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8th Grade Humanities
Course Content:
In language arts, the goal is to interpret and analyze a text to develop a thorough and complex understanding - accomplished through reading, questioning, reflecting, discussing and writing across time. Students learn to understand (interpret) varied perspectives and points of view of a text and generate their own perspectives regarding these points of view. Through writing, art and speech, students create a synthesis of their understanding of the text and learn how themes in literature are universal and related to their own lives. Finally, students learn how writing is generative and portrays and documents their thinking about the literature they read, the world around them and themselves.
The selection of literary texts includes novels, plays, short stories and poetry by Latino, Japanese, North American and European authors. The texts vary year to year and may include: Light in the Forest by Conrad Richter, House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Shizuko's Daughter by Kyoko Mori, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman by Ernest J. Gaines. Short story authors include Alice Walker, Gary Soto, Zona Gale, Richard Wright, Sandra Cisneros, and Truman Capote among others. Poetry pieces include writers Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Gary Soto, Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, and Federico García Lorca.
In history, we will study European history.
Textbooks/Resources
Writer's Inc. A Student Handbook for Writing and Learning. Written and compiled by Patrick Sebranek, Dave Kemper, and Verne Meyer, 2001.
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Barbara Bayardo
Master's Degree, Latin American Studies
Ph.D., Education, Stanford
Before joining GMS, Barbara worked in the health education field on issues related to adolescent sexual health. She came to GMS as part of the founding group and worked as Assistant Head of School for two years. She has been teaching history and language arts at GMS since 2001.
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