Week Six: September 30-October 4

Welcome: 

Just like that, we are into the last week of September. I was talking to one of the students in my third-period class about how quickly this year is flying by—we are already one-eighth of the way through it. The students participated in some Spirit Week competitions to help celebrate Homecoming this week and it was great to see so many kids decked out in jerseys, team colors, and, school colors. 

I decided to show a quick clip from the movie The Pursuit of Happyness since we were discussing the Declaration of Independence. The movie is a great movie based on the real-life story of Chris Gardner. We watched a 2-minute clip about the importance of dreams and never letting anyone squash your dreams. 

This Past Week: 

• The Fight Begins: The students used this slide deck to guide them through most of the work they needed to complete this week. I was out on Monday and Tuesday for training from the district so this helped them. 
• Boston Massacre Writing Assignment: The focus of the week was the in-class writing assignment about the Boston Massacre. The students looked at eyewitness testimonies of the events last week and used those testimonies to decide which side deserved more of the blame for the violence--the soldiers or the colonists. Most students were able to finish this before we left for the weekend but there are a few who will be finishing their essays with me during homerooms this upcoming week or on their own--whatever works best for each student. 
• Declaration of Independence: We started to discuss our nation's key documents this week when we introduced the Declaration of Independence.
• My period 3 accelerated students created and delivered a quick Iron Chef Presentation about the principles of the Declaration as laid out by the preamble and how our nation has fought to uphold them. 
• My social studies classes did a quick station rotation in which they watched a content burst video about the Second Continental Congress, analyzed experts from the preamble to the Declaration, and explored using Canva to create videos. 

This Upcoming Week:

• Content Check-in #2: The students will take the second content check-in of the year on Friday. I've linked the quizlet flashcards both here and on the Google Classroom for any student who would like to review throughout the week on their own time. 
• Three Branches Mastery Grid: The students will begin to investigate how the three branches of government operate this week. My accelerated class will start on Tuesday, while the social studies classes (periods 2, 6, 7, and 8) will most likely start on Friday.