September 9th, 2009
Dear Students and Families of the Seventh Grade,
Welcome to Seventh Grade Humanities! An exciting year awaits us, filled with interesting projects that will help make connections with our past and the world around us.
Our examination of language arts and American history is integrated. The history will guide our journey through literature and film, will inspire our writing, and challenge us to think as historians, journalists, photographers, poets, politicians, lawyers, explorers, and businesspeople. The Humanities curriculum is designed to create enduring understandings through immersion in these professions. To support our work and bring it to life, every effort will be made to take our studies outside the classroom.
A thematic study of
history in which we draw parallels between the past and the present will trace
the growth of the
The heart of our exploration of Language Arts will be a thorough examination of point-of-view. We will look at what impacts point-of-view, and how our world view affects all of our lives, as well as the lives of those around us. Understandings will evolve through film, literature and plays.
Your capacity as
critical thinkers will be strengthened as we develop tools for examining
different media such as: newspapers, photographs, speeches, narrative and
documentary films and maps. This
examination will be supported by the textbook A More Perfect Union, as
well as Joy Hakim’s series A History of Us.
Literature will include plays, classic literature, and historical fiction that we read together and independently. Novels and plays will include A Raisin in the Sun, Of Mice and Men, and Johnny Tremain. An ongoing written Independent Reader’s Reflection will be required as well as a vocabulary log of words that we discover in our reading or in class discussion. In your backpack you will always have the book you are currently reading. Various kinds of writing from reflective journals to polished pieces such as analytical essays, editorials, and stories are incorporated into the curriculum.
In order to immerse
you in the habits of mind of the Humanities’ professions, it is necessary that
we maintain a culture of professionalism in and out of the classroom. You are expected to come to every class
prepared for this journey.
Sincerely,
Amanda Lifschultz