Humanities 9th Grade • Matt Haupert Semester One - Fall 2017 "A word after a word after a word is power." ~Margaret Atwood
Contact Information Email:[email protected] Phone: 608-498-9529 Digital Portfolio: matthaupert.weebly.com
Semester Overview Students in this classroom will develop as critical and creative thinkers, powerful writers, confident speakers, and passionate readers through reading and writing fiction and nonfiction texts, class discussions and seminars, and collaborative projects.
The semester will be divided into three main projects - two smaller projects and one major project - which will be driven by the following essential questions:
*How do we choose what to believe? *What factors shaped us into the people we are today? *What is the nature, and the fate, of humanity? How do you know?
The projects are:
Mock Trial - Students take on the roles of lawyers, witnesses, and jurors in a mock trial experience designed for students to grapple with evidence and answer the questions, “How do we choose what to believe? How do you change someone’s mind?”
Origin Stories - Students interview one another and make podcast episodes about their classmates, investigating the factors that shaped us into the people we are today. (9th grade Exhibition - October 12, 4:30 - 6:30, HTHNC)
What Lies Ahead - After exploring the history of the universe from the beginning of time until now, students develop theories about the future and fate of humanity, and write science fiction short stories based on these theories. Throughout their work, students will receive feedback from professional literary agents and Sci-Fi authors. (All-School Exhibition - Thursday, December 14) (Book Launch Event - TBD January date, Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore, San Diego)
More information will be available on my digital portfolio once each project is underway.
Materials The Constitution of the State of California requires that we provide a public education to you free of charge. Subject to certain exceptions, your right to a free public education means that we cannot require you or your family to purchase materials, supplies, equipment or uniforms for any school activity. Many families have been asking what supplies their child may need during this school year. Below, I have a recommended list of supplies that your child may bring to school. Please note that if your child does not bring the recommended supplies, the school will provide the supplies for him/her. If you have any questions/comments about this, please contact me, or Emilio Torres, the school director. Thanks.
Reading Option Students will choose two of the following books to read with small groups throughout the semester. All are connected thematically to our Science Fiction Writing project. Lexile levels are listed next to each book. Students will take a Renaissance Reading Assessment early in the school year, after which students will be able to strategically select an appropriately challenging book. Students do NOT need these books by the first day of school.
The House of the Scorpion - Nancy Farmer - 660 lexile, 400 pages Ender’s Game - Orson Scott Card - 780 lexile, 384 pages Uglies - Scott Westerfield - 770 lexile, 448 pages Unwind - Neil Shusterman - 740 lexile, 335 pages Ready Player One - Ernest Cline - 990 lexile, 375 pages Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury - 890 lexile, 208 pages Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - 870 lexile, 288 pages 1984 - George Orwell - 1090 lexile, 312 pages Parable of the Sower - Octavia Butler - 710 lexile, 299 pages Flawed - Cecelia Ahern - 760 lexile, 336 pages Feed - Matthew Tobin Anderson - 770 lexile, 240 pages
Classroom Materials The following classroom materials are required for day one of school. Pens Highlighters 1-inch three-ring binder 1 composition notebook (not a spiral notebook)
**Please let me know if you are unable to acquire any of the supplies listed above, and I will provide them for the students on day one.
Challenge Options Challenge options will be available for students who are interested in deepening their Humanities studies even further. Usually, this will come in the form of additional writing or reading. Students are encouraged to take challenge options whenever they feel up to the task. Completing challenge options does not mean additional points for an assignment, but excellent completion of challenges may, every now and then, appear as extra credit assignments in the gradebook.
Office Hours I will be available in my office every week from 3:30pm-4:30pm on Thursday afternoons and before school on Friday mornings from 7:30am-8:30am. I can be available on other days after school and during lunch by appointment--just let me know! Please ask for help if you need it! It’s what I’m here for.
Grading All assignment grades will be updated in a digital gradebook. The web address for this grade book is: http://powerschool.hightechhigh.org/public/. If a student or parent has misplaced their login and password information, please email Joanna Clark at [email protected]. Students will be graded on the following four categories. Rubrics for each are linked on my Digital Portfolio.
Content Knowledge - 50%
Collaboration - 15%
Oral communication - 15%
Work ethic - 20%
Homework Beginning the second week of school, once students have selected their first novel from the list above, there will be homework every night - and the homework will be the exact same every night - READ. Students will be reading two novels independently this semester, and they should be expected to read a little bit every single night to ensure they are meeting the weekly reading deadlines.
Late Work Late work should be completely avoided! Any late work will immediately score no higher than a 50% work ethic score--I will accept late work up to the end of a project. If the project has closed, any work done in that project will no longer be accepted.
Plagiarism/ Academic Dishonesty Any form of cheating will be reported to the Dean of Students and will result in immediate action. Penalties entail receiving an automatic zero on the assignment and you will be required to write a reflective piece about the incident, which must be signed by your parents and will be placed in your permanent student file. Incidents such as these are reportable to colleges and universities (even if it occurs in the 9th grade). If there is a second incident, a committee will be called to assess the student’s place at HTHNC. It is against High Tech High policy (and the law) to use another person’s work as your own. Using another person’s ideas or summaries is also a form of plagiarism.
Keeping Up With Student Work There are several ways to stay involved with your student’s progress throughout the semester:
My Digital Portfolio - matthaupert.weebly.com - My DP will contain quick links to all of the sites mentioned below, as well as information on current projects.
Google Classroom - All parents will be added to my Google Classroom page, which can be accessed by clicking the link on the homepage of my DP. You will be able to view announcements that I post for the class, assignments, due dates, and your student’s work. .
Student Digital Portfolios - Students will be creating their own digital portfolios. The primary function of these will be weekly writing assignments in the form of blog posts. Links to student DPs will be included on my own DP, giving you the opportunity to read their writing each week.
Newsela - Newsela is an online program that provides news articles for students at their exact reading levels. Each week, students will read one Newsela article and complete the accompanying quiz. A link to Newsela is included on my DP. Log in with your student to view reading level, reading growth, and articles completed during the semester. Additional articles and quizzes may be completed at home if the student is looking to push their reading level further.
Contact me! Send me an e-mail or a text or give me a call with any questions or concerns.
Semester 1 Outline Due to the nature of project based learning, the following schedule is subject to change.
Week 2 September 4th- September 8th Mock Trial project; Begin novel #1
Week 3 September 11th- September 15th Mock Trial project
Week 4 September 18th-September 22st Origin Stories: Podcast project
Week 5 September 25th- September 29th Origin Stories: Podcast project; Select novel #2
Week 6 October 2nd- October 6th Origin Stories: Podcast project; Begin novel #2
Week 7 October 9th-October 13th Origin Stories: Podcast project Week 8 October 16th-October 20th History of the Universe
Week 9 October 23rd- October 27th History of the Universe
Week 10 October 30th-November 3rd Science Fiction Project
Week 11 November 6th-November 10th Science Fiction Project
Week 12 November 13th-November 17th Science Fiction Project
Week 13 November 20th-November 24th Fall Break
Week 14 November 27th-December 1st Science Fiction Project
Week 15 December 4th-December 8th Science Fiction Project
Week 16 December 11th-December 15th Science Fiction Project; All-School Exhibition
Week 17 December 18th-December 22nd Winter Break
Week 18 December 25th-December 29th Winter Break
Week 19 January 1st-January 5th Prepare for Book Launch/ POLs
Week 20 January 8th-January 12th Prepare for Book Launch/ POLs
Week 21 January 15th-January 19th Reflection on First Semester and Goal Setting for Second Semester
Your First Assignment
Have one parent visit matthaupert.weebly.com and complete the Google Form linked on the front page! (This will allow me to add parents to Google Classroom and gather all parent contact information electronically. **If you do not have internet access at home, a paper copy of the form can be picked up at school. DUE ON THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! (8/28)