October 15

ELA 20: Oct 15 Archetypes and stereotypes in fairytales and Disney…

  1. To begin today’s class, we viewed a few short youtube videos that gave examples from Disney movies of damsels in distress, the classic Disney heroine. Another we watched did a good job of explaining and giving evidence from films about the negative stereotypes of women portrayed in many traditional cartoons, like Disney ones. They also stereotype the role the hero is supposed to play and what value they have of women. These are theories and discussing is not  meant to hinder any past or future enjoyment of the stories, but only to discuss the possibility of subconscious influences passed along to children. We discussed, when going through the questions from yesterday’s reading, whether the danger is real here and whether one stereotype (of men or women’s roles) is more dangerous than another. They had some good dialogue in discussing it which was all the activity was meant to do.

Here is the video we looked at. See what you think for yourself – do these traditional stories promote roles that are negative or restrict genders in any way?

 

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October 8

ELA 20: Oct 8 Wonder and Imagination Unit begins…

  1. We began the next sub-unit that discusses the imagination of childhood and how we were in awe at that age of the types of adventures in our roleplaying or books we read. We discussed the contentment and comfort we felt when we were read to as children and that, for some reason, that feeling changes as we grow older. If I were to read them a story, their attention span is different, their interest in sharing that experience together is nill, and they don’t slow down and enjoy shared time with others like that in a similar way that they used to. That was the past.
  2. To help them understand and go back to a time when someone would sit down with them to read them a story, we watched a video of a woman reading a storybook and she recorded it because she loved having that story read to her. There’s something very comforting about listening to a story being read and watching them turn the pages. The story was “The Giving Tree” (a poem, actually) by popular children’s author / poet Shel Silverstein.
  3. We talked about children’s poems soon after and went on a short field trip to the Gr 3/4 classroom where the kids demonstrated for the Gr 11s (unknowingly of course) how much  enjoyment can come, at that age, from simple things like screaming out a poem in unison.
  4. They later began reading an article titled “For Reading Out Loud” that details the ten reasons why reading to children out loud has such benefits. They were to make a list of the ten reasons and be prepared to discuss them next class.

Here is our video of “The Giving Tree”. Enjoy it!!


 

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October 7

ELA 20: Oct 7 Poetry writing…

  1. Students had a work class to develop their “Should’ve Been” poem. There are several student examples of these poem types on the wall so they were able to look through them for inspiration and guidance. We were also interupted for a short while by Mr. Heath who I invited to join us to explain to students the guidelines to be re-adjusted with computer use in the school. 
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October 6

ELA 20: Oct 6 Blog experimenting…

  1. We started out today in the classroom. I handed out to students their next assignment which is a “Should’ve Been” poem assignment. They have to write a five-stanza poem that carefully describes a particular role (child, ballerina, sports athlete, etc) as being perfect in so many ways but in the final stanza reveal that the individual in that role is actually very flawed and imperfect. It’s a pretty powerful type of poem when done correctly.
  2. I showed them copies of two poems written by previous students who did a great job of highlighting all the perfections and still surprising readers with their “reality” endings. (Ironically, both of these girls are living in Europe as Eu Pairs and live close enough to see each other all the time!)
  3. After discussing the poem assignment, we ventured to the pc lab for another stab at our blogs. Students were able to access their created blogs much more easily today and followed through the steps carefully as I showed them how to write a post (such as the one you’re reading right now) and also the more technically challenging things like adding a link to a different web page and embedding a video. Today was merely practice; whatever they wrote in their blogs was meant to understand the blog site and features with little emphasis on the reflective process to start. It will come much easier with time and practice!!
  4. I also shared with them their mark on Friday’s mid-unit exam. Some of them surprised themselves with marks higher than they were expecting while others fell quite short of their potential. We’re into October, now, so the honeymoon period of summer holidays and slowly getting into “school mode” is long gone. You have to carefully consider all assignments and exams and take them seriously to be as successful as possible in this course!!
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October 3

ELA 20: Oct 3 Mid-unit test today!

  1. Students were told Monday and Tuesday, and again yesterday, that they had a mid-unit test Friday that would cover any of the literature we have studied so far and any of the skills we’ve practiced and worked on. It took nearly all of them the full class to complete it so I’m looking forward to marking it to see how they did!
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October 2

ELA 20: Oct 2 Makin’ blogs…

  1. We started out in the classroom briefly where I re-explained the expectations of their blog project. I typed out a handout for each that detailed the specific things they’d need to do in changing their blog to configure it for themselves. It also clarified the four specific things each of their blog posts will require in order to get as many marks as possible.
  2. We worked in the computer lab, then, where I tried to help make the process somewhat user-friendly by already having created their blogs and was going to walk them through the process with my screen showing them the steps on the smart board. There were complications and a little bit of frustration so we didn’t accomplish as much as I would have liked today but I am hopeful they haven’t lost their interest or enthusiasm for what the project could entail.
  3. They’ll have their mid-unit test tomorrow. It was written on the board early in the week and repeated several times for reminders. I also caught them all today to make the point to remind them. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow!
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October 1

ELA 20: Oct 1 “Warren Pryor” poem and blog overview…

  1. The reminder was given that the formal paragraph assignment on symbolism in the story “The Rink” was due (extended, actually) yesterday. Only one person handed that in by the end of the day. If anyone is still intent on completing that paragraph assignment, I will give them a new topic but same activity. They will start from scratch and have as much time as we originally did. This way it’s fair for those who completed it on time and fair for those who want to work instead of receiving a zero.
  2. We talked about the reality that parents often sacrifice things for their kids. Each generation wants better for their children than they, themselves, had. I gave the example of my own family, on my dad’s side. I am the first grandchild on one side to graduate high school in a long line of generations, but also the first to convocate from University, with two degrees, and the first to have risen to such a high standing in what we consider social status. A man in my geneology line, somewhere way down that line, would likely be pretty proud that one of his offspring managed to come to such a point, but it certainly wasn’t easily attained and came at the expense of not only my own efforts but the sacrifices my parents and grandparents gave to help me achieve that success. That same sacrifice is the topic in the poem, “Warren Pryor”.
  3. We did an intense analysis / study of the poem, working through the steps to reading a poem first and then answering several different questions or highlighting parts of it that stood out. One such example of something observed worth mentioning is that the ending of this poem is extremely similar to the ending from our previous poem, “The Piano”, in that the main characters in both poems, the sons, end with intense rage with no resolution. Also, as in “The Piano”, the author of “Warren Pryor” does a good job of using punctuation to allow for long-winded descriptions of the dream-like sequences of what the parents have given to sacrifice for Warren. It all abruptly ends, though, with a short, curt, four-word sentence at the beginning of the final stanza: “And he said nothing.” These poems both fit this unit but have similarities between them, which is handy and helpful repetition.
  4. Students had some time to complete one paragraph summary in response to a question from the sheet. Then we spent a bit of time talking about the blog project that they will be starting on tomorrow. I showed them a student example of a blog and the parts for each post they will be required to include. We’ll have computer time tomorrow and I’m anxious to see how they each approach the task!!
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