Monday, October 26 - Friday, October 30

Friday
I was away today. Here are the notes I left for the TOC:

1.     Silent reading for the first 10-15 minutes of class.

2.     Work on the poem/song analysis –  the rubric for the assignment will be on the class blog on the weekend.  For now, they know they have to write a paragraph about the theme of their poem/song, a paragraph about at least 3 poetic devices in their poem/song and a paragraph about the tone of their poem/song. At the end of the piece of writing, they should state why they chose the song/poem and what they like about it.  A double-spaced, typed copy of their analysis is due on Monday.

3.     For those who have completed reading their novel, they should get going on their novel autograph which is due next Wednesday.

4.     They can finish their beading project as long as they take good care of the resources – they know where they are. Please do expect them to be respectful of the wonderful supplies the Aboriginal Support Teachers gave us. Let them know the beading materials are going to be returned on Tuesday. Their bead timeline must have at least 2 significant events on it. I should be at least 4000 years long (5 beads = 100 years). They have to share it with the class on Tuesday.

Thursday

Today we went co-constructed the criteria for the analysis of the poem/song. Some of the features of what your analysis could include are shown below.

Wednesday
Mrs. Dawson came to show us a some cool things to do with the e-portfolios today.
Tuesday
Most of today's class was taken up with the quiz on Chapter 8: Arrival in Canada.

Monday
We tried Cornell notes and a partner reading strategy to process the final pages in chapter 8. I was very impressed at how well everyone's note taking has improved over last week. I had hoped you would complete the chapter before the end of the class, but that was not enough time. The reading and notes for the chapter were assigned as homework. There is a quiz tomorrow (open notes, not open textbook) on chapter 8.

Monday, October 19 - Thursday, October 22

Thursday
I was away today at a workshop. Below are the notes I left for the TOC.

Silent read for 10-15 minutes

These guys are starting an analysis of a Canadian song or poem of their choice. They are to arrive with their song/poem. Today’s task is to do a close reading like we did together with the poem hanging at the front of the room. They are to annotate their song/poem, noting: all the types of things mentioned on the “Close Reading of a Poem” sheet.

Once they have done a really good job of “marking-up” their poems, they may either read or work on their Bead Timeline (ask them to explain this to them – FYI: 5 beads = 100 years )

Wednesday
I was true to my word today and we began the class with some beading. Next we began coming up with the criteria for the poem/song assignment, but we didn't finish.

Tuesday
We did a second attempt at taking Cornell notes using some video clips about: Cabot, Cartier and Champlain. Beading tomorrow - I promise.

Monday
Today we went over how to do Cornell notes and then tried it out using a section of the textbook. The format for Cornell notes is easy. Just remember to use the right side of the page as "input" from your source. The left-hand column is "output" where you reflect on the notes you've taken and note key words, ideas, vocabulary.  (link to sample page https://www.pinterest.com/pin/69665125463067948/
Knowing what to note can be difficult. With practice it does become easier to figure out what to include and what to leave out. A few tips: important people, dates, definitions of unfamiliar terms. Don't forget that it is perfectly okay to draw your understanding, or include a picture on the right-hand side.

Tuesday, October 13 - Friday, October 16

Friday
We had special guest to the class today: Suzanne Camp and Ken Lees. Suzanne explained her bead timeline. Mr. Lees explained some significant historical events in Canada that you might consider including on your timeline. After Mr. Lee's history review it was time for everyone to make their own beaded timeline. We will continue work on these in the coming classes.

Thursday
We ploughed through a lot of stuff today! Using the poem, "3740166701"  by 1st Nations poet Jahn Adrian McDonald, we went through a whole bunch of steps that you should use when you read a poem and steps you should use when you do your upcoming English assignment about a Canadian song or poem. I will give you a hand-out with the steps to remember. Tomorrow we have two guests coming to our class: Mrs. Camp and Mr Lees.


Wednesday
Pow Wow! Can I just say what a pleasure it was to take all of you to the Moccasin Trek workshop today. Both classes showed "real class" and were excellent ambassadors for Isfeld. Great participation by everyone from what I could see ( I was pretty focussed on my moves). I took a few photos that I will put on the e-portfolio site. I thoroughly enjoyed myself this morning and I hope all of you did as well.

Tuesday
I collected the study guide. Nice work! Study habits are improving tremendously over September. We tried a new online note taking application called Videonotes. It seems to work pretty well for taking notes during a video viewing. Look for your notes in your Google Drive. Tomorrow we Pow Wow!

Monday, October 5 - Friday, October 9

Thursday
We took a break from the project, but we will return to them tomorrow in the hopes of finishing them up by the end of the week. After defining stereotypes, we took a look at two video clips: one from Wab Kinew and the other featured an interview with Buffy Sainte Marie. We are going to look at a few poems to help prepare you for your first major English assignment (written - W1)where you will be asked to review a Canadian song or poem of your choice. First we will go over in class the types of things you should be looking for in the song or poem and how to write a review.
Wednesday
Day 2 - projects!
Tuesday
Today was a project presentation day.

Monday
We reviewed some of the details presented in the video clips about the first peoples in North America last week. To help clarify time periods, I drew a timeline on the board to show how long ago 15,000BC would be. Think negative numbers! I handed back the first two study guides. Review how you have been assessed on the rubric - lots of room for improvement on these assignments. Next we worked more on the WIKA film sheet, completing it as we watched another segment of film. This should now be finished and an image placed in your portfolios. For the last 20 minutes there was time to work on the project which is due tomorrow.