Humming along in Humanities!

I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow after an extra long break for us!  In getting plans together for the week, reviewing email about technology snafus, and getting feedback from Mr. Chambers it seems our best plan is to delay the notebook test 1 day.  So, tomorrow, January 5, we will spend time getting any final pieces loaded to web pages, turning in hard copies of the essays, organizing notebooks, and practicing Heritage Project presentations.  I hope this news will relieve many of you!  Remember, reading logs do not resume until next Monday (pick from the next list of books).  See you tomorrow! 

While you have been working furiously on finishing up your awesome heritage projects, I have been home to graduate.  I just wanted to share a few photos so you can be a part of it since you are a huge part of my finishing up this semester.  I look forward to seeing you all January 5 and watching your stories!  Have a wonderful holiday.  Be safe.  Fondly, Dr. B :) 

From Dr. Brown Graduates

From Dr. Brown Graduates

Friday, December 19th is a special day of activities planned by our specialist team.  Each advisory is picking a common color to wear.  Our advisory chose black.  Please remember to wear a black shirt next Friday as a show of unity! 

If you need a digital version of the story board, one has been posted on the Journeys Wiki at http://8journeys.wikispaces.com/Storyboard.  Happy planning!

Tags: Heritage project, Journeys, planning, story board

Hello, my favorite students!  Well, best laid plans are often derailed.  Mr. Chambers will be with you all again tomorrow while I try to get my fever to break.  My plan is to be in school on Friday before I leave on Saturday for the U.S.  If you have questions about your project, please email me at shannon.brown@saschina.org versus posting a comment to the blog as I will see that more readily.  Your projects will truly be a surprise to me when I return!    Continue to make me proud with your efforts to delve into your heritage!

Remember that your digital story about your heritage will include sections about family, nationality, ethnicity and environment.  As you plan, remember that each section should include at least five pictures and two quotes.  If you need reminders about what you might choose to include, you can look at the example that Ms. Muench, Mr. Small and I compiled! 

Tags: digital story, example

Ms. DeCardy put together this great screencast to help you know how to upload to the SAS portal.  Please remember our discussion about the password.

Tags: portal screencast

We have been having some great conversations about who we are this week!  Our Heritage Project has started in earnest, and, as normal, my students are awesome and amazing!  We have talked about how nationality, ethnicity, family and environment shape who we are.  We have made character maps to look at our own characteristics, plotted our family trees to look at familial characteristics, and planned for an interview with a family member.  Next week the real work of putting together the pieces begins.

Today in class students will be given a digital story planning sheet.  Students will have the majority of the next 8 class periods to work on the project.  This planning sheet will be used daily.  Parents, please ask your students to see the sheet at home so that you can also get a feel for their progress.  Mr. Small will have H.O.T. sessions the next two Mondays.  I will have a H.O.T. session this Tuesday.  All of the Humanities classes are doing the same project, so student can easily attend sessions with other teachers after school.

At this point, the plan is for students to post all of the parts and pieces to their blogs.  They will need to password protect any of the pieces that have last names included.

As my students are already aware, I will be out the week before break so that I can return to North Carolina to graduate officially for my doctorate.  Mr. Chambers will be working with my students for that week.  Since he is in our classes constantly, it should be seamless!

Students know that there will be a notebook test January 5.  All that will be added to the notebook is basically there now, so students have a month to make sure they are organized.  We will also start presenting digital stories on January 5.

Enjoy the journey of self discovery!

Digital Story Planning Sheet

Digital Story Rubric

Heritage Personal Narrative Rubric

Heritage Expository Essay Rubric

Tags: digital story, digital story planning sheet, Heritage project, rubric

Students have been learning a lot of vocabulary terms this year, but especially during our Journeys unit. Last week they participated in Vocabulary Stations to apply their vocabulary knowledge. They completed analogies, 3 X 3 vocabulary writing to demonstrate relationships between terms, 4 box synectics to compare terms to items in the classroom, a Frayer model to analyze characteristics and examples of terms, and a Memory game similar to the child’s game, however, the students had to remember terms and where the term’s definition was on the table! I was very proud of the effort of most of the students to apply their learning.

Tags: vocabulary centers

Dear Parents,

This week students began their heritage project, the final piece in the Journeys Unit.  Within the project students study their backgrounds, explore what has shaped who they are, create a family tree, a character profile, write a narrative and expository essay and construct a digital story. 

Because this project asks students to interview a family member to complete their family tree and write their personal narrative, it is very important that parents are able to devote some time to answer questions about family history.  In addition, students are asked to compile photos of their family, ethnicity, nationality and environment for a digital story.  Parental help in getting these pictures together would be very helpful as well.   Finally, it is imperative that students have some access to Word and a computer in order to be able to complete their work.  If access to a computer at home is difficult, students are able to attend HOT (homework opportunity time) with Mr. Small on Monday or me on Tuesday, as well as use the computer lab during lunch or breaks.  Students are given class time to work on completing assignments as well.

We thank you for your cooperation and support on this project.  If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.  

Best regards,

Shannon Brown

Tags: Heritage project, parents