What We Did
We went over a lot today. Once everyone was sitting down and
the attendance had been taken, Ms.Lees explained that the upcoming weeks before
spring break will be very busy because we have a lot of work to cram in. Chapter
9 questions were due Wednesday and Chapter 10 questions of There Will Be Wolves
were due today (Friday). Wednesday was a busy day so Ms.Lees didn’t get a
chance to confirm that we had done our homework. She went around the classroom
asking to see them. Obviously there wasn’t time for her to read all of the
questions thoroughly, so Ms.Lees quickly skimmed through them for errors.
Mostly to see if we were still using “I think” and if we used proper grammar
and capilization. Some people’s responses are great and really extend on the
question, while others are still poor and not up to grade 8 standards. Ms.Lees
also asked us to look at our Chapter 1 and 2 responses, and when we did, we
realized how much we had improved in such a short period of time. Some
responses had gone from ill grammar, 1 sentenced (sometimes not even a proper
sentence) answers to paragraphed, interesting and extended ones.
Once Ms.Lees had finished checking everyone’s homework and
had given the ones that hadn’t finished a quick scolding, we moved on to
bibliographies. Ms.Lees asked us to look at the sheet she had handed out in the
beginning of class. It is doubled sided and gives all of the formulas for
different types of resources. It has over a dozen different types. There is an
online source section and a print source section. Within each section, there are
6-7 different types of print/online sources.
Here is one of the examples:
#4 of Online Sources: TOPIC WEBSITES
“Section or page title.” Website name. Date of Access
Real Example: “Tibetans are not anti-Chinese. His Holiness tells
Chinese reporters.” Tibet.com. 8th May 2008 http://www.tibet.com/NewsRoom/hhchinesemedia1.htm
When doing a bibliography, make sure that the URL is all on
the same line, no matter how small you have to make the font. The whole
bibliography should be in alphabetical order of the last name of the
author. The sheet also included this:
General Order of Information for all Bibliographic Entries:
Alphabetical! (Not Numbered!)
1.
Author of the article (if known) - last name.
First name.
2.
Title of the article, in quotation marks
3.
Title of the source
4.
Edition number (if there is one)
5.
Date or publication of the edition
We didn’t discuss the bibliographies for a long period of
time, because we still had a lot to cover in today’s class. Ms.Lees wanted to
review There Will Be Wolves chapters 6-10 so that we would be prepared for the
test. People interpreted some of the major events in these chapters different
than others. Ms.Lees went over the questions that she knew many people had
struggled to understand, and refreshed our memory of each chapter. We took
quite a long time to review the chapters because a lot of people needed help
and had questions. Once we were finally finished reviewing everything, we moved
on to the quiz. It wasn’t a very long quiz and only had 10 questions. 5 of them
were multiple choice and the other 5 you had to put the events in order. Some
people breezed through it, but the people who hadn’t done their work and didn’t
read the chapters struggled. It only took approximately 7 minutes for the class
to complete the quiz/test, and then we exchanged them with the person beside us
and quickly marked them. Once everyone’s was marked and handed in, class was
over.
Why We Did It
Ms.Lees did a homework check because MOST of the kids in the
class are pretty reliable, but there are a few people who don’t always do their
work. If she didn’t do a regular homework check, then some of the students
wouldn’t feel the need to do their homework at all. The students wouldn’t think
it was a big deal. This would be very ignorant because obviously there are
going to be tests (which we’ve had) and/or a project for There Will Be Wolves.
It would be pretty pointless for all of us to read the novel, but not do any
work related to it. Ms.Lees also wanted to make sure that our work was up to
her standards. If she didn’t check any of our responses until we had finished
all of them (chapter 1-12), then they would most likely all be of equal
quality. But if Ms.Lees checks every time we do a chapter, then she can give us
suggestions on how to improve, and support us along the way.
We spent some time going over bibliographies because for
many of us, it is a whole new concept. Either that, or we’ve done it before in
Elementary school but it wasn’t as hardcore as high school. Many of us are
struggling with it, so Ms.Lees wanted to try as best as she could to ensure
that we get the basic idea of how to create a bibliography. Bibliographies are
important so that Ms.Lees can make sure we don’t plagiarize. If we didn’t make
a bibliography, then we would be able to find one good website and copy word by
word. Then there wouldn’t be any proof that we actually learned anything. Hopefully
when we are writing the bibliographies we can use the formula sheet to our
advantage.
We reviewed Chapter 6-10 for There Will Be Wolves because some
parts of the novel have been a little complicated and people could misinterpret
what the novel is implying. For example, not everyone understood that Master
William’s health connects with the events of the Crusade. We had a test on the Chapters 6-10 because
Ms.Lees needs to verify that we had been reading the novel and taken the time
to understand what is going on.
Connections/Reflections
I am glad that Ms.Lees checked to make sure that we did our
homework because I did do my homework so I had nothing to worry about. It would
be unfair for half of the class to do all of their work and be treated the same
as the people who never do their homework. If I didn’t get rewarded for doing
my assigned work, then I wouldn’t feel the need to ever do my work. We need
praise and support to fuel us to keep trying. Ms.Lees was able to give many of
us the good news that we have improved. When I compared my Chapter 1 responses
to my Chapter 10 responses, I could really see improvement. It encouraged me to
keep trying to get better and better. My responses went from filling up 2-3
lines to filling up at least 10 lines. This made me feel proud. I actually don’t mind doing the responses
because it really gets the wheels in my head spinning. In grade 7, I read a novel called The Cay,
and each week I got in to a group with several other students. We would discuss
our novel(s) and answer questions related them. This was good practice for the
questions we have been assigned for There Will Be Wolves.
I have to admit that I am still a bit confused on how to do
a bibliography. I understand 90% of it, but it may take me a while to perfect
it. I am sure that the formula sheet will be a HUGE help; I just need to take a
better look at it. This will definitively help me in the future. I plan on
going to college or university when I am older, and several people have told me
that for almost every project you need to do a bibliography. I want to practice
doing bibliographies now, so that when I reach the older grades, I can breeze
through them.
When Ms.Lees went over the Chapter 6-10 responses, I was
relieved. I realized that I had actually answered some of the questions
incorrectly. For one of the questions, they asked how Ursula’s innocence was
shown when the man with coals approached her. I had assumed that the correct
answer was that when she tried to defend herself from him, she didn’t use her
so called ‘powers’. Turns out that I didn’t understand what the question was
asking. The correct answer was that she was young and thought of the world so
innocently, so she assumed that he was just offering them for free and being a
nice neighbour. When in reality, many of the people on the Crusade were
murderers and criminals, and not many of them could be trusted. I found that
the test wasn’t too tricky because I had read all of the assigned chapters, and
worked hard on my responses. As long as someone asked questions when they were
confused and did their homework, then they probably managed to do well on the
test. We did a test a few days ago for chapters 1-5, so I knew what the format
for this test was going to be like.
Homework:
Your “Day in the life of _________” diary is due
on either Monday or Tuesday. If you finish it for Monday, then you will be
assigned your skit group on Monday which will give you an extra day to plan it
out. Friday was your last opportunity for you to make sure you have at least
10-12 learning blog posts. If you still do not have 10 posts minimum, then you
need to tell Ms.Lees and have a GOOD reason!
Tips:
-I suggest that you try to finish your diary for Monday so
that you can get ahead for your skit
-You had over a week to catch up on your learning logs.
There aren’t any excuses that I can think of if you don’t have at least 10
blogs.
-You can find several ideas for your skit on YouTube. We watched
some in class and there were some great examples
- If you ever need help, you can ask one of your class
buddies, email Ms.Lees, go in for FLEX or check the class blogs.
- If for some reason you cannot finish your homework or project,
then make sure to email Ms.Lees with a good reason in advance
-Try to check Ms.Lees and your peer’s blogs daily. Sometimes
there is important information on them
- When you have a lot of homework, and you just can’t seem
to concentrate, try setting a goal for yourself. Tell yourself how far you want
to be on your homework in half an hour. This makes you pay more attention and
speeds up your work.
- If you still don’t understand how to do a proper
bibliography, then you try looking it up online. There are many useful
websites.
-If you find that you have spare time, then go ahead and do
more of the chapter responses. This way when Ms.Lees assigns that chapter for
homework, you’ll already be done it! J
- If you want to know what Ms.Lees has planned next for us,
you can check the calendar that you copied down.
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