It’s hard to believe it’s already December! We’ve gone from 1492 to 1781 in three
months, and no one was injured in the revolution!
We’re beginning our unit on American Government, and this would be a great
time to have family discussions about what we are learning. For instance, an
assignment the students are working on this week is to analyze two California
Supreme Court opinions on the case Gallo v. Acuna. Is a court injunction against
some youths gathering on a street corner a violation of their right to assemble?
Or, conversely, are the rights of the neighborhood being violated by the gathering
of the youths, and is there a legal recourse? This is a critical thinking exercise on
our discussions recently on John Locke’s Theory of the Social Contract. Already, in
just discussing the assignment (before doing it), the kids are fired up about how
“fair/unfair” this is! I look forward to our discussion after the assignment has
been finished!
We’ll be talking about, and doing assignments that deal with the structure of our
government in the Constitution. It’s a great time to begin some discussions at
home about rights, responsibilities and citizenship. We’ll be tackling the
Amendments when we return from Winter Break. The students will be choosing
from a menu of projects: teaching the class about “the Bill of Rights in Times of
National Crisis”, formal debates, creating an Amendment Political Cartoon Book,
etc.
Grades are going home this week for the first trimester. This is a great time to
review some of my suggestions for success:
• Each Monday, students are required to fill out the homework for the week
into their Panther Planners. On Monday evenings, take a look at your child’s
Planner to see that they have done this. Then, look at my website, on the
Homework Page, to compare what they wrote to what is listed there (I post
the week’s homework the Friday before).
• On Friday – or Thursday – check again your child’s Planner to see if the
homework for the week has a stamp (on the bottom of the due-date for the
assignment in the Planner). If there is no stamp, they did not have their
homework when it was due.
• Check, too, the website’s Notebook Table of Contents page to see a listing
of ALL of the assignments we do (Homework is but a small portion of the
work we do. In fact, if you take a look throughout the whole year so far, we
have averaged only 1.5 homework assignments per week). Compare this
list with the Table of Contents in your child’s Notebook. You will be able to
see if they are completing the class work as well.
• Doing these simple checks – on Monday and Friday – will go a long way
toward monitoring your child’s work, if that is necessary.
• I also hand out a grade determination chart where students can figure out
their grade at any moment in the trimester. (Note: if your child is surprised
by their grade, they should use this chart more consistently throughout the
second trimester, as well as show you how it works.)
We have also had a very good discussion in class lately on “What is Excellence?”
or “How do I get an A?” I think there is, sometimes, a huge gap in understanding
just what is required to excel (read: get an A) in a class. In short, doing only
what is asked, is not an A. Read, if you like, my memo on “What is Excellence” on
the Downloadable Handouts Page of the website.
I hope this note has helped. If I don’t see/hear from you, have a very nice
Holiday break (no, there won’t be any homework over break!). I know that the
kids are in the middle of their Science Sex-Ed Unit, so, perhaps Constitutional law
will be taking a back seat for a while….
Best,
Lance Lewis