Hello to all!
We are in the middle of March and can see the makings of a finish line for the 8th graders just a couple of months away! This week and next, we are wrapping up our unit on Jurassic Park, which will culminate in a viewing of the movie next week. Please sign the permission slip by the morning of Monday, March 16th, for your student to be able to view the film in class. Once we return from break, the students will do an exploratory research project looking at the assassination of JFK. With a combination of group work and individual work, the students will do a deep dive into their theories of who was behind the assassination. This will entail watching some documentaries, researching articles, determining credible sources, poster presentations, and a final formal write up. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. - Mr. Mazzuca
0 Comments
Good morning, all, and happy winter break!
I wanted to take a moment to provide you with an update about my upcoming leave. As a reminder, I will be out on family leave beginning Monday, January 6th, with a return date of Wednesday, February 19th. During this time, Mrs. Betsy Nepomuceno will be teaching my classes. Mrs. Nepomuceno is an experienced educator with a background in writing and language arts, as well as multiple long-term sub positions. Mrs. Nepomuceno will be learning about the classroom procedures as she begins her time in the classroom, so please exercise a little patience in the process. Mrs. Nepomuceno will be in contact with me during my leave, so if you have any concerns, please reach out to her at [email protected] You are, of course, welcome to contact me, but I may not be able to give you an immediate response. I hope you all have a safe and wonderful break, and a strong six weeks while I am out. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.
And it seems like, just yesterday, we were getting started with our eighth grade year...
Last week, the students finished up their study of Shakespeare (unless they are missing work or want to retry an assignment). Not only did we look at how Shakespeare wrote his plays, analyze his vocabulary, understand iambic pentameter as a writing style, and perform scenes from William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily A New Hope, the students also had to, then, become Shakespearean authors and create sonnets based on a song of their choosing. As we learned about sonnets, we recognized that sonnets were almost like song lyrics, but without the music. So the students had to take a song and whittle it down to its basic understanding, working within the constraints of a Shakespearean sonnet: only 14 lines, each line has to be in iambic pentameter, and following a specific rhyme scheme. Additionally, those who wanted a challenge could then write their sonnet in Elizabethan English, as Shakespeare would have used. Our next unit of study is going to be based on the novel of Jurassic Park. To begin with, JP is an incredible novel that starts to dig deep into the idea of science and man playing God; themes which we will be exploring. Having been the basis of one of my favorite films, we will be watching the movie upon completing the novel, with a focus on visual storytelling. Part of creating a movie is using music effectively, so that's where we are beginning. This week, we are doing a study of music, not just in movies, but how and why it's used in movies. This will lead us to a project the students will be doing, in which they need to create a soundtrack for the novel as they read. This unit of study will continue after winter break. As a reminder, I will be taking a leave of absence from Monday, January 6th, with a return date of Wednesday, February 19th. Information about a substitute teacher is forthcoming. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. - Mr. Mazzuca Eighth grade Literacy classes are neck deep in our study of William Shakespeare.
Taking a lead from the language arts curriculum, we have been working on an in-depth study of how Shakespeare wrote, and the best way to read/perform his works, to be able to understand the meaning of the English language he wrote in. To do this, we've been looking at Ian Doescher's William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope. This takes the first Star Wars movie from 1977 and presents it as if it had been written by William Shakespeare, including perfect iambic pentameter and rhyming couplets to end scenes and acts. The students have not only been studying the different use of the English language, but have also been learning how to correctly cite specific passages, when citing Shakespeare. They will, ultimately, be performing a scene from the play for the class in a few weeks, followed up with having to write a sonnet in iambic pentameter and following the correct sonnet rhyme scheme. As a reminder, I will be taking a six week leave immediately following winter break to attend to my growing family. A search for a substitute teacher is ongoing to find someone who we feel will fit well with the students in our classes. Once a substitute is hired, their contact information will be made available, should you need to reach them during my leave. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. - Mr. Mazzuca Hello, everyone!
I am aware of not all grades showing up on PowerSchool. This is an issue that our tech department is working on so as to better streamline the communication between the Canvas program and the PowerSchool grade book. I will keep resubmitting scores through Canvas and, hopefully, they will start populating in PowerSchool. I will keep you posted with any updates. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. - Mr. Mazzuca Since the beginning of the school year, as a way to help the students better understand To Kill A Mockingbird, which they will be reading in their Language Arts classes, we have been looking at what allegory is and how it works.
We have read Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne, listened to a recording of Strange Fruit by Billie Holliday, and read I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. All of these pieces, be them stories, or songs, or poems, work as allegories, as the authors are trying to share a bigger message by way of using symbolism. As we continue to study allegories, the students will have an opportunity to display their knowledge and understanding of allegories by writing one of their own. But that will come in time. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. - Mr. Mazzuca Hello, all, and welcome to a brand new school year.
I will be doing my best to keep up with this page to not only update and homework or projects, but to also offer a bit of understanding of what is currently happening in our classroom. This week, eighth graders have started learning about allegories and how they work. We've separated our ideas into two factions: symbols and allegories (allegories being stories that use multiple symbols that represent larger ideas). To assist with this, we will be reading Young Goodman Brown, an allegory written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. This story is set in the late 1690's in the New England settlements. To help better understand that particular setting, the students have been learning a bit about the Salem Witch Trials. They'll be able to see how this historical time served as a backdrop for Hawthorne's short story. From there, students will be writing their own original allegories. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. - Mr. Mazzuca William Shakespeare said that through Polonious, one of the characters from Hamlet.
Understanding Shakespeare is no easy feat. As the students get ready to read some Shakespeare in their LA classes, we are getting a head start by looking at a piece of writing that was written in the same style as Shakespeare, but perhaps a more well known story from a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. That's right. What if Shakespeare had written Star Wars? We are looking at just that to help prepare for what lies ahead in LA. In other news, as we approach spring break, we are also approaching the arrival of Baby Mazzuca! Officially due on March 28th, anything is possible. To that end, I will be taking some time off when the little guy arrives. Please know that I am working with Mr. Collins and Mrs. Trowbridge to find a substitute whom we all feel is going to be most qualified to work with your amazing young people! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Until then -- - Mr. Mazzuca The due date for this assignment is going to be pushed back. There is no due date set yet, but you can be guaranteed that it won't come as a surprise.
Tuesday, September 18th (the original due date) remains the last day that we will have class time devoted to this assignment. After that, the work will have to be done outside of class. Once a new due date has been determined, it will be posted on this blog entry as an UPDATE, posted in Canvas on the assignment, and tweeted out from my school Twitter account (themrmazzuca). Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. - Mr. Mazzuca As we have finished up our reading of Young Goodman Brown, and discussing elements of symbolism and allegory, we're going to shift gears a little bit and learn about where some of his ideas for this story came from.
We're going to be learning a little bit about the Salem Witch Trials. Our main story character, Goodman Brown, lives in Salem Village, around the same time as the witch trials took place. We'll see if we can find specific events from our history that may have contributed to Nathaniel Hawthorne's ideas as he wrote the story! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. - Mr. Mazzuca |
A continuation of all things going on in 8th grade literacy class this school year! Archives
March 2020
Categories |