First Five DaysThe first five (or so) days are a fantastic opportunity to set the stage for the school year. We'll spend the first week or two of the year laying the foundation for the challenging task of succeeding throughout the remainder of the year.
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Unit 1: The Power of StorytellingIn this unit, students will examine storytelling as a "personal, social, and cultural form of expression that we use to make sense of ourselves and our worlds." We'll analyze stories from and how they make us human, as well as create narratives from our experiences that produce our identities, our beliefs, and how we view the world.
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Quarter 1 Grading ConferencesStudents will conclude quarter 1 by preparing for student-teacher grading conferences. Students will complete a portfolio form that asks them to grade their performance during the quarter and attach evidence to support their proposed grade.
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Unit 2: Human IntelligenceOur first deep dive into informational reading and writing asks students to select a meaningful topic that and become experts on it. After researching a self-generated essential question, students create a 3-dimensional informational text that demonstrates what they've learned.
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Unit 3: Historical Fiction Book ClubsIn this student-centered unit, students will form clubs where they'll read, discuss, and annotate a historical fiction text, focusing on our Essential Question: how does the past mirror our world today? During the course of their reading, students will design focusing questions; steer the discussion toward points that interest them; locate paired texts and outside research; participate in a Socratic Seminar; and design a final task that demonstrates an understanding of the EQ as it relates to their texts.
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Unit 4: Social ChangeIn our final unit of the year, students will examine issues that affect individuals and groups in our world and community. They'll explore how these issues affect people and groups differently and design a campaign to bring awareness and / or change.
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