Wed Oct 31

Today we did a number of really important things.

Not really, it was Halloween. I kinda find it distracting to teach anything important when I have a room of costumed teens. In any case, we got the Character sketches done ... well, almost. I have to do Tom Robinson's sketch and get it ready for the class.

;)

In any case, we read some of the trial today and we did a powerpoint about "How to improve our mark in Chesser's class". The slides are here.

Tues Oct 30

Watch the video. Feel my pain. ;)

In any case, we got to mid-way through Chapter 17 today. We had a lot less garbage in the seats today, too.

We read to the middle of Chapter 17 and got the rest of the questions for 15-16.

We will be doing Character Sketches tomorrow as a group.

On to tomorrow!

Monday Oct 29

So I mentioned this in class today - note the way the film maker filmed the soldiers in the scene. Kinda like the way Harper Lee portrayed the men that came to visit Atticus at the jail.

Amazing that this was filmed in the 1920's.

We got question 1 from 15 and 16, too. We read to the middle of Chapter 16.

We also mentioned this "Googley Eyes" protest in class today, too. You really should google this.

I also pointed out the due dates for Part 2 of TKAM. We will be working on getting things ready to hand in all week.

Friday Oct 26

We continued our reading of To Kill A Mockingbird today. We got to the end of Chapter 14.

It's going by swimmingly ... at least I'm thinking it is.

We did get quesiton 3, 5 and 6 from the Chapter 12-14 questions for homework.

I did have a rather interesting discussion about "Not being a reader" from one of the members of the class today. I'll write the advice I gave that student here on this blog:

"You need to read books that interest you."

That's it, that's my advice. Read anything that interests you. I shared the idea that there is a book for literally anything you might be interested in reading about. You need to go, search for it and read it.

I also shared what I am reading these days. I'm reading this autobiography.

Keep reading ..... and enjoy the weekend!



via GIPHY

Thursday Oct 25

Today we got through Chapter 12 and into Chapter 13

We also had "The Big Crunch" at the end of the reading. We ate our apples as best we could. Mine was a yummy Mac apple ... of course. ;)

We got #5 from Chapters 9-11 and #1 and 2 from Chapters 12-14 as questions from the Unit Outline.

When looking for that image, I found this blog about the history of TKAM

Wed Oct 24

We got almost to the start of Chapter 12 today.

Nice, nice.

We did not get any homework today- I'll make sure we get a lot tomorrow. It's Pink Day, and so the class was "off", but we'll get it back tomorrow.

Be safe!

Tuesday Oct 23

We read today, got to the middle of Chapter 10, where Atticus shot Tim Johnson.

That was not a typo. Y'all gunna have to google that one. ;)

Anyway, I assigned #2, 3 and 4 from Chapter 9-11 Questions.

Hope today was awesome for you, too!

Monday oct 22

I had a fair number of students away - this post SHOULD get a good number of clicks on it for that reason alone.

We read to the middle of Chapter 9 today in class. This is the chapter where the position Atticus has as a lawyer gets him to the position of defending unpopular clients. We heard the name Tom Robinson for the first time today.

We were assigned these questions for homework:

Chapter 6-8 #3 and 4
Chapter 9-11 #1

I was dismayed when I walked around the class close to the end of the period and a few weren't getting their homework done before they left the room. I'm going to keep checking - you know I have to do that as a teacher.

You should really get it done before you leave class - it's easier, trust me

Ok, see you tomorrow!



via GIPHY

Thursday and Friday Oct 19

Thursday I was away from my Grade Nine homeroom retreat day.

I got some feedback that most of my students used their time wisely and some did not.

Friday was a Quiz Day, as well as a Hand in Stuff Day.

After we got that taken care of, we read to half way through Chapter 8, too.

Just as an edit - sign ups for Parent - Teacher night will start on Monday Oct 22

Wed Oct 17

Today we read to the end of chapter 7 and got question 1 and 2 from chapter 5-8 for homework

We also had to mention this video during class, as Jem tried to walk in the same way...





We also did the rest of the theme study, too

Tuesday Oct 16

Well, this was the day for the Yellow Bench presentation before this class.

We also read a bit - we got more than a few pages in to Chapter 6.

We worked on the Terms/Theme study for Friday and I went through what was going to be handed in at that point.

Then I took a few moments to work on making sure all our uniforms were on right.

Here is the gum that Scout and Jem found the other day in the tree:

Monday Oct 15

Everything went as well as it could today ... it was Monday, so I think we will just go with that.

I read to the middle of page 48, Chapter 5 today. We got to the end of the questions (#3,4 and 5) for Chapter 3-5.

We'll finish reading that Chapter tomorrow and get on with the Novel study at that point.

Right, I also handed back a lot of the Poetry and the Task Three from the Story Unit, too.

I will have a list Editing Marks for tomorrow, too.

We also mentioned the sport of "Zorbing" in class today. Here is an example of what my students in 2018 might do to imitate what Scout Finch did in Chapter 4 from TKAM:

Friday Oct 12

We read Chapter 3 from the text and got question one and two for homework.

We also took up the homework on questions 1-5 from Chapter One and Two.

We did collect the Webquests and the 100 word paragraph piece of writing on why this book is banned.

Thursday Oct 11

Today being Thursday, we read the novel to the end of Chapter 2.

We were assigned to the end of chapter one and two questions as well.

We also got the due dates for the first part of this unit. As always the due dates are both posted on this website and inside the classroom.

We also read Jem's description of Boo Radley in class today. I don't think it's accurate:

Yellow eyes and slobbering? No, I don't think so

Wed Oct 10

Today we started the novel To Kill a Mockingbird (TKAM). We read to page 13 and got the first two questions for homework.

Just. The first two. Questions.

I will also post the Unit plan ...sometime today ... when I get on decent wireless today.

Tuesday Oct 9

Someone asked me to post something "extra" for the next unit.

Well, I don't do "Extra". What I do post and work on are simple assignments to introduce the next unit. I call them Webquests.

The one for TKAM is here.

We had a brief introduction to the novel today after we had a welcome back to school conversation. I let my students know that this is the toughest part of the year to get through, as it is fourteen or so weeks of five day a week grind until Christmas.

To get through, I let my students in on some insights from my near twenty years as a teacher: 1) wash your hands a lot 2) Get lots of sleep, drink lots of water and keep a healthy body 3) grab some hand santizer have use it to protect yourself from germs.

After that we worked through the WebQuest posted above.

While students worked through that assignment, I was able to walk through the class and collect the last sections of the Poetry Unit. I also had a few people miss reading poems or doing their Poet presentation. I let everyone know that I will be in the Library after school every day this week in order to help my 1D students make these presentations up.

Thursday Oct 4

We are finishing off Poetry today

I'd also like to assign something so that you are always moving forward.

What the question for the day is ... is this

To Kill A Mockingbird gets banned all the time. Why does it get banned/challenged/withdrawn from study in classrooms?

at least five things you know about why this book gets banned in informal writing.

Tuesday and Wed Oct 3

Yesterday and today we did a poem.

Today's poem was the Prologue to Romeo and Juliet.

Yesterday we did Corinthians 12:17

Both are rich texts in that there is a lot to pull out of them.

We also came up with a list of poems due tomorrow, but I forgot to take a pic to post. If anyone has a pic of the list, let me know.

We also did some of the Poet Presentations, too.

Monday Oct 1

Today we got through a bunch of poems and readings.

 It was great and I'm grateful for the chance to listen to my students recite poems to me.

Here is the Task One poem for today :

Siren Song

BY MARGARET ATWOOD

This is the one song everyone 

would like to learn: the song 

that is irresistible: 

the song that forces men 

to leap overboard in squadrons 

even though they see the beached skulls 

the song nobody knows 

because anyone who has heard it 

is dead, and the others can't remember. 

Shall I tell you the secret 

and if I do, will you get me 

out of this bird suit? 

I don't enjoy it here 

squatting on this island 

looking picturesque and mythical 

with these two feathery maniacs, 

I don't enjoy singing 

this trio, fatal and valuable. 

I will tell the secret to you, 

to you, only to you. 

Come closer. This song 

is a cry for help: Help me! 

Only you, only you can, 

you are unique 

at last. Alas 

it is a boring song 

but it works every time.