E7/8 - Today we Live Blog

Good morning, E7/8,

Today we'll be live blogging. That means that we'll all be working on our blogs simultaneously while we are sitting here in the Lab.

I don't mind if you work with a partner today so long as the two of you stay on task. I reserve the right to split you up if I feel you are not on task.

I've listened carefully and thought a lot about what you said about blogging, and I'll be making some changes.

Today, for example, you are going to do some research and you won't be marked on the finish product, but you will be marked on your process of gathering information and then participating in our class discussion.

Your job today is to look at the questions at the bottom of this post and figure out some ways to answer them so that when we have a class discussion about these topics next class, you will be well prepared.

Please let us know if you find any particularly wonderful sites.

In answering the questions, you may use full sentences or jot notes, your choice. As you publish answers, let me know so that I can link to you. Hopefully this will enable us to get an online discussion going. Post anything that you find interesting - links, information...

None of these questions have simple answers. They all have complex, involved answers. Try to give yourself a bit of an overview of some of the issues involved. You will do research to find some answers, you can talk with your partner and you will use your own inferencing skills to come up with some answers to the following:

Grade 7s
-How did the influx of Loyalist refugees change things in Canada?
-What were some of the causes (the reasons that it started) of the War of 1812?
-What were some of the effects (the things that happened because of) of the War of 1812?
-What would life for a Canadian look like, feel like and be like at this time in our history? (1775 - American Revolution started, 1783-1784 - approx. 50 000 Loyalists migrated to Canada)

Grade 8s
-How did the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway change Canada? -What were some of the causes of the Red River Rebellion?
-What were some of the effects of the Red River Rebellion?
-What would life for a Canadian look like, feel like and be like at this time in our history? (1881-1885 - construction of the CPR, 1869 - Red River Rebellion)

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.***

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Martin Luther King, Jr, who one of the most prominent leaders in the United States' Civil Rights Movement, was born on January 15th, 1929. Since 2000, people in all fifty United States have celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on the Monday closest to his birthday. This year, MLK, Jr. Day is being celebrated on Monday, January 19th.

People commemorate the life of this inspirational man annually and it gives us all a chance to take some time to think about civil rights and equality. In the United States, people are encouraged to spend the day volunteering their time to help others.

During class, your job is to watch the two videos. The first video is one made by elementary school students in which several of them perform different parts of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s famous "I Have a Dream" speech. The second is a video recording of MLK, Jr. performing that historic speech. ***Please keep your volume set to a level that only you can hear as your peers will all be wanting to hear their own computers as well.***

Please open at least two windows on your computer - one for the videos and another with this blog.

While you watch the videos, I'd like you to think about the following questions:

-How did Martin Luther King, Jr.'s words make you feel?

-Why did they make you feel this way?

-What did you feel about the students' presentation?

-How can you apply some of his ideas to your own life?

As you are watching the videos or once you've finished watching them, you will reflect on what you watched and how you felt. You will be posting your responses as comments on this message and then reading and responding to the things your peers and I have written.

As most of you know, February is Black History Month (or African Heritage Month). To commemorate that, we will be researching important African-Canadians. As in many aspects of our history, we have much to be proud of and much to reflect on in terms of Black History, Civil Rights and Equality. Stay tuned for more information about things we'll be doing in February!

***Update (3 p.m. Jan 21st): To read some excellent examples, scroll through the comments and focus in on: Youssef H, Zaryab, Fatema, Mariam Me and Hanifa's comments.***

How to post a comment: This is actually the first thing we'll do as a class

  You will comment on the Welcome entry on this blog so that you can see how easy it is to make comments.  Because we will be doing this right now, together, live in class, this is called "Live Blogging".

  To comment, you simply select the "comment" button at the end of a blog post, then enter your comment and necessary information.  Please post comments by using your blogger username and link back to your own blog.