World War II Novels

We will be reading literature circles with several World War II novels. The choice of novels covers a wide variety of topics related to the World War II era: Holocaust survivors and victims, Nazis Germany, the attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans of Japanese Ancestry and internment camps, a the experience of an American soldier. on the beaches of Normandy, as well as the details surrounding the development and use of the atomic bomb.

The goals of our reading these novels are: to appreciate historical fiction and non-fiction, to understand different view points and experiences, to learn more about this time period and the key issues involved, and to discuss with other readers our questions and responses to the book.
By the end of your reading, you will work with other students in your class to define what makes a memorial. Then, you will create a memorial that honors a character or group from your book.

Your grade for this unit will be based on three things: regular participation in the blog, a culminating constructed response, and your final project. 

POSTING TO THE BLOG:
When you post to your book's page, you want to be sure to get credit for your comments.  One way to do this is to be signed in to your Google account before you post.  You can also just sign your name inside the comment like this: 

                      " I choose this book because my grandfather fought in WWII and 

                       I wanted to learn more about what it was like for the soldiers." (LindsayL)

When you are responding to someone's posts, you can ether reply to theirs or you will need to refer to whom it is to are speaking to in your own comment:

"@Jimmy, I like the idea you posted about that quote, I was thinking it meant something totally different.  Now I get it!"

This is an ACADEMIC site and I expect you to use it as such.  Commentary on topics other than WWII and the novels we are reading are not appropriate.  Proper use of language and SEC should be followed just as if you were in class talking or writing a CR. The rubric for how your posting will be scored is below:

	4	3	2	1
Posting activity and content	Posted on multiple ideas and ideas were well explained with details	Posted appropriate material with a complete explanation for the week's assignment	Posted with on topic for the week's assignment but with a vague explanation	Post was not truly on the topic of the week's assignment
Response to others	Responds to multiple other posts and provides an interesting perspective or insight	Responds to someone else's post with an interesting or insightful comment related to the assignment	Responds to other posts but is off task or responds to just one post in a general or vague way	Does not respond to any other posts
Standard English Conventions	All posts and comments are error free	Posts and comments contain minor errors in spelling, such as typos or with complex words.	Posts and comments contain multiple errors such as mistakes with punctuation, spelling, or word choice	Posts are written in an “non-academic” way with errors in word usage or capitalization