Reading assignments and due dates for To Kill A Mockingbird; 8th Grade Language Arts; January-March 2014

Jan 6 No School 13 7 (Chapter 1 in class) 14 2-3 Due Read 4-5 by Thurs 20 No School 27 9-11 Due Feb 3 Shared Inquiry 10 12-13 Due Read 14-15 by Wed 17 No School 16 Due Read 17 by Wed Read 18 by Thurs Read 19 by Fri 24 20-21 Due Read 23 by Thurs Mar 3 25-26 Due Read 27 by Thurs 10 29-30 Due 17 Essays Essays 31 Due 18 Essays 19 Essays 11 25 Read 24 by Fri 4 Read 28 by Fri 12 5 18 4 Shared Inquiry 11 5 (Essay work) Read 12-13 by Mon 12 *Essay draft 1 due *14-15 Due *Read 16 by Tues 19 17 Due 6 (Essay work) 13 No School: Conferences 20 18 Due Read 20-21 by Mon 19 Due 21 (Essay work) 14 6-8 Due 28 29 21 22 8 15 4-5 Due Read 6-8 by Tuesday 23 Read 9-11 by Tues 30 Ski Field Trip 7 9 16 No school 10 Read ch 2-3 by Tues 17

24 31

26 23 Due

27

28 24 Due Read 25-26 by Tues 7 28 Due Read 31 by Tues 14 Shared Inquiry 21 Essays

6 27 Due Read 29-30 by Mon 13 Shared Inquiry 20

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Reading assignments and due dates for To Kill A Mockingbird; 8th Grade Language Arts; January-March 2014
Dear families, The time has come for us to read the hearty novel To Kill a Mockingbird. This book is a favorite for many people of all ages, and I feel honored to have the chance to read and discuss it with the students this year! We are going to consider the following questions as we read: *What role does society play in determining right and wrong? *How do authors choices further our understanding of a text and its ideas? *According to the text, what is one person's responsibility to another? The reading assignments, final project, and class activities for this unit will be quite different than in previous units: Reading: Though we read all of The Giver and Bronx Masquerade together in class, the majority of To Kill a Mockingbird will be read independently. I will assign chapters to be read (usually due two days after the assignment is given). A calendar will also be available that summarizes reading assignments and due dates. Final Project: For other units, activities completed in class built up to a final project that was completed at the end of the unit. For To Kill a Mockingbird, students will start writing their final essay when we finish part one of the novel. They will complete that essay when we finish the book. This will allow me to give more feedback and help direct their writing. The final is a formal essay that explores a specific question within one of our overall unit questions. This essay will require students to think critically and use the text to support their ideas. Class Activities: We will still be reading, listening, writing, and talking every day. In addition, students will frequently be participating in quizzes. These will reinforce formal writing, use of textual evidence, critical thinking, and discussion skills, as well as enhance comprehension and consideration of events and ideas in the novel. These quizzes will occasionally be individual written responses. However, typically a quiz will start with a group discussion. In small groups, students will discuss a number of questions about the assigned chapters. Once the entire group has contributed to the discussion, they will each write well-crafted answers, using the text. This will allow me to give immediate feedback as I listen to the thought process, read initial responses, and encourage deeper thinking in discussion. Each quiz will be in the Learning Targets category. If you have questions about any of these new routines, please let me know. Now, just a few more important notes: *Responsibility Before we take any group quiz, students will be asked to step aside if they have not read the assigned chapters. These students will read the chapter independently during class and finish the quiz on their own, without the aid of the group. If a student is dishonest about being prepared and attempts to take advantage of the group, the score on his or her quiz will be a zero. *Plagiarism Early on in the unit, I will be talking with the students about plagiarism. We will discuss why copying other peoples words without giving proper credit to the source is a severe form of cheating. Stealing intellectual ideas is taken very seriously in high school and college. Students will each sign an academic honesty pledge, stating that the work they submit in this unit will be entirely their own. If it is not, they will receive a 0 on the assignment with no opportunity to re-write it. *Other a) Students will each be responsible for their checked-out copy of the book. Please return them in better shape than you get them! b) If a student reads ahead, that is perfectly fine. However, he or she will be expected to re-read the chapters for the assigned days. c) If you are interested in reading the book along with us (which I highly recommend), please let me know and well check out a copy for you! d) The public library would likely have a copy of an audiobook for this novel, if your student would like to follow along with the recording. This is a rich text, full of complex characters and important ideas. It will be a joy to read it together! It is definitely going to be a lot of work. But I am confident that the hard work will reward us with even greater discussions and results in class.

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Reading assignments and due dates for To Kill A Mockingbird; 8th Grade Language Arts; January-March 2014
I apologize for the lengthy email. Please let me know if you have any questions. ~Mrs. Merissa Scheumann~ Language Arts 8th grade; Field Community School http://mrsscheumann.weebly.com merissa.scheumann@mpls.k12.mn.us

For more information about daily assignments and quizzes, please visit http://mrsscheumann.weebly.com.