8TH GRADE U.S. HISTORY Mr. White WELCOME!!!!!! 8TH GRADE U.S. HISTORY Mr. White

About Me 9th year at Buljan 9th year teaching U.S. History

CONTACT TWHITE@RCSDK8.ORG DAILY AGENDA WILL BE ON THE BULJAN MIDDLE SCHOOL WEBSITE

COURSE OVERVIEW Eighth grade social studies is a general overview of early American History.  The course covers the following… Colonization The American Revolution  The Constitution Early Republic Westward Movement Indian Removal The North The South Slavery The Civil War Reconstruction

My Own Beliefs Throughout the school year, we will be discussing some very serious political, cultural, and religious issues. Issues such as slavery, immigration, and religious persecution will be explored often in this course. While I encourage students to form their own opinions regarding the issues we discuss, at no time will I try to persuade a student to one side or the other. I feel it is my professional and ethical responsibility to remain neutral. My goal is to create independent thinks that can evaluate various situations and come to their own conclusions using analytical and critical thinking skills.

Classroom Philosophy If students feel comfortable, safe, and welcome, they will be more engaged and more willing to learn.

My Main Goal… The course will focus on creating students who can effectively use critical thinking and analytical skills I want your child to be a great THINKER! This will happen by focusing on analyzing sources and using evidence to form an argument/claim

Ex: Primary Source Analysis

Ex. Evidence-Based Writing

CLASSWORK The vast majority of work will be completed in the classroom. A wide variety of different resources will be used. In addition to the textbook and note-taking, short stories, novels, primary source documents, music, video clips, political cartoons, PowerPoint slides, debates, Socratic seminars, creative projects, drawings, and other multiple modalities will be used.

Test Retakes Test retakes will only be considered if a student has no missing assignments. Only work for the current unit will be accepted. The maximum score on a retake is 70%

GRADING POLICY Grades will be based on the quality of each student’s work and his/her ability to meet the given expectations for each assignment. All grades will be given on a total-point scale. The total points for each assignment are determined by length and difficulty of each assignment. Students will be graded based on his/her ability to meet the California State Standards. All assignments will fall under one of two categories: summative/major assignments and formative/homework assignments.

HOMEWORK THERE WON’T BE A LOT! BUT……..

LATE WORK It is expected that all work be turned in on time. If a student misses a due date, they must complete a “Late Assignment Explanation” worksheet. Without a completed explanation worksheet, NO LATEWORK WILL BE ACCEPTED. The points deducted from the work will be determined by the length of time in which the work is late and by the overall quality of the work that has been turned in. If a student is absent, they will be allowed to make-up the daily assignments missed, but it must be turned in within the same number of days that the student was absent. For example, if a student was absent 2 consecutive school days, they have two additional school days to make-up any missed assignments.

Access to Gradebook Parent access to the Power School grade book is a feature that is on its way to you shortly.  There is not currently access for parents but a process for accessing grade books is being developed at the district level and this information will be communicated to you as soon as it is ready. 

CONTACT TWHITE@RCSDK8.ORG DAILY AGENDA WILL BE ON THE BULJAN MIDDLE SCHOOL WEBSITE