Monday Sept 30

So ... epic.

We took up homework from Friday and then read to the end of Chapter 8 in the text today. We got question 11 from the list of questions and then we went through a presentation on the Theme Study.

I did post the presentation on the right-hand side of the blog in the ALWG Helpful links spot.

We also had to have a bit of a chat about students leaving class for extended periods of time. A good chunk of today was missed because of people out of class. Why would you potentially miss something by being out of the class and in the hallways being silly?

I dunno why, but that's being done by this class. Weird.

Be in class. I want to treat you like you are a senior class. You need to act accordingly.

Friday Sept 27

A very nice start to the Friday today.

We did some reading - we got to page 47 in the text and got questions 8, 9 and 10 for homework.

We also did some of the Vocab together too. I also commented about just how good those bananas were yesterday. Honestly, I'm going to have to make them when I get home tonight, they were that yummy.

I reminded students about what they were handing in on Thursday Oct 3 and that some still owe assignments from the first unit.

I want to post the Naughty by Nature track that was mentioned in the novel today, but it's a little inappropriate for my taste. Here's The Duck Song instead:

Wed and Thursday Sept 26

I was away yesterday. I've got that viral Black Death cough that everyone has at the moment.

We should have worked on the questions 1, 2 and 3 and gotten them in to the teacher somehow yesterday.

Today we read to page 34 in the text and got 4, 5 and 7 to work on from the list of questions. At the front of the room, I also helped students get through the first few words of the the Vocabulary List, also due on Oct 3.

"We must strive to be like the moon." - I Beah ALWG

I just tried this recipe that Beah mentioned in the book ... and it was honestly delish:

Tuesday Sept 24

So we read to page 22 today - we are taking slowly these days, as we have the WebQuest due today. Tomorrow will be different.

Anyway, during the reading today, Ishmeal mentioned this song:

Monday Sept 23

Today we started the unit on A Long Way Gone.

We read to page 12 in the text and I gave people a chance to work on the Webquest, which was posted on Thursday Sept 19. We will have that due tomorrow.

I also let people bask in the genius that is Eric B and Rakim, as it was mentioned in the text:

Fri Sept 20

Today we collected the Task 3 after working a bit on them.

We also did some presentations.

A nice Friday class.

Thursday Sept 19 + webquest

A Long Way Gone novel web quest

1.  Go to the Wikipedia page for this non-fiction novel. After doing a bit of poking around, what are five things you can tell me about Ismael Beah, the guy who wrote this?

2.  Go to the RUF Wikipedia page and write down a list of five things you learned about this group and what they did and are doing in Sierra Leone today.

3.  Are there any things that you don’t want to read about in this text? Why would you not want to read about those things?

4.  What does the term “Child soldier” mean, anyway? Are there still child soldiers in 2019?

5.  In an informal piece of writing of about 100 words, why, do you think, that Mr. Chesser would include this novel in the 11C courses this semester.

Here is a pic of the MLA formatted piece of writing from one of my slides I used in class today. A student asked me to post it just as a reminder of what MLA format should look like:

Tues and Wed Sept 18

Well, I didn't do a post for Tuesday.

We conferenced for the period on the presentations and writing tasks for this unit.

Wednesday we did a presentation and then conferenced once again for the piece of writing.

I also shared this image as an idea for the paragraph we are writing:

Any one wonder why I get hungry when I teach writing?

Fri Sept 13

We spent today working on the various Tasks for this unit - the Journal and the Presentation specifically.

It was awesome to help people today - I feel stoked for this semester ... thanks!

Have a great weekend - see you Tuesday!

Thursday Sept 12

We did our quiz today.

Then we handed in our Journals ...

Then we did work on our Presentations or our Task 3's (the writing Task) ...

We'll keep moving forward tomorrow, too!



via GIPHY

Wed Sept 11

It's a sombre day for the world. I can recall exactly where I was when it changed 18 years ago today.

We did move forward then and we moved forward today in class.

We took up homework and took a look at Task 2 Presentations. We made sure everyone present had a topic, too.

We did spend a few minutes on Task 3 as well.

Tuesday Sept 10

Today was a cool day. We did the homework for Long Journey on the big board at the front of the room. I did say I would post it ... see below.

We also did a sign up for Task Two Presentations - I got almost everyone to sign up for a topic and we chatted about a few others.

We finished off the day chatting about what the presentations should look like and that there is a level three-ish example in the links.

Monday Sept 9

Today was a Monday.

We took up some homework and we read the next story - The Long Journey.

We also took a few minutes to start to sign up for topics for the Presentations / Task 2 items for next week.

Take a peek at the links on the right-hand side of the blog - we will keep signing people up tomorrow.

Friday Sept 6

What a great start to the school year in this class. Thanks for being a big help to that!

Today we read the story "Borders" by Thomas King in class. We got the questions for homework.

I also pointed out the Task Two Presentation ideas to the class on the right-hand side of this blog. It's from this list that I would like students to pick their topics for their presentations that we will do on Sept 18, 19th or 20th.

Right. Have a great weekend - See you Monday!

Thursday Sept 5

Today we read the story "Why Canada has to beat it's Literacy Problem" and took up some of the questions for the story "Cask" that we read yesterday.

We chatted about ideas for the Presentations that will start Sept 18th, too.

Wed Sept 4

Today we read an awesome piece of literature "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edar Allen Poe. A favourite of Lisa Simpson.

The questions were at the end of the story and we studied the terms for the Story unit, too.  I linked the power point deck to that link in that last sentence.

Quick reminder that you have to hand in both the questions and the terms for each story on Sept 12.

Ok have a great day!

Tuesday Sept 3

Today was a good day - we spent it getting the classroom set up and having discussions about what to do in this class.

Tomorrow we start!

Welcome

Welcome to Period Four Grade Eleven English.

I will be using this spot and the Ministry mandated D2L/Brightspace webpages this semester ... see the links to the right-hand side of the blog for more information.

and again ... Welcome!