"Freedom Writers" Trailer (can be watched on Netflix)

Human Freedoms Mural

Human Freedoms and Rights Mural

Grade: Class work/Cooperative

Assigned: Thursday, 9/ 12    Due: end of class Friday, 9/13

Task:

·         Develop a human freedom/struggle mural as a team

Objectives:

·         Select a human freedom addressed in Tuesday’s introduction to the curriculum theme

·         Explain a human freedom in your team mural

·         Apply illustrations, quotes, collages, newspaper headlines, etc. to build upon your selected freedom

·         Prepare a poster based on the theme

·         Divide up each task so that each person’s work is represented.

Include:

1.     Illustration(s)

2.       A quote (You can chain me, you can torture me, you can even destroy my body, but you will never imprison my mind. –Mahatma Gandhi)

3.       Newspaper headlines related to the topic with date of publication (example: SRI LANKA: Lanka becomes freedom from torture's top country of origin for referrals)

4.       Statistics (The 41 percent of respondents who said torture is rarely or never justified are outnumbered by the 47 percent who said it is always or sometimes justified. From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/14/torture-poll-2012_n_2301492.html )

Sequence:

With your team:

1.       Review the 30 human rights and freedoms.

2.       Select one as your mural theme.

3.       Each person will be responsible for one aspect of the mural.  (See student and street examples.)

Independently:

1.       Develop your piece of the mural.

2.       Help each other.

3.       Research headlines, quotes, etc related to your topic.

Human Freedoms Clips

Click on "name/URL" as your user name. Do not enter a URL. Write down your assigned blog ID and #. At the end of your post, also write your assigned blog name, which is your class name and your specific number. Example: #yolo26

Book Cover assignment

Your Book.

 Your Writing Goals.

For this opening year project, you will create a book cover using the provided template (or a similarly self-created one). 

The book cover will include:

1.    a title that encompasses your goals for Language Arts this

          year :    8^th Grade Language Arts: A Journey of ___________

What is your goal for the year?  Improvement? Consistency? Growth? See the attached list of possible titles!

2.    A picture of yourself

3.    A brief author bio that includes information about you  

                             (hobbies, family, dreams, etc.)

4.    An illustration or collage reflective of your interests

(Throughout the year, we will add polished writing samples to your book in order to track your progress.)

              

                                                 Goal                                                                                Explanation

Improving Descriptive Language	Being more descriptive in your writing- “The sun was hot” becomes “The rays of heat blasted from the sky, leaving my face a dripping puddle of ice cream.”
Incorporating Transition Words	Adding transitions to move the story along. “He woke up. He ate. He caught the bus. He arrived at school” becomes “First, he woke up. Then, he ate. Afterwards, he caught the bus. At last, he arrived at school.”
Consistency in Tenses	Not flip flopping between past tense and present tense- “She went fishing with her brother. They are having fun, especially when she catches a big fish!” becomes “She went fishing with her brother. They had fun, especially when she caught a big fish!”
Growth in Vocabulary	Improving your word choices in your writing and speech.  “The old houses scared me” become “The dilapidated houses made me apprehensive.”
Incorporating Figurative Language	Using simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, etc.- “He was a big, strong guy” becomes “He was a brick house.” “He was as strong as a bull.”
Developing a Strong Hook	The “Hook” in the introduction is what catches your reader’s attention and makes them WANT to keep on reading!
A Concise Thesis Statement	What “one thing” is your paper about? Why should I keep reading? What will I find out?
A Strong Conclusion	Did you include a “Call to Action”? Remind your reader of your thesis?
Providing Effective Details	Do your details matter? Do they help push your essay along? Are they relevant?

8th Grade Intro!

Video Introduction

Europe

This summer I will be traveling to Europe for a Holocaust tour.  If you'd like to follow my journey and experiences, please visit:
http://trailofmillions.blogspot.com/

Class Survey (optional)

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?fromEmail=true&formkey=dEpUamcxejRYXy1hT3JteGdvSFFHMEE6MQ

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GJXVKRP