Welcome to 7th grade Humanities! I am very excited about getting to know you all better throughout the year! This year’s Humanities course focuses on the topic of Texas History.
History should not be viewed as a set of understandings frozen and codified for all time; rather, it is a collection of data and information about people and events, along with the cultural and societal forces that shaped them, that we seek to understand in order to learn how best to navigate our world. This data must be collected and interpreted by real people who also have been shaped by the cultural and societal forces at work in their own time. Therefore, while facts and dates and details do not change, the ways in which we emphasize some over others and the ways in which we interpret them do. We cannot separate our interpretation of history from our own culture and society any more than we can separate historical events from the cultures and societies that produced them. Studying the history of Texas is no exception. Therefore, this year, as we study data and information particular to Texas history, we will be examining it all from multiple perspectives and exploring how the people and events we study connect to the broader world. What can our history tell us about who we are as Texans who are simultaneously part of smaller, more personal communities as well as a larger, global society? And perhaps even more importantly, what do we view our individual roles, responsibilities, and identities as being within the multiple communities of which we are members? In other words, who are we, what makes us who we are, and what are we capable of becoming? These are the questions we will be exploring throughout the year. In order to facilitate this process, we will not be studying Texas History in a traditional, chronologically linear format. Instead, we will be engaging with the curriculum as a set of topics, which are listed in the snapshot below. With each topic, students will learn information about earlier times and connect it to information about modern times, so they can better see the lasting social, economic, and political impacts of people and events. We will also be spiraling in and out of Texas as we connect topics important to Texas History to the broader world.
Language arts lessons will be embedded within each unit. Research, persuasive writing, and speaking knowledgeably will be strong foci. Grammar lessons will be embedded in writing lessons and will be specific to individual needs. Vocabulary instruction will occur both in context to specific content lessons and through Membean. Independent reading of books and other texts that are personally interesting will occur at least once a week during Reading Workshop. Each week, students will write a minimum of one literary analysis paragraph related to their independent reading. They will also complete a minimum of one formal essay that goes through multiple drafts each grading period.
Classroom Procedures and Policies
Basic Classroom Rules:
Procedural Directions:
Work and Grading:
Summative 60% (includes writing assignments, projects, and presentations)
History should not be viewed as a set of understandings frozen and codified for all time; rather, it is a collection of data and information about people and events, along with the cultural and societal forces that shaped them, that we seek to understand in order to learn how best to navigate our world. This data must be collected and interpreted by real people who also have been shaped by the cultural and societal forces at work in their own time. Therefore, while facts and dates and details do not change, the ways in which we emphasize some over others and the ways in which we interpret them do. We cannot separate our interpretation of history from our own culture and society any more than we can separate historical events from the cultures and societies that produced them. Studying the history of Texas is no exception. Therefore, this year, as we study data and information particular to Texas history, we will be examining it all from multiple perspectives and exploring how the people and events we study connect to the broader world. What can our history tell us about who we are as Texans who are simultaneously part of smaller, more personal communities as well as a larger, global society? And perhaps even more importantly, what do we view our individual roles, responsibilities, and identities as being within the multiple communities of which we are members? In other words, who are we, what makes us who we are, and what are we capable of becoming? These are the questions we will be exploring throughout the year. In order to facilitate this process, we will not be studying Texas History in a traditional, chronologically linear format. Instead, we will be engaging with the curriculum as a set of topics, which are listed in the snapshot below. With each topic, students will learn information about earlier times and connect it to information about modern times, so they can better see the lasting social, economic, and political impacts of people and events. We will also be spiraling in and out of Texas as we connect topics important to Texas History to the broader world.
Language arts lessons will be embedded within each unit. Research, persuasive writing, and speaking knowledgeably will be strong foci. Grammar lessons will be embedded in writing lessons and will be specific to individual needs. Vocabulary instruction will occur both in context to specific content lessons and through Membean. Independent reading of books and other texts that are personally interesting will occur at least once a week during Reading Workshop. Each week, students will write a minimum of one literary analysis paragraph related to their independent reading. They will also complete a minimum of one formal essay that goes through multiple drafts each grading period.
Classroom Procedures and Policies
Basic Classroom Rules:
- Be kind: We are all members of the same classroom community, and as history shows us, it is in everyone’s best interest to work together well. Be kind to one another.
- Be scholarly: You are charged with doing the work of historians, politicians, diplomats, orators, and authors. Take your work seriously, and do it well.
- Grow: We are all here to learn. Challenge yourself. Take academic risks. Be passionate and proud of the work you do, realizing that great gains come from mistakes as well as successes. Be willing to give constructive criticism, and accept it from others.
- Contribute: We all learn more and grow more when we are part of a collaborative community that allows us to safely express our thoughts and have them challenged or affirmed. Be an active part of that process.
Procedural Directions:
- If you need to go to the bathroom, take the pass and go. If someone else is using it, wait. If it’s an emergency and you can’t wait, let me know.
- Feel free to drink water in class. Hydration is important. Just keep it away from your laptop.
- Snacks and other drinks should only be consumed during breaks. Finish them before your break ends, and clean them up when you are done. Also, keep them away from your laptop.
- Have earbuds with you every day so you can watch videos for class or listen to music while you work independently without disturbing others.
- Our class spans two class periods. I will give you a break every day. It may not be when the bell rings between the two class periods, though. If we are in the middle of something important, we aren’t going to stop just because the bell rings.
- If you are doing anything that distracts you or your classmates from learning, I will deal with it in whatever way seems logical to me to fix the situation.
- Most problems can be solved by us together. Let me know if you are having a problem or need something, and I will do my best to help you alleviate it.
Work and Grading:
- All work that can be done via Google Classroom will be done via Google Classroom. Be sure you are logging into it regularly and keeping track of your assignments.
- All major assignments that you complete should be posted to your personal blog. Your parents like to see it, and I will be asking you to evaluate your growth and to set some academic goals based on this work a few times per year.
- Late work will be accepted without penalty UNTIL a grade needs to be reported to your parents. At that time, grades will become final and missing work will permanently be a 0. That means you need to make sure that your work is turned in before each progress report and report card is issued. (Please keep in mind, this doesn’t mean that I don’t care if your work is late. I do. If turning in work late becomes a habit, I will be searching for ways to help you find a remedy for the problem.)
- Assignments will be weighted as follows:
Summative 60% (includes writing assignments, projects, and presentations)