Vote for Keisja Cox!

A student of mine, Keisja Cox is currently in the top 20 in a CBC radio Searchlight contest.  I think we should all support her!  Go to http://music.cbc.ca/#/Searchlight-All-Points-West and scroll down until you see her name and hit "VOTE".  It's a beautiful song she wrote and recorded.  You can vote every day too!

Welcome BC First Nations 12!

Good afternoon!  Wow, what a great long weekend.  I hope everyone enjoyed BC's first Family Day.

A huge welcome to my BC FNS 12 class, I'm so excited to teach this class again.  We have had a fabulous start, this class is fantastic.  Lots of great questions and engagement.

Here's some videos I've shown that answer some questions that come up early in the course.

This is Wab Kinew, an Aboriginal rapper and all around cool guy...check him out.

This is the first in a 4 part series:  Aboriginal History - Did you know?

I haven't given a whole lot of homework yet...stay tuned, there will be some coming soon.  We are starting Chapter 1 this week...all about the LAND!

Humanities 9
Read pages 245-246 in text.  Notes from Thursday were due today.  Check out this video:

Socials 11
Continue working on your Geography Unit Review Package.  I tried to show this video in class today and had computer troubles...so check it out here, it's really good!

This video was shown on Friday...shocking stuff about the cotton industry in India.

Humanities 9

Read the text page 232-234. Think about the big question, "Were the lives of Aboriginal people better or worse after contact?"  Maybe think about the Idle No More movement as well...lots going on out there.

Watch this:

Socials 11

Intro to the final unit:  Geography.  Geography is more than just mapping!  We looked at the demographic transition model and  a short video on people in Brazil...lots to think about in terms of standards of living in our world today.

Humanities 9
We have been working on a timeline for Chapter 8...we will continue to work on it on Monday.  I showed a new technique for notemaking, "concept mapping", these notes were due today.  In our Friday writers workshops we have been developing a character...today we began to tell their story!  Rough drafts are being worked on as we speak!

Check out this video I showed on Wednesday about the French in colonial Canada:

Socials 11
We have finished the Government Unit.  Today we had an open-book-take-home test, which is due on Monday.  The Review package for the unit is due on Monday too. 

Next week we will be starting the Geography Unit, looking at standards of living, populations, the environment, pollution, etc.  It's a great unit.  Zac Whyte will be a guest speaker  on Tuesday and Thursday.

Here's an interesting video on the single transferable vote that BC tried to pass in a referendum a few years ago:

Happy New Year!

Welcome back everyone!  I love a new year, it feels like we get to hit "reset" and we all get to start fresh!

Humanities 9

We are looking at Champlain's role in the creation of New France and the conflicts the French had with the Iroquois.  Here's the video we watched today (I finally found the easy way to insert videos!):

Socials 11

Yesterday we passed a Bill in class:  the "Work Wednesday Bill".  It was approved by the House of Commons and the Senate and it was signed by the Governor General.  So it is law now, "The Work Wednesdays Act", Wednesdays will be for work! Here's a short video on how Bills are passed in Ontario (essentially the same process as BC and Federally):



Today we are looking at political parties in BC, the Political Spectrum, and the very cool www.apathyisboring.com

Good times.

Socials 11 Provincial Exam is January 28th in the afternoon!

Long overdue update

Wow, time flies...much like the snow right now.  Here's a long overdue update for you.

2 weeks ago, Mr Warren, my student teacher started his official teaching with the grade 9s.  He's learning a lot and will be back in February for round 2. He will be teaching one Humanities class a day.

Last week I was home recovering from minor surgery.  I left my students in the capable and awesome hands of Mr Merrick, who was my student teacher last year.  I'm now back at school, almost fully recovered and very thankful to my students for their get well wishes and kindness shown towards me this week.

Now we are in our last week of school.  I've had several requests for homework packages for students leaving early on holidays or coming back later in January.  I generally don't give homework packages as they rarely get done and they take me hours to prepare, and some students have only given me a day or less notice.  We have x-block at our school for catch up time, and I'm available most lunch hours to help students.  So I will be working with students in January to help them get caught up.  Please contact our school admin if you have any questions about our school "holiday policy".

Contrary to popular belief, we are still having classes as usual this last week of school, we are teaching lessons and doing work for marks, so students should be here in class (unless they are sick or you are snowed in). 

I wish you a very wonderful holiday and a Merry Christmas (for those of you who celebrate).  Have fun and see you in January 2013!