January 3rd, 2012 Learning Log

What We Did
     I know, we can't be lazy anymore. It's pretty sad we have to go to school everday now but we can't do anything about it! I'll just tell you one good news... we are not having a final exam for humanities, instead we're going to work on a final project which is actually way better! 
     In the beginning of the class, Ms.Lees talked about how we're going to have a "Warm & Fuzzy Drive" which is a donation to support families who can't afford many things like clothes in the winter time. Just remember to bring some warm and fuzzy clothes you have that don't fit you or don't wear. You can bring ANY clothes that you think it'll help other people stay warm. You could even bring some fuzzy socks! :) You can bring them anytime from today. Also, remember to prepare yourselves for the "Geography Challenge" contest next Tueday. Ms.Lees said we'll try to go over some questions every class if we have time. Don't panick too much because it doesn't go into our report cards and it's just an enrichment but I still recommand you to try your best! Ms.Lees also talked about how you should come in for flex if your portfolios are incomplete (which shouldn't be) or if you haven't done the conference yet. Have you guys read your novels yet? Well, it's okay if you didn't finish yet because Ms.Lees said she'll give us a week to read it which means we'll have to finish it by next week Monday. Ms.Lees also reminded us about the course selection for grade 9 coming up. As we go up a grade, there will be more choices of classes we could take so you should start thinking about what you're interested in the most! There will be a course selection fair next week Wednesday which will help you a little bit with your selections. 
     After Ms.Lees informed us about all the events coming up, she wrote down on the board all the things we did before the holidays. She reviewed with us the things we learned so we don't forget and so we could refresh our minds. She wrote down from September with "House", all the short stories we read, the story terms we went over and the "Who Are You" project. We learned about reading with a purpose, inferring, comprehending, making connections and giving opinions about the short stories. As we went on to October, we started to complete the geography skills package, learned about point of views, and character webs. In November, we continued on with finishing our geography skills package and learned about the different paragraph types. Finally in December, we continued on with the paragraph types, learned how to take different kind of notes, QAR, portfolio conferences, spelling bee, blogs, took a step into learning about the middle ages (First Knight movie) and also took the geography test! If you think back, we achieved a LOT of things the past couple months and I'm very proud of that! 
     After reviewing all the things we learned, Ms.Lees handed out a graph and we had to self evaluate and graph our work habits, in-class habits, and how well we understood the lessons through out the couple of months in different colours. We would plot a dot (for example) beside the line where it says "Good" for the first week of September because you think you did most of your homework that week and you would do that every week and predict what you'd get in January too! Then, we had to write on the back, what we thought showed on our graphs and also had to write our goals for January. 
     Since a lot of people were struggling with the blogs online, Ms.Lees went over the expectations and wrote out the "What We Did" column in class for us. One of the things she expects us to do on our reflection posts is no slang and try to sound casual and a little funny because some blogs can be really boring and not interesting. 

Why We Did It
     Final exams are very helpful for teachers to know if the students understood everything they learned throughout the semester. It's like a test with all the things you learned in it. It actually sounds quite tough. The final exam actually worths quite a bit of your report card mark depending on the teacher. That's how big and important it is! Luckily, Ms.Lees is assigning us a final PROJECT to do, not an exam so it won't make us nervous that much. She'd just want to see if we understood all the concepts we learned already and show all of our knowledge and skills. 
     We are collecting warm clothing so that the people who need help and can't afford warm clothes could spend a warm winter this year because it has been really cold lately and I know how it feels to be freezing and sad not able to be warm like most of all the other children out in the world. Also, our novels should be read soon because we are soon going to work on an assignment on it and I believe we are going to make a web with all the different categories which will help us learn more about the Middle Ages. 
     Ms.Lees reviewed the things we did before the winter holidays to refresh our memories and so that we could set new goals for the upcoming months. It wouldn't be very useful if we forget what we learned and never used it. It would've been a total waste of time. By going over the things we did, could've helped on the next assignment we worked on which had something to do with looking back our work. Also we could recognize how the things we learned all connects to each other step by step. It also could've been a good way to check if all our work was in our binders and our portfolios.
     It's very important for everyone to review and reflect on the things they've done so that they could make new goals and see what they need to improve on. It's also a great way to check if you have all your work in your binder or your porfolio and would be the most useful time to use your learning logs you wrote. Sometimes, some things could be missing so you'll be able to notice and try to finish it before it turns into a bigger problem. Since you know you're not the best for one thing from your graph, you could set a goal for January on the back of the sheet. It'd be a great way to think back and see how you behaved, worked, e.t.c in-class because you might've thought you behaved well but you might've been totally wrong. 
     Ms.Lees went over the expectation rules for the blog posts because she have seen some sloppy ones and I also have seen some too. It's very important for everyone to know what she expects for these reflection posts because without knowing what she wants, how are we supposed to make her happy and get a good mark? It could've been a good way to remind all the students that they are still important and they should work harder on them.
     

Connections/Reflection
     I'm VERY happy we don't have to write a final exam because the phrase "Final Exam" always tends to make me nervous because it sounds so big and I heard that it usually counts for a lot of the report card mark. I always like projects better because I usually know the expectations and I get a lot more time, also I can ask the teacher some questions about the project. Honestly, I'm a very slow test writer so I'm usually the last one to finish it which always makes me rush and never get the chance to check my work but you don't have to rush when your working on projects unless you're a procrastinator.  I remember in elementry school last year, we didn't have final exams. We mostly had unit tests and sometimes final projects so I'm not very used to the "Final Exam" system!
     I know how it feels like to be freezing cold and you don't have any supplies or clothes to keep yourself warm. I hate being cold which is the reason why I don't really like winter very much. I think it'll be the best thing in the world for those people who can't afford warm clothing to get some and be able to spend a warm winter this year. I am going to try to find some of my clothes in the back of my closet that don't fit me anymore and bring some to school for the donation. I'm thinking of bringing maybe socks that are too small for me and some coats and sweaters that I used to wear when I was little back then. 
     I'm a little farther than half of my novel right now and I'm really enjoying it. I really like the fact that we got to choose our own books because I usually don't like forcing myself to read books that aren't my type. I really like books that are very intense and books that are always in action like wars, fighting, and that has lots of conflict. "The Sumurai's Tale" has a lot of action in the story right now but I don't think I have gotten to the climax yet so I'm very excited for that. It's interesting to read about the Japanese culture because even though it was a long time ago and it's in Asia, it seems a lot different than the books I read about Korean history.
     It often happens to me when I come back from vacation, I always tend to forget all the things we learned. I really liked it a lot how Ms.Lees reviewed everything because I was a bit confused on what we did before the holidays. Also, by writing down what we learned from doing those assignments, (for example: we learned how to inferr well by reading short stories) could make us recognize what we learned and be able to notice what skills we have. The reviewing skills would help a LOT in math class because I think math is the most easiest subject you could forget about since it has so many different units. It's usually hard to do that for teachers because math teachers never have enough time to teach the students all the things that are in the textbook in one semester but I think it would be a great thing for the teachers to do right after the holidays.
     I've done lots of reflecting and self-evaluating in grade 7 before but it's always been uncomfortable for me because I sometimes get worried that the teacher might think a little differently than I do. I think that's why I'm sometimes afraid to give myself a high mark! It's getting a little better now. I'm pretty sure I'll do lots of self-evaluating through out the highschool years so I think it's good practice for me to get used to it and not get afraid of it. I think it's a great way to set goals this way because you can actually see what you need to improve on by seeing low marks on the graph and by comparing with your other lines. It's a little hard for me because I got the understanding graph part the lowest and it's a bit hard to improve my understanding problem. I know I could try to concentrate, listen and focus more so I can understand everything but I've always tried and sometimes it didn't work. I had to read the map scale worksheet about 7 times to get it even though I've already learned similar things in math class this year which made it even more frustrating for me! Hopefully, I'll understand most of it without any problems in January!  
     I know I have been caring a little less than before on my reflection posts because I guess I was stressed out about it at first so I tried to do as much as I could, but now I'm not trying my HARDEST. It was a great chance to remind myself to try as hard as before and don't get sloppy on my posts. I also forgot to comment on other group members posts lately so it helped me remind myself about that!
      

Homework/Tips
     - Remember to come into flex if you don't have your work finished like your portfolios. Also, if you haven't had the portfolio conference with Ms.Lees come into flex! You are very behind! Flex times : usually on Mondays and Thursdays at 12:10 - end of lunch.
     -  If you were sick or didn't come to class today, check your classmates reflection posts. 
     - If you aren't able to finish your homework, contact Ms.Lees and discuss with her BEFORE the due date! :) Her e-mail is on the school's website and on your course outline sheet.
     - Read your novel! It's due next week Monday. 
     - Check through your binder or portfolio if you have all the worksheets and they are all completed. If not, you better finish it! 
     -  Be alarmed of the geography contest coming up and try to maybe study online if you have time. You could go over the 20 questions we practiced a couple weeks ago and review them. 

(We are going to the library to work/talk about our blogs for 2nd block tomorrow by the way... ! :)) 

Reflection Post Schedule

Monday : Olivia B
Tuesday : Alice B 
Wednesday ( Double Block ) : Daniel K
Friday : Luke W 

DANIEL will be doing his blog tomorrow! :)