Little Miami School District

On Friday, March 13th, the 8th grade at LMMS had an incredible opportunity to hear Dr. Erin McGlothlin speak. Dr. McGlothlin is the Vice Dean of Undergraduate Affairs and a Profess or German and Jewish Studies at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. McGlothlin is the sister of Mrs. Cara Covington, LMMS parent and Treasurer of the PTO, and the aunt of Abi Covington, LMMS 7th grader.

Mrs. Covington and the PTO were looking for guest speaker opportunities for LMMS. When Mrs. Covington learned that the 8th grade curriculum in Quarter 3 focused on Historical Fiction, she "connected the dots" and proposed the idea of having her sister come speak at LMMS! In conjunction with LMMS Principal, Mrs. Elyse Parker, and Central Office, Dr. McGlothlin made a special trip to Cincinnati to speak to the entire 8th grade!

Throughout the 3rd quarter, 8th graders read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak or Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli. In addition, students read various texts in their HMH Into Literature text focusing on both fiction and non-fiction. These texts included excerpts from The Diary of Anne Frank as well as excerpts from a dramatized play about Anne Frank. Students also read passages from Elie Weisel's Night and his speech "Afte Auschwitz". Elie Wiesel is a Holocaust survivor who passed away in 2016 at the age of 88.

Dr. McGlothlin shared important and powerful information with the entire 8th grade class, focusing on the "who, what, when, where, why, and how" of the Holocaust. Her knowledge and passion for Holocaust studies was the perfect way to round out the 3rd quarter for the 8th graders, adding more depth to the information they had been studying for the last 9 weeks. The Essential Question for this unit of study was: "Why do we discuss tragic events of the past?" Students were able to further answer this Essential Question and left with a deeper message and idea from Dr. McGlothlin, promoting a message of kindness, hope, and responsibility to the 8th graders.

We are incredibly grateful to Dr. McGlothlin, Mrs. Covington, the LMMS PTO, Mrs. Parker, and Central Office for supporting the 8th grade ELA Department and all students here at LMMS! This was the perfect way to end quarter 3!