Gary Coyle’s Grade 8 Humanities

Major Points From Last Week:

• Lecture – Intro to Drama
• Sentence Combining – Shakespeare
• Intro Julius Caesar – FYI and highlight
• Julius Caesar –
  • FYI – Read using SQ3R
  • Read aloud Act 1 Scene 1 and 2 (Discuss) Complete Plot Map Act 1
  • Read Aloud Act 2 Scene 1
  • Discuss Act 2 Timeline
  • Vocab Quiz Act 1 and 2
  • Read Aloud Act 2 Scene 2
  • Complete Plot Map Act 1
  • SQ3R Read Act 2 FYI

Reflection

Commenting is a skill in blogging that I would like to revisit this week. When you comment to a BLOG you are really accomplishing three things:

1.) Letting the writer know they have an audience.
2.) Encouraging each other to write
3.) Helping each other think more deeply about an issue.

We can help others think more deeply by commenting thoughtfully. A thoughtful comment usually does one of the following:

1. Agrees and adds supporting information
2. Moves the topic in a new direction with new evidence or a new interpretation of evidence
3. Disagrees respectfully by adding contradictory evidence

Remember when responding to a BLOG posting challenging ideas is acceptable and encouraged, however singling out individuals for criticism is not.

In order to practice this skill, please spend the next twenty minutes reading BLOG entries from the people whose names are above and below yours in the class BLOG list. Then respond thoughtfully to one posting of your choice from each of those two classmates.

Again here are some possibilities of how you could start your comment.

(Insert their name here)This made me think about…….
(Insert their name here) I wonder why…….
(Insert their name here)Your writing made me form an opinion about…….
(Insert their name here) This post is relevant because…….
(Insert their name here)Your writing made me think that we should…….
(Insert their name here) I wish I understood why…….
(Insert their name here) This is important because…….
(Insert their name here) Another thing to consider is…….
(Insert their name here) I can relate to this…….
(Insert their name here) This makes me think of…….
(Insert their name here) I discovered…….
(Insert their name here) I don’t understand…….
(Insert their name here) I was reminded that…….
(Insert their name here) I found myself wondering…….

 Ideas for comment starters synthesized from Vicki A. Davis at http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/

Major Points From Last Week:

• Feedback – WOW 2007
• Class Wiki Worktime
• Prep for Parent Conferences
• StocksQuest Day 4 – PEG Ratio & Moving Average
• Socratic Seminars- Industrial Revolution
  • What was the net effect of the industrial revolution?
  • What should be the role of government in business?
• Lecture – Intro to Imperialism
• DEAR – AR

Reflection

Please respond to the following on your BLOG using complete sentences and specific examples.

• What are the qualities of a good leader?
• Who are the student leaders in Grade 8?
• How do they demonstrate the qualities of a good leader?

image from http://www.iloveindia.com/

This week Thursday night and Friday morning are parent teacher conferences. Please post your response to both of the following on your BLOG understanding that I will use this entry as the basis for your conference.

• Select a piece that you are proud of from first quarter in Humanities. On your BLOG write a “good” paragraph that explains why you are proud of it. When finished either upload the piece or excerpts of it to your BLOG electronically.
• Select a piece that you found challenging from first quarter in Humanities. On your BLOG write a “good” paragraph that explains why you found it challenging and how it helped you grow. When finished either upload the piece or excerpts of it to your BLOG electronically.

Major Points From Last Week:

Mini Course – White Water Rafting in Rishikesh

Reflection

We take one week out of your eighth grade education to go whitewater rafting in Rishikesh. Is this an appropriate use of class time or would this time be better spent in the classroom? What are three specific benefits of mini-courses that justify the time we spend on them? Be sure to use specific evidence to back up your points.

Today we are going to take our second foray into the world of web 2.0: the wiki. A wiki is a powerful tool that will let us compile our knowledge and expertise in one place. A wiki is different than a blog or a web page in that anyone with  permission can add, delete or modify the content on any part of the wiki.

We are all familiar with wikipedia (the massive online encyclopedia of nearly everything), so we can think about our challenge this way. We are going to create a mini-wikipedia that pertains to just Grade 8 Humanities. The Humanities 8 Wiki will become your one stop shopping place for content knowledge about our year long study of power. Our audience will be primarily YOU the current AES grade eight students, however as this is a living document one of my goals in creating this is to eventually have the wiki become a virtual textbook for future grade 8 humanities students at AES.

We will start small. The first pages and entries that we are going to publish are related to our study of the industrial revolution and topics we know well ( our IR museum topics). To get the hang of adding and editing content (the interface is not much different than Blogger) we are simply going to start by adding our expository pieces to a shell page that I’ve already created. Then as we gain more skill with building the wiki we will add new content on a regular basis. I hope you enjoy creating this amazing wiki and will find value in both the process and the content.