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)

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.***

Assignment #5: It's Really Cold

OK, so it's REALLY cold. And I mean REALLY REALLY cold. So cold that you go outside and your tears freeze. In fact, there is a frostbite warning. Supposedly, any exposed skin can get frostbitten in 10 minutes.

The cold got me thinking as I was leaving school yesterday. Mr. Mitchell and I were complaining about how long it was taking our cars to heat up so that we could drive home. Suddenly, I thought of those first Canadian settlers who came here from Europe. What on earth would have made them STAY here after they experienced one winter? I understand that they might have thought they found a nice place if they arrived in the summer, but even one bitter cold day and they must have thought they made a mistake. Granted, the first settlers came here close to 500 years ago, and the climate has changed some, but it still must have been REALLY cold for them.

Imagine that you had no heated buildings to go into. Imagine you didn't have warm and cozy boots, hats, jackets and mittens. You would want to start a fire to keep you warm, or at least to keep you alive. Imagine you had to dig in the snow and ice to find wood to start a fire. Imagine that the wood was so frozen it wouldn't light.

I walked from my garage to the door of my house yesterday - maybe 15 steps and my hands were numb from the cold. All I had to do was unlock my door and it took me 20 minutes to thaw out.

Your assignment is to do some research on early Canadians and make some inferences about how they survived and thrived in the long, cold Canadian winters. Reflect on what life was like where they came from that this was a BETTER life. It's a good thing they did tough it out, because they set this land up for us to be comfortable (most of the time) even on the coldest of days.

Here is some information to check out to help you with this assignment:

-The Kids' Site on Canadian Settlement talks about daily life for French and other settlers (including the Acadians and the Inuits

-The Canada Page talks a little about early settlers across the country

-Immigrating to Canada discusses some of the reasons people immigrated to Canada and left their homes

-The Canadian Encyclopedia talks a little about early Canadian homes

-The Pioneer Homestead has some general information about setting up a pioneer homestead

In order to make your entry more personal, talk to your family about when they first came to Canada. What were the things that pushed them from their home? What were the things that pulled them here? why did they decide to stay after they'd seen what weather they'd have to endure?

This assignment has several parts:

-Start a new post

-Research how early Canadians survived (use some of the links from above AND do some research on your own)

-Discuss some of the challenges early Canadians had to face due to the cold of winter (think about the things people need in order to survive and consider whether it was more difficult to get these things in winter)

-Write about how early Canadians learned to deal with the extreme cold

-Find out and write about how and why your family came to Canada

-Find out and write about how your family learned to deal with the extreme cold

-In your entry, include links to sites where you found your information, and quote at least two of the pieces of information you learned

***Update: (1:30 p.m. Jan 29th) - Check out Ryleigh's blog for an excellent example for this assignment!***