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Writing into the day.
Day #3:
After reading the article, draw a simple graphic that represents the relationship among these articles you've read.
Next, write a short explanation of your graphic. :)

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Making and leaving your mark.

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Little Girl Gives Her Lunch To The Homeless man Outside And Melts Our Hearts

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This sweet little girl was eating lunch with her daddy when she noticed a homeless man outside. She asked her daddy if she could go give the man her lunch. Of course he agreed. And seeing this sweet girl share her meal and a smile is so inspiring!

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1) Close Read
2) Choose one sentence or phrase that stands out to you, and write it on the front of an index card.
3) On the back of the card, write a short paragraph explaining why it stood out to you.
4) Engage in 2 to 3 rounds of a "block party" discussion about your sentence or phrase and tell why it stood out to you.

Round 1:
Pair up with one person with the same color card. Discuss for 3 minutes.

Round 2:
Group up with two people you did NOT talk to in R1 (cards can be any color).

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* Using your resources write an editorial for a local newspaper regarding the question, "Should teens be tried as adults?"
* Complete the test on Chapters 5-8.

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* Dot Day Activities

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* Complete paper plate story.
* Read article #3
* They Say, I say chart for each article.
* Atwoodian Table
* Role Play
* Closing Activity: Write your claim regarding "Should Juveniles Be Tried as Adults" ; pass it to a thinking partner and have them help you develop your claim.
* Read Chapter 8

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* Making our mark paper plate.
* Article #2
* Plan my writing organizer
* Golden Lines
* Closing activity: Write a tweet (on google classroom) about what they learned.
* Read Chapter 7 of "The Outsiders"

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Write your answer to the following question on a paper plate, going around the spiral ending with your punctuation mark.

How do you plan to leave your mark in this world? What great things do you want to accomplish in this that will impact those around you.

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What is a claim?

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The Dot Video

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Make your dot coffee filter project.

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Article for Thursday

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An 11-year-old boy in Tennessee is facing first-degree murder charges in the death of an 8-year-old he shot after he asked to see her puppy and she said no. The boy used his father's 12-gauge shotgun, taking it from an unlocked closet, according to a story in the Washington Post. The local prosecutor will decide whether to charge the boy as an adult.

Nobody with a soul can seriously ignore the tragic nature of the death of any child. However, two wrongs do not make a right; prosecuting a very young child for murder and sending him to prison for life is tragic in and of itself. It essentially takes the life of another child and causes unimaginable heartache for others.

For centuries American and English common law held that children under age 14 were not legally capable of forming criminal intent. For any crime to occur, there must be the convergence of what is known as the "actus reus" (the guilty act) and the "mens rea" (the guilty mind, also known as criminal intent).

Without these two necessary pieces, a crime does not exist. State legislatures across America have largely changed the traditional common-law idea that children are unable to formulate criminal intent. There is no national standard in determining at what age a child can be treated as an adult in the criminal justice system. The result is that approximately 200,000 American children are charged and incarcerated every year -- as adults, according to the Open Society Foundations.

Fourteen states have no minimum age at which children can be prosecuted as adults, according to the Equal Justice Initiative. In some cases children younger than 10 have been prosecuted as adults.

I suggest that except for extraordinary circumstances, no child under the age of at least 17 should be sentenced to lengthy incarceration in adult jails. It is beyond debate that the human brain does not reach anything close to maturity until the early to mid 20s.

Therefore it stands to reason that an adolescent or prepubescent child cannot understand the nature and the consequences of their actions. Why, therefore, in a rational society would anyone think it is appropriate to apply adult consequences to the choices made by children?

The answer? Emotional knee-jerk reactions by politicians who pass laws without considering the bigger picture.

For example consider the case of little Amy Yates, age 8 at the time she died, strangled in Georgia in 2004.

At the time it was widely believed that her 12-year-old neighbor Jonathan Adams was guilty of the crime. According to Georgia law at the time the maximum penalty Adams could face was two years in confinement due to his age. He entered a plea without admitting guilt but it is now widely believed he was in fact innocent.

Nevertheless, the Georgia Legislature responded almost immediately and unanimously out of emotion and passed what is known as "Amy's Law" which would have provided for five years incarceration.

Every state in the United States has some procedure in place to prosecute children as adults under certain circumstances.

And there can be no doubt that sometimes it is appropriate to do so -- especially in cases where the offender is somewhat older and it can be shown that person is not capable of rehabilitation and where there is strong evidence of planning. Sometimes there may be evidence the person knew and understood the nature and consequences of their actions, which could justify an adult prosecution

But the fact remains that children are children -- they are not adults and their brains do not work the same as an adult. Just ask any parent. Children cannot enlist in the military. Children -- indeed, adults under 21, cannot legally order a beer. Children cannot enter into contracts. Children cannot make legal decisions for themselves, but they CAN be held to adult standards if they are charged with crimes.

And almost beyond belief, children can be executed for crimes they commit at very young ages.

Setting aside for the moment that the punishment may sometimes fit the crime, it is worth noting that children in adult prisons do you not fare well at all. Approximately 10,000 children are held in adult jails and prisons in the United States.

These are kids who are five times more likely to be raped or otherwise sexually assaulted than in juvenile facilities. The risk of suicide is likewise much higher for juveniles in adult jails. This raises the issue of whether prolonged incarceration of children violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

There is little if any evidence to suggest that treating juveniles as adults in the criminal justice system decreases crime or has any deterrent effect. In fact, what evidence does exist suggests the opposite. Studies show that incarcerating children more often than not results in higher rates of recidivism; essentially, it turns children into hardened criminals.

But I don't need studies to tell me this because I have seen it for myself.

I have worked in and around the criminal justice system for about 28 years. I was trained to believe that juvenile courts were courts of rehabilitation rather than punishment. I was trained to believe that children were salvageable whereas sometimes adults are not.

I still believe that to be the case, but in my lifetime there has been a drastic shift from notions of rehabilitation to quests for revenge and vengeance regardless of the age of the accused.

As a parent I know without question that children do not think about the world around them the way we adults do. They have little if any perspective and they often use poor judgment.

It may not be possible to come up with a bright line rule defining the age at which a child can be tried as an adult. It should depend on a case-by-case analysis based on the child's age and other relevant factors. This decision should be left to judges with the help of psychiatrists and psychologists rather than ad-hoc legislative determinations. After all, that's why we have judges -- to make decisions based on the totality of the circumstances.

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should 11-year-olds be charged with adult crimes? - cnn

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Should 11-year-olds be charged with adult crimes? - CNN

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An 11-year-old boy in Tennessee is facing first-degree murder charges in the death of an 8-year-old he shot after he asked to see her puppy and she said no. The boy used his father's 12-gauge shotgun, taking it from an unlocked closet, according to a story in the Washington Post.

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Article for Wednesday

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LANIS WATERS/AFP

When a child kills, does he instantly become an adult? Or does he maintain some trappings of childhood, despite the gravity of his actions?

These are the questions plaguing the American legal system today, as the violent acts of juvenile offenders continue to make headlines.

Wednesday, 14-year-old Nathaniel Brazill was found guilty of second-degree murder for killing his English teacher last year. The charge usually carries a prison term of up to 30 years, but Brazille's defense team is hopeful the sentencing judge will be more lenient in this case. They have a powerful ally: Jeb Bush. "There is a different standard for children," the governor said after Brazill was sentenced. "There should be some sensitivity that a 14-year-old is not a little adult."

In March, another Florida jury sentenced14-year-old Lionel Tate, who killed a younger girl while practicing wrestling moves on her, to life in prison without parole. The concurrent Brazill and Tate trials served to heighten the public misconception that juvenile violent crime is on the rise; in fact, recent figures show a precipitous drop over the last five years.

Are we seeing a drop because children are thinking more carefully about their crimes, knowing they could receive adult sentences? All but five states allow children of any age charged with murder to be tried as adults. The death penalty generally isn't an option — at least not for defendants under the age of 16; The U. S. Supreme Court has ruled capital punishment unconstitutional for anyone who hasn't celebrated their 16th birthday. Some states, however, will consider 16- and 17-year-olds for the death penalty.

Or are there other factors? Defense attorneys might offer a different argument: Since the bulk of the drop-off in juvenile crime predates most states' embrace of harsher penalties for young offenders, it is disingenuous to assume any connection between the two.

The fundamental question is, are children capable of understanding the consequences of their actions? Maybe not; recent studies suggest that the brain's prefrontal lobe, which some scientists speculate plays a crucial role in inhibiting inappropriate behavior, may not reach full development until age 20.

It's unlikely that America's thirst for vengeance will be sated by scientific theory. We are, as a nation, very much in favor of treating child criminals as adults — a recent ABC news poll showed 55 percent of us believe the crime, not the perpetrator's age, should be the determining factor in sentencing.

Below, a few of the arguments posited by both sides of the juvenile crime debate. At the end, there is an email address; we invite you to send us your comments. Let us know what you think.

Should the U.S. justice system treat juvenile violent offenders as adults?

YES

The end result of a heinous crime remains the same, no matter who commits it. Our justice system depends upon holding perpetrators responsible for their actions.

Harsh sentencing acts as a deterrent to kids who are considering committing crimes. Trying children as adults has coincided with lower rates of juvenile crimes. Light sentences don't teach kids the lesson they need to learn: If you commit a terrible crime, you will spend a considerable part of your life in jail.

Kids today are more sophisticated at a younger age; they understand the implications of violence and how to use violent weapons. It is absurd to argue that a modern child, who sees the effect of violence around him in the news every day, doesn't understand what killing really is. The fact that child killers know how to load and shoot a gun is an indicator that they understand exactly what they're doing.

NO

The juvenile prison system can help kids turn their lives around; rehabilitation gives kids a second chance. Successful rehabilitation, many argue, is better for society in the long run than releasing someone who's spent their entire young adult life in general prison population. A young person released from juvenile prison is far less likely to commit a crime than someone coming out of an adult facility.

Children don't have the intellectual or moral capacity to understand the consequences of their actions; similarly, they lack the same capacity to be trial defendants.

Children shouldn't be able to get deadly weapons in the first place. Adults who provide kids with guns used in violent crimes should be held at least as accountable as the kids themselves.

It's remarkably easy to find a seasoned defense lawyer who believes the current system is too vulnerable to racism: Statistically, black juvenile offenders are far more likely to be transferred to adult courts (and serve adult time) than their white peers who've committed comparable crimes.

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Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com

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When a child kills, does he instantly become an adult? Or does he maintain some trappings of childhood, despite the gravity of his actions? These are the questions plaguing the American legal system today, as the violent acts of juvenile offenders continue to make headlines.

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Article for Tuesday close Read

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When courts take away trial and sentencing options, it is not possible to provide justice in every case.

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Article for Monday close read.

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Murderers, rapists, and other criminals are being released from jail everyday after serving only very short and lenient sentences. Who are these criminals and what makes them so special? The criminals are juveniles who commit adult crimes. They are being tried every day in juvenile courts, they are receiving shortened sentences, and they are being released and given new identities to continue to live their lives in peaceful and happy bliss, all while their victims and their families are left to suffer forever. Because the courts and juvenile rights advocates believe that second chances should be given to youths who commit crimes, criminals are walking the streets, living as our neighbors, and in many instances committing additional crimes.

When it comes to trying teens in court as adults. Some say stop trying them as adults and try them as juveniles, others say they must be tried as adults when they commit adult crimes. I believe that teens should be held accountable for their actions and tried as adults. If I knew somebody who hurt or killed someone I loved, I would want him or her to experience the worst possible punishment for his or her actions. Some people say that children learn bad behavior from their parents, things like murder, rap or drug abuse; but I believe that children should learn from their parent's mistakes. I agree with Jessica Wilde when she say's "Morals are inherent from birth"(Wilde1). To me this is saying that kids, and even adults, should know the difference between right and wrong. Finally, put yourself in the mother's position, if your son or daughter just died, how would you want their killer to be punished? How would you feel if you never got to see your child alive again while their killer served only a short sentence before being released from jail?

Now then, some people believe that we should stop putting teens in adult prison; they believe we should be lenient with them and give them easier sentences. These people argue that children are capable of learning from their mistakes and because they are children, they can be rehabilitated. Others say that teens are too young to understand the consequences of there actions, or that they don't know their limitations with drugs or alcohol. I believe this is a ridiculous argument because teens shouldn't be drinking or doing drugs in the first place. There are some people, like Hendricks, in his article "Stop Trying 13-Year-olds in Court as Adults", who believe "They're abused and come out more dangerous and damaged then when they went in"(Hendricks 2). This is a good argument; however, can't we say the same thing for adults? Why should juveniles be treated any different than adults when the crimes they are committing are every bit as heinous as adult crimes?

Youths who commit crimes are criminals; they are walking our streets, living as our neighbors, and in many instances committing additional crimes. I strongly agree with Jessica Wilde when she says, "All crimes committed by juveniles should and must be treated in the same regard, it not to punish heinous acts, then to provide justice to the families of victims (Wilde 2). As a child myself, I was raised in a family who believes in punishments, spankings, and repercussions for the actions of the children. Some say morals are learned, others say we inherit morals at birth, either way, a criminal is a criminal and must be punished as such. Should we punish all juveniles as adults? Probably not with lesser crimes, but some crimes are certainly more heinous than others, and those crimes like murder and rape are adult crimes. It really doesn't matter the age of the criminal, it they are committing crimes that are inherently adult in nature, then yes, these criminals absolutely should be punished as an adult regardless of their age. Our courts, our schools, nor our societies, should ever allow anyone, child or adult, get away with murder.

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Teens Should Absolutely Be Tried as Adults When They Commit Adult Crimes

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Murderers, rapists, and other criminals are being released from jail everyday after serving only very short and lenient sentences. Who are these criminals and what makes them so special? The criminals are juveniles who commit adult crimes.

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* Make your mark
* The Dot video
* What is a claim?
* Read Article one
* Block party
* Claim/Evidence chart
* Closing: Write a question that you have about today's lesson; share it with a partner. The partner answers the question that they are given.
* Read Chapter 6 of "The Outsiders"

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Students will recite this poem for an extra credit grade.