Sunday, February 27, 2011

Class Minutes for Friday Feb 25th


 
  1. Prayer
  2. We put line breaks into the text of “We Real Cool” by G. Brooks before listening to the real performance of the poem. We compared the line breaks we predicted to the real version, and we discussed how line breaks added emphasis to the poem.
  3. We went to the language lab to do our favourite poem assignment. Using Audacity, we recorded why we liked the poem, explained why it appealed to us, if it connected to our life, words or lines that stood out, and where we found the poem. We then read the poem, with attention to our spoken expression.
Thanks Alysha

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Class Minutes for Wednesday Feb 23rd


1. Prayer

2. Don't Say Duh
- Today we played a game as a class. The smartboard randomly chose a student and a topic. The student must publicly speak about the topic for 30 seconds. The student is not allowed to say um, like, uh, etc. There were three judges who ranked how well the speaker was out of 10. This allowed us to practice speaking in front of a crowd and techniques to be a successful public speaker.

3. Speaking Techniques
- At this time, Ms. Meakes explained different and successful ways to be a great public speaker. Body language, eye contact, gestures and voice are all key aspects in being an intriguing speaker.

4. Group Slam Practice
- The students were given the text to "The Crickets have arthritis" by Shane Koyczan. In a group of four, each student had to pick a stanza from the poem and perform it to their group using the speaking techniques Ms. Meakes previously taught.

5. Watch Professional
- The students watched the real performance done by Shane Koyczan. After, the class was asked to compare how the students performed it and how Shane Koyczan performed it. How was he powerful in his performance?

6. Writing Time
- Near the end of the class, the students did a free-write on one of the three topics they came up with in the previous class. The idea of this is to never let the pen come off the paper so that the ideas would flow better.

Thanks Mariel!


Don't forget to bring a copy of a favourite poem next class. Please be prepared to explain why you like it. 

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Class Minutes for Monday Feb 21st

1) Prayer
 
2) TPS - Think Pair share. Answer the question "What is more important, what we say or how we say it?" Discuss with a partner and then with the class. Outcome; it is hard to determine which is more important because both are so connected to eachother and there is no one without the other
 
3)Taylor Mahi - popular poet on youtube whos poems relate well to teenagers. We watched his youtube video
 
4) Shane Koyczan - world renound slam poet and very talented at what he does. We watched him perform, usisng a range techniques to enhance his performance including hand gestures and dynamics.
 
5) Slam poetry - we are told our major assignment for the poetry unit, create and perform your own poem in the style of slam poetry. You may begin to think of ideas as to what you will do
 
6) What matters to you? <-- ticket out of door. Brainstorm different topics that you are passionate about to prepare for your slam poetry assignment

Hmwrk. Find your favourite poem, or just a poem that you really like and be prepared to explain why you like it.
 
Thanks Cole

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Class Minutes for Thursday Feb 17th

1. Prayer
2. PC (How does an individual fight against an unjust or corrupt society?)

**Students who need more time for their PC may come to work on it in tutorials Monday to Thursday from 3-4pm next week**

Friday, February 11, 2011

Class Minutes for Friday February 11th (PC Prep)

Today in class we prepared for your in-class personal composition which will be written on Thursday February 17th.

Your PC should answer the question "how does an individual fight against an unjust or corrupt society?", Therefore your thesis should make a claim about a specific method (used by two people) to fight injustice.  Each body paragraph should be about how a person used that method to fight against injustice. 

In order to write your PC, you will have to do some research.  There are some short biographes available on moodle, as well as a "pathfinder" to help you with your research.  In addition, you will find a "PC Outline" on moodle that you need to fill in to prepare for your PC. The outline is the only thing you will be allowed to bring with you on Thursday.  You may use any of the people listed on moodle, or you may write about other people that you are familiar with.

It would be a good idea to show me your thesis before you write. You can email me at my acrss.org email account and I will try to get back to you before Thursday.

Good luck and enjoy your 5 day weekend!

 Ms Meakes

Friday, February 4, 2011

Class Minutes for Thursday Feb 3rd

1. Prayer

2. Think - Pair - Share
Students responded to three questions: How do villains operate? How does exposure to evil affect us? How does an individual fight against an unjust or corrupt society?

3. Most Valuable Idea
After discussing their responses with a partner and the class, the students chose their strongest idea and made a theme statement. Then they filled out a "connections" organizer to look for connections in the text, the world, and their own experience.

4. Ghosts of Rwanda
Ms. Meakes explained what a genocide was, and the background of the Rwandan genocide. We watched clips from "Ghosts of Rwanda" and filled out a comparison organizer linking events in Lord of the Flies to the Rwandan Genocide.  We will finish this activity next class.

Class Notes for Feb 1st

1. Prayer
2. Feedback/Writing Logs for Allegory Multi
3. Feedback/Writing Logs for Exam
4. Self-Evaluation/Report Card Comments and work habits