Had to abandon the attempt to blog from school tonight due to EXTREMELY slow computer connections and my lack of patience waiting for the pages to appear...
Homework
As I did last week, I recommended to students who still have 'old' (up to three weeks to a month old!)assignments incomplete to get them done before the week is out (it is a four day week this week)
Science- Ch 4 review and crossword, Ch 4 Describing matter, Lab report (3 states of matter)
Socials- How Greece was Governed question answers and the Travelogue Days 1-4
If that is an impossibility, cut them lose and move onto more recent assignments and do an outstanding job on those!
Reminders:
Still waiting for UBC letters and
Camp commitments forms- once the commitment forms are in students will be placed on the camp list and issued their permission forms and safety waivers
Victoria Day Long Weekend coming up No school Friday (Pro-D day) and Monday is Victoria Day
General Day
7 students away today! Hope we don't have another round of colds and flu!! A couple came in late but another two had taken their leave for the afternoon! Interesting day for comings and goings!
Cogito Ergo Sum- "I think therefore I am", Greek roots and current day vocabulary activity analysing prefixes like ped, bi, cogn, sign and finding modern day usage of them.
Grammar: Verb forms- completed 15 sentences each with two verb forms which students had to read and decide the correct form of the tense (form) present, past or past participle.
Editing History: today we read an article about how a Czech writer and historian upset the government of the day in 1945 and was simply 'disappeared' from photographs and hung for 'treason'. We considered (or more accurately, tried to grasp the concept of) the role of propaganda in the writing and re-writing of history and who has the 'right' to change the truth.
We discussed the importance of education in asking intelligent questions, being observant and knowledgeable about the world around us and not being easily manipulated.
Truthfully, I am not too sure about the impact as the students' reaction was rather flat and disinterested- is it just another rainy Monday coming up to a recess break?
This article is the first in a series of readings and discussions which will include poetry, lyrics, music, fictional short stories and non-fiction articles that will attempt to address current issues.
Math- word to self- do not repeat this experiment again this year (maybe next year?)
Okay- I took a number of reality based problem solving samples for Area and Perimeter and split them up by group- no group had the same questions- my experiment was to have the students work together to solve their group's specific problems and then share them on the board explaining how they solved them to their classmates. The idea was sound but the reality was problematic: noise was to be expected but the decibel limit was reached 5 minutes into the activity, only a couple of groups worked together as I expected and when it came to choosing one problem to share with their classmates on the board, the attention spans had also met their limits. It wasn't our best math session and I need to re-think the execution of this type of activity and perhaps move it so it is not before lunch? I don't know. I was quite frustrated.
I decided to cancel shot put practice today due to the pouring rain and the muddy field (not to mention that I needed some time away from students!)
DEAR time- offering time to those students who need it to get 'caught up' on incomplete activities- a couple needed some help getting papers organized (Samantha I haven't forgotten about the math we need to
review together!)
Socials Today we undertook our Day 5 leg of the journey which was a trip to Delphi (virtual trip to Greece) using maps, a museum catalogue, photographs and slides taken during my trip there in 1994). The students took notes and added (hopefully, some creativity to their accounts about what they saw and how they felt while on this 'pretend' tour of the site of Delphi (Home to the temple of Apollo, the oracle who would 'hold court' in the Tholos and the Pythian games).
In real life on Day 5 of this trip some of my grade 10 students were tired and hot and thirsty (they do not allow any food or drink inside the ancient sites). The site itself is carved into the side of the mountain of Parnassus and is located 2000m above sea level- it was there I will never forget Trevor saying to me that he was really tired of touring 'rubble'! At first I was shocked that he experienced this amazing sanctuary as just 'more rubble' but then quickly saw the perception of a 16 year old young man and to this day we laugh at his 'rubble' comment. So you can imagine that sitting in a classroom in Squamish, some of this virtual tour has very little impact or interest for my present day charges BUT I am not going to abandon us in Greece, no, I am going to finish the tour because I believe trying to 'see' ancient Greece this way has a bit more depth than reading a dry textbook and answering a few literal questions.
(oh yeah, and I am a stubborn, first born perfectionist!) BUSTED!
Phys Ed.
Bench ball - we had about 20 minutes! All good.
Another challenging Monday. Look forward to seeing how we can improve our 'batting average' tomorrow.
3pm Dismissal
Have a good, cosy evening.
Mrs. J.
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