Midterm Elections

As you are likely aware, midterm elections are fast approaching.  This year is especially strange because of the seemingly ill-willed nature our political system is stuck in.  We will, as a class, begin to look at some of the major issues as it relates to our community, our state, our country, and our lives.  I will be presenting the facts and information as it relates to these issues, refraining from presenting my own opinions or biases because my role is that of providing the information; students are supposed to be developing their own set of beliefs.

Feel free at anytime to discuss with your child the current political landscape, especially as it relates to issues of extreme importance to you/your family.   Know we will cover some of the conversations you have and it might look different than at home.   Regardless of political leanings, our discussions will be based upon respect for each other’s voices and opinions, no matter how much we might disagree.  I encourage you to foster that same mentality when speaking with your child so they may form their own opinion as well.

Bill of Rights

This past week (and the future couple of weeks), we will be continuing to research, discuss, and apply the Bill of Rights to our daily lives.  Every day, we discuss different real-world situations and try to figure out what, if any, violation occurred and the amendment it is associated with.

One item of interest is that the students this weekend (and next week), are asked to play a game.  The game is called Do I Have a Right and it is an interactive game in which students are presented with situations, have to decipher the legality of those situations, and decide if someone has a legal argument to make in their case.  Feel free to look at the game and compete against your child to see who has a right.

https://www.icivics.org/games/do-i-have-right

Current Events Discussion – 10/4

Today, our 8th graders tried something a bit different with our current events discussion.  Instead of a larger group discussion, we broke up into smaller groups to debate the merits of the following question:

who should be responsible for setting a minimum wage: the government or individual companies?

Students read about this topic as it relates to Amazon’s announcement in which they were raising their minimum wage for employees to $15 per hour.  If you want to participate in our discussion (or at least continue it at home), check out the link below.

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/10/02/amazon-minimum-wage-jeff-bezos-bernie-sanders.html

Current Events – 9/20

This week, we looked at the looming Hurricane Florence and its impact on our citizens.  We explored personal narratives, images, videos, and other primary sources to see how this natural event impacted people.  Ultimately, we discussed the question: would you stay or would you go?

Feel free to read the article below and discuss with your child about what they think.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/12/hurricane-florence-north-carolina-nuclear-plants-prepare

Current Events – 9/6

This week, we looked at a controversial topic in American sports: the kneeling of Colin Kaepernick.  We read about and discussed the new Nike ad, the rights of people to protest during the National Anthem, and what freedom of speech really means.  We ultimately discussed the topic of Does the First Amendment protect only free speech or does it protect freedom of expression as demonstrated by Kaepernick’s refusal to stand?

Feel free to read the article below and discuss with your child about what they think.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/04/donald-trump-colin-kaepernick-nike-ad-campaign-response

Current Events – 8/30

On Thursday’s throughout the school year, our students will be reading about and discussing different current events topics.  We will look at topics around the state, the country, and our world and to try to better understand how it impacts us here and now (it also develops a connection to multiple National Social Studies standards, such as D2.His.1.6-8 Analyze connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts and D4.4.6-8 Critique arguments and for credibility).

Our current event topic this week is an article related to the completion of the Zoo Interchange.  Feel free to read the article and ask any of our students their opinions about the topic.

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/politics/2018/08/28/scott-walker-declares-zoo-interchange-done-even-work-remains/1121749002/