Homework
Social Studies Homework
Current Event:
Much of the curriculum in the 7th and 8th grade mirrors what is currently happening in the US and around the world today. Additionally, the US History Regents that all the students will be taking at the end of their 8th-grade year includes many current events related questions. There is no greater way to connect the learning of history to the lives of the students than to have them see how the events of the past have shaped how we live today. Decisions made hundreds of years ago are being played out daily in many of the current events and situations happening today. Class discussions are much better when the students can connect what we are learning to what is happening around them today. It requires, however, that students have a grasp of current events.
To that end, students should watch the evening news each night for at least ten minutes. Preferably they should watch the first ten minutes when the more important news stories are typically covered.
They will select one news story and write a summary of the important points of the story in their own words. They can write their summaries on loose leaf and turn them in on Friday or they can submit via our Google Classroom. Copying/pasting news articles from a news website will not count. The summaries MUST be in their own words.
Students should NOT summarize sports, weather, or entertainment stories.
Students are to turn in FOUR current event summaries each week on Friday. Students have the option of handing the summaries in all at once on Friday or they can turn them in as they do them.
One story should be a local story (important to NYC),
One story should be a national story (important to the country),
One story should be an international story (world), and
One additional story from any of these categories
BONUS: If a news story can be connected to something we are currently discussing in class the assignment will receive bonus credit. THREE bonus credits will count as one homework.
If a student does three bonus credits and misses a homework, for whatever reason, the missing homework will be offset by the bonus credit.
Homework Rubric
Homework grades will be calculated weekly. Students will receive a grade of 4, 3, 2, 1, or 0
4 - The student did 4 news summaries. Each summary was a minimum of one paragraph (4 sentences) and written in the student's own words using complete sentences.
3 - The student did 3 news summaries. Each summary was a minimum of one paragraph (4 sentences) and written in the student's own words using complete sentences.
2 - The student did 2 news summaries. Each summary was a minimum of one paragraph (4 sentences) and written in the student's own words using complete sentences. OR The student did more than 2 stories that were not a minimum of one paragraph.
1 - The student did 1 news summary. The summary was a minimum of one paragraph (4 sentences) and written in the student's own words using complete sentences. OR The student did 2 stories that were not a minimum of one paragraph.
0 - The student did not do any news summaries OR the news summaries were not in the student's own words (Copy/Pasted)