Humanities Grade 7

Hello 7th grade students, family and community!

We are so glad you are here! Queens School of Inquiry is a particularly extraordinary school! At Queens School of Inquiry,  you will have the opportunity to earn college  credit while receiving your high school diploma. As an Early College Initiative school, you can expect to be college and career ready when you graduate from the Queens School of Inquiry. You can also expect to be finished with some high school exams by the time you finish middle school. It’s so important to stay focused and committed to your goals--whatever they may be! 

Class Expectations:

In order to cultivate a positive and productive learning environment, respect, kindness, and responsibility are key.  Therefore, it is expected that all students:

• Be Respectful
• Be Responsible
• Be Kind

Our goals for you for this year:

• You will feel safe, welcomed, and cared for in this classroom.
• You will feel that your thoughts and opinions are heard and respected.
• You will always strive for your absolute best.
• You will use mistakes as learning experiences and try a new method if the first one does not work.
• You will persevere through problems even when you find them to be difficult.
• You will learn skills that can be transferred to areas outside of the classroom.

Student Responsibilities: We will have a challenging year while soaring to new levels and having fun. In order for you to do as well as you possibly can this year, here are some tips that you might find helpful:

Always be prepared – You should come to class every day with the appropriate supplies and any assignments that are due for the day. 

If you have a question, ask – Please feel free to ask as many questions that you need to in order to feel prepared and ready to do your work and/or homework. It is never an inconvenience for us to answer one of your questions.

Practice good studying habits – Be sure to review your notes, any handouts, and study with a partner. Give yourself enough time for studying so that you are completely prepared.

Complete all assignments – Make sure that you are keeping track of assignments and important dates. Be sure to hand in every assignment on time. Keep assignments in a safe place so you do not lose them. You are responsible for finding out your assignments if you are absent. Contact a classmate or check in with a teacher. 

Participation is the key – Much of our class will be based on class discussions and work we will complete in class. If you are not participating, you will not be able to reach your full potential in the class.

Learn and Have Fun – Our goal is for everyone to be involved and excited about Humanities  and to be ready to explore the world of Humanities for all that it has to offer!

Homework: At QSI, we are centered on college readiness. Rather than assign excessive homework on a daily basis students will be working on unit projects and literacy assignments that reflect higher level thinking and take longer to complete. Students will have work most nights but it may not necessarily be due the next day. All assignments and standards-based grades will be available on Jumprope for students and families to review.

Grading Policy:

This class revolves around the Next Generation Humanities Standards. Since this is a standards driven class, it is only suiting that we follow standards based assessment procedures. For those of you who are not familiar with this type of grading, please reference the QSI Grading Policy.

Students will be graded according to mastery of content in specific standards.  In other words, students will be assessed on a number of different standards broken down into reading, writing, speaking & listening, and language categories.  Please refer to the Standards-Based Learning and Assessment Community Guide for additional information.

Assessments and Reassessments:

Students will be given a variety of both formal (summative) and informal assessments (formative).  From discussions to projects, students will have numerous opportunities to display knowledge of content. After completing a standards-based assessment, students may request to be reassessed.  

Course Description and Objective:

Students will explore deep and meaningful themes about human nature and society as well as acquire facts and knowledge about various interrelated topics.  By implementing different reading and writing strategies, students will be able to independently read, write, and discuss the texts  as well as history within the course in an analytical way.  

Throughout the course, content and material will be differentiated according to the strengths of each student.  This differentiation will ensure that all members can and will succeed.  It is our goal to make students feel comfortable and eager to learn, and ultimately, be the best they can be. We hope to encourage students to become life-long readers, life-long writers, and life-long learners.  

This year we will be focusing on American History and Literacy. We will go through many different historical events and literature that connects with these events. We will focus on: 

Unit 1: First Nations of the Americas

In this unit we will study primary sources to hypothesize how we know what we know about the lives of ancient American Nations. Students will explore how archaeologists and historians develop theories that help them write and tell history.

Unit 2: Who Authors Our History? 

Students will take a deep dive into the story of Pocahontas. They will study multiple versions of the story told over time from different perspectives. The goal is to determine how the person telling a story and the version they choose to tell serves personal and political purposes in shaping the way their audience perceives history and remembers historical events. 

Unit 3: 1619

1619 was the year that enslaved Africans first arrived on American shores. In this unit students learn why the year is significant and recount some of the events that stemmed the slave trade. Through book clubs, students look at different stories of those that were enslaved and the impact of these events on them.

Unit 4: “Nothing of the greater good comes without struggle and sacrifice in equal measure, be you man or woman, and in this way are we freed from tyranny.” 

Students will look at the role and treatment of women in Puritan societies. They explore the events of the Salem Witch Trials to see how fear and superstition were used as tools of suppression, particularly against women.

Unit 5: Leaving Europe

Students look at why people would be willing to uproot their lives to move to the colonies, determining whether it was push or pull factors that had the greater influence. They also look at what it took for the colonies to become established, including the shift in thinking to adjust to the new environment (contrasting the colonies that were able to be established with what is known about the failure of  Jamestown). 

Unity 6: Rebels

Students look at why people became Patriots, Loyalists or stayed neutral. Students then explore key events to determine what sparked the War of Independence, and key decisions and moments that led to victory. 

Unit 7: We the People

Students look at the people involved in the writing of the Constitution, their backstory, and why they were involved in, and their footprint on  the process. 

Unit 8: Perspectives Change 

This is a project based learning unit. Students will review the year’s work and synthesize what they’ve learned to answer two of the course’s essential questions.

Contact Information:

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns at any point in the year, please contact us at: 

[email protected]