For Friday

English 11
Check in with me about your project before you continue. Make sure that your direction is clear and that you have strong connections with respect to your answer. You can do anything to demonstrate your learning. You must have a written portion that explains your thinking and your connections. It doesn't have to be written in essay form. You will need to create a bibliography.

English 8
Book report sheet to be handed in tomorrow. You will be giving your book talk tomorrow in class. We will finish our review of your paragraphs tomorrow. Please make sure that you all have access to google drive or something of that nature so that you can share your writing with your partner.

English 12
An exceptional discussion today!
Draft of your journal for tomorrow. You will share your journal and do corrections over the weekend. You might consider some of the points from today's sharing discussion.

For Wednesday

English 12
We will finish reading in class tomorrow. Make sure that your questions are ready for discussion. We will have a discussion group tomorrow. One group will lead the class debrief/sharing of ideas.

English 8
Work on ideas for your collaborative paragraph. Make sure that you know what you want to say. We will be looking at your paragraphs and we will decide what their strengths are.

English 11
Keep working on your projects. Make sure that you have a direction. Last in class day will be on Thursday.

For Tuesday, November 27, 2017

English 8
Today we read "To this Day" . Tonight you should think about a story that you could compare to this poem. Make a list of your points.
Bring your silent reading book to class tomorrow. We will speed date on Friday.

English 11
Firm up your direction for your project. You will need to have a tentative thesis statement so that you have a sense of direction. You can modify it later.

English 12
We will continue to read tomorrow. I have corrected all of your reading journals. Please make sure that you work on fully developing your ideas.

For the weekend

Have a good weekend everyone. Try to embrace the rain! Go outside and jump in a puddle! Try it , it feels so good.

English 8
Read your independent novels. Speed dating on Thursday. We will be writing paragraphs on Monday. You will need to write a short review of your novel for date day.

English 11
Prepare your project proposal. Continue with your research. Keep the rubric in mind. Make sure that you include a written component somewhere in your project presentation.

English 12
Revise your Response Journal. Please type it. I will collect the journal, the draft and the rubric .

For Friday, November 24, 2017

Grade 8
Please bring your reading book again tomorrow. We will continue with reading and I will continue with talking to you about your learning to this point.

Grade 11
Make sure your critical reading is done for tomorrow. We will be doing a reading activity in class tomorrow. I will have to give you work time on Tuesday. We will begin our class with a discussion about demonstration of learning for your Inquiry Project.

Grade 12
Finish your journal reflections for tomorrow. You will be sharing them in class and will be giving each other feedback about them. They will be due for Monday.  Please type the final journal.
Your worksheet needs to be done as well.

For Thursday

English 12
Prepare your questions for discussion. You will need to hand in your questions with your response journal.
Do the back of the hand out for chapters 1-2
Think of themes for each chapter

English 11
Research day tomorrow.
Please read the article about Grandmother's genes for Friday. Fill in the critical reading sheet.

English 8
If you didn't attach your picture to your writing descriptive assignment, please do it tonight and hand it in tomorrow.

You were asked to write a comparison of John Joseph and All Summer in a Day. You had a choice about the focus.
characters, theme, persistence....we are trying it out. We will do more work with writing tomorrow.
Bring your reading book for tomorrow and Friday.
Remember, next Thursday we are doing our speed dating activity.

For Tuesday

English 8
Good copy of your description is due on Wednesday. Please attach a picture to your writing.
Tonight write your journal about a relationship that is important to you.

English 12
Create 3 questions about Cattle Car and note the intention or direction of the question. We will practice them in class tomorrow.

English 11
Finish your creative writing piece for Identities. We are working on our projects/research tomorrow in class.

For Monday, November 20,2017

Sorry that I couldn't post this earlier.

English 8
Type out your 2nd draft of your descriptive paragraph. We will share it again tomorrow. You will hand it in on Tuesday. Please make sure you have your picture saved for class tomorrow. I will want you to put them on your final copy. We will talk about it in class.

English 12
Write a reflection about Cattle Car Complex. It can be personal...whatever thoughts, connections you might have. You might want to think about the connections to epigenetic theory. We are going to read another article that refutes it all tomorrow.

English 11
Finish the questions for Identities. We will do the writing Assignment in class.
Keep working on your Inquiry project.

For Friday

English 11
Projects tomorrow.
Read Identities and make notes in the margins. Consider stereotypes.

English 8
First draft of your descriptive paragraph.

English 12
No homework.
If you didn't have your outline done, please complete it for tomorrow.

For the Remembrance Day long weekend

Have a great long weekend. Take some time to remember those who keep us save both past and present. We need to remember how precious our lives in Canada are.


English 8
We are beginning writing descriptive paragraphs. I gave you a handout on Thursday that asked you to imagine being on a desert island. You are to make a list of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, etc. of that island. You should try to use descriptive language like you saw in Ray Bradbury's story: " A Sound of Thunder".  You are practicing with imagery. If you were away......just follow the suggestions above. You don't really need the sheet.

English 12
Good reflections on your Socratic Seminar yesterday. Lots of good goals. We are going to continue on our morality journey on Tuesday. We will be building connections to our reading of the play and the stories that we did at the beginning of the semester and then we will be starting "Night".  I love this book. It will be a relatively quick read. We will be working in groups on the memoir.

English 11
As of Sunday evening, there are only 5 students left to send their questions. Don't forget to do this part, it will make Tuesday a lot less stressful for you.

You will all be working on your Inquiry question over the weekend. Don't forget to send me something. I will do my best to respond to each of you with as much support as I can give.

You are trying to create one that will take you in a direction that is interesting for you. That is the most important thing. Don't do something that you don't care about. 

Here's one that we came up with the other day:

How does motherhood/parenthood limit ambition?
or
To what extent does motherhood/parenthood limit ambition?
or
To what extent does motherhood/parenthood limit identity?

We got this idea from the play. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth were unable to have children and we wondered if the couple would have been different had they had the opportunity to have children.
So while the question is related to the play, it is not directly related to the play itself. The play is the springboard for your exploration.

Try this link from McMaster University

Consider these question stems:
To what extent....
How.....
In what ways...
Why....
When....

On another note:

I will be talking about some changes to my timeline. I think we will need more time….I am going to talk about it on Tuesday. We are going to work on this over time and we are going to move on to other learning. Negotiations to take place in class.

For Thursday

English 8
No homework tonight. Bring a picture of your favorite place though.
You can have it on your phone.

English 12
Socratic Seminar

English 11
Email me your question over the weekend. You can come and talk to me at school on Thursday. Stop by my room and we can chat about ideas. I know that some of you may be a bit confused. This may feel unfamiliar. Discomfort is normal. Ask yourself what is making you feel uneasy. Are the parameters too big? Do you feel like you have to talk about the play and you don't want to do that?
You can create a question that has nothing directly to do with Macbeth....the idea is simply sparked by the theme. Where might you want to take yourself? What kind of a learning journey are you on?
Perhaps you have found a novel that mirrors one of the thematic ideas in the play and you want to explore it (the book) in more detail. You goal is to try to find answers to your question. There is no right way to do this assignment.

For Wednesday, November 8, 2017

English 12
Find resources for your Socratic Seminar preparation. We will be working in class tomorrow on it.

English 8
Finish style sheet for A Sound of Thunder
Find examples from the story
diction: find words that create an impact
figures of speech: metaphor, simile, personification
images: language that appeals to the senses
sentence structure: look at how sentences are written. Choose effective ones. Be able to say why they are effective.

English 11
Create an open-ended question that is related to Macbeth

For Monday, November 6, 2017

English 8
Finish reading "A Sound of Thunder". Make brief notes on the sheet that respond to the questions.
We will share our answers and our thoughts on Monday.

English 12
If you were absent, watch the end of the movie. Write a critique of the movie. If you were in class, revise the critique you wrote. Consider how you have supported your opinion.

English 11
Write Lady Macbeth's letter as on the sheet that I handed out in class.
Make a list of themes from the play. Please do this part; it is part of reviewing the play. Choose a theme that interests you from your list.