Thursday, December 8, 2011

It has been a short but very busy week.

I had intended to speak with the class about December 6, The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, on December 6, but did not.  Most students in the class were not aware of this unfortunate but important piece of history.  It was a good opportunity to make a connection between some of the historical concepts we have been acting/talking about and this 22 year old incident.  The concepts of power, change, and conflict came up the most when we framed the discussion around what gender is (ideas that society often has about how men and women should be).

Here is the chart we created:

We watched some archival footage from the CBC website (http://archives.cbc.ca/society/crime_justice/topics/398/) to follow up on this.

The Drama groups performed yesterday.  Here are some of the photos:

Some groups really stood out in the performances and worked very well together.

It seems as though we are going to have to make some adjustments to our unit on time.  There are many members of the class who are having challenges with the concept, even with the reviews and discussions.  Over the weekend, I will have to look at the problems on our most recent quiz and try and figure out how to deliver the concept in a way all students will understand.  The quizzes will be returned on Monday with feedback and our next steps.

Our most recent journal entry (as part of the Writing program) had to do with Randy Pasuch's book and his childhood dreams.   I asked the question in class and provided an example to model the answer.  I began with a writing prompt to assist the students begin their thoughts:

 

 I snapped some photos from our outdoor break (Daily Physical Activity) on Wednesday.  Here they are:

Homework:  Read for 20 minutes, review multiplication table.

Friday, December 2, 2011

I am away today due to the illness of my daughter.

Yesterday we resumed a double period of investigating time.  Based on a diagnostic test before, a number of the students had difficulty doing this:

1:10 means ______ min after _________. 12:55 means _________ min to _________.


We looked at the clock as a circle divided into quarters equalling 15 minutes or 15 seconds.  This was also a review of some fractions we did earlier in the year.

  We played a game which reviewed some of the challenging questions.  Each student has to select a time and another students had to say how to write it using numerals.

To extend this activity, we began to talk about elapsed time.  This is something we will work on next and will require some skills in subtraction.  Sandro proposed a very challenging question to the class which generated a lot of discussion and fun.  The question combined what we had to been talking about all morning and I thought he did an excellent job of synthesizing and pulling the information together.

In the afternoon, after our regular Monday-Thursday routine of doing cursive, I began to read this book:

It is the story about a professor who has been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer.  The book, while not the main lecture that is available on Youtube, contains a series of short stories he told his friend, Jeffrey Zaslow, while they were riding their bikes.  Initially some of the students thought it would be boring, but the story I am reading pulled them in.  This is a video clip of Randy Pausch giving a shortened version of his lecture on the Oprah Show.

For some of the students the idea of death and dying is bleak.  For them, developmentally, it probably is.  As they are learning from our discussions about loosing a loved one, death is a part of life and life is about living.  Randy's book, and even the book we read about the Mom who went through her Chemotherapy treatments, is about learning to cope and confront some of the challenging things in life with an optimistic spirit.  deal with the hard things l  but I think they are beginning to understand that life, living, and being hopeful  and living.

The "Thoughtful Art" exercise continued, and will continue on Friday.  I did a quick version of my art to remind the students what they are to do.  Every student has to check in with either Mrs. Machado or myself to ensure that they are following the spirit of the art along with completing 3 of the Artistic concepts we explored.  Bishop poked his hand in on the side and cute, Christmas inspired mini work of art.

HOMEWORK:  If the message is delivered to the school, the students will have a Reading Response to do in their Literacy folders on Energy and Sports drinks.  Have a good weekend.

Part 2: Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Today we spent some more time discussing the passing of a classmate's Mother.  The student was at school today and helping out around the school.  We spent some time reading and talking about Cancer.  An excellent Picturebook, Where's Mom's Hair? was a good starting point.  The story is Canadian and in chronicles the journey of a family who has to cope with a Mother who has Cancer and undergoes chemotherapy.  The photos are wonderful and the story is written from the perspective of the young children.  

The class had a double period of Library today to make up for the period they lost last week.  They are continuing on their Book Talk assignments with Ms. Wills.  Ms. Wills passed on a book that I am going to read to the class.  It is called The Last Lecture.  I will provide some more details on it tomorrow.

After doing their cursive writing, we reviewed the answers to the questions to the Occupy article.  I had students volunteer their answers, to get multiple answers, and then I showed them the "correct" answer on the overhead projector.

After a frigid, but necessary afternoon break, we began to work on the actual quiz.  There were a total of 9 questions, all similar to the questions they reviewed earlier, and I had them select 5 to answer.  I put in guides/hints to direct their reading to the particular paragraphs where the information is to help them solve the questions.  Some students are finished and others will require some more time to wrap it up.

Our thoughts are also with:

Who is making a wonderful recovery from surgery.  The class is thinking of you!!


HOMEWORK:  Have the new Lunch-forms signed.

Tuesday, November 29 and Wednesday, November 30

Today I was away in the afternoon attending a Union (ETT:  Elementary Teachers of Toronto) workshop on issues connected to poverty.  I want to be able to use some of this information from the workshop to share with the staff and use some lessons with our class.  We have a tentative field trip to the Daily Bread Food Bank in January to help out and learn some more about poverty in Toronto.

Today in class we had a discussion about dealing with the issue of death.  It is unfortunate but one of the students in our class recently lost his Mother.  She was fighting Cancer.  We read a story together, I Miss You. 

This can be found at Amazon.ca.  http://www.amazon.ca/Miss-You-First-Look-Death/dp/0764117645/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322616703&sr=1-1
I am not endorsing the sale of this book because I borrowed it from our school Library but it did offer a gentle explanation for introducing the concept of the death of a loved one.  We had several opportunities for the class to offer ideas and share their experiences with death.  I am sure we will continue this discussion in the days to come.  As of today, the student has been absent and I am not sure when he will return.

The class began to work on the rough versions of, what I am calling, their Community Circle Thankful art.  They have been told to select at least 3 Elements or Principles of Design.  We have looked at some examples.  I managed to find an example with photographs.

We will continue with this on Wednesday.

During my absence on Friday, the Supply Teacher did not pick up on some Math that he was assigned to do with the class.  I have managed to find some JUMP Math units on Time. I also had the privilege of being able to listen and talk with Dr. John Mighton, the creator of the JUMP Math Program.   It was very exciting for me.  

One thing he mentioned is that students, to be successful in Math, even in high school, must have a solid foundation in their basic numeracy skills.  Even before success can be found with problem solving, it is very important that students learn how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide.  I think it is very unfortunate that a lot of students are not able to do this.  Even students who are in "regular" classroom programs are often missing these skills before they leave for high school.  So, it will be part of my mission to weave these foundational  skills into the Math program.  Here is a photo from last night's talk at Bill Crothers Secondary School in Unionville.

HOMEWORK:  Review of article on Occupy movement to prepare for in-class quiz tomorrow.  Practice questions will be reviewed before the quiz.

Monday, November 29, 2011

Mrs. Machado attended our last Strength Based Resilience program at the University of Toronto, Scarborough Campus location.  While we will not be implementing the program until Spring of 2012, I thought I would attach a photo of one of the exercises we did as a group.

This slide was meant to teach us positive forms of communication during an interview/discussion setting.  I have enjoyed the training a lot but can see how a lot of the material will have to be abridged (shortened and re-explained) for our class.  Not to disrespect to the class members, but many of the ideas will be new and complex.  It will be interesting and, I trust, a worthy investment to their education this school year.

During my absence on Friday, some of the material was not covered.  One of the items was the Occupy comprehension questions given for homework on Thursday.  I wanted the students to read the article and take a shot at answering the questions.  The students would then be shown the answers on the overhead projector and they would have to self-correct.  I do not think this happened and will have to review.  Here are some of the images from last week when the Jigsaw groups presented their expertise to the class.

I will have to add the photos another time.  It seems as though blogger.com is not permitting me to upload at  the moment.  There was only one group who was able to score a Level 3 (B) in their delivery.  This group discussed what they wrote and what they would say when it came time to present.  The other groups, unfortunately, were not cohesive in working together and using their time wisely before presenting.  Process is just as important as the end product.  

 

 

In addition to the French Culture and Health class today, we worked on a Community Circle which was inspired by some things I have been picking up from the SBR workshops.  Today, we placed an emphasis on what we are thankful for.  We followed the usual format for our circle, but this time we placed an emphasis on thinking of something positive and generative.  

I found it interesting that there was one student who was resistant to doing this exercise.  I asked him to name something that he hates.  Immediately, he was able to come up with a response to this but was hesitant in saying what he was thankful for.  I think this is an example of how negative energy often dominates how we feel and perceive our space.  Clearly this is an area we will need to work on in the Spring!

An Art assignment, in process, will be added to this Community Circle.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

A morning visitor:

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

The class did not attend Library today but will make up their period another time.  Ms. Wills, our Teacher Librarian, was out at Indigo doing some shopping for the school.

The students shared, during Community Circle, some thoughts on the trip to Central Tech and the activities which took place when the Grade 7s helped out in the Grade 1 classroom.

We returned to our Measurement Unit on Time.  I think I mentioned that it mostly a concept taught between Grades 1 and 5, but an important life skill.  I realize that students can look at a digital clock to see the time, but there is value in being able to figure our information from an analog clock (understanding the concepts of a half, a quarter or the idea of elapsed time).  I found an interesting site to play some Math games online and we will do this, hopefully tomorrow. 

The students began to work on the Jigsaw exercise I mentioned either on Monday or Tuesday.  All of the groups looked at small section of the article and wrote brief notes on their part.  The experts will then present this to the class tomorrow.  The original article is the second image from the bottom of the selection of images.  Here are some photos of them at work.

HOMEWORK:  Double sided Math sheet

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Today there will be an afternoon trip for the Grade 8s to attend a tour of Central Tech.  Even if they are not attending that school, the exposure will be a positive one.  They will be introduced to the size and general routines of a high school in the TDSB.  The Grade 7 students will be assisting in the Grade One classroom.

The students had a double period of Music this morning and this did not allow for a lot of time for instruction.  We did return to the article on the Occupy movements and began to watch a short, animated film.  The link for it may be seen here:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/video/2011/nov/16/99-v-1-occupy-data-animation

As we review the article, I am encouraging and guiding the students to use some reading strategies (questioning, looking at headlines and images) to help them comprehend the material.  So far, I think the class has an overall understanding of what the phrase "we are the 99%" refers to.  We will continue our discussion and activities tomorrow.

Here are a few images from the trip to Central Tech.  I did not go on the walking tour with the students because Senior students from the host school did that.  Ask your son or daughter how they enjoyed the tour and what they learned.  The teachers from AMG spent some time talking with the Guidance Counselor about the importance of the students developing strong Learning Skills.  I found it interesting that a great deal of maturity can take place between Grade 9 and 12 and the attitude and effort of learners can really shift for the better!

There is no homework tonight.