Jeannette+Guider-+Thinking+and+Planning+Big

//Olivia Hallisey, 17-// A student from Connecticut who invented a new way to test for the Ebola Virus that does not need to be refrigerated or require electricity, both of which are scarce in the nations hit most by the virus. She shows that just because someone is young they can have a huge impact not only locally, but globally. //Anne Frank,// noted for her diary that was written during the holocaust. She tells of trials faced by her family while she struggled to get along with her family. This is going to be relatable to students and Anne speaks of having to flee her country as well as settle uncomfortably in a new place. //Chelsea Clinton// spent her adolescent years as the daughter of the president of the United States. She now as an adult tours schools and gives power to students while standing up for equal rights of women. She has written a best-selling book and shows that (while privileged) had her goals set when she was young and conquers them now as an adult.
 * 8th Grade Social Studies US/North Carolina History**
 * __Theme 1:__** Broadening our horizons. Different cultures helped to shape and define Pre-colonial North America and North Carolina. Students will look at the culture, geography, and history of Pre-Colonial North America and think about where they want to go in their futures. Imagining that they as 8th graders are leaving the world of Middle School they will look at their future and plan out where they want to go as they venture on to high school, their college years or the work force, their adult lives and lastly retirement. They will take into consideration the challenges they will face and think about all of the people who have gotten them to where they are today, and the steps they need to take to reach their goals.
 * Essential or Highlighted Individuals:**
 * Core Texts:**
 * Malala Yousafzai’s //He Named Me Malala//** is the Nobel Peace Prize winning book about the tale of increasing education for girls globally. She has opened numerous schools and despite all of her suffering she does not stop fighting for the rights of children or their education.
 * Jordan Sonnenblick’s //Zen and the Art of Faking it://** is a tale of a boy who is smitten by a girl and is trying to play it cool even when everything is going wrong around him. He takes on Zen Buddhism to try and impress her. This can be used as a fun read for students who are going through a hard time personally and is light hearted and easy to read. It shows that hard work and determination given the right motivation.
 * Ernest J. Gains //A Lesson Before Dying//** is a tale of a black man, Jefferson, being convicted of murder (whether rightfully or wrongfully so is up to the reader) and sentenced to death. The setting is rural, post reconstruction America and speaks to the testament of good teachers. The only person Jefferson cares to speak to after being sentenced to death is his former teacher who never gave up on him, and to this day doesn’t.

//George Washington-// Hey, he was the president for crying out loud! And he led the fight against the British, the ultimate stand up against King George III. He is also one of our founding fathers- thanks, pop! He was also a strong adolescent as he was a senior officer in the colonial militia during the beginning of the French and Indian War. If he doesn’t give rise to the thought that a young person can take a stand I don’t know who can! //Joshua Wong, 19-// He is one of the core leaders of Hong Kong’s Umbrella Revolution- in 1997 the United Kingdom promised Hong Kong autonomy when the colony was given to Beijing. No immediate political reform has taken place, but apart from some trespassing charges (no, I don’t condone this) Wong has made his voice heard! //Langston Hughes//- He is a writer, social activist, and columnist. He was the grandson of slaves and the son of a school teacher. He endured racism and stood up for his racial pride. He is notable in his contribution to Jazz poetry and helped bring the Harlem Renaissance to the forefront.
 * __Theme 2:__** It’s a Revolution! Sometimes students will need to stand up for what they believe in both in their adolescent years as well as their adult years. This will not only focus on the American Revolution, but also on the Harlem Renaissance- which was not in fact a revolution, but sort of- in its own right.
 * Essential or Highlighted Individuals:**
 * Core Texts:**
 * Jim Haskins //Black Stars of the Harlem Renaissance: African Americans Who Lived Their Dreams//** this highlights many notable African Americans who pushed for the ‘new negro’ and spoke up for equal rights of African Americans as well as supported Pan-Africanism. It is a collection of biographies of some of the most influential African Americans of the time such as WEB Dubois and Marcus Garvey.
 * Elizabeth Partridge //Searching for Freedom: Walk Together Children, and Don’t You Grow Weary//** is a book which focuses on the children who proudly marched next to Martin Luther King Jr as African Americans fought for their right to vote.
 * Tonya Bolden //A Nineteenth-Century American Girl//** is a story based on the memoir of Maritcha Lyons who was a black child born free and living in New York City in the mid 1800s where the African American population was less than 3 percent. Maritcha shows that even a small fish in a big pond can make some waves!

//Nat Turner:// A slave revolt leader who brought inspiration to other slaves and is considered an anti-slavery revolutionary. (Here I go again with the revolution thing. Man, America has had plenty of wars and revolutions for being so young!) //Abraham Lincoln:// The United States president who ushered for the abolishment of slavery in southern states and amended the constitution that the south did not want to ratify. Thus dividing a nation and nodding towards the everlasting crisis of national vs. state led governments. //Jefferson Davis:// Led the confederate south in the war and the president of the then confederate states during the Civil War. Ultimately led the south to be defeated, but is a key player nonetheless.
 * __Theme 3:__** The divided nation and civil war. I guess this theme should have come before the Revolution theme, but scope and sequence aren’t really regarded here, right? I know this is covered in 8th grade, but I’m not quite sure of the over-arching theme here… Divided we fall, but together we stand!
 * Essential or Highlighted Individuals**
 * Core Texts:**
 * Walt Whitman //Civil War Poetry and Prose//**: I really think this is a good way to cross ELA and SS together. Walt Whitman is one of my favorite authors and he experienced the Civil War first hand volunteering in hospitals. His poems are riddled with the sights and sounds of the war as well as its aftermath.
 * J. Franklin Dyer //The Journal of a Civil War Surgeon//** is a book I picked up at Fort Macon in North Carolina. It offers a surgeon’s perspective of the war over the course of 3 years. The journal includes letters written to his wife where he accounts his daily life in detail. I don’t think most students are given this kind of first-hand account of the war.
 * Seymour Reit //Behind Rebel Lines//** is the account retold from joining US Army Records as well as National Archive files of a young girl who joined the Yankee army disguised as a man. It is known that in the Shakespearean era ben dressed as ladies for roles, but for a woman to so desperately want to contribute to the war as to fake being a man is nearly un heard of.

//Andrew Johnson:// Became president after the assassination of Lincoln. He pardoned many confederate leaders and while he actually took a more conservative approach to his reconstruction plan excluding former slaves and freedmen alike. While not the best man (what president is?) he did do lot to help the south economically and did what any president does and typically stays away from state affairs. //Frederick Douglass:// Was a former slave who escaped to freedom. He became an orator and a writer. He recounted his life in a disturbing autobiography and during the reconstruction era he worked for the equality of both women and African Americans. He served as the president of The Freedmen’s Savings Bank. //Oliver O Howard:// served as chief commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau per the request of President Johnson, he served as a Union General in the civil war and founded Howard University in 1867. He committed himself to improving education and other opportunities for the newly freed African Americans.
 * __Theme 4:__** Belonging- Reconstruction Era. Well the nation was ravaged by the Civil War and the south suffered immensely due to federal cuts and the length of time it took for all of the southern states, especially North Carolina to ratify the constitution. Sometimes it is good to stand apart and stand up for what you believe in, but it’s only good when what you’re standing up for is right.
 * Essential or Highlighted Individuals**
 * Core Texts:**
 * Phillip Puludan //Victims//**: takes a look at the victims of the Shelton Laurel Massacre where 13 people who were accused of supporting the Union side during the civil war were massacred in Shelton Laurel, North Carolina.
 * William Link //North Carolina: Change and Tradition in the Tar Heel State.//** For this I would primarily focus on chapters 10-12 as this is where the book focuses on the reconstruction and I think it is good for students to be able to relate it to only North Carolina. While it is a narrow view of the broad effects that reconstruction had for the south, it will be more relatable if students can see how it shaped their own backyards.
 * Chuck Parsons //A Lawless Breed//** is a book giving the accounts of the wild west in Texas. Following the civil war fugitives took to the newly settled west and ran amuck. This is the account of John Wesley Hardin who had a bounty of 4,000 dollars placed on his head. I think it will get 8th graders interested in the settling of the West that isn’t quite mentioned in their text books.

//Oliver Brown:// see also Brown Vs. Board of Education. Oliver Brown of Topeka, Kansas held that the segregation of students in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because separate facilities are inherently unequal. This case over turned 3 other cases including Plessy Vs. Ferguson which inacted the separate but equal law. //Mildred and Richard Loving:// another landmark case Loving Vs. Virgina which held that Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924 (whites can only marry whites to preserve the race) violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Mildred was African American and Richard was white. //Martin Luther King, Jr.// fought and spoke out for equality among blacks and whites but took a different approach and said that whites and blacks together create one body of brothers and sisters. Really the first of his kind participating in peaceful protests (yes we know he had guns to keep himself safe, and sure rumor has it he had prostitutes) but instead of rallying against and killing police officers and white people he called for peace in a time of war and urged everyone to walk alongside one another laying ethnic differences aside.
 * __Theme 5:__** Bridging the Gap- After the Freedmen were granted voting rights and thus considered citizens a lot of changes had to be made that we are still fighting for today. Civil Rights came about trying to level the playing field of opportunities between African American and white citizens. Some southern states combatted those changes by passing legislation creating separate but [hardly] equal facilities. Racism, lack of opportunity and inequitable treatment of African Americans led to the great migration.
 * Essential or Highlighted Individuals**
 * Core Texts:**
 * Michael P Johnson //Reading the American Past: Volume II from 1865//** is part of the two volume collection that provides seminal documents and lesser-known sources to help students analyze their textbook readings. This allows for additional perspectives on environmental, western, ethnic, and gender history.
 * Dave Eggers: //Zeitoun://** is the true story of a Syrian-American family who faces present day racial challenges. They lost everything during hurricane Katrina and find themselves caught between America’s two biggest policy disasters: The war on terror and the lack of response to Hurricane Katrina.
 * Nikki Grimes: //Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope//** is a biography of Barack Obama. I only find it utterly interesting that I am quite sure that my grandparents felt that in their life they would never see an African American president. Rappers of the late 80s and early 90s even said that “we ain’t ready to see a black president” in the context of racial inequality. While people argue both sides of whether or not Obama was a good president it cannot be ignored that he will leave the legacy behind of being the first black president.

//Charles B. Aycock:// North Carolina’s 50th governor and the one who pushed for the improvement of the state’s public school systems and after he ended his term in office in 1905 he traveled the entire country pushing for educational causes. His legacy viewpoint has however been challenged due to his ties with white supremacy. W//ashington Duke:// and his family- first made their living off of tobacco farming and production of other tobacco goods he also dabbled in textiles and hydroelectric power. This family is who Duke University is named after and if you look at your power bill the Duke Progress energy company has his name also. This family is notable for having a charitable trust to support child care, churches, higher education and hospitals in both North and South Carolina. //Alexander Q. Holladay// was the first ever president of NCSU! He was the colonel of the Confederate Army during the Civil War, NCSU was founded in 1887 as part of the land-grant given to NCSU by the general assembly. Holladay was the first to take the lead of our wonderful college!
 * __Theme 6:__** Bringing it all home. I would like to focus this solely on North Carolina and pride in the state. While some students may have moved here others were raised here. 8th grade social studies is a combination of both US and NC history, and I think looking at the expansion of NC from the mountains to the coast is a good way to send middle schoolers off to high school.
 * Essential or Highlighted Individuals:**
 * Core Texts:**
 * //Raleigh: The First 200 Years//.** This book contains a look at the people, places and events for the first 200 years of Raleigh.
 * Lee Miller //Roanoke: The Mystery of the Lost Colony//**//.// So enamored are the public with this lost colony that even now the TV show American Horror Story is slated to have the next series of their show based on the lost colony. It is nice to have students learn about the infamous first colony- were they murdered or did they absorb themselves into the Native American Tribe? We will never know.
 * Candy Beal and Carmine Prioli //Life at the Ede of the Sea: Essays on North Carolina’s Coast and Coastal Culture.//** It’s no wonder why we are one of the best states in the nation! We have the Appalachian Mountains and a sprawling coastline. Our state is the best of both worlds. This book proclaims all of the reasons why our coast is great, and so are the people that live there!