Adrily Has Done it Again

The incredible Adria and Emily in E7/8 have made another hilarious and informative video. They made great use of 18th Century slang. Their bunny joke is a highlight.

A Loyalist/Patriot Game

Santana the Magnificent has found an amazingly cool game where you work your way through different tasks and questions and determine whether you would have been a Patriot or a Loyalist living during the American Revolution.

Let me know if you've played the game and what the outcome was!

Want Some Bonus Marks? - Special thanks to Santana!

Santana continues her wonderful 'net research skills. She has found all kinds of exciting sites, including the following:

#1. An article about Black Loyalists.
#2. Many articles from different points of view in America about the American Revolution.
#3. Some American heroes of the American Revolution. How do you think the Loyalists saw these people? What about the British North Americans?
#4. An article from the American point of view describing the causes and effects of the American Revolution.
#5. I haven't played a lot on this one yet, but it's pretty neat - HistoryWorld. If you check this one out, let me know what great features it has!

For some bonus marks, you can check out these sites and write a review on your own blog, linking others to them. As always, if you do a bonus assignment, send a comment my way so that I know to check it out!

Mapping Your Way through History

Santana (my #1 Internet researcher) has found yet another amazing site. Canadian Geographic hosts all kinds of capital ("cool" from the 18th century) sources, including Historical Maps.

The site is super, duper awesome. You pick a year and you are shown a map of Canada from that time. There are really clear legends and a description of important events PLUS bonus facts. As well, there are many wonderful links in each description. This is a great place to start your research for ANY Canadian History topic. Amazing.

As well, you can click on a link on the right-hand side of the page to do a Canada Quiz. This is a great, comprehensive quiz. There are questions that go along with each map and chunk of information. As well, unlike some not so great Internet quizzes, the answers are available to you after you've completed the questions. That means you can actually learn from your mistakes (the best reason to MAKE mistakes!).

I strongly suggest you check out this site. We certainly will be using it as a class in the future.

Historical Trends by the Decade

The incredible Santana has discovered one of the greatest sites I've ever seen. You can select a decade and there are lists of important events, who is "in", who died, the "bad guys", entertainment, music, literature, art, slang, and fashion and beauty. This site is an excellent place to start your research or enhance your diary or journal. So, so cool! I love it!

To Blog or Not To Blog?

Thank you to those of you who have responded to the poll asking whether you'd like to continue blogging in Geography. I really appreciate those of you who took the time to write a comment and let me know what you think.

This is the first time I have taught using blogs and, like you, I am learning a lot! Your work continues to improve as you use the tools available to you more and more effectively. I am especially impressed with your work on Assignment #8. I have read some wonderfully creative and well-researched imaginary interviews.

Some issues you have raised and that I am thinking about:

More class discussion - Some people have suggested that we do some class discussion along with our blogging. I think this is a great idea. So far, you have been working fairly independently on your blogs (and doing a great job, may I add!), I will work on finding ways to interact even more.

More guidance from the teacher - In other classes you've taken in the Social Studies (History, Geography), you are used to having the teacher lead you through a concept and then you do a reading or an assignment. With our projects so far, I've been releasing the responsibility to you. You have been responsible for working with information I've given you, that I've directed you towards or that you've found on your own. Some of you want more guidance and I will be happy to provide that to you.

More clarity - You may not believe it, but you are flying through curriculum expectations for your grade. What I will do is I will let you know, with each assignment, which curriculum expectations you are covering (there is a whole bunch of stuff you're expected to learn each year and that's put together in curriculum documents that teachers refer to). Also, I've started to add more information at the end of posts to tell you how I'll be evaluating each assignment. People have also expressed that they miss learning in units. I'll add more info at the beginning of assignments to let you know which unit we're working on. I'll get even better organized and hopefully that will help you.

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Fewer Assignments - Some of you have said that you would like more time to read your peers assignments before you are given your next one. I've been trying to give you assignments of different lengths, but to also keep you busy during class time. I'm thinking about how many assignments to give you.

Distractions - Several of you have said that blogging is distracting. I'd argue that it's not the blogging that is distracting, but it's all the other cool stuff on the Internet that is distracting. It is up to you to monitor your use and make sure you are staying on task. The world is a distracting place and I think it is an invaluable tool to learn how to stay focused amidst many other tempting things.

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Once again, I really appreciate your opinions and I really appreciate the respectful, mature way in which you are expressing them. Like I've said, I am learning from our blogging project along with you, and your input helps me to continue to learn and improve my teaching. Thank you.

If there are any other issues you'd like to raise, please don't hesitate to do so in the comments area.

Contest Hosted by Helena

Check it out!

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.

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.***

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.***

Rock On, Blog On!

Hello Dance Machines,

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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.

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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!

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.

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.

Amazing Students!

You guys rock!

Check out what Santana has done. She found an awesome website that tells you what important historical events occurred every day of a year. She's also added a gadget on her blog that updates daily with that same information. Awesome! Also, how can you not adore her blog title - "Love This History"?

Sarah has found a super, duper neat-o widget. You can create a quiz (similar to those 10 question quizzes on BrainPop) and embed it on your site. I strongly suggest that you do her quiz. Embarrassingly, I only got an 8/10. See if you can beat my score!

Let me know, in my comments, if you've discovered something super amazing!

Helena Gives Some Advice, Which Reminds Me...

Hey ladies and germs!

Helena in E7/8 never ceases to amaze me! She has posted an amazing entry giving advice to you, her peers, on how to write even better blog entries. She has outlined the process that she uses in her own writing. This is something helpful for all of you to read.

It's so interesting for me to see the process that you use when you do your work. Remember that you can use your blogs for any History related things. Some of you have embraced this and have written reflective entries, made polls or contests, and commented on things that are going on in Canada today. That is perfect. In addition to the marks that you will get for completing your assignments, you can get bonus marks for using your blogs creatively to share relevant information. Some of you have done creative things, like add video bars, music, personalized templates, etc. That is a good way to personalize your blog, but is not relevant, so will not get you bonus marks.

To get bonus marks, be CREATIVE and RELEVANT. I look forward to seeing all the cool things you come up with. If there is something you want me to check out, simply leave a comment for me.

Tech Experts and Blogger Templates - Important Information

Hello puppies,

I see that many of you have taken Stan's advice and used funky templates. Once you've applied your new template, you will have to re-add any gadgets or widgets you added to your old template (blogger will warn you of this when you download your new template). If you don't know how to do that, talk to one of our Tech Experts: Stan, Jordie, Colton, Sara, Jaspreet, or Philip and they can help you. I will continue to add to a list of Tech Experts on the right hand side of my blog as students get better and better. If you want to be added as a Tech Expert and help out your schoolmates, just comment on this message! You can always leave questions for me in the comment field on posts, or you can visit the Tech Experts blogs (or talk to them at school).

Also, once you have a new template, ask a friend to come to your blog and try to leave a comment. If they cannot, go into your Settings and make sure that the Comment option is activated.

E7B - Some Shout Outs

Way to go, E7B!

Thank you to the wonderful helpers in this magnificent class! I see that Aynalem is helping Mariam K because the two of them had the same problem with people leaving comments. I see that Genny and Michelle are helping one another. Chelsea is helping Ridge set up his account. James has provided support to many of his classmates. Youssef H is helping Mohamed.

I'm so proud of you little monkeys!