Welcome back, Welcome Back, Welcome Back!

Hello, parents and students! The fact that you're reading this blog post means that (a) You actually read the syllabus and found this website (b) You wanted to take the time to see what your child's ELA class will be like (and that's awesome) and (c) I'll have to update this blog regularly knowing that you'll be seeing it ;).

Welcome back to another great year at KHS! I'm excited to be back at it and have the students back in the class! Summer went by quickly, and as always, August was like the Sunday of Summer; gone in a blink of an eye!

For my classes I have a good idea of what we'll be working on:

ELA 7: "The Outsiders", "The Slave Dancer" (subject to change), short story themed unit, grammar unit, Genius Hour (yippee!), children's stories, and much more!

ELA 9B: This year is more about building towards the PAT exam at the end of the year which includes creative writing, comprehension, and business letters. We'll also be working on poetry, a "KHS Reads" short story unit and independent novel study. Our novels as of right now will be "The Ender's Game" and "Alone at Ninety Foot" (subject to change).

ENG 20-1: We'll begin with an essay unit to prepare them for their intricate and busy ENG 30-1 course which will include persuasive, analytical, and narrative essays. From there we will delve into a novel study ("The Great Gatsby"), a short story unit, poetry, and we will discuss and watch the film "Life is Beautiful".

If at any time you have questions or concerns about this course please feel free to contact me at the school or by email. I look forward to a fun-filled year!

School phone: (780) 846-2121
Email: stacy.moir@btps.ca

The Sharing Continues! - ELA 20-1

Our second round of presentations happened yesterday and even more sharing and learning took place. Kyle brought in his brother Ben, owner of Twin City Restorations, a company specializing in water damage, fire and smoke, and asbestos and mould remediation in residential and commercial properties. Ben educated the students on the dangers of asbestos and had his brother, Kyle, suit up in his regular work attire. 

Janelle Frank had her Big Brother presentation and she managed to gain a few more viewers for the American edition which premieres June 25th! She told her classmates all about how the show works and even got Arlie, BB Canada season 2 house guest and jury member, to answer some of her burning questions. 

Other presentations included the gnarly sport of snowboarding, the "manly" and exciting game of lacrosse, and the awesomeness that is mechanical engineering. 

What a great opportunity it was for student's to investigate and research topics that they were truly passionate about or having a look into possible future careers! Have a great summer, grade 11s! I'll see you all in the fall! 

Sharing is Caring! - ELA 20-1

The 20-1 class started their presentations today for their final project. All of the topics were different in presentation style and content! It was so nice to see and hear what the 20-1 students were interested in outside of the classroom! One student brought in a Peace Officer from our county to speak about his job and what it entails. Another student spoke of how she wanted to be a Teacher in the future and how she was going to obtain that goal, including Universities she was scoping out and the prerequisites she needs to be accepted. One student presented information on the Beagle Freedom Project, a non-profit organization out of the US who saves Beagles from the cruelty of animal testing (www.beaglefreedromproject.com). The big kicker was that one student presented information on quantum physics! Seriously, quantum physics in ELA class (the Higgs Field and Higgs-Boson to be exact).Great job, guys! I'm pumped to see the rest!

Board Game Fun!

The grade 7s finally get to spend class time playing the games that they have worked so hard on preparing. It's fun to see them get excited about answering the trivia and trying to win! Each game is different, with their own set of rules. We set it up so that each group had 10 minutes to play each game and in those 10 minutes they had certain criteria to look over to guide them when analyzing and judging their peers' games. Some of the criteria included visual aspects, understanding and flow of the game, overall enjoyability, and fairness/difficulty of trivia questions. It may have gotten a little rowdy, but rowdy in the best kind of way! Good job, grade 7

!

Namaste - The Grade 9s are Yogis!

Kate Sugg, a yoga instructor who resides outside of Lashburn, Saskatchewan, came to pay my grade 9s a visit and teach them all about the basics of yoga. As difficult as it was at first to get my students on board, they quickly got into the practice and showed a genuine interest. Kate, formerly a resident of Australia, has been practicing yoga since the age of 13 and is currently teaching classes in Lashburn and at Attaining Longevity in Lloydminster. Yoga is most certainly out of our regular classroom comfort zone, as we have grown accustomed to other sports such as soccer, basketball, or volleyball. It was awesome to see the students try something new. Some have even said they're interested in taking her classes outside of school. Awesome job, Kate! Thank you so much to opening my students' eyes to something fresh, calming, and different!

Who Are You? - ELA 20-1

As the school year narrows and dwindles, so does the expansive English curriculum that our ELA 20-1 class must venture through year after year. We’ve touched on Shakespeare, completed a novel study, grudged through a grammar unit, sighed through poetry, and we’ve finished a tedious essay unit, but what we haven’t done yet is something outside of the curriculum. That’s right. Outside. While we’re still touching on our writing, analyzing, research, viewing/representing ideas, comprehension, and creating aspects of our curriculum, this project will be more open-ended than the usual (but still with some guidelines). 

The students were given the task for one final ELA assignment where it was all about them, and nobody knows the inner workings of a teenager quite like the teenager themselves. There are 3 sections to this assignment; a written introduction component, a representing and depicting written component (where they must analyze a song, poem, or story and discuss how it represents them in some way), and a final component that has them researching and sharing something that they're interested in. 

There are so many different ideas and interpretations of this open-ended assignment and I am thrilled to see their final products. As for a rubric, we're working on it as a unit with guidelines being established as a class. We know that there will be content, and a conventions and grammar portion. This will be a nice way to end a very hectic and fast-paced year. 

Some students have already gone above and beyond and are seeking outside help and expertise for the last section of the assignment. One student is bringing in a Peace Officer for them to discuss their field of work as that student wishes to pursue a career in that area after high school. Another is a humungous Big Brother fan (and obviously we get along marvelously!) and she got in touch with Jon Pardy, season 2 winner of BB Canada, and he will maybe be answering some questions and hopefully (fingers crossed) will be having a "Google Hangout" date with the class! We took a class photo to send to the BB Canada alum to show how exciting it all is! I will keep you updated on their final projects, of course! 

Jon Pardy: Winner of BB Canada  

This just in (06/11/14) - Arlie, BB Canada house guest and jury member, will hopefully be a part of the excitement too! Yahoo!

 

Independent Novel Studies - ELA 9

The ELA 9 class have completed their independent novel study assignments. Next up is their head-to-head battles to see whose novel will come out on top! Like in our short story unit, students were placed in groups and given the task to make a synopsis of a short story they read and persuade their fellow classmates to vote for their story to win. The winner received a prize of pride, an enthused pat on the back, of course, and the winning story was used in our short story unit where students were to read, analyze, and create a final project for it. The winner in that case was Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart. We then took that short story and made a unit out of it, including other works by Poe for the students to read and analyze. We came up with a unit theme of "a guilty conscience can never be overridden" and tied that class theme into all 3 stories that we read of Poe's. 

The independent novel study will be set up similar to the short story unit; in groups with a vote-out style until there is one final winner. I will keep you updated! In the meantime, check out some pictures of the final projects from the 9s. How awesome are these?!