Movie Time with Louis Riel

Rania in E7B found a website that has several links to different sources about Louis Riel, including a site with several videos.

He's a Poet and We Didn't Even Know It

Alma in E7B discovered that Louis Riel is a poet. Check it out on her blog or look at even more information.

Escape to Canada

This morning we saw an awesome assembly, bringing to life many elements of Black History/African Heritage. Inspired by that, Jessica in E7B was doing research on Harriet Tubman. She found a really neat online game where you experience what it would be like to be a slave escaping to freedom in Canada.

Be Creative! Be! Be! Creative!

Hello dollies,

I absolutely encourage and embrace any creativity you can bring to these assignments. This is a learning process for all of us (even me, your perfect teacher!) If you can figure out a better way to present your information, let me know. Helena and Sarah in E7/8 were in one of my classes last year and are a great dramatic duo. They will be working together to create their Louis Riel interview. They came to me with the request to incorporate their powers (what word did you use, girls? It was something better than that!) and made an arrangement that is fair and still showcases the things they've learned. Awesome. Another group is looking into getting their mark through a video of their interview. Just as awesome. Come and see me or leave me a comment with if you have creative ideas you'd like to try out. I'm happy for you to try new things, we just have to make a deal so that it's fair!

Just FYI, I felt I needed to offer you this because my brother Sam (who many of you will remember) was very upset about homework on the weekend. He was assigned a project in which he HAD TO use visual aids. He feels he works better without visual aids. He got stuck on that one requirement and had difficulty getting the content for his project completed. I learned a lesson from that. I always try to create assignments that I feel will be fun-teresting (fun+interesting) for you. Sometimes I get things wrong. Please, in a respectful way, tell me how you can reach a higher level of success - the options for creativity on your blog are ENDLESS!

I look forward to reading about and seeing all your juicy brain nuggets!

Mike is Blogging

Hello pals,

Our hardworking Co-op student, Dr. Prof. Mr. Mike, has started a blog. You should read it. He will be posting assignments for you. Don't worry, I'll link to him when he does. In the meantime, though, read his posts (he's very funny) and feel free to comment. He is also giving a great example to you of what you can do with your own blog. You may write on it at any time, not just when responding to assignments.

Go blog-crazy!

Live the Change - Bonus Assignment I

Hey buds,

I've been working with a group of five students to form a club in school. They are interested in making a change in the world, and living that change. They are considering a list of options for causes to support, both in fundraising and awareness raising. They have some wonderful ideas, and I wanted to throw a few into the mix as well.

If you are interested in doing a Bonus Assignment once you are done all your work, check out the websites below and think about some ways that students at Fielding (including you!) can contribute. You can write a comment here telling me that you've made a new post on your own blog. In your post. describe one or more of the causes I linked to and write about ways we can support them. Not only can this score you bonus marks, but we may use some of your fantastically creative ideas in our new (as yet unnamed) social consciousness club!

Canadian Kids Making a Difference

Help Lesotho - I travelled to Lesotho, a small country inside South Africa four years ago with an organization called Help Lesotho. Many students helped me to raise money and write letters for the children in this developing country. They do lots of wonderful things to help children.

SOS Children's Villages - When I was in Lesotho, I got to visit an amazing orphanage run by SOS Children's Villages. It is different than most orphanages, in that they build "families". Ten children live in a house together with a foster "mother" and grow up as brothers and sisters. There are several SOS Children's Villages around the world.

Kids Helping Kids - Kids Helping Kids is an organization that empowers youth to make a difference in the world. They work on a number of different projects.

The Happy Factory - The Happy Factory has a mission to provide a toy for every child around the world. They helped me out when I went to Africa by sending me a huge box of amazing toys that I was able to distribute in Lesotho. For many of the children who received toys, it was the first one they'd ever had. Pretty incredible.

Ryan's Well - There are many influential Canadians who will leave a legacy long after they're gone. One of those was a young boy named Ryan. From the age of six (!), he started raising money and telling people about the need for clean drinking water for all children. His organization, Ryan's Well, is helping to make that a reality.

Free the Children - Another inspirational young Canadian, Craig Kielburger started an organization called Free the Children when he was twelve years old. Their mission is to end child labour and provide schooling for all children, regardless of where they were born. Free the Children does unbelievable projects, from building schools to the Vow of Silence to Me to We Day.

War Child

Girls Helping Girls

Taking IT Global

Canada World Youth

Kiva Microloans

Did you find any other great sites? What are your awesome ideas? Who inspired you? What projects were you moved by?

Random Acts of Kindness

Hey friends,

This week is Kindness Week in Ottawa. People of all ages are encouraged to be extra conscious of how to be kind to others. I have already seen Random Acts of Kindness around the school today. I saw a student loan another student a pencil without even having to be asked. I saw a student offer to share her snack with another student who forgot his.

Do you have some ideas of ways to show Random Acts of Kindness? Have you seen any Random Acts of Kindness today? Leave a comment if you wish.

Try every day this week to do at least one thing to help another person. Don't think about who will see you or what benefit it has for you, just do something to be kind to another person.

E7A is Silent!

Hello kittens,

Right now, I am live blogging because there is something super cool going on. I left the Large Gym with my grade 7 girls and found the grade 7 boys lined up in front of the lab - silent. Apparently, this mini Vow of Silence was led by Hanad. We decided to spend the entire period silent. I wonder if we'll get A LOT more work done.

This is a bit of a trial run for March 5-6th when the real Vow of Silence Day happens.

I'm super duper impressed with E7A's control - so far, so silent!

You can leave a comment here and let me know how it feels to be so quiet!

Another interesting thing that you could do (and perhaps score a bonus mark!) is to live blog on your own blog about what this is like!

***Update (Feb 18th - 2:17 p.m.) - Cody is timing us and we've been SILENT so far for more than 30 minutes. Great work.***

***Update: Mariam M has been Live Blogging about our Silent Class. Check out her blog.***

Test Your New France Knowledge!

   Try a quiz to see how much you know about New France.  This is a pretty neat quiz because as you get questions correct, your canoe moves further along the St. Lawrence.  How did you do?  What did you learn that you didn't know before?

  If you liked that quiz, you can try another quiz about Canadian Daredevils.

  Both quizzes come from the website for Kayak Magazine.  Their website is good, but their magazine is better.  If you have a chance, pick up a copy of this magazine, it's a Canadian History magazine for kids and is full of lots of great information presented in a fun way.  

  As always, you are more than welcome, you are encouraged to leave comments after my posts so that I can hear about what you are doing and if the things that I am posting are useful to you!

ESL Students, and Others!

Hello English language learners!

I know that it is difficult to understand some assignments. I would like for you to try some new things. Do these assignments one at a time. Please tell me when you are finished each one.

Assignment A - Look at this website to learn about different provinces and cities in Canada. Start a new post and write about one location in Canada and why it is special.

Assignment B - Look at this website to learn more about locations in Canada and go on a "Sightseeing Tour". You will get to see photos and read more information. Start a new post and write about two places you would like to visit in Canada. Why would you like to go there?

Assignment C - Look at this website to learn about major events in Canadian History. Start a new post on your blog and write about three important events.

Assignment D - Look at this website and answer the 8 questions in the quiz. Start a new post and tell us how many you got correct. What did you learn from these questions?

The Great Upper Canada Adventure

   I found a cool online interactive game, called The Great Upper Canada Adventure, to explore some of the difficulties early Canadian settlers had in moving from Europe to Canada.  You take on the persona of a European peasant family member and make decisions.  It's pretty interesting.  The game is kind of like those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books that I read as a kid.  Based on your decisions, the outcome of the story changes.  If you're done all your assignments or need a break, you can play this.  

   Also, as always, I'll be reading comments that you leave here.  If you play, let me know what you thought, and read and respond to your peers' feedback.  (Note: This is a great way for you to show me that you're working with the information that you're given and for me to see that you're understanding the things your learning - this will help me to give you marks!)

Assignment #8 - The Real Riel

Good Tuesday morning, pals!

I hope that you had an absolutely wonderful LO-O-O-ONG weekend! I'd love to hear what you did this weekend, you can leave a comment and let me know what you did for Family Day! I don't know if you realized, but yesterday was not only Family Day, it was also Louis Riel Day, a holiday celebrated in the province of Manitoba.

Louis Riel was a colourful character who helped to form the country you know and love today. There is a lot of controversy surrounding his legacy. Some people see him as a Father of Confederation, while others see him as a traitor.

In this class, we think a lot about the impact of the things that we do. We've talked a lot about what the world will look like in the future. I wonder if Louis Riel ever thought about how much impact his actions would have on present-day Canada.

Your assignment is to read about Louis Riel to try to understand some of the reasons why people feel so strongly about him, either positively or negatively. You will then write an imaginary interview between you and Louis Riel, giving him an opportunity to talk about himself and defend his decisions. You have to make sure to introduce him, like an interviewer would, telling your audience a little bit about who it is you are talking to and why he is important. Then, you will write three (or more) questions to be asked by you and answered by him. You must write both the questions and the answers.

You should write this as a new post on your own blog and in the form of a script. For example,

Miss Pollock: Welcome, Mr. Banana-Pants. We are so happy to have you here today to talk about all your experiences.

Mr. Banana-Pants: Thanks so much, it's my great pleasure and passion to be here with you today.

(Note: Your interview will obviously be much, much superior to this. It may be difficult to do that, but I have faith in you.)

I suggest that you begin your research by using a search engine (such as google) and entering "Louis Riel", or reviewing some of the information on wikipedia.org or another online encyclopedia. Once you've found out some basic information, you should go into more depth with your search. For some bonus marks, leave a comment here to let us all know where you found great information and what your process was for working on this assignment.

I will be evaluating your Interview with Louis Riel based on the following criteria:

-link to this question

-links to source websites (at least three different sources used)

-interesting questions asked

-insightful answers provided

-accuracy of information

-layout of your post

-conventions: spelling, grammar and punctuation

***UPDATE: (Feb 18th 12:03 p.m.) Jamal in E7B found a one-minute long video about Louis Riel. You can check it out by visiting his blog.***

***UPDATE #2: (Feb 18th 2:13 p.m.) Hanifa in E7A also found a wonderful site with lots of information about Louis Riel.***

***UPDATE #3: (Feb 23rd 1:11 p.m.) The lovely Carly in E7/8 has found two sites that have not yet been linked to. Check out her first link and her second link.***

***UPDATE #4: (Feb 23rd 1:16 p.m.) Magnificent Jessica has found a site for research as well. Remember that each of you have to use three sites for reference!***

***UPDATE #5: (Feb 24th 8:32 a.m.) Hasan has found two sites that he thinks are really helpful.***

***UPDATE #6: (Feb 24th 8:33 a.m.) Ahoy,Metis (yes, you do say it like "Matey"): Tale and Firas in E7/8 have learned about what Metis means. Tale has even created an explanation for you to check out.***

***UPDATE #7: Froher in E7/8 found a site that she found helpful.***

***UPDATE #8: Russell in E7B found a site that he liked.***

***UPDATE #9: Marsha has made a post describing lots of great sources.***

***UPDATE #10: Alem in E8C found a really cool site about the Mysteries of Canada. It has a terrific article about Louis Riel.***

***UPDATE #11: Firas in E7/8 has written an excellent interview.***

Facebook Privacy

Hey friends,

  I was stumbling around the Internet over the weekend and spotted this helpful article.  I have explained to many of you about facebook and facebook privacy settings.  I know that most of you are currently using facebook.  There are loads of great things abou facebook, but the privacy settings that are standard are not so great.  Automatically, when you join up, you have very little privacy.  Almost anyone can see almost anything that you put up onto facebook, including pictures that other people post of you.  A lot of people have gotten in trouble for things they have posted themselves or that others have posted about them.  You can keep yourself safer. 

  

There are 10 tips included in this article to help you manage your privacy settings better.  Check out this article to help you out with your own privacy on facebook, the writer tells you step-by-step how to increase your privacy.

   Here is a super short list of tips (most of them are the same as the ones in the other article), The Purple 'Puter Lady talks about teaching her students about facebook privacy.

  Do you use facebook?  Why do you like using it?  What are some problems you've had with the privacy settings?  Leave a comment here.

Rock On, Blog On!

Hello Dance Machines,

.

Whew...I just popped into the Gym and it looks like you're all having a CRAZY time!

I hope those of you who went to the dance had a great time. Those of you who had finished all your assignments on time - WELL DONE! Some of you (like Sam and Hanifa) were finished in plenty of time and helped others. Thank you so much!

Many of you were conscientious and realized that you owed me an assignment (or several assignments!) and joined me during recess or at the beginning of the dance. That shows maturity and that you take responsibility for your actions. Thank you, I appreciate this.

.

Some of you had incomplete work and chose not to do anything about it. I find that disappointing. I truly hope that you take some responsibility and complete your assignments this weekend. You have four days off and I hope to see all those missing assignments appear and receive notices of that in my comments. If I do not receive all missing work by Tuesday, students will be spending time off the yard, missing your own social time to make up for the time you have obviously wasted in class. We'll start fresh on Tuesday with new work to do, so you better be caught up. Please do not put us in a situation where we need to take further action to get your work in.

As always, if you've done something special (written a relevant, but non-required entry, added a cool quiz or poll, thought of something really innovative), please write a comment on one of my posts. I moderate all comments and I take a chance to read through them at least once every two days. I respond to comments as quickly as possible.

Those of you who are all done - enjoy your weekend!

Those of you who still have to catch up - enjoy your weekend of blogging!

Shh...

Are you interested in taking a Vow of Silence for an entire day?  In order to raise awareness for children all over the world whose voices are not heard, those who cannot express their needs and wants, you can vow to stay silent for twenty-four hours.  That means no talking, no texting, no blogging with words, no note writing, no instant messaging, no facebook updates.  It also means you'll be sacrificing your voice for a full day to think of others and remind your friends, family and teachers to do the same.

Let me know what you think by commenting here.

Free the Children has tons more info.

Get Your Dancing Shoes On!

Hey friends,

Make sure you have all assignments completed before the dance on Thursday afternoon. If you're not sure which ones are due, just check your Due Date list on the right hand side of this page.

I am available and will be set up in the Intermediate Lab during second break on Thursday if you want to come in and work.

If you still owe me assignments, you can join me in the Computer Lab until they are completed. As soon as I've checked them over, you can head on into the dance.

Student Sample

Hey folks,

I just wanted to quickly direct your attention to Emily's blog. She has completed Assignment #7 in a very thorough manner. She did an excellent job. I suggest you look at it if you are feeling stuck. She followed most instructions very well.

Two suggestions I've given her are:
-Make sure all three influential Canadians are Canadians
-Write your biography in the third person, not the first person (for example: "Emily cured cancer" rather than "I cured cancer).

Love it. Keep on blogging in the free world.

Comments: A Quick Reminder

Those of you with funky templates,

Make sure that people can comment on your blogs! I just tried to comment on Amit's blog and was unable to! Egads! Go to Settings-->Comments-->Show comments in pop-up window

Also, make sure that people do not need to type in a scrambled word. For that, go to Settings--->Comments-->Show word verification for comments-->"No"

Have a friend comment on your blog so that you know comments work. The Tech Experts are pro at this if you still need extra help.

***Note to Tale - try following these directions or ask a Tech Expert for help - I'll be back tomorrow if this doesn't work!***

The Holocaust

If you complete all your assignments and are looking for more topics to blog about, Hanifa has a great idea.  She wrote a post about the Holocaust.  Some of the stuff that you are learning from Jen (our teacher from Jer's Vision) is pretty heavy and pretty emotional.  Sometimes it's really good to reflect on it and get your feelings out.  Your blog is a perfect place to share that.  Thanks for the great idea, Hanifa.

Assignment #7 - Canadian Personalities

Hello cupcakes,

For this assignment, you will be checking out some of the great online resources of the Canadian Museum of Civilizations. There are several parts to this assignment. Do this assignment step by step, but make sure to double check that you've done EVERYTHING before you publish it. Organize your post so that it is easy for readers to tell which question you are answering (see instruction #3 below)

1. Read about the Canadian Personalities in the "Meet the Personalities" section.

2. Start a new post on your own blog.

3. Link to this assignment in your post and make sure to introduce each section of your post by writing the question that you are answering either in bold or in another colour.

4. Answer the following questions:

a.) Which category of Canadian Personalities interested you the most? Did you like the "we inspired", "we founded", "we fought", "we built" or "we governed" section the best? Why?

b.) Which personality interested you the most? Why? Find an image of him or her to embed (add to the body of your post) and write, in your own words, a short description of what he or she did and why he or she is your favourite. If you get information from any source, you must credit it by creating a link to it (that includes information from the site that I've asked you to look at).

c.) In your post, suggest three more influential Canadian personalities that could be added to this site. Why did you choose these people? Which categories would they fit into? Link to information about each of them.

5. Vote on your favourite Canadian personality. (Click on the link to vote)

6. Turn the volume down on your computer, and play the Mystery History-Maker Match-Up. Find out which personality you have the most in common with.

7. Go back to your post and answer the following question:

d.) Which History-Maker did you have the most in common with? Were you able to figure it out from the clues given? What do you share with that person? What are some things that are different between you and that person?

8. Think long and hard about this part and then post an answer to this question on your blog:

e.) One hundred years from now, (in 2109!) imagine that students are learning about Canadian History Makers and they discover you. What will you be remembered for? How were you a Canadian History Maker? You are using your imagination, so think about some things that you would like to accomplish in your life and imagine that you have all the accomplishments of your life to look back on. Write a short profile of yourself, imagining the contributions you have made to the future of Canada. (Write this as though you've lived your whole life. You may have been a phenomenal athlete, the first black Prime Minister, cured cancer...use your imagination!)

***Update (Feb. 12th, 2:20 p.m.) - Some of you have done an absolutely AMAZING job with this assignment. Those of you who need to see some great examples should check out Sabrina's post and Jessi's post. ***