Many studies have suggested that the 9th grader is the most critical in the success of adolescents and as they make their transition not only into high school but to an environment for which seemingly represents a microcosm of adulthood. Schools have created courses specifically designed to help these students and these seminar-type courses have specific curriculums that will make this transition easier while teaching students the culture of the school. At my school, this culture is referred to as the CRAIGs or, Compassion, Respect, Action, Integrity, and Greatness.
Thus, the goal of this seminar class is to not only encourage and teach students to change their mindsets and behaviors but to also help them develop a better understanding of their world and themselves. This curriculum unit will teach students each of the CRAIGs through five cases with the hope that at the end of the unit, the final product will be in the form a research project that will ask students to choose from a list of influential figures and conduct their own case study to discuss and present how their historical figure shows the CRAIGs. Students will be allowed to show their projects through several project types.
(Developed for Freshmen Seminar, grade 9; recommended for English Seminar, grade 9)
