December 12, 2011 Learning Log

What We Did
Today we mostly worked on our oral language. We haven’t done many group discussions before, but Ms.Lees explained this will be the first of several discussions.

Ms.Lees put us into discussion groups by giving us each a number and why had to get together with the people who had the same number as us. There we about five people in each group (Daniela, Sara, Luke and Colin were in mine.) After we all were organized and sitting in a circle, Ms.Lees gave each group a piece of paper with a set of questions in the middle. We had to draw lines splitting the paper into 5 groups, and then we each wrote our own responses. The questions were based on the movie “The First Night” we watched in class last week. The movie was about the famous King Arthur, Lady Guinevere and Sir Lancelot in the middle ages. My group was given:

Lady Guinevere had promised to marry King Arthur when her father was alive. Does she love him? (Give reasons for your answers)
a.) In the beginning?
b.) At the end?
c.) If she doesn’t – why does she still want to marry him? Or does she? Explain.

Other groups got different questions. After we had all expressed and written our opinions, we compared ours with each other. We all gave our input and discussed what answer we thought was correct and why. After a lot of persuasion and a tiny bit of arguing, everyone had come to their conclusions. We were supposed to write our answer on the back of the paper and give reasons how and why we came to that conclusion.

After all of the groups had completed their discussion, we moved back to our seats. Ms.Lees handed out a personal review sheet for oral language. We individually had to evaluate our self in three categories: Tell you idea, Ask questions, Listen Respectfully, Keep the conversation going. That was the end of humanities class.
Why we did it
A big part of high school is being able to work independently or with a group. We have done almost nothing in groups (other than these blogs), and Ms.Lees has decided it’s time to start. By discussing with more than one person, we can see different sides and perspectives. We may think that our opinion is the only correct choice there is, but when other people tell us theirs, we sometimes realize that maybe ours isn’t the correct one. Or maybe we just decide that there is more to one side and sometimes there isn’t just one right answer.

Learning how to cooperate and discuss in groups was also very helpful because we learned how to contribute all of our opinions equally and get our point across. Some people in the class are more shy and don’t talk as much, so hopefully this will help them come out of their comfort zone and show everyone that their opinion is just as important.

Someone may give their perspective and you may wonder: could my opinion be incorrect, or how did they think of that, it doesn’t sound right? Questioning yourself is an important aspect in learning. Sometimes you realize that you need to explain yourself better or that your answer is not as good as it could be and you didn’t think it through correctly.

Being able to reflect on your group discussions is very important because you need to know how you can improve your oral language skills and what you are exceeding at. You may be filling out the sheet and realize that you really didn’t let anyone else in the group talk, or you weren’t good at keeping the conversation going.
Connections/Reflection
I really enjoyed doing the group conversation today because I was able to discuss the movie King Arthur with people I wouldn’t normally discuss it with. I think it’s important for me and everyone else to get really good at group conversations in grade 8 so that we can build up our conversation skill for grade 9 and future grades.

My group did a pretty well job of displaying their input and jotting down reasons why they thought the way they did. I’m glad I got the question about Guinevere because it’s the classic love triangle and I have read and watched many books similar to it. The love triangle in this reminded me of the Twilight series because Bella loves Jacob, but is IN LOVE with Edward. Jacob would be an easier and smarter choice because he is less dangerous and doesn’t want to drink her blood, but Edward is the one she TRULY wants to be with, even though it is forbidden and not allowed. This is almost the exact same situation as Guinevere with Arthur and Lancelot. I can’t exactly say I can “relate” to it, because I’m too young to be involved in a love triangle.

Last year in grade 7 our class was all pretty good friends, and we did a lot of class discussions on novels we were reading. We had to express our feelings, opinions and question our judgement, just like we did today.

Being able to work well with groups will help me and all of you in the future years. This is an important skill to have for University and many jobs. If you work for a big company, then you will HAVE to work well with other. Lawyers need to be good at displaying their input and persuasion when in court to convince the judge to believe a certain thing. They need to know how to let others talk, but really explain why they believe they’re correct. Judges need to be good at weighing their options and choosing which side to go along with.
Homework
The only homework we had today was to finish part of your oral language skills chart.

Tips
-when you don’t have any homework, I suggest you look through your binder to make sure you are caught up on ALL of your work
- 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. You should have at least 2 people in our classes numbers or emails by now.
- 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.
-Even if you didn’t compete in the spelling bee in the theatre, it’s still important that you improve your spelling skills for the future.
- No one wants homework over Christmas break, so I suggest you make sure you’re up to date with all of your work.

ALICE IS TOMORROW!! :)
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