Welcome to the 8th grade. This is your final year at Hawkins Street School and so it is your time to SHINE. This year we will be digging into many exciting novels and texts. In the first module, you will begin Inside Out & Back Again, by Thanhha Lai, analyzing how critical incidents reveal the dynamic nature of the main character, Ha, a 10-year-old Vietnamese girl whose family is deciding whether to flee during the fall of Saigon. You will read informational texts that convey universal themes of refugees' experiences across various times and cultures as they flee and find home. Finally, you will draw upon your study of the universal refugee experience to write two research based poems. In the second module, you will continue to develop your ability to closely read text while studying the theme of taking a stand. In the first half of Unit 1, you will read two speeches of real people taking a stand. In the second half of Unit 1, you will read Part 1 of To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and continue to study the theme of taking a stand. You will end the Unit by completing a Literary Analysis essay. In our third module, you will build background knowledge about Japanese-American relations during WWII and closely examine that case study of imprisoned Louie Zamperini as you read the novel Unbroken. The module ends with brief research on Mine Okubo and then write a narrative in which you tell the story of Okubo's journey from "invisible" during internment to "visible" post internment.