JEFFERSON M.S. 8TH GRADE HUMANITIES
(i.e, Reading, Writing and Rhetoric) with
Updated 5.16.11: The week of Mock Trials is upon us!!! Trials #4 and #5 today. Meanwhile, here's the case packet
Upcoming Due Dates: These will be in red both here and below:
Monday, April 30 - May 18: Mock Trials 2012 (State of NM v. Tess Nussbaum)
This Week in Humanities
Week Thirty-Seven
Monday, May 14:
Tuesday, May 15:
Wednesday, May 16:
Thursday, May 17:
Mock Trials #6 and #7
Friday, May 18:
Mock Trials #8 and #9
Important Documents
Book Report Stuff (New Content!)
Book Project/Review Information (includes 7th/8th Grade examples of quality Book Reviews) Example Review for an 8th Grade "Required A-List Book"
A Review of Isak Dinesen's Winter's Tales by Student X (A-List Book!)
A Review of E. M. Forster's A Room With A View by Student Z (Also an A-List Book!)
Interested in finding an A-List Book? Here's a list or two:
The Weekly Focus
Independent Study Project Descriptions
"Famous Dead People" Project Description
Independent Study Position Paper Project Description
A, possibly helpful, brainstorm list of example Position Paper questions
An example "template" I.S. #2/#3 Proposal and Status Report respectively
Evaluation Forms
"Famous Dead People" Evaluation Forms Position Paper/Presentation
Position Paper Paper/Presentation Evaluation Form
Research/Bibliographic Information
How to properly fill out "Fact Cards"
Get your source citation act together here (courtesy Calvin College)
Photo Archive:
Famous Dead People Photos 2011
Check out our fabulous array of photos from our Fall 2010 Student Congress Seminar!
Here is a giant page of photos from our Fall 2010 Independent Study Presentations
Here are photos from our mock trial experience of early December, 2010
Mock Trial Documents
Want to see an example of an "opening statement"? Here's one from the defense in a trial that was one of the best we've had in years.
Week Thirty-Six
Monday, May 7:
Attorney guests and professors from around town show us how mock trials is done
Tuesday, May 8:
Wednesday, May 9:
Thursday, May 10:
Friday, May 11:
Week Thirty-Five
Monday, April 30:
Tuesday, May 1:
Wednesday, May 2:
Thursday, May 3:
Friday, May 4:
We take a break from mock trials to take our Spring DBA test. Whoo-hoo!
Week Thirty-Four
Monday, April 23:
We get to the toil and trouble of Macbeth. Act IV, Scene I (yay!)
Tuesday, April 24:
More Macbeth and we get close to a sleepwalking Lady Macbeth
Wednesday, April 25:
More Macbeth as the armies get closer to each other, and closer, and closer
Thursday, April 26:
Macbeth ends and we have a bit o' time to perhaps practice for tomorrow's Playhouse and Exam
Friday, April 27:
Our combination Macbeth Final Exam & Playhouse
Week Thirty-Three
Monday, April 16:
A quick GLEEful review on book reviews before we read some of "Macbeth" in class
Tuesday, April 17:
Day #1 of Student Presentations for Book Reports
Wednesday, April 18:
Day #2 of Student Presentations for Book Reports
Thursday, April 9:
Student-Led Conferences...no school per se
Friday, April 20:
Student-Led Conferences...no school per se
Week Thirty-Two
Monday, April 9:
"Macbeth" begins
Tuesday, April 10:
More "Macbeth": Today's Notes
Wednesday, April 11:
Thursday, April 12:
"Macbeth" gets geometrically bloodier..or is that exponentially?
Friday, April 13:
The carnage in "Macbeth" only increases.
Week Thirty-One
Monday, April 2:
Tuesday, April 3:
Wednesday, April 4:
Thursday, April 5:
A day of independent reading in anticipation of our Book Reports due on April 17.
Friday, April 6:
No school because the season is...well, uh, the crops, uh...just because. That's why there is no school today.
Week Thirty
Monday, March 26:
Marx Brothers and Buster Keaton take up our interim day before some testing tomorrow. Here's that upcoming Film Festival assignment.
Tuesday, March 27:
Wednesday, March 28:
A look at our book reviews so far this year and how we might do better on them.
Looking for quality reviews for guidance? Here are some choice examples:
A Review of Isak Dinesen's Winter's Tales by Student X (A-List Book!)
A Review of E. M. Forster's A Room With A View by Student Z (Also an A-List Book!)
Thursday, March 29:
Friday, March 30:
The 2nd Annual Test-o-Mania Visual Arts Festival. Who's bringing the popcorn?
Week Twenty-Nine
Monday, March 19:
Introduction to our annual Visual Arts Seminar held during the testing weeks
Tuesday, March 20:
Testing and Movies: Buster Keaton and Sergei Einsenstein anyone? Here's that upcoming Film Festival assignment.
Wednesday, March 21:
Testing and Movies
Thursday, March 22:
Testing and Movies
Friday, March 23:
A better chance to explore film with an extended view of a classic
Week Twenty-Eight
Monday, March 5:
Day One of our Debate Seminar!
Tuesday, March 6:
Wednesday, March 7:
Day Three of our Debate Seminar
Thursday, March 8:
Day Four of our Debate Seminar
Friday, March 9:
Week Twenty-Seven
Monday, February 27:
We kick off a week of Position Paper (PoPa) Presentations
Tuesday, February 28:
Our second day of PoPa Presentations
Wednesday, February 29:
Our third day of PoPa Presentations
Thursday, March 1:
Our last day of PoPa Presentations
Friday, March 2:
Book Reports (Review and Project) Due Today
Week Twenty-Six
Monday, February 20:
Tuesday, February 21:
Last day preparation for our in-class timed write on the Narrative of Frederick Douglass
Details of tomorrow's timed write assignment
Wednesday, February 22:
An in-class timed write on Frederick Douglass. Good luck!
Link to an online version of Frederick Douglass' first Narrative...
Thursday, February 23:
An example Position Paper Presentation by your humble teacher/facilitator/instructor personage
Friday, February 24:
Turn in Position Papers today (printed, with cover sheet)!
Week Twenty-Five
Monday, February 13:
We go over strategies for a successful Abstract (example attached) as we work on our Rough Drafts outside of class. Then we get back to reading Frederick Douglas in anticipation of an in-class timed write this Friday.
Link to related story with terms
Tuesday, February 14:
Continued reading of Frederick Douglass
Wednesday, February 15:
Deadline to turn in Rough Drafts. We'll work on them in class (bring headphones)
Thursday, February 16:
Friday, February 17:
A bit of GLEE and a short discussion on use of GTCs in both papers and presentations before we get back to more Frederick Douglass, focusing on our upcoming, and oft-delayed, in-class timed write next Wednesday
Week Twenty-Four
Monday, February 6:
A PowerPoint on Comma Usage (thanks Purdue University!)
A link to today's GLEE (remember to copy/paste in Word, then complete)
Tuesday, February 7:
More work on commas and such as we gear up our writing skills the life beyond middle school
Wednesday, February 8:
A GLEE for those not going to Hummingbird Music Camp today
Thursday, February 9:
Our third Data Check for Independent Study #2: the Position Paper (Moved due to Hummingbird)
Friday, February 10:
An in-class work and counseling session for our Independent Study Rough Drafts due next Wednesday
Week Twenty-Three
Monday, January 30:
We get back to preparation for our Radio Seminar
Tuesday, January 31:
More preparation for our upcoming Radio Seminar Presentations
Wednesday, February 1:
Our second Data Check for Independent Study #2: the Position Paper Notes for today
Thursday, February 2: Groundhog Day! It's our most frivolous holiday of the year!
A last day of preparation for our Radio Seminar Presentations
Friday, February 3:
Week Twenty-Two
Monday, January 23:
We kick off our Radio Theatre Seminar
Tuesday, January 24:
Group work to prepare for our in-class radio theatre presentations next week
Wednesday, January 25:
Our first Data Check for Independent Study #2: the Position Paper
Thursday, January 26:
A bit of obligatory testing with oft-mentioned but mysterious "DBA"
Friday, January 27:
Back to work on our in-class radio theatre presentations next week
Week Twenty-One
Monday, January 16:
No school to celebrate a great American, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Tuesday, January 17:
We get back to Frederick Douglass, while also introducing our Weekly Focus #12
Wednesday, January 18:
More work on our Spring Semester Independent Study Project, the Position Paper
Today's deadline is for a joint I.S. #2 Proposal and I.S. #3 Status Report. Here's an example.
Thursday, January 19:
More reading of Frederick Douglass
Friday, January 20:
A chance to work on our latest in-class Weekly Focus #12
Week Twenty
Monday, January 9:
We begin reading Frederick Douglass' first autobiography. Here are today's notes
Tuesday, January 10:
Continued reading from Frederick Douglass as he tells of his slavery. Here are today's notes including an introduction of Weekly Focus #11
Wednesday, January 11:
We introduceour Spring Semester Independent Study Project, the Position Paper
Then we read a short story from the time of the Frederick Douglass first autobiography. It's Edgar Allan Poe time, folks!
Thursday, January 12:
More reading and discussion of the Frederick Douglass story
Friday, January 13:
An in-class Weekly Focus regarding our week's reading of Douglass. Prompts will be given electronically by the beginning of class. Here are today's notes on the in-class write.
Week Nineteen (Beginning of Side Two)
Monday, January 2:
Our last day off, for teachers anyway, before hitting the icy ground sliding in Spring Semester
Tuesday, January 3:
A reminder of why teachers don't tend to like meetings, as they meet and we have no school
Wednesday, January 4:
We're back and looking to solve the post-slavery situation circa-1862 in today's GLEE
We also introduce Weekly Focus #10: Free For All
and go over parts of the Third Nine Weeks schedule
Thursday, January 5:
A deeper look into our slavery-related GLEE of yesterday
Friday, January 6:
An in-class session to finish Weekly Focus #10: Free For All
Week Eighteen (End of Side One)
Monday, December 12:
Notes. We read Chapter 15 from To Kill A Mockingbird and talk of tomorrow's Final Exam
Tuesday, December 13:
Our Final Exam for Fall Semester on To Kill A Mockingbird
Wednesday, December 14:
Beginning the film version of "To Kill A Mockingbird"
Thursday, December 15:
Watching the film version of "To Kill A Mockingbird"Friday, December 16:
Finishing up the film version of "To Kill A Mockingbird" and saying "goodbye" for a couple of weeks
Week Seventeen
Monday, December 5:
Today kinda got messed up by a faux snowstorm (at least here in ABQ) No School
Tuesday, December 6:
We continue our break from in-class reading of To Kill A Mockingbird to watch a harrowing documentary about "The Murder of Emmett Till"
Wednesday, December 7:
Thursday, December 8:
More reading of To Kill A Mockingbird...today we go to an AME church with Calpurnia.
Friday, December 9:
Today it's time for another Spelling Quiz, TKAM Spelling Quiz #2 (with vocab kicker) The rest of the class will be spent studying for next week's Final Exam. Today's notes has a good example question (multi-part) that might very well end up being on the Exam.
Week Sixteen
Monday, November 28:
A look at the upcoming three weeks, and then some more reading/analysis of To Kill A Mockingbird
Tuesday, November 29:
More reading/analysis of To Kill A Mockingbird
Wednesday, November 30:
We take a break from the book to fix a horrendous graph attempt in today's GLEE
Thursday, December 1:
Back to reading To Kill A Mockingbird
5th Period...Here's the link to the online chart creator many of us are using
Friday, December 2:
We take a reading break today in order to take a quiz. It's TKAM Spelling Quiz #1 (with vocab kicker)
Week Fifteen
Monday, November 21:
We recover with a look at the rest of Fall Semester, discussion of the just-finished mock trials and reading from To Kill A Mockingbird
Tuesday, November 22:
A languorous day of reading To Kill A Mockingbird
Wednesday, November 23:
Harvest Festival Break
Thursday, November 24:
Harvest Festival Break
Friday, November 25:
Harvest Festival Break
Week Fourteen
Monday, November 14:
We kick off a solid week of Mock Trial Preparation by splitting attorneys and witnesses. Here are today's notes
Tuesday, November 15:
Another day of Mock Trial Preparation
Wednesday, November 16:
We walk, run and sprint through practice runs on the way to Friday's Mock Trial Extravagonzo
Thursday, November 17:
Last day of Mock Trial preparation, and here you can find our last minute notes
Friday, November 18:
The Big Day! Mock Trials in rooms throughout JMS
Week Thirteen
Monday, November 7:
We start our Fall Mock Trials with some notes on how mock trials work here at Jefferson
Tuesday, November 8:
Day Two of preparation for our upcoming Fall Mock Trials
Wednesday, November 9:
We move from Mock Trials to Book Reports, which are due (both review sent electronically, and project hand-delivered) today.
Thursday, November 10:
Back to Mock Trials with a vengeance. A Civil vengeance in this case.
Friday, November 11:
No School Today
Week Twelve
Monday, October 31:
We take a break from things to listen to wise words from our 8th Grade Counselor. A note or two for today.
Tuesday, November 1:
We kick off our study of Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird by passing out copies of the book. We also tackle some literary technique through a color-filled scan of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery".
Wednesday, November 2:
We return Independent Study papers, ask students to tell us what book and type of book project they are doing for their upcoming Book Report, and read a bit. We also pass out copies of our upcoming Mock Trial Experience: Fall Variation.
Thursday, November 3:
We begin our two-day Student-Led Conferences today
Friday, November 4:
Our 2nd Day of Student-Led Conferences
Week Eleven
Monday, October 24:
We, somewhat appropriately, finish up The Hunger Games with a reading of Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" and an exercise in literary technique labeling.
Tuesday, October 25:
The first day of our Famous Dead People Tea Parties
Wednesday, October 26:
The second day of our Famous Dead People Tea Parties
Thursday, October 27:
The third and last day of our Famous Dead People Tea Parties
Friday, October 28:
Our wrap up of things Hunger Games, with our The Hunger Games: "Final Exam"
Week Ten
Monday, October 17:
We kick off our International Cusines Seminar. Here are our notes for the day.
Tuesday, October 18:
Research (here are the notes) in preparation of our International Cusines Seminar
Wednesday, October 19:
It's FINALLY HERE! The deadline for final submission of our Famous Dead Person Independent Study Papers: Printed by beginning of class today (don't forget your cover evaluation sheets!)
And then we have a Vocabulary Quiz on words from the 1st Quarter
Thursday, October 20:
Last minute research for our International Cuisines Seminar
Friday, October 21:
Presentation Day for our International Cuisines Seminar
Week Nine
Monday, October 10:
A bit of reading on The Hunger Games, along with the introduction of our The Hunger Games "Final" and some notes.
Tuesday, October 11:
Some GLEE on eating hamburgers and some reading/discussion. We also see a short film or two, and look over these daily notes.
Wednesday, October 12:
Today is the due date for your "Rough Draft" for Independent Study (8:00 a.m.)
Notes for today and a link to today's GLEE on misplaced modifiers
Thursday, October 13:
A mystery GLEE and some notes to prepare for what's to come. We also pass out evaluation sheets for our Famous Dead Person assignment. It's just about time to start presentations.
Friday, October 14:
We finish, for our purposes, The Hunger Games...well, at least the reading part. We also formally introduce how we do Book Reports in Room 114 with a few examples of both the review and project portions. Here are today's on-screen notes.
Week Eight
Monday, October 3:
We get back to reading, while looking ahead to our impending Rough Draft for Independent Study
Tuesday, October 4:
We take a break from things to settle into some rather standardized testing.
Wednesday, October 5:
Data check #3 (total now of 60) along with the current status of your Bibliography
Thursday, October 6:
Our on-board notes for today, including more reading after a bit of GLEE regarding use of quotation marks.
Friday, October 7:
A day off to avoid those watching balloons.
Week Seven
Monday, September 26:
Notes for our first day of Student Congress
Tuesday, September 27:
Notes for Day Two of our Student Congress
Wednesday, September 28:
Data Check #2 with 20 notecards due (total now of 40) along with the current status of your Bibliography
Thursday, September 29:
Day Three of our Student Congress. Here's a note or two on what we're doing today.
Friday, September 30:
We finish up our Student Congress Seminar, and the month of September, with a group discussion of process and where we go from here. A solid page of photos taken during the Event can be found here in coming days.
Week Six
Monday, September 19:
Day One of our Student Congress Seminar. Resolutions were written by our 8th Graders last week as their "Weekly Focus".
Tuesday, September 20:
Day Two of our Student Congress Seminar
Wednesday, September 21:
Data Check #1 with 20 notecards due along with the current status of your Bibliography
Weekly Focus #4 Revisions (if applicable) due by 8:00 a.m., 9.22.11
Thursday, September 22:
Notes for Today Day Three of our Student Congress Seminar. Today individual students will research resolution topics. Each class has about a dozen topics, so there's much to study.
Friday, September 23:
Notes for Today in Class Day Four of our Seminar, and Day Two of our research as we get ready for our three days of "Congress" next week.
Week Five
Monday, September 12:
Some will need to revise their "rough drafts" for Weekly Focus #3 tonight. This is due by midnight tonight (yes, it's homework). In class we'll talk over WF #3, go over due dates (there are many this week) and do a little reading of The Hunger Games. What was Panem like before Panem?
Tuesday, September 13:
A bit of GLEE to start our day.
Today we study President Obama approval figures An introduction to Weekly Focus #4 (Resolutions) in class through a couple of examples.
Wednesday, September 14:
Due Date: Pick a "Famous Dead Person" bring six questions and six facts about this FDP typed into class today
Thursday, September 15:
A discussion of how to properly fill out a note/fact card for Independent Study And talk about our one-stop shop for keeping track of your bibliography: "KnightCite" We'll also finally get to some reading today of The Hunger Games By the way, reading The Hunger Games reminds me of this great old short story
Friday, September 16:
Due Date: WF #4 Student Congress Resolutions Due Due Date: Independent Study #3 Expert Letters
Next week...Student Congress Seminar!
Week Four
Monday, September 5:
It's May Day, only in September!
Tuesday, September 6:
Notes for todayToday's GLEE 9.6.11
Then we start reading Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games
Wednesday, September 7:
We review the GLEE from yesterday (notes) , after getting an introduction to "Famous Dead People", our first gigantic research paper of the year.
Thursday, September 8:
A quick GLEE exercise on run-on sentencesThen we spend time reading The Hunger Games in anticipation of tomorrow's Weekly Focus
Friday, September 9:
Notes for today's exercise in writing
We write Weekly Focus #3 in-class
Week Three
Monday, August 29:
Here's the plan for our first day of Seminar, 2011-2012: Fractured Fairy Tales
An example script for our in-class Fractured Fairy Tales
Tuesday, August 30:
Day Two of said Seminar.
Here's what we talked about in terms of preparation.Here's a copy of our Introduction to Seminar and the details of our "Fractured Fairy Tales" Seminar Week.
Wednesday, August 31:
A break from Seminar to knock out our required "Pt. A" for Independent Study #3 (yes, we do the third one first...zany, ain't it?)
Thursday, September 1:
Notes for our first performance day in Seminar
Friday, September 2:
Our final day for Seminar this week is chock-full of theatrical presentations
Week Two
Monday, August 22:
Why You Don't Test As Well As You Deserve
We take a look at how test essays are graded, and do a bit of our own writing in-class.
Tuesday, August 23:
"All Happy Families Are Alike..."Our first Independent Reading experience of the year, and review on a bit of yesterday's writing in-class
Wednesday, August 24:
"...and the clocks were striking thirteen." Today's GLEE for 8.24.11
Thursday, August 25:
"A Crow Comes and Starts Quacking..."A reading from our good Irish friend Dr. Jonathan Swift. Students will write in-class responses to the piece and discuss in class. What do you think of Mr. Swift's "proposal" (cite arguments to support your position), and what do you see as the purpose of the piece?
Friday, August 26:
TTD: Here's a list of what we did/talked about today
Directions for today's in-class Weekly Focus
By the way, here's a write-up on how Weekly Foci are graded
Week One
Monday, August 15:
No School Yet
Tuesday, August 16:
TTD: Every Act Is A Political Act
Students complete an in-class "dossier" to get the political intrigue going
Wednesday, August 17:
TTD: Rules on A-List Books, and an example Independent Study from Mr. Scot
All Hail Room 114! All Hail Room 114 Class Pronouncements!
A journalistic example to get us started thinking like an editor
Thursday, August 18:
What Glee Means To Me A GLEE status report. How's your grammar/punctuation these days?
Friday, August 19:
Our journalistic example from earlier this week. And here's a "primary source" that shows how important they are in research.
From the Vaults:
Last year's (2010-2011) webpage
Please let me leave this horrible webpage and go back to JMS