Friday, January 20, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Today, I handed out the sheet of terms that students must know in order to do well on their midterm exam. I included words I think they might have trouble with. They were then given the rest of the class time to study. Remember that your midterm exam is on Thursday, January 26, at 12:30 in this room.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Today, we discussed the lists form yesterday’s group work to determine just how much studying is needed to accomplish the task. Basically I had groups who worked on readings sit down with groups who worked on questions and share what words they learned. I recommended typing these out to ensure that a list was provided for each student in the groups. This was a whole class activity.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Today, you were broken into groups and pairs. In your pairs, you either had to highlight, write down and define all the words and terms that were unknown to you in your readigns. or in the questions. This took the whole class.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Monday, January 16, Tuesday, January 17, & Wednesday, January 18, 2012
On these days, you worked through comprehension multiple choice questions. You were also given the answers (long) to determine if you are on the right track. The goal was to discuss these on Wednesday, but, due to the lack of students, you will have until Thursday now to work through them.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Today, we had to be rather quiet due to provincial exams. I placed the following instructions on the Smartboard and you did this activity:
After examining the questions I gave you yesterday, I have changed them to better fall into ones which could be answered using either text (though they still might be better answered using one or the other).
Today, I want you to pair up, examine these questions (write them down) and see what you can do with them. I also want you to go online and review the plots, themes, summaries, quotes, symbols, etc for both. This will help ensure you know the content.
1. Discuss the idea(s) developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the ways in which individuals take responsibility for themselves or others.
2. Discuss the idea(s) developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the ways in which individuals pursue or compromise their happiness.
3. Discuss the idea(s) developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the significance of idealism and truth in an individual’s life.
4. Discuss the idea(s) developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the impact of an individual’s ambition on self and others.
I also discussed the exam tomorrow, but only in terms of what to bring or not to bring in class. Also, you will need to be waiting at the hallway entrance bell at the start of class so I can bring you in (there's an exam tomorrow for Social 30).
After examining the questions I gave you yesterday, I have changed them to better fall into ones which could be answered using either text (though they still might be better answered using one or the other).
Today, I want you to pair up, examine these questions (write them down) and see what you can do with them. I also want you to go online and review the plots, themes, summaries, quotes, symbols, etc for both. This will help ensure you know the content.
1. Discuss the idea(s) developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the ways in which individuals take responsibility for themselves or others.
2. Discuss the idea(s) developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the ways in which individuals pursue or compromise their happiness.
3. Discuss the idea(s) developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the significance of idealism and truth in an individual’s life.
4. Discuss the idea(s) developed by the text creator in your chosen text about the impact of an individual’s ambition on self and others.
I also discussed the exam tomorrow, but only in terms of what to bring or not to bring in class. Also, you will need to be waiting at the hallway entrance bell at the start of class so I can bring you in (there's an exam tomorrow for Social 30).
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Today, we completed our discussion on the layout of the essay. I then gave you eight questions which I will then choose the essay final question from. We worked through one of the questions as a class. I came up with steps to follow and have pasted them below.
· Define all topic words
· Figure out what these mean to you and you’ll have an understanding of what they also will mean in the context of your text.
· Figure out the conflict present in the text you are going to work through (this will help you understand if the topic even ties in to this text or if you should use another one).
· Chart the situations when the topic is present in the characters’ actions
· Look at the outcomes
· Look at the overall outcome (positive/negative)
· Create a thesis (start with “sometimes”, but then remove it)
· Define all topic words
· Figure out what these mean to you and you’ll have an understanding of what they also will mean in the context of your text.
· Figure out the conflict present in the text you are going to work through (this will help you understand if the topic even ties in to this text or if you should use another one).
· Chart the situations when the topic is present in the characters’ actions
· Look at the outcomes
· Look at the overall outcome (positive/negative)
· Create a thesis (start with “sometimes”, but then remove it)
Monday, January 9, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2011
Today, we discussed essay format again. I am pasting the notes here that a classmate wrote down. When you miss class, however, it is hard to get what is said between the lines. I recommend that you also talk to a classmate.
Essay Stuff
Five paragraphs (critical/analytical essay)
the essay is about a topic, using a text as evidence
Paragraph 1 - introduction
Sentence 1 attention grabber (cause) quote/rhetorical question/statistic-fact/ definition/ opinion (bold statement) /anecdote (little story)
Sentence 2 - explain how the attention getter ties to the topic
Sentence 3 - Introduce the text (genre, author, title, overview)
Sentence 4, 5 and 6 - summary of the text as needed (sequential) to introduce the main points of your essay
Sentence 7 - thesis (an arguable opinion about the topic, that you will prove by stating and backing your three main points with evidence from the text).
Body paragraph 1, 2, and 3
Introduce a main point (should follow the sentences summary as presetned in the introduction)
evidence 1 (example)
evidence 2 (example)
evidence 3 (example)
explain how evidence proves main point (all in all, between five and ten sentences0 transistion to next body paragraph (see page 70 in Fit to Print).
Essay Stuff
Five paragraphs (critical/analytical essay)
the essay is about a topic, using a text as evidence
Paragraph 1 - introduction
Sentence 1 attention grabber (cause) quote/rhetorical question/statistic-fact/ definition/ opinion (bold statement) /anecdote (little story)
Sentence 2 - explain how the attention getter ties to the topic
Sentence 3 - Introduce the text (genre, author, title, overview)
Sentence 4, 5 and 6 - summary of the text as needed (sequential) to introduce the main points of your essay
Sentence 7 - thesis (an arguable opinion about the topic, that you will prove by stating and backing your three main points with evidence from the text).
Body paragraph 1, 2, and 3
Introduce a main point (should follow the sentences summary as presetned in the introduction)
evidence 1 (example)
evidence 2 (example)
evidence 3 (example)
explain how evidence proves main point (all in all, between five and ten sentences0 transistion to next body paragraph (see page 70 in Fit to Print).
Friday, January 6, 2012
Friday, January 6, 2012
Today, we finished marking the Animal Farm questions (and handed them in). We then discussed the question from yesterday (see yesterday's blogger) but applied it to The Merchant of Venice. We determined that the powers where corruption was seen in the play were Christians over Jews, Shylock over Antonio, and Portia's father over Portia. There are more, but the bell rang before we finished. We will carry on with this discussion on Monday.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Today, I gave you the following journal question to write on:
As evidenced in the story we just finished reading, power can corrupt. From your own experiences or observations, discuss a time when you have seen this. What was the outcome? Explain.
I then had you read your stories to each other and try to come up with a general thesis about the topic.
We then discussed these and arrived at the following definition:
When I say “power corrupts” we first have to determine who is in power. Then we have to determine what the “corruption” is. Corruption means to do things in a way that is unfair to those who don’t have power or way too nice to those who have power.
From here, we discussed the various leaders of animal farm (starting with Jones), and how they became or were unfair.
If you were not here, you will want to borrow and photocopy the notes from those who were. We specifically talked about scapegoating, direction of popular discontent, and the use of terror to remain in power.
As evidenced in the story we just finished reading, power can corrupt. From your own experiences or observations, discuss a time when you have seen this. What was the outcome? Explain.
I then had you read your stories to each other and try to come up with a general thesis about the topic.
We then discussed these and arrived at the following definition:
When I say “power corrupts” we first have to determine who is in power. Then we have to determine what the “corruption” is. Corruption means to do things in a way that is unfair to those who don’t have power or way too nice to those who have power.
From here, we discussed the various leaders of animal farm (starting with Jones), and how they became or were unfair.
If you were not here, you will want to borrow and photocopy the notes from those who were. We specifically talked about scapegoating, direction of popular discontent, and the use of terror to remain in power.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Today, we marked the answers for Animal Farm. This involved a great deal of discussion. I also informed the class that their in-class essay will be in Thursday, January 12 (during regular class-time as well as into the lunch hour) and that their multiple choice final is on January 26 at 12:30 pm, in this classroom. We will finish discussing Animal Farm tomorrow and then will spend the duration of the time discussing essay writing (they will be able to refer to either Animal Farm or The Merchant of Venice in the final essay).
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Today, we discussed the novella Animal Farm. You discussed (in pairs), the theme and summary of the novel. You also handed in your questions. We then discussed the "so what?" about the theme. The question posed to you (in groups) was, "power can corrupt... so... what are we supposed to do about it?
From here, we brainstormed, applied the theme to other situations, and looked at possible outcomes of the two most applied "so what" decisions: ignoring it and rebelling. When it came to rebelling, we determined that, like the animals, rules are needed to ensure the smooth running of a society, but, unlike the animals, we arrived at the reality that enforcement of the rules is also necessary to protect our freedoms.
From here, we brainstormed, applied the theme to other situations, and looked at possible outcomes of the two most applied "so what" decisions: ignoring it and rebelling. When it came to rebelling, we determined that, like the animals, rules are needed to ensure the smooth running of a society, but, unlike the animals, we arrived at the reality that enforcement of the rules is also necessary to protect our freedoms.
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