) of the Independent Study Presentations!!!!
Friday: A choatic, confusing day in which several assemblies take place, frolic is had and we pretty much wonder why we are still here instead of already starting Summer Vacation. Yet...there are "two" days of school left next Monday & Tuesday.
Roll over the photos for a short description, in IE that is. Firefox ain't doing it, for some reason
Roll over the photos for a short description, in IE that is. Firefox ain't doing it, for some reason
Roll over the photos for a short description, in IE that is. Firefox ain't doing it, for some reason
Roll over the photos for a short description, in IE that is. Firefox ain't doing it, for some reason
May 8 - 12
Monday: Introduction to Immigration through a sample Citizenship Test. Here is a outline of what we're doing this week. The individually done "homework" for this week consists of a Immigration Policy Proposal Paper, an example of which can be found here.
Tuesday: A Very, Very, Very Brief History of Immigration, as well as distribution of Immigration News Story Packets to review with your group.
Wednesday: Students work in groups to first read a Section of the Immigration News Story Packet, and then find a way to relate that information to the rest of class via skits, reader's theatre, lecture of graphics.
Thursday: Presentations from groups on the Immigration News Story Packets.
Friday: Large group discussions on the issue of Immigration, using Proposal Paper as a jumping point. Note that the way we describe the "Problem" of immigration has a big impact on the direction we go in terms of solving said problem.
Important Documents for Student Use:
Independent Study Project Descriptions:
7th Grade Independent Study Issue Research Paper
7th Grade Independent Study Creative Person
8th Grade Independent Study Position Paper
8th Grade "Famous Dead People" Paper
8th Grade "Famous Dead People" Success Checklists ("Cheat Codes")
8th Grade "Famous Dead People" Evaluation Forms
Independent Study Bibliography:
Bibliographic "Cheat Sheet" for your IS Research Papers
Doing magazine articles or interviews for you paper? Here's how to cite those in your bibliography.
Outline example for Independent Study Papers (remember examples are invented/hypothetical):
Book Reports:
Alternative Book Report Information
Other documents:
List of Seminar Topics for 2005-2006
Winning Entries in our 2005 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest
Interesting Site of the Day: For our Immigration Seminar we used a sample Citizenship Test from Nevada. Here's the link to that test (note answers are available, too)
May 1 - 5
Monday: 7th and 8th graders receive an introduction to poetry
Tuesday: More poetry as students look at sites such as PoemHunter for poems to recite at Thursday's Poetry "Jam".
Wednesday: I can just feel the poetic creativity seeping out of room 114 as we read and write even more poetry...
Thursday: Today we hold a coffeehouse jam where all the students who have discovered their latent talent for poetry over the course of the week will read their poems to the class. 8th Graders: Your IS expert letter IS DUE today at the beginning of class!!!
Friday: BOOK REPORTS ARE DUE!!! Presentations take place today in class.
April 24 - 28
Monday: Mock Trials, Day One
Tuesday: Mock Trials, Day Two
Wednesday: Mock Trials, Day...uh, Three
Thursday: Mock Trials, Day the Final. Now that we waited forever to update the page I can tell you we had an absolute blast! Again, pictures to come.
Friday: No school due to an excruciatingly boring In-Service
April 17 - 21
Monday: Mock Trial introductions, juror instructions, witness training, mad preparation begins.
Tuesday: Mock trial preparation, jurors watch 12 Angry Men, and witness "training."
Wednesday: More Mock trial preparation, jurors continue 12 Angry Men, and witness "training."
Thursday: Lawyers from Keleher & McLeod and UNM Law School visit and coach mock lawyers in expert circumvention of law. Well, that's one way of looking at it.
Friday: Last minute details before first trials commence. Lawyers: start your engines. By the way, thanks to folks over at UNM Law School for providing space for our trials...that new classroom moot courtroom is SWEET!
April 10 - 14
Monday: One day a Nine Weeks we get a chance to just read our outside reading in preparation for upcoming Book Review/Projects due May, 5. Today is that day. By the way, today is the deadline for getting topic and expert information to your IS advisor.
Tuesday: 7th Graders do some Hoot reading...remember you have a review of the book due on Thursday of this week. 8th Graders will read out loud satirical pieces which are due today.
Wednesday: More Hoot for 7th Graders and a new short story for 8th Graders exploring another not-so-perfect aspect of human behavior. Oh, we tweaked the satire pieces and the reading of them will actually occur today. Some of the best pieces will appear in the Jefferson newspaper, and we'll linke to a few through this web site as well.
Thursday: Today is the day we officially hand out the roles and case for the 2006 Mock Trial. Attorneys: start your billable hours.
Friday: No school because it's always Good to be off Friday.
Next Week: We begin the beguine that is Mock Trials in earnest. Please study the lenghty case, attorneys, over the three-day weekend.
April 3 - 7:
Monday: We reconvene with a laundry list o' stuff for class, including the schedule for the rest of the year, an introduction to the 3rd Independent Study Project, and preparation for our upcoming two weeks of Literature.
Tuesday: 7th Graders begin Hoot by Carl Hiassen and 8th Graders will read "The Ledge", a creepy short story.
Wednesday: More Hooting for 7th Graders and the 8th Graders get around to reading "the Ledge", which we were going to start yesterday (but 2/3rds of the class was a music concert).
Thursday: More Hoot and 8th Graderson start working on satire (not sarcasm...we're already very skillful at that). We'll be reading a piece lampooning a recent ABQ Journal story about drought (the satire piece is here). We'll also be reading a very funny blog entry on the subject of armed combat between JMS music groups by 8th Grader Claire.
Friday: More Hoot for 7th Graders. Meanwhile, 8th Graders will read one of the following (depending on the mood of the class and instructor): "Harry Belten and the Mendelsohn Violin Concerto" by Barry Targan, "The Ape Lady in Retirement" by T.C. Boyle, or "Silver Water" by Amy Bloom. Each are quirky in their own way, with varying levels of abject sadness.
All Students: Remember deadline next Monday, 4/10 to turn in your I.S. topic/expert information.
8th Graders: Remember deadline next Tuesday, 4/11 to turn in 500 word satire piece based on a newspaper story or event/situation here at Jefferson MS.
All Students: Remember that we are handing out the upcoming Mock Trial case: State of New Mexico v. Tess Nussbaum and assigning roles for the Trials next Thursday, 4/14.
March 27 - March 31
Spring Break!
March 20 - 24
Monday: A "Patterns of Culture" document to go over in class.
Tuesday: A presentation by teacher David Sherman on the effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans.
Wednesday: Small group work on "Patterns of Culture".
Thursday: Small group work on "Patterns of Culture".
Friday: Presentations by students on Hurricanes, particularly Hurricane Katrina.
March 13 - 17
Monday: We start a two-week look at the scientific and social aspects of hurricanes. We'll have some documents on the website from this experience soon.
Tuesday: A guest speaker from the National Weather Service will present on predicting and tracking of hurricanes.
Wednesday: More hurricane work in small group, as students try to do "Hurricane Tracking from a Safe Distance". Here's the Hurricane Tracking exercise we did.
Thursday: Continued small group work on tracking of hurricanes.
Friday: We watch a Nova documentary on Hurricanes, entitled "Hurricanes". Those Nova guys don't specialize in compelling titles to their films.
March 6 - 10
Monday: No testing!!! Yeah! Today we watch the film Gattaca as part of our 7th Grade exploration of cloning issues in House of the Scorpion, and 8th Graders will work on their Fast Food Nation projects. A copy of the 8th Grade project description can be found here.
Tuesday: Okay, back to testing...we will have short actual classes and these will work on getting ready for Friday's Video/Skit/Analysis extravaganza.
Wednesday: More testing, more extravaganza.
Thursday: The last day of testing!!! Yeah!!! Writing this on Monday, the 10th, I literally cannot wait until this day arrives. It's better than Christmas, Hannukah and Spring Break put together.
Friday: Our Video/Skit/Analysis extravaganza with a cornucopia of variety show-esque goodness. We'll have some pictures up from the event in the coming days.
February 27 - March 3
Monday: Work surrounding our readings of: 8th Graders Fast Food Nation & 7th Graders House of the Scorpion
Tuesday: Now some testing.
Wednesday: Now some more testing.
Thursday: Testing, and while we test incessantly we're going to have some in-class projects based on our readings.
Friday: We take a break from testing to, well...take a break from testing.
February 20 - 24
Monday: No school as we celebrate the fact we have Presidents instead of Totalitarian Dictators.
Tuesday: The big news is that our 3rd Quarter Book Reviews/Reports are due on Thursday, the 23rd. Here's the write-up on how to do them. Meanwhile, we spend some time with House of the Scorpion for 7th Graders & Fast Food Nation for 8th Graders.
Wednesday: More "Super Size Me" and 7th Graders begin work on House of the Scorpion.
Thursday: Those pesky Book Reviews/Reports are due today. We'll spend some time marvelling at the projects. Can't think of a good project to do. Here's that list again of possibilities.
Friday: We take yet another break, this time for Parent/Teacher conferences. Parents, c'mon by and we'll chat for a bit about your child/student/learner person.
Here's some more photos from our Mock Trials a couple of weeks back. Sorry for any blurriness, but the photographer had a bit o' caffeine before the shoot...
February 13 - 17
Monday: Day three of mock trials. Today we get to hear about SUV rollovers, deliberately violent "reality" television, and XTC overdoses. Just a typical day in the Criminal Justice system, I guess.
Tuesday: Back to "Literature" after a long hiatus. Today 8th Graders will watch "Super Size Me" as prelude to continued work on Fast Food Nation. 7th Graders will see a National Geographic film, "Clone".
Wednesday: More "Super Size Me" and 7th Graders begin work on House of the Scorpion.
Thursday: 8th Graders will delve into Fast Food Nation, while 7th Graders explore Scorpion.
Friday: More Nation and Scorpion, as well as a reminder about Book Reports due next Thursday, the 23rd.
More photos from Mock Trials...notice the way cool Judge's Robes courtesy of a local recently retired Children's Court Judge. Thanks!
February 6 - 10
Monday: Day one of Mock Trials. Today we introduce some basics of Law, including things like the difference between Criminal and Civil cases. Here's a copy of that introduction, cartoons included.
Tuesday: We split into groups of prosecuting/plaintiff attorneys, defense attorneys, and witnesses to prep for our Mock Trials. Both attorneys and witnesses will be evaluated; here's an evaluation form for attorneys and witnesses .
Wednesday: Our orchestra students are going to Hummingbird music camp, but for those in our classes we will continue to prep for Mock Trials with attorney/witness interviews.
Thursday: For 2nd, 6th and 7th period we will have our first of three trials. 1st and 3rd will have another day of practice.
Friday: Mock Trials will be running throughout the day. Parents are of course invited. Email us for details, or simply ask your in-house student learner person.
And now, by somewhat popular request, here's a selection of photos taken during our trip to the Legislature on February 2, 2006.
Previous Weeks
January 30 - February 3
Monday: Introduction to the whats, whys and how-the-hecks of the New Mexico Legislature. Here's the notes from the introduction.
Tuesday: Continued examination of the 2006 NM Legislative session and how the sausage making process called governing works. We'll focus on the issues of "Spaceport", "Rail Runner", Medical Marijuana, and the glop known as "capital outlay".
Wednesday: Handing out the cases, roles and some notes for our Mock Trial Practice rounds to be held here at Jefferson next week. We put together a little document (okay, we collected it from others) to help mock attorneys to better mocking (that didn't come out the way we wanted).
Thursday: We mosey up to Santa Fe to see the Legislature in action. $8.00 required from students to attend.
Friday: We teachers have another in a series of fascinating "in-services", a term which may be translated as "enervation", or "ennui", or something else starting with the letter "e". The bottom line is that there is no school.
This Week January 23 - 27
Monday: Begin Independent Study Presentations (ISPs). We'd love to post the schedule, but privacy rules prevent us from doing so.
Tuesday: More ISPs.
Wednesday: Even more ISPs.
Thursday: Son of even more ISPs.
Friday: Bride of even more ISPs. Some classes are done with these presentations, so we're taking a breather to address reading needs in class. Needs like a required book report due on February 20th.
Independent Study "Meeting of the Minds" Photos
January 16 - 20
Here are those Blues Seminar pictures you've heard so little about:
Monday: No school for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Celebration.
Tuesday: We get back into our blues combos and tweak our small groups songs through rehearsals, lots of knee-slapping and an open mind.
Wednesday: Final Papers are due for Independent Study, of course including Bibliography. Remember to have your parents look over these papers before you submit them. Today for 8th Graders we will go over 8th Grade "Famous Dead People" Evaluation Forms
Thursday: We begin to hear blues songs created in our small groups. Great googly-moogly!
Friday: More songs created by our creative and hard-working students. It should be a blast and a bluesy good time all around.
Next Week: Independent Study Presentations for both 7th and 8th Graders. The schedule is up in our room (sorry we can't post it on the Web...names and such can't be shown). Parents are, of course, invited...email us for times if, for some strange reason, your child does not want to tell you.
January 9 - 13
Monday: In-class musical jam with a bunch of folks you've heard of or seen mentioned in local music publications. It's our introduction to "The Blues Seminar".
Tuesday: Continued work on seminar, centering on student-led creation of blues songs, words, instruments and all. One thing we're doing is watching snippets of a video about Muddy Waters.
Wednesday: Rough Drafts are due today for all Independent Study Projects! No exceptions. Remember to consult important documents below for information on this project.
Thursday: Back to Seminar as students get into small groups and start working on their group Blues song.
Friday: "The Blues" is a two-week seminar, so today we reach the half-way point (remember, no school for MLK's Birthday next Monday). Students will get into small combos and start rehearsals on their blues song.
January 3 - 6
Monday: Lots of Football bowl games with ridiculous sponsors.
Tuesday: Welcome back, folks! 7th Graders will be starting a book soon entitled House of the Scorpion, while 8th Graders will start talking about Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation.
Wednesday: Remember Independent Study? Well, the 3rd Data Check is due today...20 cards for 8th Graders, 15 for 7th Graders.
Thursday: Discussion of how to be successful on Independent Study papers/presentations. 8th Graders will receive a "success checklist" (also known as "success 'cheat codes'").
Friday: Judging for the JMS Winter Film Festival. There's a $50 cash prize for 1st place, so the competition is intense. Adam Smith was right, I guess.
December 12 - 16
Monday: Today 8th Graders have our final exam on To Kill A Mockingbird. It's a High School level examination getting students ready for, well, uh, High School. Meanwhile, 7th Graders will start viewing the newly re-released with bonus artiness version Outsiders, directed by filmmaker and vintner Francis Ford Coppola.
Tuesday: We kick into full-time film mode with the 7th Graders continuing to see Outsiders, while 8th Graders begin viewing a rarity in film: a movie almost as good as the book. It's a Horton Foote script directed by Robert Mulligan and starring Gregory Peck...it's To Kill A Mockingbird from 1962.
Wednesday: We take an intermission for Independent Study with our 2nd "Data Check". 7th Graders need 15 more data cards, for a total so far of 30. 8th Graders need another 20, making a total so far of 40. Also, anyone who needed to re-do their analysis-light book summaries must turn the re-do in by today.
Thursday: Back to the films.
Friday: 7th Graders need to write up a film review on the movie version of Outsiders. 8th Graders will try to figure out exactly who killed who in the conclusion of To Kill A Mockingbird.
End of Side One...please turn the record over to begin Side Two: "Second Semester".
This Week December 5 - 9
Monday: We had more debates and they were really fun, and in other classes we had literature becasue we already had the debates in those classes. We also reminded students for about the 1,000th time that their Alternative Book Reports are due on Thursday, the 8th.
Tuesday: All students must tell us what book they are doing for their Alternative Book Report and which of the many presentational project types they are undertaking as part of it. 8th Graders will read To Kill A Mockingbird outloud, discuss and talk about the upcoming "Final Exam" on the book. The final is Monday, December 12th (by the way, this date is just underlined...it's not a link).
Wednesday: Our first "Data Check" of the 2nd Independent Study Project. 7th Graders need 15 cards on their person/topic, 8th Graders need 20 on their "Famous Dead Person". Details on these projects are in the "Important Documents" section below.
Thursday: Alternative Book Reports are due today!!!!!! We will turn them in, and then have 1/2 of the students do their presentations.
Friday: The other half of the class will make their Alternative Book Report Presentations. Did we mention that they are all due on Thursday, December 8th? Are you tired of us reminding you?
November 28 - December 2
Monday: Intro to Debate. What is it? How do we do it? Why do we do it? No, yelling and screaming is not the only reason. It is a fun part of it, however.
Tuesday: Small group discussions leading to our formal student debates later in the year.
Wednesday: Two formal debates in class. Independent Study topic/questions due for those going to Hummingbird Music Camp on Thursday.
Thursday: We're moving Independent Study from Wednesday to Thursday this week, as many students are going to Hummingbird Music Camp. Here's the assignment for 8th Graders. And here are the Creative Person & Issue assignments for 7th Graders.
Friday: Due to a rather bewildering series of interruptions, schedule changes and photographic opportunities, our morning debates scheduled for today have been moved to next Monday. We will still have our afternoon debates on the Pledge of Allegiance including "under God" and requiring student uniforms at JMS. Those interested in bewildering things can email us with questions on exactly what caused this little change in plans.
November 21 - 25 (Festival Week)
Monday: We have a quiz in 8th Grade Lit on To Kill A Mockingbird. Here's a copy. 7th Graders read in class.
Tuesday: More reading and discussion on our reading selections.
Wednesday: We take a break from our Literature pursuits to become judges for a Film Festival held as part of the Film class Mr. Key teaches when he's not screaming at Literature students.
Thursday: Annual Harvest Festival...no school. All belts will be left in the closet.
Friday: Annual Consumerism Festival held after the Harvest Festival. Buy! Buy!! Buy!!!
November 14 - 18
Monday: Back to our books for this Nine Weeks: To Kill a Mockingbird and The Outsiders
Tuesday: 8th Graders see a documentary on an event that indirectly led to the writing of To Kill a Mockingbird, The Murder of Emmitt Till. 7th Graders will do more reading on Outsiders. Note that the 8th Grade vocabulary assignment is due at the beginning of the period today as well.
Wednesday: Introduction of Independent Study projects, Part Deux. You can find descriptions of the project types in our "Important Documents" section. These include the "Famous Dead People" project for 8th Graders this go-round.
Thursday: More Mockingbird/more Outsiders
Friday: Even more Mockingbird/more Outsiders
This Week November 7 - 11
Monday: Book Reading and learnin' with Outsiders and Mockingbird (that's the shorthand version we use to identify our very, very famous current reading selections.
Tuesday: More book readin' and learning (note the alternative Southern apostrophe shortening employed)
Wednesday: A last day of readin' and learnin' for this week. To Kill A Mockingbird folks should be at least through Chapter Eight (page 74 in our edition) at this point.
Thursday: No School so that we teachers can sit in a room and learn teacher stuff.
Friday: No School for Veterans' Day.
October 31 - November 4
Monday: 8th Graders need to turn in their homework on To Kill A Mockingbird. It's outlined in last's weeks news. Meanwhile, we kick off our look at racial/ethnic diversity in Albuquerque in celebration of the city's upcoming 300th Birthday.
Tuesday: We are graced with the presence of several speakers who will talk on the subject of Albuquerque's history. I think we're sticking with the less controversial, non-gory parts.
Wednesday: We break from Seminar to get back to Literature. We will offer in-class reading, something we haven't had yet this Nine Weeks. Students will need to be reading for our upcoming Book Summary (due around the middle of December).
Thursday: Back to our City of Albuquerque Birthday Party Seminar. Tickets (homework) are due for the Seminar today.
Friday: Seminar discussions in-class..bring your talking A-game.
October 24 - 28
Monday: 7th Graders have finished Independent Study and will have in-class reading. 8th Graders will finish up their Presentations with a spirited debate on abortion and other topics.
Tuesday: We begin new books today! 7th Graders will start on The Outsiders. 8th Graders will read another terribly famous book written by a young woman, To Kill a Mockingbird.
Wednesday: More Mock, more Outsiders. 8th Graders need to have the following done and turned in by the beginning of class next Monday, the 31st:
-
Reading & Vocabulary Chapters 1 & 2
- Find 10 words in TKAL whose definitions are not known to you
- Find the correct definition for the word in the dictionary of your choice
- Use the word in a sentence (Preferably, use the word correctly in a strange/ humorous sentence)
Thursday: Continued work on the two famous novels. By the way, with some interruptions (Seminar, principally) we will be working with these books the rest of the Semester.
Friday: Parent-Teacher conferences...it's your chance parents to come by and chat with us about your child's progress here in Literature/Humanities. Don't hesitate to stop on by....
October 17 - 21
Monday: First day of Independent Study Presentations. You'll begin to notice a trend here.
Tuesday: Day two of Presentations. Students know when they are going to present.
Wednesday: The critical third day of Independent Study Presentations.
Thursday: Another day, another absolutely vital day of Independent Study Presentations.
Friday: We wrap up Independent Study (Yeah!) with another batch of presentations. Honestly, these are always a joy to watch, as students share knowledge they have gained over a multi-week period.
October 10 - 14
Monday: Introduction to Seminar on the War in Iraq. We're getting ready for a formal debate involving outside speakers on Friday. Students will be working to become better informed on the issues and prepare questions for the debaters. The details of the week can be found here.
Tuesday: Students break into small groups and analyze/discuss an area of study on the Iraq situation. This is done through "fact sheets" in the areas of Conditions of the Iraqi People, Military Withdrawal Timetable, International/Arab World Response, and Iraqi Constutional Development
Wednesday: IMPORTANT!!! Independent Study final papers due by the beginning of class!
Thursday: Today we're going to videotape student statement (30-60 seconds in length) as they individually address one of the following persons/groups: Iraqi People, President Bush, U.S Troops in Iraq
Friday: An in-class debate on the War in Iraq and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
October 3 - 7
Monday: Independent Reading and Independent Study draft paper writing.
Tuesday: Independent Reading and Independent Study draft paper writing.
Wednesday: Drafts due for Independent Study papers.
Thursday: Independent Reading continued, as well as tweaking on some Independent Study presentations
Friday: No school, Fall Break.
September 26 - 30
Monday: Back to reading and getting ready for our in-class book reports this Thursday/Friday.
Tuesday: More reading...also a short description of the next steps in our Independent Study process. You know, the last Data Check is....
Wednesday: Last Data Check for 15/20 notecards. Be sure to notice how to do "source cards" correctly.
Thursday: Alternative Book Reports, a tempting potpourri of presentations on a savory array of books. At least that's the idea.
Friday: More alternative book report presentations.
September 19 - 23