Monday November 21st Reflection

This the very first official learning log post for my group. Each day of the week, a new person will be in charge of doing an online learning log reflection. I was chosen to do the blog post today. This is my first ever Humanities blog post, so I'll try to do the best I can. Here's an review of the class session today.

What We Did

Today, Ms.Lees went over the guidelines for Humanities blogging. She explained that these blogs are basically online learning logs, but a little more detailed. I only need to do one of these a week, which I am quite happy about.

We also discussed with our groups the schedule for blogging, and how we could improve our blog to get the best mark we can achieve.

In class, we did not get a lot of new work done, because we had to check our portfolios. We made sure that nothing was missing, and we had completed all of the worksheets required for the portfolio. Almost everyone was finished their portfolios, and were quite satisfied with their finished work. A few people had to make some changes to the size or order of their portfolio.

Ms.Lees handed out a mapping worksheet. We needed to work on pages 67,68 and 70 in our mapping booklet. These pages were on the Landforms of South America. We needed to label parts of the South America map (page 70) and answer questions about it (page 67-68).

We were given quite a bit of class time to work on these sheets because we needed to use the
in-class atlases.

Why We Did It

It was important for Ms.Lees to go over blogging with us because if she hadn't most of us would have no clue what the heck we were doing; and I would have been one of them. I didn't realize that I could easily view other students' blogs to see how online learning logs were done. This helped immensely because by viewing other blogs, I was guided in the right direction. Ms.Lees seems pretty observative, and I think she realizes that she needs to go over this several times before we all understand.

Double checking our portfolios was a key step for Ms.Lees to evaluate our marks over the term because it was most likely our last chance to make sure EVERYTHING was how we wanted it to be before Ms.Lees went over it with us. Not only do the portfolios show us and Ms.Lees how we've improved over the term, but it also helps us with our organization skills. My portfolio really helped me understand that my comprehension and work is quite strong is some areas, but that I also need to work harder and prepare in others.

The South America Landforms map and questions were to help us improve in placing and finding landforms on maps. Most of us in the class already know a lot about North America and it's landforms, so by doing a South America map instead; it was a bit of a challenge. We learned some key terms in mapping, and learned lots more on the different types of water bodies. We also learned how to follow precise instructions while answering the questions.

My Reflections/Connections

I am VERY, VERY glad that Ms.Lees went over her expectations for blogging, and showed us how to work the blogs. I have to admit that I am not technology gifted, and I would have no clue what I was doing whatsoever. Luckily, once she had taught us how to blog--- I think I understood most of it. I'm glad that we get to do these blogs because I haven't done much blogging before, but I've always wanted to try it. Believe it or not, blogging is actually an important skill to have, because from what my sisters have said; you do a lot of it in high school. Also, blogging can help me when I am older because businesses do a lot of online blogging and computer articles. I am in the Newspaper club, and I write a monthly article. Blogging has a similar format as newspapers, so this will surely help me improve my articles.

My portfolio is pretty much complete, and I am 90% sure I have everything in the correct order. I missed the main day that we were working on portfolios, so I had to rush to put mine together in time. Luckily, I had all the work required for the portfolios, so it wasn't too much of a struggle. Learning how to make a portfolio will come in handy when I am older and I need to make one for a job application.

I understood how to do most of the mapping on a Landform map, and I was able to answer almost all of the questions in the allotted class time. For a few of the questions, my friends and I had to work on together to find the correct answer, but we managed to find it in the end. I was uneasy about some of the terms because our class missed the day that we learned them because of an assembly. Luckily, we are going to go over them this week. Being good at mapping is useful for many reasons. If you're on a road trip, and you are using a map; you need to know how to use it or you will become lost. The mapping we did today had very specific instructions, and one little mistake could mess up the whole map. Knowing how to follow instructions is important for many things in life. Such as cooking, all different types of math, projects and building things. If you want to become some type of builder when you're older, then you NEED to be good at following step-by-step instructions. If you're not; then the things you're building can brake or even become dangerous.

Homework

We didn't have a TON of homework today.
-For those of you who didn't finish your landform map: don't worry, you will have time to work on it tomorrow because we are not allowed to bring the atlases home. Just make sure to work quickly.
- You should be finished your portfolios by now, but if you aren't; come in during FLEX to finish it.

Tips
- Make sure that you work extra hard in class tomorrow because most of us still need to finish our South America map and questions.
- It can be hard to concentrate when people are talking around you; so respect others and either ask Ms.Lees or if you're allowed, ask your friend when you need help.
- Whenever you are behind on your work, go in during FLEX to catch up and get extra help.
- If you miss a day, make sure to either email Ms.Lees (you can find her email on the school website) or ask one your study buddies. We have study buddies for a reason!
- If you are unable to complete your assigned work, make sure to email Ms.Lees to let her know. If you have a good reason, then she will usually let you off the hook and give you extra time to finish it.
-If you need help with your blogs, you can look at other group's blogs, or check out the English Grade 9 homepage and blogs.

***Hope I helped and feel free to ask me any questions or give me suggestions*** :)

Schedule- This is the schedule we decided in class. Sometimes there may be changes to it if someone has to much homework or is going away. Just make sure to let the WHOLE group know.

Monday- Olivia B.

Tuesday-Alice B

Wednesday- Daniel K

Friday- Luke W

I am pretty sure ALICE will be doing the blog tomorrow. :)

THANKS