The Story Begins Here

8th Grade Social Studies

Phone: 910-371-3030 Ext 17047

How It All Started....

I've always enjoyed helping people. Someone must have noticed that and when I was in 9th grade at Augusta Military Academy, in Virginia, Col. Savedge, our headmaster, determined that I would be fit in working with the junior school kids in C Company. He had me promoted to 1st Sergeant. The following year I became their company commander and there it began.

Since 1980, I have been working with young people in some capacity. My career in education began in 1995 as a special education teaching assistant at Hicksville Middle School on Long Island, and the next year as a high school social studies teacher at Concord High School in Staten Island. I moved to Wilmington in 2001 where I taught at Williston Middle School and Charles P Murray Middle School until 2014, Northside High School in Jacksonville to 2021 and Leland Middle School since then. I have also been an adjunct professor at Miller Motte Technical College.

When I am not in the classroom, I enjoy officiating sports, leisurely motorcycle riding, singing karaoke and most recently, my new business as a real estate agent.

RESPECT. It's not just an Aretha Franklin song!

Classroom Rules

Simply put, all class rules revolve a very simple principle: RESPECT. Respecting yourself, respecting others and respecting your environment.

Self-respect begins with good hygiene, coming to school dressed appropriately, and having self confidence and esteem. That doesn't mean you need to be perfect, just try to do your very best as often as possible. Mistakes are inevitable and are okay, use them as learning experiences.

Respecting others is simple. You don't have to like someone, but if you have enough respect for yourself, you don't have to show your dislike openly. Being openly disrespectful to others not only creates an unhealthy situation, it also puts you in a bad light. Those with self-respect try to remain in a positive light.

Respecting your environment is another easy one. Clean up around you, even if you didn't create the mess. Keep tables and desks clean from writing or graffiti. Do you want to work in a dirty environment? Don't leave it that way for someone else!

As you can see, all trouble can be avoided by simply practicing respect!

Tools Need For Success:

Positive Attitude

Loose Leaf Binder

Loose Leaf Paper

Dividers

Pens/Pencils

Colored Pencils

Rulers

Grading Weights

Tests - 40%

Quizzes 30%

Classwork/Projects 20%

Exit Ticket 10%

The Year at a Glance 2023-2024

1- Foundational Skills

This unit will introduce students to foundational skills that they will use during this course: including analyzing primary and secondary sources, timelines and maps; evaluating sources for bias; and understanding the regional characteristics of North Carolina and the United States.

2-Settlement to Colonies

This unit focuses on successful and unsuccessful attempts to settle North America by Europeans, the establishment of the British colonies and impacts of these attempts on the world.

3- Road to Revolution

This unit focuses on the American colonists’ conflicts with England which led to the Revolutionary War and the impact of the war on the development of the United States.

4- Forming the Nation

This unit examines the founding documents and formation of the governmental structure of the United States. Students evaluate how democratic ideals, conflict, citizen action, and negotiation shaped the formation of the government of the United States and NC, including the Constitution and the powers of the three branches.

5- Affirming the Nation

This unit will examine ways that the validity and strength of the newly created United States of America was tested by both foreign entities as well as from within. Many precedents were set during this period that would define the scope of federal power afforded by the Constitution.

6- Physical Expansion

This unit will analyze and evaluate reasons for American Expansion to the West, ways in which new land was obtained by the United States, and the impact of Westward Expansion on the government, economy, physical geography, human geography, and interactions between groups of people.

7- Civil War and Reconstruction

This unit will analyze sectionalism in the United States, causes of the Civil War, turning points of the Civil War, and the political, social and economic impacts of the Civil War and Reconstruction as the nation worked to rebuild in the years that followed.

8- Industrialism and Its Impact

Students will evaluate the rise of Industrialism in the United States and its impact on the physical and human geography of the United States as well as the impacts on the government, economy, and people.

9- Progressivism

In this unit, students will analyze the reasons for and the many ways in which Americans sought to improve economic, political, and societal conditions for themselves and others and the changes that were made as a result.

10- Modern Wars and Foreign Policy

This unit will examine America's stance on foreign policy and interaction with other nations, as well as evaluate the impact of American involvement on major world conflicts on their resolutions, and the impact on the American government, economy and people.

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