June 7 - We made it!  Today, students were expected to report back to the classroom during the block so that other students could also have a turn and enjoy the carnival activities.  Mr. Wilds took attendance for those who presented themselves and allowed the group a bit of free time to relax and socialize, especially given that the student desks have been removed from the classroom and relocated to the gymnasium for the upcoming exam session.

Mr. Wilds would like to take this opportunity to wish all students the best of luck on their upcoming exams and for everyone to have a safe and relaxing summer.  See you in the fall!

June 6 - In class today, we finished the ERC final assignment, analyzing the supernatural abilities of the fairies from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream.  Students were  assigned two writing tasks, writing about the supernatural abilities used by two of the three main fairies from the play.  Additionally, students needed to explain how this ability was used, what was happening in the plot that led to the usage of the ability and whether it was effective.  By the end of the block, Mr. Wilds collected both of these documents for grading. 

With tomorrow being carnival day, Mr. Wilds would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone the best of luck for their upcoming exams and to have a safe and restful summer break.

June 5 - In class today, we finished watching the movie adaptation of A Midsummer's Night Dream.  In our next (and for many, final) class, we will work on an in-class assignment where students will need to analyze the supernatural of 2 of the 3 main fairies from the play.  They will need to explain how/why the power was used and whether it was effective.  This will be the final assignment, counting for marks in both ERC and English class and will be the last task of the school year!

June 4 - Today we started our first of three days in a new classroom location due to the grade 11 English exam taking place in the Sport-Etudes hallway.  We continued watching the movie adaptation of the play, A Midsummer's Night Dream.  Tomorrow, we will wrap up this movie and move onto the writing assignment, looking at the supernatural abilities that two of the three fairies exhibit throughout the text.  This will be the final assignment for the school year and will count towards both the ERC and English mark in the final term.

May 31 - Due last night, via online submission, was the final take-home reading assessment for the school year.  As Mr. Wilds had talked about several times and that was written on the classroom blackboard, he is unable to grant extensions because there are no laptops available for students to work with as they have been reallocated for exams.  Those students who have completed their homework assignment should receive their results, via Google Classroom, later this afternoon.

Next, after showing their in-class assignment that will need to be completed for A Midsummer's Night Dream, we continued watching the movie adaptation.  Mr. Wilds put various scenes into context, as to ensure that the class not get lost in the plot.  In our last week of school, we will wrap up the movie and work on the final assignment for the school year.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

May 30 - Today we started watching the movie adaptation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer's Night Dream.  We began with a rundown of the three main plots that dominate much of the play.  Mr. Wilds explained the complicated love story that opens the play between Lysander, Demetrius and Hermia, along with how Helena also impacts the story.  Next, we looked at the 'wannabe' actors/tradesmen who are looking to be rewarded financially should they put on fitting entertainment for the Duke and Duchess after they exchange their vows.  Finally, we talked about the three main fairies: Oberon, Titania and Puck/Robin Goodfellow, who will be the main focus for our ERC assignment on supernatural abilities in media texts.

Today we reached about 30 minutes into the runtime of the movie.  We will pick up from where we left off, in our next block.

Please note that for those who have yet to complete their last reading assessment for the school year, kindly turn it in as there will be no extensions granted for those who do not complete their homework assignment.

May 29 - Posted last night was our final reading assessment for the school year.  Students are reminded that there will be no extensions for this assignment, as we will not have enough time for this with how close we are to the end of regular classes.

Next, students were given some class time to do a clean-up of their lockers.  Once they felt that it was adequately organized, we returned to the classroom.

Today we wrapped off the unit about how media uses religious and supernatural themes and concepts.  We looked at several ad campaigns and examples of music videos that use these techniques to either sell products or to cause controversy.

In our next English class, we will begin or analysis of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, focusing on the supernatural powers of the forest-dwelling fairies that a part of the play.  Students will be, in class, working on one final assignment for the course, and submitting their work to the teacher for grading.

May 28 - As usual with Day 2, today we looked at a piece from Scholastic Scope.  Before assigning the reading roles and starting the play, Mr. Wilds showed the class a news broadcast from last night where it appears that a tornado touched down relatively close to the school.  While not a lot of damage was done, students were shown the damage that several tornados caused south of the boarder, over this past weekend.  After distributing the vocabulary terms from the text, we completed the reading of Storm Chaser (Scholastic Scope, May 2024, pp. 18-24).  Later today, a reading assessment will appear online for students to complete.  Please note that as we discussed, due to being so close to the end of year, no extensions will be given if students forget to complete it, as we do not have ample time left this year.

May 27 - Due last night, via online submission was the ERC Flip video.  Mr. Wilds verified earlier this morning and there seems to be no missing work.  Before switching all the videos to a viewable state for everyone to see, Mr. Wilds will be watching to ensure that all the files adequately play.  Should there be any issue with uploaded videos, Mr. Wilds will work with individual students to figure out how to troubleshoot the problem.

Next, in today's ERC block, we looked at how religious imagery, myth and supernatural stories are often used in popular culture and in media.  This will be looked at more closely as we proceed towards the end of year and complete our last in-class assignment which will require students to identify how two fictional characters use their unnatural powers to get what they please.

Please note that tomorrow, we will be back in room 217 and will be reading the play from the May issue of Scholastic Scope.

May 23 - Due last night, via online submission, students should have submitted their reading assessment for the breaking texts from Scholastic Scope.  Any student who did not manage to submit their work are granted an extension, with penalty, and will need to make arrangements to complete it in ped support within the next full cycle of school days.  

Next, before losing power, as a class we corrected the in-class assignment on Finding and Using Text Evidence.

Please note that time is running out for submitting those ERC Debate videos using the Flip.  Mr. Wilds will be unable to support struggling students should they experience difficulty if they put this task off until the last minute.

May 22 - After a few reminders and instructions regarding the ERC Flip debate videos, we used the Breaking article from Scholastic Scope to refine our skills at finding and using text evidence.  Although this is a skill that we have used repeatedly this school year, there are those students in both the exam and the writing of the ERC debates who have shown that they still have much learning to do.  Areas such as finding quality quotes, using them properly in a piece of writing and having solid commentary to explain how it supports stance requires to be a sharpened skill for several students in the class.  Please note that those students who need a bit more time with this assignment, due to not having their materials/magazine in class are able to finish the writing task, in tormorrow's morning ped support.

May 21 - Welcome back from the long weekend.  Today, we spent the block going over best practices for using Flip.  The teacher covered the rubric and ran a demo on how to use the software.  Mr. Wilds even ran through how to upload videos from a different device in Flip and how to use the sticky note feature, which doesn't exist on smaller devices like iPads or SmartPhones.  Please refer to Google Classroom for this assignment, which is due by the end of the weekend.

Next, to support students who may not be familiar with the sport of Breaking, Mr. Wilds showed the class several videos to help them better understand both the transferrable skills from other athletics that go into Breaking and provided students a more local/Canadian take on the sport.  Mr. Wilds showed a clip of the Break City All-Stars (from Kirkland) from a Quebec television dance competition, a video from an aspiring Olympic hopeful and a local b-boy (Lazy Legs) who is known worldwide as someone who does not let his disability limit his passion for breaking.  This is to complement the current reading assessment that is online for the class to complete in Google Classroom.

May 17 -Today was the final day for the English exam.  Students who have been absent and unable to turn in the final version of their rants will need to make arrangements to attend afternoon ped support (with or without Mr. Wilds), ASAP.

For homework, students are to read and complete the reading assessment for Breaking at the Olympics (Scholastic Scope, May 2024, pp. 13-17).  While students wrapped up their exam, Mr. Wilds provided the class with the vocabulary terms that will be a part of this assessment.  Additionally, note that the Flip video link is up in Google Classroom for students to film their debates.  Videos will be due before May 26.

Have a wonderful long weekend, everyone!

May 16 - Due last night, via online submission was the Google Doc that was meant to be used to submit the final version of the ERC debate.  This document has been posted since May 8th, providing students plenty of time to type up their rough draft that was written and edited during class time.  Any student who did not manage to do so was spoken to by the teacher and was explained the late submission policy, if applicable. 

Today for the English exam, we started working on the final version of the rant.  Students will be given two blocks to compose, in blue or black ink, the final version of their production piece.  This will be all wrapped up and submitted, as of the end of our next class.

Please note for students who are behind the group in the exam, arrangements need to be made to catch up in afternoon ped support.  This can be with or without Mr. Wilds however an email is required either way and students should sign up for the day that they will be back at school.

Please note that the Flip video link is now up in Google Classroom for students to film their debates.  Videos will be due before May 26.

May 14 - In today's exam block, students have moved forward on to the editing phase of their rough draft.  Students either brought in their personal dictionaries or borrowed spares from the teacher to identify problematic spelling.  Also, students improved on their grammar, sentence structure and word choice.  This constitutes 25% of the grade, as indicated by the rubric for the exam.

Mr. Wilds also spoke about how several student grades are currently in 'free fall.'  Several students have been neglecting their homework tasks and poor time management has resulted in rushed work being turned in or being forgotten, despite Google Classroom reminders, deadlines written on the board in the classroom and the student agenda book.  The next major assignment is due this Wednesday, despite it being posted on May 8th.  It would be ideal if students who have yet to submit get moving on turning this in, before the last minute or after the deadline has passed.

All that remains now for our English exam is the writing of the final copy, which will start in our next block.  Two classes are allotted for this writing task, in either blue or black ink.

Finally, any student not present today for the exam is reminded that they need to sign up for the next available ped support block, even if Mr. Wilds does not have one on that particular day of cycle.  He will make arrangements with other teachers so you will have a place to work and so you do not fall behind the group.  Kindly send these emails  to confirm your availability.

May 13 - Welcome back from the weekend!  Today in class, we finished the rough draft of the rant for the English Exam.  Should students have not quite finished this task, they can wrap it up by borrowing some time from the editing block, which will happen in our next class.

For homework, students are reminded to complete the typing of their ERC debates.  Additionally, students are to read independently and complete the reading for the text titled Lost Boy, Found from the May 2024 issue ahead of today's deadline.

May 10 - Today, students started the rough draft of their English Exam.  As the rant should be 6 paragraphs in length, a good pace would see students hit 3 solid paragraphs of their chosen brainstorm.  Next week, students will have one final block to work on this, before we head into the editing process.

For homework, students are reminded to complete the typing of their ERC debates.  Additionally, students are to read independently and complete the reading for the text titled Lost Boy, Found from the May 2024 issue ahead of Monday's deadline.

May 9 - In the exam today, students worked on and completed their second brainstorming activity.  The teacher will verify the brainstorming package for everyone to ensure that they are ready to proceed to the next stage of the exam, which requires students to write their rant based on their best brainstorming piece.  Two classes will be allocated to writing the rough draft.

For homework, students are to complete the typing of their ERC debates using the file that was shared with students yesterday.  Additionally, students are to read independently and complete the reading for the text titled Lost Boy, Found.  This is from the May 2024 issue of Scope and Mr. Wilds distributed the key vocabulary terms during the block.

May 8 - Today, we moved forward with the exam and worked on the first of two brainstorming activities to support the writing of a rant.  Students had the class to work on their plan, should they choose to either write a rant based on one of three articles or from a triggering image that was contained in the reading package.  In our next block, students will write their second brainstorm, as influenced by a different text.  Once two brainstorming activities are complete, students will choose their favourite and create a rough draft of their rant, following the steps laid out in the exam instructions.

While students worked on this, Mr. Wilds checked the rough drafts of the ERC debates.  Students who were missing components were reminded that they should attend ped support, tomorrow afternoon, so they can catch up with missed sections.  Please be advised that students who have not shown their complete rough draft will not be able to move on to the final writing task, which will be later today, in Google Classroom.

May 6 - Welcome back from the long weekend and the first day of the end-of-cycle English Exam.  To begin the first day of the exam, students were provided an overview on 

the exam, the rubric, what to do when absent and exam protocols so there are no misunderstandings about what needs to be adhered to while we are working on the exam.

Next, Mr. Wilds distributed the reading exam booklet while asking the class to turn out their pockets, to ensure that no communication devices were present in the examination room.  We next looked at the three articles and the pages with images/text, all meant to inspire the writing of a rant.  As some of the images were a bit grainy, Mr. Wilds showed the group each of them on the SmartBoard and students were able to make notes in their reading package for any that created such a powerful reaction as to influence the writing of a rant.

In our next class block, students will be given a new booklet where they will complete one of two brainstorming exercises.  The second will be completed by the end of the class that follows.  From the two brainstorming tasks, students are to choose the best one and build their written rant by composing their rough draft.

Please note Mr. Wilds will be checking student rough drafts for the ERC debates.  This Wednesday, students who have completed the entire rough draft will be given access to type their final version for homework, which will be due before May 16th.  Should any student have missed school and need to catch up in ped support, they are to do so before Mr. Wilds shares the document for the final submission.

May 2 - Today, we wrapped up the rough draft of the ERC debates.  Next week, Mr. Wilds will be checking to ensure that all paragraphs have been completed as a draft before releasing the digital file for students to type up and submit, as homework.  Many students who missed school signed up for afternoon ped today to catch up before we start the long weekend.  Any other students who also need to attend afternoon ped support with Mr. Wilds should send him an email, over the weekend, to attend his next session on Monday afternoon.  Enjoy the long weekend, everyone.

May 1 - Happy 1st of the month, everyone!  To begin the block, Mr. Wilds gave the class a preview of the brainstorming exercise for the exam, which starts next week.  As we have been working hard in class on our ERC 'Tune-Up' exercise on the debate on whether AI is harmful, the students observed today just how similar of an exercise they will need to complete on the exam to that which we have been working on lately.  We ran through the entire brainstorming exercise, as to really illustrate to the class that if they have been paying attention, thinking and working hard on their ERC debates, the payoff will come when they have a easier time during the exam!

Also, whereas we looked at a rant with a more negative edge, Mr. Wilds showed the class that you can also have a equally passionate, yet positive stance when writing.  Two new videos were shown to the class to illustrate how this is done.  Both videos, as produced by the CBC for the Rick Mercer Report, demonstrate his pride of having travelled throughout our nation (and how other Canadians should do this, also) and the humility of Gord Downie, who was the former lead singer of The Tragically Hip and who passed away from brain cancer.  These videos, along with the rant previously shown to the group, should help the students understand the tone, point of view and passion that separates a rant from other forms of writing.

Next, we returned back to the writing of our ERC debates.  Students were prompted to the paragraph where they are asked to poke holes or find fault with evidence presented by the other side.  In tomorrow's class, we will wrap up the rough draft of the debate by learning how to write a solid conclusion to bring an end to the debate.

As several students may not finish their rough draft in class time tomorrow due to absence, they will have one final opportunity to do so by attending ped support, tomorrow afternoon.  If an email request isn't sent before the end of the day, Mr. Wilds will not be able to sign up students late.  Also, please note that the reading assessment, currently on Google Classroom, is due before the end of the weekend.

Apr. 30 - As we get closer to the start of the in-class exams, Mr. Wilds reminded the class of procedures and student responsibilities during the exam period.  This includes signing up the next day for afternoon ped support (even if it isn't with Mr. Wilds himself - send him an email and he will find you a place to write in the afternoon), bringing materials to class (fully stocked pencil case with supplies listed on the course outline, a personal dictionary/thesaurus), what can be consulted (basically, nothing) and cell phones MUST be in lockers and not brought into the classroom under any circumstance.  This is all to prevent any issues or misunderstandings that can result in either a loss of marks or a grade of '0' for noncompliance with the school code of conduct and exam protocol.

Next, after being distributed the key vocabulary terms for the play and assigning reading roles, we completed reading the text titled The Strange Case of the Musgrave Ritual.  We also looked at the text Meet A Real Crime Scientist, which follows the play on page 19 of the April 2024 issue of Scope.  Both texts will be a part of the new reading assessment, which will be posted in Google Classroom as of 2 PM, today.  It will be due before the end of this weekend.

Please note for any student who received an extension for our last reading assessment, this extension expires Thursday afternoon, which is the last afternoon ped support before we reach the deadline of today's new assignment.

Apr. 29. - Welcome back from the weekend.  In English today, we moved from the brainstorming phase of the debate and on to the rough draft.  Following the instruction prompts on the board and using all the work that students have already completed using their brainstorming notes, we were able to complete half of the debate.  We managed to write the full introduction paragraph, along with 2 of the three body paragraphs.  Each paragraph took an average of 10 minutes to write.  This pacing shows the group why taking the time to brainstorm before writing can actually be a great assistance and saves time and anxiety, in the long run.  

Students who were not present today in class or who are struggling with the writing of this debate are strongly encouraged to sign up for afternoon ped support, as soon as possible.  This can be done by sending Mr. Wilds an email to attend his next session, which next falls on Thursday afternoon.

Apr. 25 - Due last night, via online submission was the reading assessment for the article Growing Up on Alcatraz and the poem titled The Isle of Alcatraz.  Unfortunately, we again were unable to correct this during the block, as there continue to be students in the class who don't turn in the homework before the deadline.  Mr. Wilds spoke about this issue, as it has become quite an issue (for some, a repetitive issue) and is causing a loss of marks in the most important term of the school year.  Mr. Wilds reiterated the importance of keeping track of work, whether be using the student agenda, checking Google Classroom or this website.  Additionally, there are those students who despite being granted an extension to complete missed work, are not making arrangements or coming to morning ped support to complete the work that should have been done for homework.  As this causes a delay in the teacher returning marks to those who did do the work, on time, some students who waited too long to make up this late work have been notified that they will be given a grade of '0' on the missed assessment.  Results have been returned back to those students who have turned it in.

Next, we returned to the brainstorming phase of the ERC debates.  After going over what we have done so far, today we finished the last page of the graphic organizer and we are now ready to proceed to the writing of the rough draft, starting in our next class.

Apr. 24 - WHOO, HOO!  The final two presentations from this class managed to have the opportunity to complete their in-class presentation.  Now comes the long process for marking, given that all groups have managed to fully complete this assignment, which started several weeks ago.  Once this is done, students will be returned their marks, via Google Classroom.

Next, we returned to the ERC debate on AI.  After a bit of review, students worked on a brainstorming sheet where they chose their side for the debate, indicated the direct quotes from the Scope article that they will be using as evidence and even found a quote from the other side that they will pick apart or attack.  For safekeeping, the brainstorms were turned in to the teacher and we will build upon this work, in our next English class.

Kindly note that for those students who have yet to complete the reading assessment, the deadline is today, in Google Classroom.

Apr. 23 - Following attendance, the class proceeded to the auditorium to view the spring Actor's Studio production of Almost, Maine.  Next class, following the remaining group presentations, we will continue working on the ERC debates.

Apr. 22 - Welcome back from the weekend.  As always, on Day 2 in our school cycle of days, today we looked at a text from Scholastic Scope.  After distributing the key terms and vocabulary for the text and watching a video, we completed the reading of the text Growing Up on Alcatraz and students listened to the paired poems, titled The Isle of Alcatraz, which is found on page 26.  These texts, along with the sidebar on pages 24-25 will be part of the reading assessment, which will be posted to Google Classroom, later today.  These assessments will need to be submitted before the end of the day, this Wednesday.

Next, another student group managed to complete their term presentation.  The final two groups that remain are students in groups 9 and 10.  Please note that they are considered 'on deck' and need to be prepared, should all partners be present and attending class.  Once all groups finish, only then can the teacher begin the grading process.  In the meantime, video footage has been shared, via a private comment on the assignment page, in Google Classroom.

Finally, we discussed the ERC assignment and 'tune-up' for the English exam, which will begin in class, as of May 6th.  The teacher reminded students that should they be absent, they will need afternoon ped support to catch up as soon as possible so they do not fall too far behind the group.  They can attend ped support with other teachers besides Mr. Wilds, should he not have ped support in the afternoon on the next day.  An email request will need to be sent and Mr. Wilds will follow up with the arrangment.

Apr. 19 - Today, there were no further student presentations due to absences within the remaining groups that needed to present.   This only means that project groups 9, 10 and 4 are still "on deck" and will be expected to present in any of our classes, starting next week, depending if all members are in class on that particular day.

This freed up time to focus on our 'tune-up' assignment that will help students prepare for their in-class final English exam, which begins May 8th.  Using the debate article from Scholastic Scope, students thought about effective pieces of evidence that could be used to debate on the following topic: Will AI do more harm than good?  Using text evidence to support their stance on the issue, the class will need to complete a guided brainstorming in preparation for the writing of their debates.  Additionally, students will need to film, using the Flip application, a video of their delivery of the debate.

We will be building upon the work that we started today, in classes following the weekend.

Apr. 16 - Due last night, via online submission in Google Classroom, students should have turned in their latest reading assessment for the text titled Killer Smog.  Any students who have not completed this are asked to make arrangements and to attend ped support, as instructed in the private comments that were sent to student accounts.  Meanwhile, before starting today's presentations, a bit of class time was spent discussing our upcoming final exams.  We will begin working on the exam, during class time, as of May 6th (Restricted Days).  We will also be using ERC classes on Day 1 and Scope readings will need to be done for homework to prepare for reading assessments, in the month of May.  The teacher will continue to supply vocabulary terms and definitions to the class, however, we simply will not be reading these texts together, as a class.

Next, presentation groups 5 and 7 had their turn to present their term project to the class.  Given we have reached the 'final three' groups (Group 9, 10 and 4), all groups are now considered 'On Deck' as we make our final push for wrapping up the term 3 presentations.

Following our presentations, we looked at the feature article of Scope and watched a video on AI.  This debate will be used as a 'tune-up' for the final exam and will count for grades in both ERC and ELA when students will need to both compose and submit a recording of their debate, using the Flip app, later this term.

Finally, a reminder that tomorrow is a ped day (strange for a Wednesday, but, why not?).  See you all when we get back to school.

Apr. 15 - Welcome back from the weekend.  Before starting presentations, we did a quick grammar review of the proper usage of except and accept.  After covering the rules, students completed an exercise on pages 2-3 of the April 2024 issue of Scholastic Scope.  We managed to correct this exercise, as a group, then turned our focus to the presentations for the day.

Group 7 had their turn today to present their term project to the class.  Mr. Wilds will be sharing, via a private comment on the assignment in Google Classroom, a link to view the footage of the presentation.

Next, with the remaining time in class, students took a quick quiz on the lesson that we started the block with.  This was done on paper and was turned in to the teacher, for marking, before the bell rang, signalling the end of the block.

On deck next for presentations are groups 8, 9 and 10.  Group 4 will be the final group, in a separate class block.  Please note that for students who have yet to complete their reading assessment for Killer Smog, the deadline is tonight.

Apr. 12 - We continued our student presentations today with two more groups having their turn to showcase and discuss about the decisions made in the construction of their term project and website.  On deck next will be students from groups 7, 8 and 9

Apr. 11 - Today, we read the text titled Killer Smog from the April 2024 issue of Scholastic Scope.  Before jumping into the text, the teacher showed the class a clip from the author where she discusses the importance of author's craft when creating an interesting and engaging piece of writing.  Additionally, she spoke about the revision process, which is an area of weakness for many writers at the high school level.

For homework, students are to complete a reading assessment for this piece.  This assessment also includes a vocabulary section, in which students can either consult the handout given by Mr. Wilds or use a dictionary for assistance.  The reading assessment is posted at 2 PM in Google Classroom and is due, next week.

Apr. 10 - Before starting our ERC class today, Mr. Wilds took a moment to speak about the grade 8 exam.  On Monday, during the ped day, the cycle one English teachers met and decided on the format of the exam.  During the month of May, class time will be used to brainstorm and compose a first and final draft for a 'rant'.  Students will be given a variety of topics and they are to brainstorm ideas for two possible 'rants'.  Next, they are to choose their favourite topic and create a rough draft, following the guidelines that will be provided.  Once the rough draft is finished, students will need to reflect on how they can improve upon their draft as they move to the final copy.  To illustrate what a rant is, the teacher showed the class a YouTube clip from Rick Mercer where he talks about issues he has with Tim Horton's and how they shortchange their employees who often work for minimum wage.  To help students with writing in this style, our next ERC assignment and presentation will cover how to organize and compose an argumentative piece of writing, following a debate format.

Next, we returned to the reading of the course text, finishing up unit 2.4 which looks at social order and the rights/duties of citizens who live in our democracy.  Having completed this, in our next ERC class, we will explore the topics for the argumentative writing task and students will start the brainstorming for this assignment.

Finally, for those students who have not taken their extension opportunities for reading assessments from February or March, please note that no further extension will be provided as Mr. Wilds needs to return work to the class.  Should you have not made arrangements to catch up with those assignments, despite being notified via Google Classroom to do so, the teacher has given grades of zero for not submitting the work.

Apr. 5 - After our school closure due to the snowstorm yesterday, it was nice to get back into our routine.  Today, we started our class with the in-class presentations for the term 3 project, with groups 1 , 2 and 3 presenting today.  Mr. Wilds will be sharing to members of the group the video footage taken of their presentations, via a private comment on the marking page for the project.  Should students wish to review their performance or show their parents, this link will open the recording of the presentation and is only shared directly with members of the presentation group.  'On deck' for our next presentation block will be members of groups 4, 5 and 6.

Meanwhile, due Monday is the latest reading assessment.  If any student has not yet managed to complete this reading assessment, they should do so ahead of the deadline.

Enjoy the ped day on Monday and remember to safely look at the Eclipse, should you wish to do so! 

Apr. 3 - Welcome back from our extended Easter break!  Before reading the March 2024 play from Scholastic Scope, we went over any final questions and reminders ahead of term presentations, which begin this week (group presentation order and websites can all be found on Google Classroom).  Next, reading roles and key vocabulary terms were distributed to the group for the play titled The Midnight Ride of Sybil Ludington.  For homework, due April 8th, students are to complete a short reading assessment on both the text and the vocabulary terms.  This will be posted, in Google Classroom, as of 2:00 today.

Mar. 28 - Before starting ERC today, Mr. Wilds took a bit of time to speak with students about the message that was sent yesterday on Mosaik about the upcoming project.  One of the important points dealt with the usage of cue cards, should students wish to have this 'safety net' while they are talking in front of the class.  The teacher showed the group, using Google, two sites that showed what cue cards are (i.e. not torn paper) and how to properly use a cue card (i.e. point form/cues - NOT FULL SENTENCES).  The group was told that if a student goes up either with notes not written on cue cards OR with full sentence text written out, the teacher will tell the student to put these away and they will need to proceed with their presentation, without any written reminders of what they wanted to cover.

Next, we spent much of the class block reviewing unit 2.3 from the ERC textbook.  The teacher showed the class the email to parents, regarding inappropriate language (slurs, homophobic, racist and so forth) that are not only hurtful and inappropriate in schools, but in greater society, as well.  Additionally, the teacher showed the class a powerful video from a television show (The West Wing) that shows how some people of influence use can wrongly guide others who don't know any better or who want to be part of the perceived 'in crowd'.

For homework, should students wish during the extended Easter Break, they can continue to work on their upcoming presentations and get together (in-person or virtually) to do a run-through, as we rapidly approach the term 3 English presentation.

Happy Easter, everyone!  See you on Wednesday when we read the March 2024 play from Scholastic Scope.

Mar. 26 - Today in class, students began returning the class novels that they signed out.  Should any student have returned the novel that was signed out by a different classmate, they are either responsible for locating their borrowed copy or perhaps there was an accidental switch made, resulting in the other student turning in the novel.  In any case, these novels need to be returned to avoid students being charged fees for replacing them.  Those students who did not have their novels on hand today can bring them in our next block.

Next, the teacher allocated 15 minutes for the class to begin working on drafting some speaking notes for their upcoming presentations.  Using classroom Chromebooks, students were able to take a look at their published site and the document that the teacher posted in Google Classroom for talking points.  After the fifteen minutes passed, we reviewed the reading assessment which was due to be submitted by last night.  Instead of going over all the questions, we focused on the most commonly incorrect questions and went over the errors that some students made.

For the remaining time, student groups were able to meet and discuss what they wrote earlier in the block.  This con be continued for homework, as we begin student presentations, next week. 

Mar. 25 - Welcome back from the weekend!  Today marks the final phase of the term project, with student groups reflecting on the work that they have done and what they will be saying about it, during their presentation.  To help with this, the teacher showed the group a Google Doc with many ideas on what could be discussed, during student presentations.  Additionally, Mr. Wilds spoke about best practices (cue cards should not be full sentences/paragraphs, don't read the board, face your audience, and so forth) for when students are presenting to the class.  This Google Doc will be posted online for students to begin working on what they want to cover during their presentation, once the group has divided up the speaking tasks.

A suggestion that came from a student was for groups to 'Facetime' each other and do a run-through, before presentation day.  Offering some constructive criticism and suggestions for improvement goes a long way in supporting each other, as should have been the case throughout this project.

Please note that for those student who have yet to complete the reading assessment, the deadline is tomorrow.

Mar. 22 - Today marks the end of the week and websites are due!  The teacher explained that while the websites will be published and digitally submitted today in Google Classroom, the class has earned an extension opportunity, should they choose to use it, over the weekend.  Mr. Wilds set an expiration on student editing access to the end of the day, Sunday, for any last-minute changes.  This was granted as many groups were working hard and rallying to get work done, last night.

Class time was devoted to teaching the class how to turn in their websites, in Google Classroom, making some adjustments and meeting one final time with their groups as we head into the weekend.

Next week, students will start working on their presentation cue cards, for the project.  Additionally, should any student still need to complete their latest reading assessment, this should be completed, before the deadline.

Mar. 21 - Today, the teacher updated the class about how the project is unfolding, especially after the homework opportunity, last night.  While some groups are mobilizing and putting in a strong effort to get the project done, too many students are either putting in far little time or no time whatsoever, especially as we approach toward tomorrow's deadline of 3:35.  The teacher showed the class a few groups who are mobilizing and who have very little work left to be done to complete this part of their project.  This is to illustrate that it is possible, if only students put in the required effort, outside of class time.  Ideally, websites should near completion, tonight.  While the teacher has class time earmarked for the project, this should be for reviewing or last-minute altering to add some finishing touches to the site.  Should student groups be using this time to create content, they will likely not be able to finish and submit their finished website, resulting in a loss of grades.

Today, we focused on reading the Scholastic Scope article titled Escape from Darkness (pp. 4-10).  Later today, a reading assessment will be posted online for students to complete.  This will be due early, next week.

Mar. 20 - At the start of the block, the teacher went over how so few students in the class did any work on their projects, last night.  With homework being an integral part of the program and that this project has a deadline of this week, Mr. Wilds spoke about how he is quite hesitant about allowing students the weekend as they have very poor work habits around completing homework.

To illustrate, the teacher showed the progress of one group that had a member use 30 minutes at home, to advance his project.  The difference between this website and the ones from students who did not do any work outside of class time was radical.  If groups can put in an honest effort, with each member devoting 30 minutes per night on this project, not only will the final result be strong but there may not even be a need for a weekend extension.

Most of the class time was devoted to working on the Chromebooks to move forward on the project.  As it currently stands, the deadline for this project is this Friday, at 3 PM.  If student groups show motivation and need to have the weekend, Mr. Wilds will consider this, based on how the class reacts and puts in an effort, beyond the limited time we have in the classroom.  Additionally, team leads who created their group websites, last Monday, transferred ownership over to Mr. Wilds, so he can more closely monitor group progress and set the editing deadline that no further changes can be made.

Please note that whereas today, Mr. Wilds moved the ERC course, tomorrow he will not have the Chromebooks and we will be looking at a piece in Scholastic Scope.

Mar. 18 - Welcome back from the weekend!  Today, we moved forward in the Term 3 project, with student leaders designing and sharing the 'shell' of their website with members of their group.

On the class SmartBoard, Mr. Wilds led team leaders on the various sections that are required for the website, which needs to be completed and published, this week.  In each section, a short reminder of what is meant to be done in each section was written.

Except for Day 2 this week, Mr. Wilds will have Chromebooks accessible to work on the project.  This, along with student members being responsible and accountable, should provide ample time to collectively complete a well-designed and thorough website that teaches the literary term.

Mar. 14 - Posted yesterday, via Google Classroom are the digital instructions, submission requirements, timeline and rubric for the entire term 3 project, which we have been working on for the past few weeks.  Following today's block, student groups should decide if they need to sign up for afternoon ped support to make sure that they have enough time to submit the work, before tomorrow's deadline.  If so, an email needs to be sent tonight to confirm attendance for tomorrow.  Please note, no signups are permitted on the same day so student groups need to make responsible decisions following where they have reached by the end of today's class.

For the remainder of the block, class time was given to student groups to continue working on their projects.  

Finally, please note that those students who have yet to submit their reading assessment for the text that we looked at this past Tuesday, they need to submit their work ahead of the deadline.

Mar. 13 - At the beginning of today's block, the teacher took the time to go over the rubric for the term 3 project.  This was to remind students of what is being looked for at all three stages of the project and to help groups reflect on any things that need to be added or paid careful attention to as they proceed from rough draft to final copy, which is due this Friday, by the end of the block.

Most of the class time was spent working on the project, with many groups now feeling that enough progress has been made to begin working on their final version of the tie-in assignment.  As mentioned before, any groups who feel that they can benefit from attending afternoon ped support, either tomorrow or Friday, should send an email to their teacher, with 24-hour notice.  Unfortunately, no sign-ups will be permitted on the day for ped support and if student groups do not manage to turn in their work, they could receive a deduction for submitting work past the deadline.

Mar. 12 - In today's class, the teacher distributed the March 2024 issue of Scholastic Scope and vocabulary terms for the paired texted articles that discuss the power of failure.  A reading assessment for these texts will be posted in Google Classroom for students to complete and submit, before the deadline, later today.

After playing an audio reading of these texts, student groups were permitted to sit together and continue working on the rough drafts of their project.  The final, polished version is due this Friday, before the end of the block.  Should student groups feel that they will not be able to meet this deadline, they should not wait and make arrangements to attend afternoon ped support, this week.  Mr. Wilds has afternoon ped support on day 4 (Thursday) and day 5 (Friday), this week.  Please be reminded that students should sign up via email, the day before they intend to attend (no signups are permitted on the day).

Mar. 11 - Welcome back from March break.  As displayed in Google Classroom, the teacher reviewed our timeline for the project.  By the end of this week, all groups should have moved from the rough draft to the final version for their tie-in assignment to the novel.  While some groups are on track, after reviewing what has been done so far, several groups need to focus this week and be productive to meet the deadline for this week.  

As today is day 1 in our school cycle of days, we worked with the ERC textbook for part of the class, covering and discussing content from pages 47-49.  With the remaining time in class, student groups were permitted to sit together, review what has been done so far in the English project and work towards finishing their rough drafts.

Feb. 29 - Due last night, via online submission in Google Classroom was the reading assessment that was posted on Monday afternoon, to be completed for homework.  As has been the trend in the third term, due to several students not completing their homework, we were unable to correct it.  Instead, we discussed the repercussions of not completing work on time, not only for this course but in the long run, as there are no special considerations made for students who do poorly in high school and who have chosen an accelerated program, such as Sport-Etudes when they apply for prep schools or into Cegep.  In the past few years, it has become very difficult for students to get into the program of their choosing and the teacher simply wanted to remind the students that they have common exams with other programs, while they have more time to learn alongside a teacher.  This program requires a high level of discipline, organization and time management.  Some students in the program have fallen into some bad habits, especially given that homework is an integral part of student success, given that there is a third less class time across the subjects.

Next, we moved back to the brainstorming / rough draft phase of the project.  The teacher let the class know that when we return from the break, student groups should finish off this phase and complete their final copy of this first section of the project.  Mr. Wilds reminded the group that he would need to see and give permission for students to proceed from the rough draft to the final copy.  Should they not be adequately done with their rough draft, given the time given in class, the requirements of the assignment and the expectations of the teacher, students may be denied to proceed to their final copy, resulting in needing to attend ped support and, possibly, a loss of marks should deadlines not be met.

Most of the class time was spent working on the project, with the teacher moving around to groups, answering questions and helping students find chapters and page numbers for their referencing.

As there is no class scheduled tomorrow, which is day 6 on our school cycle of days, Mr. Wilds would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a fun and restful spring break!

Feb. 28 - Ahead of today's class, Mr. Wilds adjusted the post on the 'Stream' page for the term 3 projects.  A weekly timeline has been created so that students understand the various due dates and tasks to be completed as we move toward presentations.  The teacher covered this information with the class, answered questions, and even carefully explained the process for absenteeism when we reached the presentation stage.   Students and parents alike can take a look at this post and know what is expected as we make our way through this term project.

Following this, the teacher distributed the rough draft worksheets for the project assignment, and time was given for group brainstorming and work, during class.   In the advent of students not being present next class and having the group materials, the teacher collected the work that was completed and will keep it safe and distribute it back to the groups, in our next English block.

Kindly note that for those who have yet to complete the current reading assessment in Google Classroom, the deadline to submit the work is tomorrow night.

Feb. 27 - In today's block, the teacher went over specific instructions, advice, and things to think about for each of the selected group assignments for the term 3 projects.  This was to provide students with a few ideas and best practices from past projects, that some students may not have thought about when they initially made their choice.  In an upcoming class, we will take some time to get down to work and produce notes, which will move toward a rough draft.

Please note that for any student who has yet to complete the reading assessment, posted yesterday, the deadline to complete this work is tomorrow.

Feb. 26 - Today, reading roles were distributed, the teacher handed out to students a vocabulary list and we completed the reading for the play titled Into the Underworld (Scholastic Scope, February 2024, pp. 13-18).  A reading assessment, due before Feb. 29th, will need to be completed on this text along with the piece titled Life in a Maya Village, which is found on page 19.  Please note that if any student is absent because they are leaving on vacation, they will need to complete and submit the homework before departure, to not lose marks and be required to attend an afternoon ped support block, following Spring Break.  

Next, student groups for the English project sat together and selected their assignment that tied in with the novel, The Outsiders.   Time was given for student groups to review the 12 choices, select their favourites and using the ranking system that was used in a previous block, students groups chose what literary terms they would be focusing on for their term project.  These have been posted in Google Classroom and we will get down to work on this, next class.

Feb. 23 - For black history month, today students attended an assembly where the two speakers shared their experiences with racism and provided strategies to deal with these issues, along with educating students on the many harmful ways that racism impacts people's lives.

Feb. 21 - Last night, via online submission in Google Classroom, the deadline for submitting the reading assessment for the text Heart Saver was reached.  While we were unable to correct this as a class due to not everyone having submitted their work and the need for an extension, the good news was the class did well on this assessment, with many students receiving full marks.  Students who did not complete their assessment were told that they should attend morning ped support, tomorrow before we begin academic classes for the day.

Next, we returned to watching the movie adaptation of The Outsiders.  After finishing the movie, groups for the term 3 project were chosen by students.  With a maximum group size of 3, some students needed to pair off or were unable to work with all of their friends.  The tradeoff for this would have been the teacher randomly forming groups, however, the class was quite adamant that they wanted the freedom to form their own groups, based on their training schedules, who they work well with and the desire to have this level of freedom for such an important final project.  Once the groups were formed and team leaders were identified, using the classroom randomizer, we figured out the selection and presentation order for the next stage of the project.

In Google Classroom, the teacher posted this information, along with a list of possible options for the project.  As a group, students should review this list and come up with a 'top five' list of their preferences for assignments that will be one of the 3 components of the project.  Ideally, as groups select their choice, there should be something left over that groups feel that they can effectively complete for the project.

Feb. 20 - Welcome back from the long weekend.  As we are closing in on finishing our viewing of the movie adaptation of the novel, today the teacher introduced the term 3 project, which we will be starting as soon as we finish the movie.

This project can be done in pairs or groups of a maximum of 3 students.  While students can choose who they want to work with, at this point of the term, they should be aware of who is a dependable/hard worker who will ensure that quality work is done on this project, especially given that term 3 is worth 60% and that this project touches all three competencies in the term.  After determining groups, the teacher will determine the presentation order, which also determines which group picks first for the literary term assignment.  This drives the focus of the project, leading to the design of a website (using Google Sites) and a presentation to the class explaining the decisions and rationale behind the links and videos that the team shared on their site.  We get to work on the project following March break and presentations will start in early April.

Next, we continued watching the movie, picking back up from where we last left off.  We will continue watching the movie in an upcoming block.

This a friendly reminder to those who have yet to submit their latest reading assessment, the deadline is tonight, via Google Classroom.

Feb. 16 - Happy Friday, everyone!   Today, we returned back to the watching of the movie adaptation of The Outsiders.  With just a little bit left in the movie, we should need approximately one final block to finish it off.  We will find this time, next week, following our ped day on Monday.  After we finish the movie, instructions, planning and work will start on our term project and presention.

Finally, just a reminder to complete the Scholastic Scope reading assessment, which is open and online, in Google Classroom, for those who have yet to complete it.

Feb. 15 - As is customary on day 2, today we read and discussed an article from the Feb. 2024 issue of Scholastic Scope.  After watching a video from the illustrator who was hired to graphically design the images and look of the piece and receiving the handout for the vocabulary terms associated with the piece, we completed the reading of Heart Saver, as found on pages 4 through 9.

For homework, due Feb. 20, students are to complete a reading assessment for this piece.  

Feb. 14 - Happy Valentine's Day.  Today, students completed their last reading assessment for the novel.  Following this, we turned our focus back to the ERC course, starting with a quick recap of unit 2.1 followed by finishing it and starting unit 2.2, which is titled Protecting Social Values.  Please note that any student who happened to be absent today and who did not complete the reading assessment will be required to attend an upcoming ped support block so they do not fall behind their peers.

Feb. 12 - Welcome back from the long weekend, everyone.  To start off the block, Mr. Wilds let the class know that the mid-term collaborative group response results will be returned to students following today's class.  While there were no groups that failed this exercise, there were a few groups that narrowly passed.  The feedback that the teacher sends back with the results is divided up into four paragraphs - one for each paragraph that students wrote for the response.  This was to help them understand not only what went well but to highlight specific areas that can be improved upon.  Should this feedback not be enough, students can feel free to sign up to go over the response, one-on-one, by booking an afternoon ped support block.

Meanwhile, although we could not correct the reading assessment that was due last night as several students did not manage to submit it before the due date, the teacher did hand out the Feb. 2024 issue of Scholastic Scope.  Given that February is Black History Month, the teacher let the group know that we certainly will be looking at the text titled Heart Saver (pp.5-9).

Next, we turned our attention to continuing the movie adaptation of the novel, The Outsiders.  We picked up from the spot where we last left off, reaching up to approximately Chapter 5 of the novel.  Our watching the expanded movie adaptation will serve as a review of the novel, just ahead of our working on the term 3 project, which we will be starting shortly after we finish the movie.

Feb. 8 - Today we finished reading the novel.  Following our reading of chapter 12, the teacher let the class know that there are two versions of the movie adaptation that have been released.  The original version, released over 25 years ago, is considered a classic adaptation, however, several characters are either not developed or key scenes may have been cut.  In the newer release, over 30 minutes of additional footage has been added, which lines it up more closely to the novel that we have just read.  The teacher showed the students how different the two films are, by watching just the start of the original film and then by playing the new release.

We managed to watch up to the part of the novel where the characters are at the drive-in and Ponyboy and Cherry go to purchase some snacks and get to discussing the differences that divide Socs and Greasers, beyond finances.  We will continue to watch the movie, following the long weekend.  Please be reminded that, for homework, students are to complete their reading assessment from Scholastic Scope on the text titled Pangolin Rescue.  This is due by the end of the weekend.

See you all on Monday!

Feb. 7 - To begin the block, we discussed some of the common issues with the writing of the group collaborative response that was composed by the class just before the holiday break.  As these are close to being returned, the teacher can now see areas where some students are having difficulty when writing a response at the high school level.  We spoke about several points, including the need to carefully follow instructions, the importance of the commentary, and applying and proper use of the various resource handouts that have been given to students to help support their writing.  When grades are returned, the teacher will be providing a lot of feedback to help students understand what went well, along with areas to improve upon for future responses.  As the stakes for this response were quite low (only a maximum of 6 points on the term 2 report card), this will not remain the case as students progress to cycle 2.  Students who wish to go over specifics, should the feedback be insufficient, will be able to sign up for afternoon ped support so we can go over this, following March break.

Next, we quickly recapped Ponyboy's last 24 hours, as covered in the class novel, The Outsiders.  This was to drive how much has happened to the main character in such a short period.  This is often lost on some readers, as often some think that the changing of a chapter means the passing of a day.   We next read chapters 10 and 11 from the novel, during the block.  Toward the end of class, the group discussed the physical and psychological repercussions of the events that have befallen Ponyboy.

For homework, students are reminded to complete the reading assessment that was posted yesterday.  While this is only due by the end of the weekend, students should plan accordingly should they have special obligations or events (like watching the Super Bowl) that may be planned.

Feb. 6 - At the start of class, we went over several announcements and items about what we have been looking over in our classes.  First, we went over the survey that was completed yesterday, following the novel reading assessment.  Mr. Wilds explained how trends are used to determine policy in schools.  We also looked at a news report, focusing on the Canadian astronaut who will be part of the Artimus II mission.  This was to bring forth a Canadian connection to the last Scholastic Scope reading assessment.  Next, we discussed what it means for a species to be critically endangered, even looking at the list of animals that, sadly, we are at risk of losing entirely.

Using the audio version of the text, we collectively covered the text Pangolin Rescue (Scholastic Scope, Dec/Jan 2024 issue, pp. 20-22) along with reading the infographic titled The Amazing Pangolin on page 23.  These texts, along with the vocabulary handout that the teacher distributed, will be on the next reading assessment, which will be posted for students to submit before the deadline, later today.

Feb. 5 - Welcome back from the weekend, everyone.  Today, Mr. Wilds was unable to run the class due to a professional development exam from Google.  However, his substitute was able to run the block.  As students knew last week, today we started with the in-class reading assessment on the three chapters from the novel that we covered last week.  Immediately following this assessment, students next completed their anonymous student surveys, using a username and password that the substitute distributed once the reading assessment was done.

Mr. Wilds will be making arrangements for students were were absent today to complete their reading assessments, outside of class time.

See you all tomorrow!

Feb. 1 - With the end of term 2 falling tomorrow, Mr. Wilds took a bit of time at the start of the block to discuss the mid-term group response that will shortly be returned to the class.  The weighting of the collaborative response is quite low (20%) and impacts competency 2.  While this means the impact of the mid-term is low, what is important is the lessons learned and that students take the time to look at the feedback that the teacher has taken a lot of time in creating to help 'coach' the class on what was done well, along with possible suggestions for areas to improve upon.  This is important as the stakes get higher in future years, with the response counting for more and more marks and the reading texts becoming increasingly difficult.

Next, the teacher let the students know that their next reading assessment on the novel, The Outsiders, will be covering chapters 7 through 9.  This will be held this Monday, in class, and will be followed up by students completing an anonymous school-wide survey, using Chromebooks.

Students next followed along in the novel to the audiobook version of The Outsiders.  We managed to reach to the end of chapter 9.  Should any student need to review in advance of Monday's in-class assessment, then they have between now and then to do so.

Finally, as it is day 5 and the Scholastic Scope reading assessment was due for homework, Mr. Wilds went over the assessment, focusing on how it went and the most common mistakes made by students in the class.  We also discussed strategies for alternative approaches for the taking of these assessments, should any student receive results that they deem as unsatisfactory or well below the average of the group.

Jan. 31 - Due tonight, via online submission in Google Classroom is the reading assessment for the play.  Students who have yet to complete it will need to do so tonight.  Next, after a bit of a discussion to prepare the students for the reading of the upcoming chapters in The Outsiders, we completed the reading of Chapter 8.  Students who were not present today due to absence will need to read this chapter independently, as it will be on our next novel reading assessment.

Jan. 30 - At the start of class, the teacher reminded the class that the reading assessment from the play that was read yesterday is currently open for students to complete at home.  This needs to be submitted before the end of the day, this Wednesday.  Additionally, the teacher reminded students that if they were absent last Thursday and still need to complete the last in-class reading assessment for The Outsiders, they need to make the arrangements to do so in ped support.  On the whiteboard in front of the class, Mr. Wilds has outlined the ped support blocks for this week.  If any students do not catch up this week by either attending morning or afternoon ped support blocks, the teacher will assign a mandatory ped support block for Monday afternoon, next week.

After a quick recap of what happened in chapter 6, we today read chapter 7 of The Outsiders.  Toward the end of the block, Mr. Wilds went over some key points and ideas to understand from this chapter.

Jan. 29 - Welcome back from the long weekend, everyone.  Today, as is customary on Day 2 of our school cycle of days, we dived into reading a text from Scholastic Scope.  At the start of the block, reading roles for the play titled Stranded in Space (Scholastic Scope, Dec/Jan 2024 issue, pp. 12-18) were given to several students in the class and we read the piece, as a group.  For homework, due Feb. 1st, students are to complete a reading assessment on this text.  Students can use both their magazines and the vocabulary terms for this reading that the teacher distributed to the group.

Concerning the last reading assessment on the novel, Flipped, students who have yet to complete the last one need to attend morning ped support on Day 5 or Day 6 (Thursday or Friday, this week) with ample time to log on to a Chromebook and to complete the assessment.  Any student who does not manage to do this will be assigned a mandatory ped support on Monday afternoon, Feb. 5th from 12:55-1:45, which will result in missing training or arriving late to practice for this day.  Students do not need to make arrangements with their teacher to attend morning ped support - just show up, complete the assessment and get ready to start classes for the day.

Jan. 25 - As today is Day 1 in our school cycle of days, it was the day reserved both for ERC and the reading assessment on the class novel. The Outsiders.  We began the class by reviewing the concept of democracy, highlighting some of the possible shortcomings of their style of governance.  As an example, we looked at the teacher negotiations and how the voting is going, across the province.  With a narrow majority who are voting to accept the new terms of the contract, it is hard to not notice that there are low participation rates among those who are eligible to vote.  We compared this to general elections, both at the municipal, provincial and federal levels and we discussed possible reasons why citizens do not exercise their democratic rights by participating in elections.

We next took a break from this to complete the reading assessment on chapters 5 and 6 of the novel.  As these assessments are in locked mode and are meant to be completed in class, any student who was not present at school today will need to make arrangements to complete it, outside of class time, next week.

Once all students submitted their assessment, we came back to the ERC lesson, now looking at authoritative governments and dictatorships.  Students were quick to identify that the difference between the two styles of government is how the state dictates rules, often by threats of force or violence, upon the citizens.  We also looked at the power of charisma and how this skill is important in polarizing popularity among the people.

We finished by learning about Pierre Elliot Trudeau and the events leading up to the October crisis in 1970.  This event in Canadian history was unknown to most students of the class and showed how a democracy can slip into a suspension of rights and freedoms, should conditions merit.

Enjoy the long weekend, everyone!  See you when we get back to school on Monday (which will be day 2 in our cycle of days).

Jan. 23 - After reviewing the Robert Frost poem Only Gold Can Stay in yesterday's block, today we also discussed the Southern Gentleman from Gone With The Wind.  As many students are unfamiliar with both, these two texts provide a lot of important insights into the mindsets of Johnny and Dally, in chapters 5 and 6 of The Outsiders.  Once we had reviewed this, we moved on to the reading of chapter 6, which brings us up to the next reading assessment, which will be held on this Thursday, before we start the ERC lesson for the day.  

Jan. 22 - Welcome back from the weekend.  On the whiteboard, the teacher wrote out a reminder of our adjusted cycle of days, given that the mid-year exam week has been cancelled.  Today is Day 4 and this Thursday will be day 1.  As is customary, we will be having our in-class reading assessment on the novel, The Outsiders before moving on to the ERC lesson for the day.  This assessment will cover chapters 5 and 6.  Please be reminded that this Friday is a ped day and if any student misses the in-class assessment, they will be able to complete it in an afternoon ped support block.

Today, we managed to complete the reading and discussion of chapter 5.  In our next English block, we will reach up to the end of chapter 6, ahead of the assessment that I spoke about earlier.

Jan. 19 - As customary on Day 1, today was our ERC block in our course calendar of days.  However, before starting the class, a short reading assessment, based on the first four chapters of the English novel, was completed.  For those students who were unable to attend class today, Mr. Wilds will reach out to your parents and sign you up for afternoon ped support, this Monday.  Please note that due to the cancellation of the mid-term exam week, Monday will be Day 4 in our cycle of days, hence this arrangement will be made.

Once all students who were present submitted their assessments, we moved back onto Unit 2.1 of the ERC textbook.  Last class, we looked at the various branches of government (federal, provincial, municipal) that help run and maintain social order in the country in which we live.  We also looked at the types of power that can be wielded by governments, institutions and organizations.  We reviewed democratic power: what it is, what it means and the limitations/drawbacks of this type of power structure.  We will also look at authoritarian regimes and how this power system operates in our next ERC block, which falls on Thursday, next week.

Jan. 18 - Today, we continued our reading of The Outsiders, completing the reading of chapter 4.  Before starting, as a group we discussed what was covered yesterday, focusing particularly on the sad home life of Johnny, who feels safer sleeping outdoors than going home to his bed.  The teacher spoke about a community organization in the West Island, Ajoi, which identifies at-risk youth and helps them out through difficulties that they may have in their young lives.

Tomorrow, students will be completing their first reading assessment on the novel.  This will cover novel chapters one, two, three and four.  Any student who wishes to review the text to prepare can do so, using the strategies that we have spoken about, in class.

Jan. 17 - Due last night, via Google Classroom, was the reading assessment that was assigned at the end of last week.  At the start of today's class, we went over the answers.  Results will be digitally shared once the teacher manages to go through this work.  Next, we returned to the novel, reading chapter 4 of The Outsiders.   There will be an in-class/closed-book assessment on Friday.  After discussing this chapter with the class, the teacher reminded the group that there is a wealth of study guides available online to 'check understanding' and see if a deeper dive into the novel is required before Friday.

Jan. 16 - This Friday (Day 1 in our school cycle of days) we will be completing a closed book reading assessment on The Outsiders.  To help students check their understanding, the teacher showed the class how easily they can find a study guide to complement reading and to check their understanding of what we have read.  While this should not replace the actual reading of the text, free tools like online study guides can help students feel more confident that they are understanding the text and, if they find that there is a lot in the study guide that they don't remember, then they should re-read that particular chapter.

Next, we returned to the reading of the novel, covering chapter 3 of the novel after our discussion of foreshadowing from chapter 2.  

For homework, for students who have yet to complete the reading assessment, the deadline to do so is before the end of today.  Additionally, students can take a look for a quality study guide to help with preparing for Friday's assessment.

Jan. 15 - Welcome back from the weekend!  Today, after a brief review of events and details from the 1st chapter of the novel, we moved onto the reading of chapter 2.  The teacher announced that on day 1 of the cycle of days, we will be having a closed book reading assessment on chapters that we have read.  Should a student be absent, whether it be unplanned (illness, appointment, weather) or for sport, they are still responsible to keep pace with the class and read independently what we have covered in class.  Our next day 1 falls this Friday and if students want to re-read what was covered in class, should they feel reading in class isn't quite enough, then students should review the novel to ensure that they do well.

For those students who have yet to complete their reading assessment for the Scholastic Scope article that we looked at last Friday, this should be completed ahead of the deadline, which is tomorrow.

Jan. 12 - Happy Friday, everyone.  Today, we jumped into the reading of the Scholastic Scope text titled This is the End of The World (Dec/Jan 2024 issue, pp.4-10).  To help students better understand the text, we first watched a video by the author, Lauren Tarshis, who many students are familiar with as she writes the popular "I survived..." series from Scholastic.   In addition to this, the teacher showed the class a brief slideshow to get them to be a bit more familiar with Alaska, which is where the devastating earthquake occurred in 1964.

For homework, due Jan. 16, students are required to complete a reading assessment on this piece.  As there is a vocabulary component, those students who were absent today may go see the teacher, upon their return to school next week, to receive the vocabulary definitions that appear in the text and that may also appear on the assessment.

Jan. 11 - Before starting ERC today, the teacher just picked up the reading of The Outsiders from where we last left off.  This brought us to the end of chapter 1.  Next, we started unit 2 of the ERC course by looking at social order and how we govern ourselves, as citizens.  A lot of the class discussion centered on the three levels of government (federal, provincial, and municipal) and also how each has very specific areas that they govern and make decisions on in the society in which we live.  We will build upon this theory and discussion when we have our next class, in one full cycle of days in our course calendar.

Jan. 9 - At the start of class, students signed out a copy of the class novel, The Outsiders.  They also received a copy of the Dec/Jan 2024 issue of Scholastic Scope.  Both texts are expected to be brought to every class and the teacher showed the group the updated schedule of what we will be covering in classes, starting today.  On cycle days when we don't have ERC or Scholastic Scope readings/corrections, we will be focusing on reading and discussing the novel.  Please note that it is up to the teacher's discretion to occasionally deviate from this schedule, as it may become necessary from time to time.

As today is normally reserved for correcting a reading assessment from Scholastic Scope, we took the opportunity to begin reading the novel.  Playing an audio reading of the novel, students followed along in their books as it was narrated to them.  To help students understand all the characters that are introduced in the first chapter and the 'class warfare' element that divides the rival gangs, the teacher wrote on the whiteboard information to help students keep track and, as a collective, the teacher prompted the group with questions to check for understanding.

While we almost finished the chapter today, we will pick up where we left off, in an upcoming block.

Jan. 8 - Welcome back to school following the holiday break, everyone!  Much of class was spent going over updates and discussing what is to be expected over the next few weeks, now that we are back to school and the teacher contract negotiations are in the rearview.

Next class, students will be given a class novel to borrow, which we will be reading in class, over the next few weeks.  This novel will also lead to a class project, which will count in the third term.  Students are asked to bring the novel to every class and to take care of this loaned resource, as they will be charged should they return it in terrible shape or they do not manage to return the copy which they signed out with the school.

Dec. 22 - To celebrate the last day before the holiday break, Mr. Wilds allowed students some time to socialize and relax, while continuing the Christmas movie titled Candy Cane Lane (as found on the Amazon Prime Video platform) that we started watching, yesterday.

This brings an end to class for this calendar year.  Have a fun and safe holiday break.  See you all in 2024!    

Dec. 21 - As we lost our ERC block yesterday due to the play, today students completed an 'open book' assessment on World Religions to close off Unit 4 of the course textbook.  Using classroom Chromebooks, students complete the Google Form which was set to locked mode in Google Classroom.  This prevented students from navigating to any other pages beyond the quiz and made them rely on the handouts that they were supplied with for their answers.  Any student who needed a bit of additional time was allowed to do so by returning later after the class finished.  Additionally, should any student be absent for this assessment, they will be directed to attend an afternoon ped support block, following the holidays.

Dec. 20 - Today, in keeping with the holiday season, students were sent down to the JRHS auditorium to sit in the audience and watch our very own JRHS Actor's Studio perform Dicken's A Chrismas Carol.  It was a fantastic performance by our senior actors and this was a great way to kick off the holiday season!

Please note that tomorrow, students will be completing their 'open book' assessment for Unit 4 of the ERC course.  Students will need to consult the handout that was given to them, on Dec. 18th. 

Dec. 18 - With the weekend now in the rearview mirror, today we played a bit of 'catch-up' with some of the blocks lost due to the teacher's strike.  First, the teacher wanted to share with the class the text that was read for the collaborative guided response in the other English section.  Like Yertle the Turtle, this too was a Dr. Seuss story with powerful messages, should readers want to look deeper.  The teacher distributed to the group a copy of The Sneeches and after reading it quickly to the class, we discussed several themes, connections to the text and the symbolic usage of the stars on their belly.  Next, using a document camera, we looked at the ERC textbook, focusing on unit 4.  As much of this unit covers points from the history course, many students discovered that they already were quite familiar with Quebec's Religious Heritage and the traditions of many people from our province.  The teacher next distributed a couple of handouts, the first being about facts about 3 major monotheistic faiths followed in Quebec.  The second discussed 2 large polytheistic faiths, Hinduism and Buddhism.  On our next day 1 in the cycle of school days, which will be this Wednesday, students will be completing an 'open-book' assessment on these world religions for the course.  Students were asked to keep these handouts in the ERC section of their course binders until then. 

Dec. 15 - Welcome back to school, everyone!  Today, students worked on the final version of their collaborative guided response.  Using the four documents that were edited in class before the most recent break due to the teacher's strike, students merged the content into a final document and improved on their rough draft, whenever possible.  All groups managed to submit before the end of the block.

As access for every student is now in 'view-only' mode, should any edits or changes need to be made, students will need to attend ped support, next week, to do so.  Additionally, Mr. Wilds will be sending home emails to any student who needs an extension to complete a missed reading assessment, before next week.  For both, we will not be extending this beyond the holidays, so students need to be proactive, responsible, and proactive should they need to attend ped support.

Dec. 7 - In class today, we wrapped up the rough draft of the collaborative guided response.  For the final paragraph, students were to thoughtfully discuss the impact of the piece by selecting two guided questions from a list and expanding on the idea.  Like in previous blocks, the teacher explained what is expected to compose a solid finish to the response before distributing classroom Chromebooks for students to use to access the shared Google Doc.

Following the teacher's strike, we will find a class block where we will move from the rough draft to the final copy.  Students will have one final opportunity to improve on what they have composed in the writing of their rough draft before submitting a final copy to be graded, by the teacher.

Dec. 6 - Today we returned to working on the collaborative guided response.  Student groups worked on the typing of their 3rd paragraph, where they found and discussed two impactful literary techniques, as found in the text.   Using classroom Chromebooks, every student present was able to access, and edit the shared document and turned in their work before the end of the class.   One final paragraph remains and the teacher provided a bit of an overview of what to expect when we next return to the writing of this assignment.

A reminder that for those students who have yet to take the reading assessment for the piece that we read yesterday from Scholastic Scope, the deadline to submit is tomorrow.

Dec. 5 - At the start of class, the teacher had students take out the resource document titled Glossary of Literary Terms.  Tomorrow, students will be working on the next paragraph of their collaborative guided response, where they need to identify and write about the writing techniques that the author uses in the story.  The teacher told the group about their four choices and went into depth about each one.  Tomorrow, students will need to settle on their top 2 literary devices and complete/submit their paragraph, before the end of the block.

Next, we discussed what the difference is between a podcast and a video.  After we established the differences between both forms of media, we listened to a podcast about travelling to Mars.  Next, we listened to the short story titled Follow the Water from Scholastic Scope (November 2023, pp.25-31).  Later today, a reading assessment will be posted online that contains a vocabulary section that covers the terms on the handout, given to students today.  Students will need to submit this reading assessment, in advance of the deadline posted in Google Classroom.

Dec. 4 - Welcome back from the long weekend.  On this snowy day, student collaborative groups returned to the connections paragraph for their response to literature and worked on improving upon any confusion about the writing task, as typed last class.  With a more clear idea of what to do, all student groups that were present today managed to complete this task and digitally submitted a superior paragraph, before the end of the block.

Nov. 29 - Spinning off the work that we started on the project yesterday, we moved forward to the second paragraph of the student collaborative guided response.  Today, students were to take the theme that they identified and thoroughly back it up with 3 effective quotes and create a solid connection to this theme from an outside source.  Unfortunately, as things sometimes do, there was a lot of confusion about the next task and how to effectively use the document that the teacher created for the various groups.  After a lot of moving around and trying to get the groups on the right page, a new strategy needed to be implemented.  For this, the teacher had students focus on the SmartBoard when he created, from scratch, an example of what student groups need to produce.

While we may have lost a block of work time for this task, what is most important to the teacher is that students understand the process.  Students were asked to turn in their files, as is, and the teacher is going to go into the files and insert for all groups the same starting point paragraph where they began today.  In our next block, students will be able to go back to the work that they started today, salvage what they would like to keep and build upon their writing, when possible.  An important lesson here is that even when things don't go entirely according to plan, this hardly means that you cannot approach any problem from a different angle to produce desired results.  We will revisit this task, in an upcoming block.

In the meantime, as our classes have been impacted by the teacher's strike, we did not correct the reading assessment, as a group.  Instead, students can expect to receive their grades and the answers, via Google Classroom, later today.  Any student who wishes to go over their assessment or who did not complete it before the deadline will need to make arrangements to meet the teacher, in ped support.

Nov. 28 - Students arrived at class following the recess break to find a very different set-up to the classroom.  Desks were arranged so that collaborative groups for the English project could easily sit and work together on today's task, which was to create a rough draft of the 1st paragraph of their written response to the Dr. Seuss short story.  In Google Classroom, each group was given access to a Google Doc that was to be edited with content, agreed upon among the group.  Next, the document was edited and reviewed by all members present.  This was submitted by the end of the block.

Should any group require a bit of additional time to work on the 1st paragraph, the teacher let them know that they are welcome to stop by morning ped support, tomorrow before classes begin.  Additionally, any student who has yet to complete the reading assessment for homework, they need to do so before the end of today.

Nov. 27 - Today we started our first block for the term 2 mid-term project.  Random collaborative groups were formed last week and these groups will be used to generate a group response to literature.  The text, Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss, was read out loud to students by the teacher while they followed along.  The group was challenged not to be drawn into the rhyming scheme but to level up their understanding and see the text through the lens of an older reader.  After the reading, we discussed several key ideas and themes that can be proved, using text evidence.  

Next, the teacher showed the students the Google Doc that will be used, in our next class, to compose a rough draft of their first paragraph.  Time was given to the students who were in class to choose the central idea that they felt they wanted to use and to browse the text and locate 3 strong quotes that will be used to support meaning.

While not everyone was present in class today, they will be caught up to speed with their peers, in our next class.

Please note that students who are either absent or wish to discuss what they missed can always take advantage of attend ped support, whether this be a morning or afternoon session.

Nov. 24 - Today was our first day back following the 3-day work stoppage.  Students who did not complete their last reading assessment were sent a reminder to attend ped support, next week.  After a few general reminders and the return of graded work, we turned our focus on the November 2023 Scholastic Scope play, titled Olympians Rising.  After a short introductory video about the world of Greek Myth, several students were assigned reading roles and we completed the reading of the play.

For homework, due before Tuesday, students need to complete a reading assessment on the play.  Students absent from class today should read the play independently and either use a dictionary or ask Mr. Wilds for the handout of key vocabulary terms that were given in class today.

Finally, a fond goodbye to Ms. Forest, who completes her Master's level field experience today.  We all know that you will do great on your future adventures!  

Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

Nov. 20 - Welcome back from the long weekend.  For Ms. Forest and Mr. Wilds, this is what is called transition week.  Basically, Ms. Forest will mark and return all work that she assigned to students during her time here and will no longer be present following this week.  As this is the case, today (and for the rest of the school year), the class was taught by Mr. Wilds.  

Next, Mr. Wilds went over the upcoming ELA learning and evaluation that will be completed in-class over the next few weeks.  The goal for today's block was to let students know why they should be invested in learning how to write a response, why students do poorly on this writing task, how to improve and what goes into each of the 4 paragraphs. Toward the end of the block, collaborative work groups were formed, consisting generally of 3 students in the class.  More to come, following the three strike days.

Just a reminder that for homework, due before the end of today, students should complete their reading assessment that was assigned in Google Classroom, last week.

Nov. 16 - Class began with finishing the four remaining presentations for this section. This was followed by a short debrief regarding the process and products that students submitted. At the end of the period students were given a set of papers that are resources for the rest of the course. Students are to hold on to these papers for the rest of the year and keep them in the resources section in their binders. 

Nov. 15 - Class began with listening to the text The Rise of the Meme, the reading assessment will be due before November 21st, meaning that the assignment closes midnight on November 20th. 

The class then transitioned to finishing off the "Anti-Racism" presentations. Any students that are absent, or their partners are absent, will go November 16th, or into next week if necessary. The goal of the presentation is to do it in class with your peers, thus they are to go in front of the class. 

The presentations have been a joy to watch and very well done! Grades can be expected before the end of next week (November 24th). 

Nov. 14 - Today marked the first of two days of the 'ERC Anti-Racism Project'. Students were chosen at random with a random generator and the students that were chosen were able to present their projects. Students are able to look at one another's presentations and edit their final versions prior to the due date on Wednesday November 15th. Ms. Forest also pointed out key points in the projects that were good examples for others to take note of. This form of evaluation allows for students to expand their view of their work and improve what they have made if need be.

Nov. 10 - In class as a group we corrected the reading assessment for "Code Talkers" which was due last night at midnight. The rest of class was for a work period to finish up the `ERC Anti-Racism' project. Students are to finish their draft for Tuesday's class, but can submit a final version until Wednesday November 15th at midnight. 

Nov. 9 - Class today was dedicated to working on the ERC 'Anti-racism' project. The instruction sheets are posted to Google Classroom in the "Materials' Section. Students are to complete the project prior to class on November 14th as that is when the presentations begin. Please note that tutorial videos for submission will be posted to classroom shortly. 

Nov. 8 - Students were shown what the next two weeks will be like due to the upcoming strike days and the transition back from Ms. Forest to Mr. Wilds as her time at JRHS slowly comes to an end. 

Students were given the class to do a simply exercise where they are to draw a lyric or a saying that they know, and justify why they chose the line they did. The instructions are in the 'Stream' section on Google Classroom. 

Nov. 7 - Today students were assigned the ERC "Anti-racism" project which is the last unit in ERC with Ms. Forest. As a group, students were also given their November issue of Scope Magazine. Students are to read the text Code Talker alone at home and complete the reading assessment BEFORE November 10th. 

Ms. Forest provided students with the instruction sheets for ERC, along with a detailed discussion on the marking and overall expectations. The presentations start on November 14th and students will have on more in-class work period. 

Nov. 2 - The purpose of today's class was to look at the reading assessment for Lost in Death Valley. 

In the beginning however, students were notified of the measures that are being implemented in the school regarding uniform and cell phone policy. Also there was discussion on the upcoming strike on November 6th that ends at 10:30 am, students are expected to come into school for C-Block at 11 am. 

The reading assessment was corrected and students were reminded that they are to submit their artist posters for tonight at midnight at the latest. 

Nov. 1 - Students were provided with a fundamental lesson on imagery, a topic that is extremely important when writing. Ms. Forest presented the topic via a slideshow and students were provided with direct examples that related to all of the five senses. Students began, but did not yet complete, an activity that involves reading Preludes by T.S. Elliot where students will identify the use of imagery in the poems. 

Students will finish the activity later this week and then do another activity around imagery. 

Oct. 31 - We had a very fun Halloween as a class, with students coming to school in their costumes and Ms. Forest surprising the class with some candy! This class was the last work period for the Music Artist Poster Project. Students are to submit the final poster as an image file by Friday November 3rd at midnight. In class studetns addressed any final critiques and questions, for any last minute questions, students can email Ms. Forest at m.seguinforest-st@lbpearson.ca  

Oct. 30 - Class today was dedicated to the reading of the story Lost in Death Valley from Scholastic Scope magazine. Students who were absent on Friday, or needed further instructions on the process of the project. Students were guided once again through where they would find out about content that they missed when they are gone for sport. This includes the website, classroom, contacting classmates, and Ped support. 

Students were also notified about the upcoming end of term and the upcoming possible strike days. The reading assessment is due before November 2nd. 

Oct. 27th - Today students were assigned the task of helping Ms. Forest create the final ERC assessment that they are going to do while working at JRHS. The topic for the unit is anti-racism. Ms. Forest taught the students the concepts that they would need to use for the assessment such as intersectionality and microaggressions. For most of the classes, the mind map was done on the whiteboard in the classroom. Ms. Forest made the last one digitally and it is posted across all sections in "ERC November 2023". 

Oct. 25 - The class began with the correction for the Scope reading assessment related to The Great Ticket Disaster and the students contributed their answers as it was corrected. Afterwards, the students were given to Chromebooks to continue their Music Artist Project with guidance from Ms. Forest.

Oct. 24 - Students had a day for doing the write-up in class and collaborate with peers if they completed it. Students who finished the write-up were given a Chromebook to type the text into a Google Doc to submit their assignments early. Students are to paste that text into the Google Doc currently on Google Classroom under the 'classwork' section. 

Oct. 23 - Students were assigned the write-up for the artist presentation along with the other components of the artist project. The write-up is to be completed before Friday October 27th TYPED AND SUBITTED ON CLASSROOM. Students are to also complete the biography section of the poster in order to  put it on the poster. Students were also shown the canva tutorial made by Ms. Forest and were guided through where all of the materials are in google classroom. 

Oct. 20 - Digital media was the focus for class today where Ms. Forest did a detailed tutorial on how to use Canva to make the tour poster for the "Music Artist Project". Prior to the start of the tutorial, Ms. Forest had the class listen to the story from October's edition of Scope Magazine titled The Great Ticket Disaster  that describes the issues with ticket master and the Eras tour. For the tutorial, Ms. Forest will make a video on how to do the design for those who were not here. 

Oct. 19 - Class was dedicated for presentations for Orange Shirt Day. Students have put a lot of time and effort into their presentations. Most groups were able to go in class, for the few that were not able to go, they are going to be going early next week. The presentations are well done. Also, a reminder to those that need to finish off the Google Doc, it has been extended to tonight at midnight. See you tomorrow for a class on digital design!

Oct. 17 - Class was dedicated to correcting the Scope reading assessment from the plat "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" as well as discussing upcoming assessments and the expectations for the written component for the artist project. 

Students were also able to ask any questions about previous assessments such as the debate project and scope reading assessments.

Oct. 16 - The class began with a conversation about the upcoming week and Ms. Forest's next evaluation. Afterwards, as a class, we had a conversation, along with a slide deck from Ms. Forest, about ethos, pathos, and logos.  Students are to complete the back side of the worksheet for tomorrow prior to the scope corrections. 

Tomorrow's class is dedicated to corrections for the scope reading assessment, along with, if applicable, some time to start the write-ups for the upcoming music artist project. 

Oct. 12 - The focus for this lesson was on theme for response writig. Students were taught what theme means, along with how to incorporate literary terms when discussing theme. The goal is to slowly prepare students for going into cycle 2 where there will be a strong focus on response writing. For the assignment, Ms. Forest taught the student the steps for writing out theme with a fill-in-the-blanks worksheet, along with a reading of Green Eggs and Ham as the text. Students who were not able to complete the worksheet are to bring it into class Monday October 16th. 

Have a great long weekend (again)!

Oct. 11 - Today in class we discusses the assignments that are currenlty ongoing in both ELA and ERC. Students were reminded that they have their Orange Shirt Day presenations as well as their write-ups due on October 19th, as well as the reading assessment for Scope that will be due for October 17th. In class we also debriefed about the debates and the remaining write-ups were submitted, for those who were absent they will be due on October 12th. 

Afterwards, we read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as a class with readers that were assigned prior to class. Students also were shown the vocabulary sheet for their reading assessments.

Oct. 10 - Welcome back from the long weekend!  - To start off the week groups 5 and 6 for the debates completed their presentation today. Class today was dedicated to working on the Orange Shirt Day presentation for ERC. This presentation will be the religion mark for the student for term 1. The presentation also has a written component via a Google Doc that will be a mark for ELA as well. Students are in groups of 4 and are to do the presentation Thursday, October 19th. All other components of the project will be due that day as well (Slides and Google Doc). Groups have been assigned their Google Docs today via Google Classroom. 

Oct. 5 - Today's class consisted of debates from each of the groups. Not all students were able to present, because of this, the last groups will go on Tuesday, October 10th at the start of ERC.  Those who have written up reflections (if they were the team lead) they are due on Wednesday, October 11th if they went today, extensions are only allotted to those who are going on Tuesday or for extenuating circumstances. For those going on Tuesday, they are to submit before Thursday, October 12th. Grades for the debate will be released once all of the documents from the students are submitted and corrections have been made, as for the reading assessment, the answers will be automatically released once all are completed.

Oct. 4 - Today's period was used to address any last questions about the debate tomorrow. Afterwards, we went on to read the text in October's edition of Scope magazine called "Should We Clone Our Pets?" and did a brief lesson and worksheet activity on ethos, pathos, and logos. Students are to keep the worksheet for a later date to complete the other side and submit as an assignment. 

Tonight students should prepare for their debates as well as completing the reading assessment if this is not done already. 

Oct. 3 - In class today we prepared for the debates that are happening on Thursday. The debates are based on the question "Is it Okay to be Rude to Alexa?" from the text of the same name. Students in their groups assigned roles for each of the members and handed in a note with the group members and their roles to Ms. Forest. For those who were absent, they will receive the remaining role in their group. 

On Google Classroom, Ms. Forest posted a detailed document of the debate instructions and the groups as they stand at the end of the period today. Students are to complete their debate notes before class if they were unable to complete their notes in class time today. 

Oct. 2 - Happy Monday! Today Ms. Forest returned with this week's Scope assignments. Today as a class we listened to the audio of the story "Is it Okay to be Rude to Alexa?" by Joe Levit. Afterwards we went over the basics of debate and the expected practices for the debates that will be happening in class on Thursday October 5th. The groups are on google classroom along with the slides, debate worksheet and reading assessment (after 2pm today).

Tomorrow, students will be preparing for the debate in thier groups and fill in both sides of the worksheet in order to properly prepare to address the opposition's arguments. There will also be a guided re-read of the text so students will understand how to annotate a text for text referencing.

Sept. 29 - Happy Friday, everyone!  Unfortunately, Ms. Forest was unable to come to school today due to a serious sinus infection.  Fingers crossed that she gets well soon and can rejoin the our class, following the weekend!

Next, as tomorrow is National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, otherwise known as Orange Shirt Day, we used today's ERC block the explore this issue, learning from two videos that we played and respectfully discussed with the group.

The first video, produced by CBC Kids News informs the class about the history, context, and scope behind authentic reconciliation.  The second video is of an audio reading of the children's story titled When We Were Alone by David A. Robertson.  While meant for a younger audience, this story helps students understand what was taken away from indigenous survivors of residential schools and how some managed to hold onto their traditions, language, and culture in the face of this sad chapter in Canadian history.  

We will be continuing to learn about this in upcoming ERC classes as we work towards our next project and presentation.

In the meantime, please note that any student who has yet to compose and send Ms. Forest their email assignment, please note that this assignment is now past due, as these should have been sent to her email before today.  Kindly do this ASAP.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

Sept. 27 - Today we corrected the assessments from Rogue Enchantments from Scholastic Scope Magazine. The class began with addressing common errors from the inference assignment associated with the story. Students were part of a discussion relating to guidelines and expectations for assignments in cycle 2. Then the reading assessment was also corrcted question by question as a class. Students were also notified of their upcoming Orange Shirt Day activities for ERC that will be discussed further on Friday. 

Sept. 26 - A presentation was done in class by Ms. Forest about Orange Shirt day and Truth and Reconciliation. Groups were made for discussion and the presentation is available on Google Classroom  for those who were not present. The project will be for ERC and details will be provided on Day 1 during class. The date for the presentations themselves is yet to be determined. The lesson included a video, presentation, and a discussion element where students received a worksheet where the responses will later be typed out and submitted via Google Classroom, again the date will be determined after ERC class on Friday. 

  Sept. 25 - Today the class began with the remaining presentations for the ERC presentation on "How to be a Good Person", those who were unable to complete the presentation will have arrangements made. For the rest of the period students were instructed on how to write an email in a professional manner and are to send an email to the student teacher, Ms. Forest before class on Friday September 29th, 2023. The email format is currently on google classroom, due to some issues with the slides, an edited version will be up on google classroom very soon for students to reference.  Later this week students will be working on Scope Magazine assignments from the September 2023 issue and Orange Shirt Day activities presented by Ms. Forest.

Sept. 21 - From the September 2023 issue of Scholastic Scope, today we focused on the play, Rogue Enchantments.  To help students better understand the text, students were given two handouts to supplement the play.  The first was the definition of vocabulary terms and the second was how to pronounce some of the Spanish words that are found throughout the play.  For homework, due before Sept. 27th, students are to complete a reading assessment and an assignment on Making Inferences.  The teacher has given students a few handouts, teaching students how to infer and a few sentence stems that can be used when writing about making an inference.  Additionally, to assist with the assignment, the teacher showed the class a model that answered the first question of the assignment.  Students, via the editable Google Slide posted in Google Classroom, will need to complete the remaining 3 questions, following the model shown and discussed in question #1.

Please also be reminded that students should be working on their ERC presentations for this Monday.  If any student has yet to finish off the Google Slide that was shared earlier this week or needs to rehearse, they should do so in advance of Monday's class.

Sept. 20 - After a few minutes of reflection and preparation, we managed to run through all the presentation groups for the How To Be A Person assignment.  While Ms. Forest assessed the presentations, Mr. Wilds was behind the camera.  The footage from today's presentations will be shared, via a private link, in the near future.  Additionally, any student who did not manage to present today will have the opportunity to do so, in an upcoming class.

Sept. 18 - Welcome back from the long weekend.  Due last night, via Google Classroom, students were to complete the reading assessment for First Day Fly.  As a class, we corrected this reading assessment and discussed strategies for taking multiple-choice assessments.

Next, Mr. Wilds spoke about the current status of the ERC project.  As of this morning, approximately 40% of the group had finished uploading content to the Google Slide that the teacher created for the assignment.  The teacher reminded the class that presentations begin this Wednesday and this will need to be done ahead of when they are called upon.  Additionally, the teacher explained the rubric that will be used to assess the project and presentation, which will count towards both the ERC and ELA course.

Sept. 15 - At the start of class, Mr. Wilds spoke to the group about how to access the Google Slide for their How To Be A Person assignment.  This document can be found in Google Classroom and will need to be completed ahead of in-class presentations, which are on Sept. 20th.

Next, Ms. Forest worked with the class, looking at the feature article from Scholastic Scope, Finding Hope In A Time Of War (September 2023, pp.5-11).  After listening to the audio reading of the piece, Ms. Forest worked on several critical thinking questions with the group.

Sept. 14 - Today we returned back to the How To Be A Person assignment.  Student pairs were combined, making teams of 4.  Time was given so that each group to discuss, exchange ideas, and ensure that their 'rule' was not identical to that of any teammate.  Additionally, we spoke in depth about best practices for presenting to an audience, focusing on body language, voice, and strategies to get the 'ball rolling' when talking to a group.

Later today, student groups will be shared a Google Doc.  In this shared file, each student will be responsible for uploading one image that will be on the SmartBoard during their presentation.  This image should not serve as a distraction, but help enhance what the speaker is talking about.   Additionally, the final 'rule' that is presented by the student should be typed into the 'speaker notes' that are found at the bottom of their Google Slide.

Student presentations will begin, in class, in our next ERC class on September 20th.

Sept. 13 - In ELA today, the teacher started the block discussing two posts to the Stream tab of Google Classroom, which were posted last night.  The first post pertained to how to log in to the digital version of Scholastic Scope.  After a walkthrough of the steps, Mr. Wilds showed the class a few additional features that are built in to help students who may struggle with focus or who may want to listen to the audio versions of the texts.  Next, assisted by Ms. Forest, we went over how we will be pacing our classes over the cycle of days in the school calendar.  On Day 1, we will have our ERC block.  On Day 2, we will read a text from Scholastic Scope.  For homework, due before Day 5, students can be assigned a homework and/or reading assessment to complete before the deadline.  This should allow for ample time to complete the work and not put too much pressure on students, should they have an important competition or event that would make it difficult to complete homework for the next school day.  Students should be able to plan their schedules accordingly and pace their work so that they can produce quality work.

Next, students received their first issue of Scholastic Scope.  After receiving a handout of key vocabulary terms, students listened and followed along to an audio reading of the text, First Day Fly, narrated by the author.

Assigned for homework today, due to be completed before Day 5, is a reading assessment on this text.  Check the Classwork tab of Google Classroom for the instructions and the digital assessment.

Sept. 12 - At the start of class, the teacher distributed a printout of the work that was submitted for the How To Be A Person assignment.  Once students had their copy, the teacher randomly paired students so that they could exchange papers and work on discussing one rule that did not quite have the strength of the others and could be dropped.  Students were encouraged to discuss their reasoning as to why the dropped 'rule' simply was not on par with the others.

Next, the teacher revealed the next steps for the assignment.  Student pairs will be combined with another group, totalling 4 students.  In an upcoming class, each student will need to have their strongest, original rule and present it, in front of the class.  Additionally, a group Google Slide will be used and each student will need to have one image (with little to no text) that represents the rule that they are presenting.  While this image may be humourous, it should not be offensive.  Additionally, as this is a shorter presentation, students should have their content memorized and not need to rely on cue cards or paper prompts to remind them about what they are to say.

The presentations will begin in class on our next Day 1 in the cycle of days (Sept 20).

Sept. 8 - After a quick refreshing lesson about how to use a topic sentence and having 2-3 contributing sentences that elaborate or make an idea more clear to an audience, we continued working on the three 'bonus ideas' to add to the list from the handout titled How To Be A Person.  Students were given 25 minutes to work on this on loose-leaf paper.  At the end of this time, the teacher shared how he took point number six and worked on making it clearer to the audience by adding two supplemental sentences for clarity, precision and impact.  While not necessarily perfect, students felt that it did move rule number six in a stronger direction.

 For homework, due before Day 1 (see Google Classroom for details) students are to type up their three 'bonus' rules.  This allows the class time to reflect, edit or complete the assignment, should they have found that they didn't have enough time to do so during the class.

Completion of this in a timely manner will allow us to proceed further onto the next stage of this first assignment of the ERC course.

See you next week! 

Sept. 7 - Picking up where we left off last class, we returned to the handout titled How To Be A Person.  Several students picked their personal favourite points from the page and we had a lively discussion on how impactful they can be.

Next, on loose-leaf paper, students were asked to come up with ideas for three additional points (numbers 11 through 13).  These ideas, like the handout, will be expanded upon in our next class.

Sept. 6 - Today, we continued looking at unit 1.1 of the ERC course, which deals with how individuals and their circle of family and friends impact not only on values and norms but also heavily impact your identity.  The teacher distributed a text written by Shane Koyczan titled How To Be A Person.  We read the first two points and managed to discuss the wisdom that he is trying to share through his piece with his audience.  This handout, also posted in Google Classroom, will influence our first assignment, which we will be working towards in the next few classes.

Sept. 5 - After getting settled back into the classroom, we spent class time setting up the classroom binders.  While there were several students who may not have had their materials purchased yet, they were still able to take notes and follow along with how to stay organized for the two courses that will be taught by Mr. Wilds.  To allow a bit more time for students to go out and purchase their school supplies, Mr. Wilds will be checking at the start of next week to make certain that everyone has what is required for the course.  In case students need to consult the document that was shown in class today for how to organize the subject binder, they can refer to the Stream page of Google Classroom, as the file was shared so that this can be worked on, at home.

In the meantime, we will be working on the first ERC unit in the next few classes.

Sept 1 - Today was our first formal day of school.  Much of the class was devoted to answering any student questions, through a game of 'ask me anything'.  This allowed students to ask whatever they were wondering, whether it be about their teacher, the school or the program (as long as it was appropriate, which it always was!).  Additionally, Mr. Wilds handed out the course outline to help students understand more about the two subjects that he teaches, some of his class expectations, the evaluation criteria and the course materials to be purchased and brought to class.  After the long weekend, the teacher will help students with how to set up their binders before proceeding into course content.