Students continued paragraph/essay work today - a number came in during tutorial time to ask questions, and to get ahead.
We will continue drafts - and finish them - on Monday.
Tuesday will be a careers presentation, but students are welcome to come to tutorial to continue the work.
During Wednesday's class, we will do peer-edit work, and begin final drafts.
Have a great long weekend!
Students worked very hard on their outlines today - tomorrow they will begin their draft.
Those wishing extra time, or additional input, should come to tutorial!
Students spent the entirety of today's class working on paragraph (or essay) outlines. They worked very hard, but will clearly require another block of planning time.
I have collected outlines - tomorrow we will continue the work!
On Friday, students read their personal novels.
We talked about a variety of current events involving Indigenous folks - including the RCMP Ribbon Skirt.
Students received their theme webs, and thought about what could be added to them, in order that they be more useful for upcoming writing work.
We brainstormed ideas for a hypothetical writing assignment about why one should buy food locally.
Today, students read their personal novels.
We briefly discussed the importance of a question being asked in an Indigenous language in Ontario's legislature today.
We looked at a potential essay/paragraph outline for the hypothetical topic, before students were given the assignment possibilities for their writing on MT
Students decided whether they would be writing a paragraph or an essay, and chose an outline accordingly - these outlines will go home today (and today only) so folks can get a head start on planning before tomorrow's class.
Students went over their colon and semicolon sheets, before continuing work on their theme webs.
We discussed the idea that these webs will look different for each person, and each of them is engaging with the themes in a slightly different way - webs may include characters, quotes, symbols, theme statements etc. and show connections between them.
Students handed in the webs at the end of the block.
HMWRK - Be sure to have your novel ready for tomorrow's class!
Today was all about debriefing/reviewing the text.
We talked about questions remaining - the place of hope in "dystopia" - the complex relationships in the work.
Students brainstormed key ideas (themes) related to the text - their homework is to create a more sophisticated theme web - beyond those of texts past. Students are to create sub-branches between big ideas, and to branch off those ideas to characters/events/moments in the text.
Ie - HOPE might be a big idea - subsets of hope might be Family/Love/Culture - and branches of these would include different ideas/examples of family in the text/Examples of love (relationships and gestures)/ways in which culture offers hope for future generations...
HMWRK - Work on the theme web - you will only have 30 minutes of class time to work on it tomorrow (doesn't have to be fancy) REMEMBER TO BRING A BOOK ON FRIDAY
We have finished the text!
Students are completing their character notes - noting key quotations (related to themes/big ideas) in the last few chapters etc.
Those who did not read to the end of "Kiiwen" for today should go back and do so.
Notes + Colon sheet for homework..
****NB - Tomorrow's speaker is not well - we will continue our work with MT
Students received their notes.
We discussed the Moosehide Campaign - and what the role of men might be, in ending violence towards women/girls
We talked about humanization of the individual, vs trauma-based stats around MMIWG2S
We read "The Circle" and all but the last couple of pages of "Word Arrives in Black"
No homework!
Today's class was varied - and differed between the two classes.
They have all read to the end of the chapter titled "Loss."
We talked about motivation - engagement - learning for the sake of learning...what students want/need in this space in order to feel that their time is well spent, rather than wasted in counting the minutes until they get to go elsewhere. There was discussion of core skills, philosophy, essay writing, hands-on activities, variety of materials, and AI.
In the end, we settled at the idea that the world is somewhat in flux at the moment - as reflected in our systems - and will settle in time.
No homework, other than to review previous chapters and "Loss."
Students discussed the final question (with so much more depth of insight than previous discussion): "Why were residential schools created?"
We talked about what kinds of policies/ideas might be possible - how the world might look - if people created a world they assumed was for their loved ones. We talked briefly about John Rawls "Veil of Ignorance" which offers a framework for the creation of ethical societal structures - and considered what it means to other folks.
Students briefly reviewed the last few chapters.
We read "On the Road," up to the bottom of page 160.
Syllabics (used in multiple Indigenous languages) make an appearance in the chapter (here's a CBC article on Cree Syllabics)
Pearl Jam also appears as a blast from the past - in a flashback - in this chapter.
HOMEWORK: Add today's chapter to your notes AND ensure your notes are complete and in good shape for handing in tomorrow!
Students need to read and do notes up to the bottom of page 153 - Notes will be collected on Tuesday!
We talked through a few more student questions, before doing reading/discussion/note-taking for the day.
HMWRK: Notes + Reading through the end of page 137
Today, we did work with sentence fragments, reviewed key ideas from yesterday's readings, and read to the bottom of page 121 - HOMEWORK - continue character notes!
Students did a quick worksheet on quotation marks, to begin today's class.
We discussed several key points from the last chapters.
Students read to the end of page 110, stopping to discuss key themes, and connections to previously-read texts along the way.
No additional homework.
Today we talked about an article a student sent in, about a Tla'amin community working to re-name the city of Powell River --> this is due to its association with Israel Powell, and his active role in assimilating Indigenous peoples (through residential schools - the outlawing of traditional ceremonies - and leveraging of indian agents to oppress).
Students were to have read "Wab's Coming-to Story" on their own last class - we began novel work today by discussing this text.
We also talked about these skin-graft experiments perpetrated against the Inuit - and the Tuskegee experiments on Black men in the U.S.
We then read "Story: Part 2" and "Back into the Woods."
No homework, other than continuing note work.
Students wrote a poetry quiz, shared their sound poems, and received their final assignment. We discussed what an ODE really is, and looked...
