Report Card Time

Please accept my apologies for my lapsed blog last week; I was overwhelmed with report cards.  Speaking of which, report cards will be going home Tuesday. I hope to meet you in the gym Wednesday night, November 28, between 5:30 and 7:30, for parent-teacher interviews.

Professional News:

On Monday, I will be at Chatelech, meeting with other secondary English teachers in our inquiry study group. My research question focusses on teaching writing.  On Thursday, I will be in Burnaby with other Elphinstone teachers at a presentation about new assessment methods. And on a personal professional note, the poetry anthology Desperately Seeking Susans has been released, containing one of my poems.

English 8

We are now well into our myth unit, practicing the 'making up our own questions' strategy and learning how to write responses.  We have read Demeter and Persephone, Orpheus, Echo and Narcissus, and at the end of this week, Daedalus and Icarus.  Students have seen a sample of the unit's final project, "What? So What?" and will receive an assignment sheet in the next few weeks. In addition, they will revise one of their responses to a good copy for evaluation.

English 9

After great anticipation, students have received their literature circle novels and have begun reading.
Here are the books students have chosen. Please ask your child which one he/she is reading.

They are writing questions on small sticky notes and sticking them in the books beside quotations, which they will use in small group discussions and  to help them write responses. Last class we wrote a practice response to a short story together.  Students will write one or two responses a week. The theme of the unit is justice and overcoming difficulties.


French 9

Students have finished their rough copy of their clothing assignment paragraphs and will work on the good copy next week.  The Clothing Unit Test will be in early December.


Drama 9

We have begun rehearsing our play, Jack and the Beanstalk, and will be performing it in January for three classes of grades one and two from Gibsons Elementary.  Some students have chosen speaking parts, some non-speaking parts, and some to be in the sound crew.  Students received a copy of the BC Drama Teachers Association rubric so that they know how they will be marked on the play. The play will be our focus this term, and the finale of the two-term course.