September 30

Orange Shirt Day!

Humanities 8

Today we started off class reading chapter 5 of The Outsiders.  Chapter 4 quiz results were shared at this time. Students who did not finish reading chapter 5 in the allotted time were asked to finishing reading it for tomorrow as there would be a little comprehension quiz.  Next we presented our posters from yesterday's group activity about Johnny's crime.  Finally, we went over the non-fiction worksheet about drive -ins. 

English 10

Today we started off class by making some predictions about the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by looking at the cover (title, pictures, text/font).  Students were asked to record their answers and date it as it will be part of a unit collection of work.   We discussed our answers as a class and there were some excellent predictions and comments made!  Next we looked at a powerpoint with some background information about the setting of the novel, which is a reservation in Washington State.  Finally, we listened to the author, Sherman Alexie, read the first chapter of the novel. 

*Identity projects were returned and students were reminded to hand in their Marcus the Great work. 

September 29

English 10

Today we started class discussing and learning about the story behind Orange shirt day, in terms of history and the personal story of Phyllis Webstad.  Next we continued to listen to the example of an aboriginal creation story and  we created a Venn diagram comparing the Judeo-Christian creation story with Aboriginal creation stories.  We also briefly discussed bias and viewed a video comparison of aboriginal vs western world views in terms of economics. 

Humanities 8

Today students wrote a quiz on chapter 4.  Then we learned about Orange shirt day and residential schools.  The majority of the class involved group work around Johnny from the novel The Outsiders .  Students were asked to create a poster with information on the following:

Johnny Cade

Charge: 
Why?

Verdict:
Why?

Accomplices:
Why?

What would you have done if they were Johnny?

Tomorrow students will report to the class on what their group came up with.

September 28

Humanities 8

Today we went over the current events quiz and discussed strategies for ensuring that we earn the mark which we deserve (proofreading, reading the question carefully etc).  We also went over a couple of common spelling errors (disease, drowning, their, they're, there).  Next we did a practice English quiz on our reading of The Outsiders.  Prior to this we reviewed the concepts of cause and effect.  We continued with our study of the novel by doing a worksheet on context clues and reading non-fiction pieces associated with topics in the novel.  Tomorrow students will write a short quiz on chapter 4. 

English 10

Today we started off the class by reviewing reading strategies and the comparison between aboriginal and biblical creation stories.  We followed this up with a discussion and some clips related to Orange Shirt Day.  Next we learned the word colloquialism and students were given an assignment on the short story Marcus the Great.  This assignment was handed in at the end of the class.

Here are the questions:

Before reading:  What are the similarities between you and your friends?  What are your differences? What similarities do you value the most?  What differences do you value the most?

During reading:  Pick out and record 2 examples of colloquialisms.

After reading: Write a response about the story.  What were your thoughts or comments about the story?  How does this relate to the concepts/themes of story and identity that we have been discussing?

September 25

Humanities 8

Today we started off with a brief review before we wrote our first current events quiz.  After finishing the quiz, students were asked to read a related article and underline what they thought was the most import 1-3 things written in the article.  This was handed in for assessment.  Following that, students were asked to  self assess their Outsider posters using the rubric, I created from their suggestions.  A few tweaks were needed to improve marks, so students were given about 15 minutes to make  these changes.  Next we reviewed the important strategies good readers use while reading and then I read the students about half of chapter 4.  Students were directed to read to the end of chapter 4 over the weekend.

English 10

A few more students presented their identity projects today (blk D) and then we continued with our discussion and Venn diagram comparing the Judeo-Christian creation story with Aboriginal creation stories.  We also discussed bias.  In C block, we viewed a video comparison of aboriginal vs western world views in terms of economics.  We discussed bias and the comparisons made.  Finally, in C block, students were asked to brainstorm some strategies that good readers do while they  are reading.    

September 24

English 10

Today we started off by self-assessing our identity projects before handing them in. One student presented her project and I presented some of my PowerPoint about my identity.  Next we discussed the concept of world-view and watched a video-clip about it.  We discussed the importance of values and beliefs in relationships.  Finally, we started to investigate creation stories.  We listened to the beginning of an aboriginal creation story and then discussed the basics of the Judeo-Christian creation story.  

Humanities 8

Today we started off with a quiz on the refugee crisis.  Students were also given an article to read and were directed to underline/highlight 2 or 3 of the most important sentences or points in the article.  After this, we looked at the picture of the Syrian boy that was mentioned in the article.  We discussed why this picture caused the general public to finally notice that there was a refugee crisis.  From this, we revisited our hamburger rubrics and worked on creating a Outsider poster rubric.  Students worked with partners on this.  

September 23

Humanities 8

Today we looked at a political cartoon that was critical of Stephen Harper.  We discussed the use of exaggeration, symbols and text to convey meaning.  Next students did a self test about what they know about the refugee crisis in preparation for a short quiz on the topic tomorrow.  Most students did very well and shared some excellent answers!!  Finally, students were asked to create a rubric about hamburgers using the following categories:

not meeting expectations, minimally meeting expectations, fully meeting expectations and exceeding expectations.

English 10

Today students handed in their identity projects after completing a self-assessment using the rubric discussed in previous classes.  Then a couple of students presented their projects.  Amazing work!!

Next we looked at a clip about a couple discovering they don't share the same worldview.  From the concept of worldview, we started a comparison of the Judeo-Christian creation story and an aboriginal creation story.  At times the topic generated some intense emotions and opinions.  The focus is on how stories can have a strong influence on your life or as Thomas King asserts in his lecture series "can control your life" and can be dangerous.  The discussion and comparison will continue next class.

Septemer 22

English 10

Today we reviewed the rubric for the Identity project (see previous entries) and students were asked to provide feedback.  Next students were asked to work in groups to work in pairs to brainstorm answers to the following:  Why are stories so important to human beings?  (Ie:  What purposes do they serve?)  We shared out and discussed.  The next item on the agenda was an aboriginal story of meeting Captain Vancouver.  We discussed the influence of the author/teller of the story using it as an example.  Finally, we listened to an audio clip of Thomas King's lecture series "The Truth About Stories."  One of the key points we discussed after was King's assertion that stories can control your life and can be dangerous.  Reminder that the Identitiy project is due Thursday!

Humanities 8

Today we started off a pair/share activity of what is similar about reading and viewing (a video clip, movie etc).  We discussed as a class.  Next we reviewed the things we learned about the refugee crisis and then we watched another video clip that utilized a lot of pictures, diagrams and charts to accompany the verbal presentation of information about the refugee crisis.  We discussed how for most students that the additional graphics assisted with comprehension.  The word xenophobia (fear of foreigners) was discussed before the end of class.