Monday, December 14 - Friday, December 18

Tuesday
Today was the edit quiz based on writing errors from the short stories. Afterwards there was time to work on the Harvest Camp poster.

Monday
I returned draft 2 of the short stories based on a primary source document. The good copy with all the drafts, the rubric, comment slip, AND the primary source document are due on Thursday, December 17. Once the stories were handed back, we went over some common writing errors people in the class are making. Tomorrow there will be a quiz on the errors. Today we also completed a jigsaw activity to learn more about some background information to the novel Unwind: the Heartland Wars, The Bill of Life, Harvest Camps, Clappers, Unwinding.

Monday, December 7 - Friday, December 11

Friday

We began a small project on Unwind today: a poster for an unwinding clinic or a poster encouraging parents to unwind, or tithe, their son or daughter. See the photo below for guidelines. We will work on this in class next week. It is due on Wednesday, December 16.


Thursday
Today was an Unwind quiz day. After the quiz there was time available to work on the life-sized character analysis posters. I ran through the criteria for this assignment. The elements that will be assessed are below:
Life-sized characters - things to include: • physical appearance • what they do  • say           • thoughts • how they change • what do others say/think about them • words narrator uses • words other characters use (quotes) • how characters describes themselves  • problems they face • reactions. 

Your life-sized character is going to be evaluated for a grade:

How well did your group exchange ideas and build a "picture" of your understanding of the character?

How well did your group respond to the story and produce a creative product?

How well did your group respond to the story and produce a thoughtful, insightful representation of the character?

How successful has your group been at producing a clear, effective, creative product?

Wednesday
The short stories based on a primary source document were due today. For a big chunk of the class after silent reading, everyone spent some time going through their story and identifying the evidence of quality that a strong story requires. Following that, we looked at another 10 minutes of the documentary about the role of children in the Industrial Revolution.
Tuesday
After reading, we viewed two very short videos about the Industrial Revolution and a longer one about child labour. During viewing I asked everyone to take some notes about the positive and negative aspects of the IR.
Monday
We spent some time reviewing how to use mapping or webbing to take note. We then viewed the Crash Course in History video on the Industrial Revolution in order to practice note taking and learn about the causes of the revolution and why it took place largely in Britain.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=crash+course+in+history+industrial+revolution

Monday, November 30 - Friday, December 4

Friday
At the beginning of class we marked the Unwind quiz. Reading assigned for Monday, December 7 is to read to page 76. We reviewed the differences between the two story samples on the blog and discussed which one is stronger and why. For the rest of the class there was time available to work on the second draft. It is due on Wednesday, Dec 9.
Thursday
Class today was slightly shortened due to the assembly in the morning. After silent reading there was time provided to work on the life-sized characters. To finish the class, we looked at the importance of including a dilemma in the primary source document short stories.

Wednesday
Mrs. Dawson came to visit again and check-in with us on the e-portfolios. We also did a quiz on the first three chapters of Unwind. For the remainder of the class, we reviewed work in the portfolios and self-assessed the work completed in term 1 in English. We will do the same for the Social Studies work next week or the week after.
Tuesday
We spent some more time working on character development for the Primary Source Stories.
Afterwards we did a few "relax the brain" activites.
At the end of the class, we reviewed "mind mapping" as a note taking strategy that we will use with a short video about the Industrial Revolution.

Monday

Today I returned the short stories that were written based on a primary source document you chose from a revolution. I read the stories over this past weekend. There some strong descriptions in the pieces and there is evidence of an understanding of the time period. However, as I explained in class today, there were some issues with story writing and character development. We spent this class working on developing the characters in these pieces.


A Short Story Should Include . . .

• setting details woven into the text

• development of at least one character through the

character’s words, thoughts, and actions and

through the words of other characters and/or the

writer

• a problem/conflict which is developed as the story

(plot) progresses

• a resolution of that problem/conflict (climax)

• a conclusion (what happens after climax)

• snapshots (things for the reader to visualize)

• thoughtshots (characters’ thoughts)

• dialogue (optional)

8 Ways Character Is Revealed

 1. Action

2. Dialogue

3. Appearance

4. Objects/Possessions

5. Idiosyncracies

6. Exposition/Background 

Eight Ways to Reveal Character

by Dewey Hensley

Actions

As Kevin moved down the street his feet made a steady echo sound against the pavement. He

whistled despite the loud rumble of the traffic and the car horns. When someone yelled out the

window of his or her car to watch where he was going, he just waved back like he was watching

a best friend heading home. He passed by the garbage on the sidewalk and the old woman

pushing the shopping cart filled with newspaper, and continued to smile as he headed toward

Cindy’s house. Nothing could erase that smile from his face, not even the coldness of the streets

he called home.

Dialogue

“I ain’t gonna leave you here, Ma’am . . . not with you needin’ help and all,” Jimmy said

as he walked back to his truck to get the jack. “I’d help anybody who needed it; my momma

taught me better’en to just leave people. The good Lord’ll make it up to me.”

“I don’t know . . .,” Linda stuttered. She had barely rolled down her window to hear

Jimmy when he had left his pick-up truck and offered help. “You know what they say about your

kind . . .”

Physical Description

Other guys walking through the hallway were taller and even more handsome, but there

was something about Billy Belaire. His arms swung loose at his side and his dark hair was long

and pulled back behind his head, held by a rubber band. The dark jacket he wore was straight out

of the local thrift shop, she could tell, but the way he wore it suggested a sense of pride, or at

least a lack of caring what others thought about him.

Idiosyncracies

Junior tapped his fingertips against the table and looked at his watch constantly. His leg

bounced up and down and he gulped the hot coffee as if it would hurry up his friend’s arrival.

Objects/Possessions

Michael touched the locket around his neck and rolled it between his fingers. His mother

had given him that locket, with her picture inside, when he had left to live with his father. What

would she think of him now?

Reactions

Tony’s words stung Laura. It wasn’t what she expected to hear. They had been dating for

over a month now, how could he do this to her? How could he break her heart? All three of their

dates had been fun; he had said so himself.

As Tony watched the floodgate of her eyes begin to open he looked at his watch. Jeez, I

hope I can make it to the gym on time.

Thoughts

He began to remember when he was a freshman in high school. The seniors really

thought they were something back then, always trying to play their little pranks on the ninth

graders. He knew at that moment he couldn’t be one of those kinds of people. He walked over to

Jeff and Larry to tell them it was time to stop.

Background Information

Miles knew what it meant to be alone. When he was a child growing up his father had

been in the military. They had traveled from Florida, to Georgia, to California, to Kentucky. He

had rarely had a friend for very long. By the leap from California he had already decided having

friends was a risk; the fewer the friends, the easier it was to leave. This philosophy had made him

a real outsider at Glenview High School. In the six months he had been there he had not really

made a single friend but as he stood there staring at Sheila, he realized that just might have to

change.

Which of the following two climactic moments works best?

Climactic Moment A

Ben walked into the room and stared at Mr. Hensley. He walked back to his seat and sat

there with nothing in his hands and thought about how Hensley had better leave him alone today.

Just as his friend Anthony had said earlier, there was little chance Hensley would leave anyone

alone.

As soon as Mr. Hensley called for the writer’s notebooks to come out, Ben knew there

was going to be trouble. He sat there wondering if Hensley noticed if he had it or not. Suddenly

Hensley said his name. Ben just sat there and told Hensley he didn’t have his materials. The

teacher became very angry and began to spit out words. “Get out of here if you don’t have your

stuff!”

Ben stood up slowly and walked to the front of the room. As he passed Hensley, the

teacher said, “You had better get a new attitude, kid.” Suddenly all the anger that had built up

from the day spilled out of Ben. He pushed the teacher backwards and Hensley fell on the floor.

As Ben moved toward the door, tears rolled down his face. He could hear Hensley’s loud

voice “You did it now, Ben . . .”

Ben slammed the door as he left.

As Ben drove down Pacific Highway, he thought about that day when he came unglued.

He thought about Tony, his mom, the hallways at school. He wondered now what was right or

wrong and if he had screwed up his life as bad as he thought. When he stared at the ocean

beating against the shore, he knew life would be different for him now and he wondered if

people can really make it right when you take the wrong path.

Climactic Moment B

Ben erupted through the door. As he walked to the back of the room, he stared at Hensley

with the contempt a dead man walking has for his executioner. When he fell into the seat at the

back of the classroom, he watched Hensley moving around the front of the room. The teacher’s

beady eyes seemed to follow everyone as they crowded into the classroom. Just like Anthony

had said earlier, everyone hated Hensley and his aggressive ways. He was always picking on

kids for no reason. With everything that had happened to him that day, Ben just hoped Hensley

had the good sense to leave him alone. As he sat there, Ben’s muscles tightened. “Please don’t

say ‘get out your writer’s notebooks’ again today.”

“Get out your writer’s notebooks,” Hensley’s voice boomed. He sounded like a broken

jukebox always playing the same warped record day after day. Hensley stood before the twenty-five

students. Ben could see his round figure and the way he always clapped his hands together at the

beginning of class as if he were a band director. Ben lowered his eyes, hoping that if he didn’t

see Hensley, perhaps Hensley would not see him. Suddenly Ben’s silence was shattered. “I said,

Ben, where is your notebook?”

Ben heard his mom’s words echo from the morning. “What are you gonna do with

yourself, Ben?” He heard the sound of the hallway and the birds singing outside the window. He

heard the rumble of his car’s motor. He saw flashes of the western sky.

“I don’t have it.” Ben’s words caused most of the class to take a deep breath. Anthony

looked across the room and began to mouth the words, “No, Ben . . . don’t.” But it was too late.

Ben was ready to break the chains that had held him in place. “I said I don’t have it,” Ben

continued, “because it is a pile of crap. You always make us do this junk for no reason. I am tired

of it and I am tired of you.”

Like spectators at a tennis match, the students turned their heads to stare at the teacher.

He stood there, the copy of Weetzie Bat slowly slipping between his fingers. A large vein rose on

his temple and his brow wrinkled like a mountain range spread across the globe the students

looked at in Geography. He shuffled back on his heels and his eyes narrowed. He shot laser

beams across the room at Ben. “What did you say, young man?” The spectators turned.

“I said you, this writer’s notebook, this class . . . hell, this entire school, are full of

crap!!!!” Ben’s voice had turned into a low squeal, but his face had grown older, like stone

rubbed raw by years of wind and rain.

“Get out,” Hensley responded. He could barely contain the rage inside him. The class

stopped watching and began to lower their heads. When Ben did not move immediately, Hensley

repeated himself. Ben thought to himself it was typical for Hensley to repeat himself.

Ben stood up and began to navigate through the row of chairs. The cuffs of his worn

khakis scraped against the carpeted floor as he made his way toward the front of the room. His

head was up but his eyes were lowered. As he passed by Tony, he touched him on the shoulder.

Tony lowered his head onto the desk. When Ben moved closer to Hensley, the teacher reached

out and wrapped his hand around Ben’s arm.

“Really smart, Ben . . . you are just like the rest of ‘em.”

All of the day’s events rushed through Ben’s veins. Almost like a reflex, he struck out.

He shook Hensley’s hand away with one arm and brought his elbow up quickly, catching

Hensley square on the jaw. The thud rang out across the room like a bass drum. One person in

the class gasped; another whistled and the others just sat there. Hensley raised his arm to protect

his face. Ben brought his other hand hard into the teacher’s stomach. Breath drained from the

teacher and he fell backwards onto the blue carpet.

Ben stared down at the teacher and the reality of what he had just done began to set in.

He turned and began to walk toward the door. Everyone stared at him. He walked to the door and

for good measure, he slammed it as he exited into a world much different from the one he had

been in before.

Monday, November 23 - Friday, November 27

Friday
Here are the notes I left for Mr. Allen.

BEFORE viewing the TED talk about Neil Harbisson:

As a class, discuss what a cyborg is: cybernetic organism – part mechanical (biomechatronic) and part organic ie. Part machine, part human.

Do cyborgs really exist or are they simply the creations of comic books and movies?

Individually, before viewing (5-10 min) – give them a piece of letter sized paper. If they could be a cyborg, what would they be? Draw a quick sketch and label the non-organic parts. Have them leave it on their desk, get up and wander around and see what others have come up with.

DURING viewing:

List 3 advantages Neil Harbisson has over people who are not cyborgs.

AFTER viewing:

Work in a group of 4 for 4 minutes. What was Neil Harbisson’s Most Important Point? Groups come up with one MIP and share with the class after the 4 minute debrief.

After viewing the TED talk:

1.     Student should go into their character groups for Unwind. There are 8 groups. Ask them to sit down and organize desks for group work. Each group is receiving one page from a different section of the novel. After they have read their page, they are to prepare a paragraph on chart paper that outlines the basic plot of the novel. To do this, students will have to use context clues from their excerpt. Ask students to elect a representative from each group to present their plot summaries to the class.

1.     Read Unwind – if you feel like reading some of it aloud that would be great. By next Wednesday students must have read the first 3 chapters: Connor, Risa, Lev.

Thursday
Parent teacher interviews

Wednesday
At long last we began our journey into Unwind. First, we began by tidying up some unfinished business: we marked the editing quiz from last week. Next, I gave everyone a playing card to determine which character group you would be going to. Groups of three have each been assigned a significant character from the book. To start things off, each group got a very large piece of poster paper and traced the outline of one person in the group. This is the starting point for your group's life-sized character "study." On the poster, your group should present as much information about your character as you can gather from our reading of the book: physical appearance, personality (use quotes, or adjectives to share this), relationships, behaviour/actions, attach significant artifacts to your poster, glue hair on, in short, USE YOUR IMAGINATION! Have some fun with this :O

Tuesday
I collected the stories based on a primary source document today at the end of the class.
During class we took a look at three different drawings of a typical English town/village during three different time periods: 1750s, 1830s, 1890s. The purpose of this activity was to draw your attention to how different a town might look after 150 years of the Industrial Revolution. Was that change violent? Why is it called the "Industrial" Revolution?
At the end of the class, I gave each person an important figure from the Industrial Revolution. Your task tonight is to: find and print a picture of the person (you can print in the class, but must be done before class begins); provide the connection between your person and the Industrial Revolution; research their date of birth and death; find out something "quite interesting" about your person. 

Monday
Today was the due date for the good copy of the poem/song review. It was handed-in with the first draft, the rubric and the comment slip.
In future, printing of assignments will not take place during class time. If you must use the classroom printer, you must do so before school, during lunch, or at the end of the day.
Our inquiry question in Social Studies for the next few weeks is:

Does a revolution have to be violent to create change?

We began the unit by conducting a "People Search" to see what various people around the room might already know about the Industrial Revolution in Britain. Next, as background, we went through some information in the Crossroads textbook in groups of six.

Tuesday
I collected the stories based on a primary source document today at the end of the class.
During class we took a look at three different drawings of a typical English town/village during three different time periods: 1750s, 1830s, 1890s. The purpose of this activity was to draw your attention to how different a town might look after 150 years of the Industrial Revolution. Was that change violent? Why is it called the "Industrial" Revolution?
At the end of the class, I gave each person an important figure from the Industrial Revolution. Your task tonight is to: find and print a picture of the person (you can print in the class, but must be done before class begins); provide the connection between your person and the Industrial Revolution; research their date of birth and death; find out something "quite interesting" about your person.

For tomorrow's class, please bring your primary source document from last week, the page of notes you took and the draft short story you wrote.