Why Should I bother Graduating High School?

Students in grade 9 are beginning to discover for themselves what the advantages are for graduating high school.

9ECAG began critically thinking about the economic reasons for graduating high school.  As a class we read the article "879, 000 Reason to Stay in School", we highlighted items we found P-ositive / M-inus / I-interesting, then we made a note of our thoughts.  See the example below.

9A - Read article A and highlight 3-5 PMI items and note what you think.
9F - We'll finish snowball interview introductions tomorrow.  

Meet the Teacher from 5 - 7 pm tomorrow!  Please come and have some fun!  : )

Tuesday September 9, 2014

Why should I bother graduating high school?

9ACEG: Used pair share square strategy to generate and categorize a list of reasons to graduate high school.

In the afternoon 9EAG took out books from the library.  Students will have a readers workshop block every day 6 in the afternoon.  Grade 9's will be expected to creatively share what they learn from their reading at the end of October.

Monday, Sep 8 Day 5 

9E &G: Today students finished Introducing a classmate.

9CAE: Brainstormed a list of issues that come up when working and talking in a group.  They created sentences to solve these issues using respectful language.

 9F: Began interviewing a classmate and will introduce them on Wednesday September 10.

Reminder: Picture Day tomorrow!!

Friday, September 5

9C&A: Students introduced a classmate and were given feedback using the following criteria:

In 9C's second LA class we brainstormed a list of common issues that arise when working in groups.

Students also brainstormed respectful things they could say for each situation.

9G: Organized their presentations and introduced their classmates using their interview notes.

9E: Will Introduce their peers on Monday.  Use the image below to help you organize your info.

September 4, 2014

     How can we ask questions that demand a descriptive answer?

Use the words, "Explain", "and why", and "Describe".

Today students worked on rephrasing questions to get more information out of their classmate.  We are introducing our peers to the class tomorrow.

9A - Finished introductions to the class today.  No homework.

9C - Organized their interview information and will introduce their peer to the class tomorrow.

9G - Rephrased questions and had time to dig for more information about their classmate.  Time will be given to organize this information tomorrow.

9E - Watched a video of a bad interview, recorded what was the problem and what was NOT the problem in the interview.  Then they imagined they were the interviewer and created 3 questions that demanded a descriptive answer.  Tomorrow we will examine how to rephrase questions and apply this skill to their interview categories tomorrow.

Wednesday Sep 3, 2014
9A&C Discussed classroom expectations for working with a partner:

1. seated while working 
2. writing on a surface
3. sharing with the individual I'm working with
4. making eye contact and being mindful of nonverbal communication
5. facing the front to make circulation in the room easier

We discovered that many of us were having trouble asking good questions and getting details from our partners.

We watched a "Bad Interview" video to help us identify What's the Problem and What's not the Problem

We then imagined we were the interviewer and asked questions that would force more than a one word response.  

Student example:  How long does it take to complete one of your projects?

becomes

Explain how you manage your team to complete a project on time.

Then students went back and created 3 new questions to dig deeper in their interviews.  See Mrs. Anderson's example below:

Summer Activity:

What did you do this summer?

• I went camping
• Questions to ask What is your favourite thing to do when you are camping and why?
• Explain why is camping important to you?
• How is camping better than shopping or going to a movie?

9G - Watched a welcome back slide show and began a snowball icebreaker.

9F & E - Went through LA 9 course outline.

September 2, 2014

9A&C - Be ready to introduce your classmate and present the answers to your interview questions.

9G
Snowball interviews tomorrow.  Make sure you ask questions that dig into the topics.
Use these headings to guide your interview:
     3 Summer events
     2 LA Likes / Dislikes
     1 Hope for grade 9