Learning blog

Learning blog


On Tuesday we talk about There will be wolves chapter questions for about ten minutes after that we were assigned to do chapters 9,10


Homework: Chapter 9,10 questions

Double block Humanities; Feb 19 2014

Todays double block was composed of the class watching a movie titled "First Knight" , This movie is based off of the legends of King Arthur and his round table. Notable characters in this movie were....

King Arthur, Lady Guinevere , Lancelot , Prince Malagant , The citizens of Lioness and Camelot, and The Knights of the Round table.

Why did we do this?
The purpose of this activity was to make connections to our Novel study ( TWBW )
and to get a larger insight to what life was like in the Middle ages.

Homework Reminders/Tips:
While watching the Movie we were supposed to answer the following questions:

1.What tips does Lancelot give Mark about winning sword fights? Why does Lancelot engage in sword fights?

2.What is the purpose of a gauntlet? What does the winner do and Why? Explain.

3.What is an oubliette ? Explain how its purpose relates to its name.

4.When does Lancelot finally decide to join the Knights of the Round table? Why does he?

5. Malagant attacks Lyonnais. What is King Arthur's strategy to get it back? Is he successful?

6. Why are Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere put on trial publicly? Give at least one argument for doing so and one against doing so.

*Note: I didn't include questions 7,8 because we have not finished watching the movie.

TIPS:
- Oublie is to forget in French.
- Answer questions in point form
- Lyonnais= Lady Guinevere
- Camelot= King Arthur, Queen Guinevere
 - When answering question #6 Try to think about personal reasons for the King to do so rather than laws and technicalities.

Tuesday, February 18: Concept Web Discussion

What Did We Do?
Today we were asked to examine concept webs, evaluate them, and explain their pros and cons. There were several webs, and after each group had evaluated the web that was given to them, we put them up on the white board under the letter grade that we thought was appropriate for it. Then, we discussed which letter grade each web actually received and why it was given that mark.

 

Why Did We Do This (Learning Intentions)?

We did this as preparation for web-making in the future. It was necessary for us to know what kinds of things needed to be used to make a good web. An example of a web that was given an A+ was that it had different kinds of diagrams to represent the information, the pictures were relevant to the information that it was connected to, it was neatly done and legible, it was color-coded to be able to tell the difference between the main idea and the details, and words on the connecting lines from one detail to another helped the reader understand what the next detail meant instead of having to figure it out themselves. An example of a web that was given a C+ was that the lines connecting the main idea to the details were inconsistent and confusing. The lines were multicolored, they varied from squiggly to zigzag to straight, and they went in all directions making it difficult for the reader to understand. Another two examples ware having irrelevant pictures that may go with the general topic of the web but not the detail that it was meant for, and spreading out the words to make it seem like there is a lot of information when there actually is not very much.


Homework Reminders/Tips

No homework was assigned in Humanities class today.

Feb.17 Learning Blog Post

Today we watched the rest of the video " The Middle Ages". In the video, they explained the farming and craftmanship durin the High Middle Ages. There was a surplus of food during that period of time, thus lead to trade and craftmanship not only for noblemen, but for peasants as well. There was little strife during this period of time, however it was to not last long. In the Late Middle Ages there was a second Ice Age. Due to this unnatural occurence in weather, the crops failed, and the people dwindled significantly. Although this was not the main strife that took place during this time, it was still considered to be one of the worst. The Black Death as we know today took place after the Ice Age, taking the lives of the weakened humanity after the loss of crops. Scientists say the cause of the Black Death was due to the rats and fleas, which before only affected Northern Europe (England) traveled to other places aroung Europe due to trade that was open after The Holy Crusade. The Plague took the lives of 1/3 ~ 1/2 of the people in Europe during the time. The people believed God was punishing the people of the sins commited during this period of time. Many people pleaded mercy from God by directly consulting with the Archbishop and High Priests. Little did they know even the revered communicators of God were helpless. This changed the way of how people thought from then on. Later we answered some of the discussion questions also found in the video. We skipped the first question " Charlemagne monologue. If you were Charlemagne, how would you talk about the accomplishments he did?" Second question " Why was Saladin considered "true chivalry" by Richard?" Saladin sent 2 of his own horses over to the opposing side (Christian side) since Richard lost his horse. Saladin did not wish for Richard to fight dishonourably because of the lack of horses. Although Christianity won that battle, Richard respects Saladin for his Chivalry. Third question "How did The Crusade inherently contradict the way Christians believed?" We connected this question with the book " There will be Wolves". The Crusade was believed to be holy, even with the murders commited by Christians during The Crusade. In the Ten Commandments, they say " Thou shalt not kill". People simply joined the Crusade for the chance of ascending to Heaven rather than their belief in God. Fourth question " How did the surplus of crops lead to craftmanship?" The surplus of food help rise the population, which meant more work was being completed in a shorter amount of time. The extra time when normally people would be working led to arts and craftmanship as well as trade open for all the people. Fifth question " How did the Black Death change the way people believed back then?" The Black Death killed all the people, including the Priests and Archbishops, which made the people to believe the ones closest to God were not spared, thus they were equal to the rest of the people. I may have missed a question. Please take note of this. After the video, we went over making a web. The teacher wanted us to be specific when describing a certain something. We created a web with the main idea as Surrey and asked to come up with some ideas people might want to know about the main idea (Surrey). Ms.Lees wanted us, the students to understand events happening in the Midde Ages to get a clearer understanding of the book "There will be Wolves". We connected some of the video with the events happening in the book. If we had a clearer understanding of the book, there will not be much questions about the events happening in the book. We can also have a better image of how and why people acted that certain way rather than another. We went over the expectations of a good web and a bad web. Ms.Lees wanted us to know the criteria when making a web, so that the webs we make will be good ones people can understand. Tips While answering questions, you could ask yourself why did someone do this for a more thorough answer. While making webs, try to pick out the large ideas inside of the main idea, then narrow it down to make it clear for the readers. You could also use symbols to represent the main idea, large ideas about the main idea, then details about the large idea. Use different symbols for each category to prevent confusion. Homework I don't think there was any homework, but I may be wrong Facts about the Black Death "Ring Around the Rosy" was a nursery rhyme based off of the Black Death Ring around the rosy- represents the first symptoms that appear, which are the spots to prove you have the diesease. Pockets full of posy- Posy is an actual flower with a strong fragrance to cover the smell of death Ashes, ashes- the burnt remains of bodies that have fell prey to the plague We all fall down- we all drop dead.

Wednesday Feb 5: "There Will Be Wolves" Chapters 3-4

What did we do?

1. Today in Humanities we searched for Current Events topics that we could use as our next Current Events blog posts.


Why? (Learning Intentions)
We did this to help us learn more about what is going on in the world and to get more ideas for our blog posts, so that we can have a variety of ideas. Instead of just one that comes from Ms, Lees, we have ideas that come from the entire class.


2. We also looked over a partners Chapter 2 questions for There Will Be Wolves and checked to see if they made any formatting errors or made incomplete sentences. After we checked over our partners work, we marked and corrected the questions as a class.

Why? (Learning Intentions)

To help each other learn the proper way of writing the questions so that we can learn how to extend sentences and make it so that the question is in our answer all the time. Marking and correcting the questions was to help us see what the right answers were, and helped us see what our mistakes were so we could do a better job next time.


Tips:
Use proper grammar and punctuation
Don't just make the title "Chapters 3 and 4"
Include "There Will Be Wolves" or "TWBW" in your title
Use complete sentences

Homework:

There Will Be Wolves Chapters 3-4 questions are due on Friday.

Tuesday Feb 4: There will be wolves and Think Alouds

     What did we do?

1. Today we examined our peers think aloud’s. We made sure that everything was included like name, date, title, neatness; ruler was used for lines, pronouns, page numbers and 3 to 5 sentences. My partner was Wendy and hers was done very well. We had to do 5 or more think alouds that had to resemble Text-Text or Text-Self or Text-World.

Why? (Learning Intentions)
 To see how other people think when reading a novel, or there assumption of other things such as quotes or dialogue. Correcting your peer’s helps you better understand mistakes that were made, so next time you won't make them.

- We were to read Chapter 2 and Questions:

1. How did Peter the Hermit convince people to go on the Crusade? What reasons did he give for the people to go?
2. Who was welcome on the Crusade? Why did the church accept these people?
3. What was to be the reward for going on the Crusade?
4. What was the symbol of the Crusaders? What is it supposed to represent?
5. a) What was the reaction of the people to Peter the Hermit's speech?
       b) What was Ursula's reaction?
       c) Bruno's?
       d) Ursula's father?
       e) Whose reaction do you think will turn out to be the "right" one?
6. Why doesn't Bruno support the Crusade? Do you agree with him? Why or Why not?
7. Who do the Crusader's target as evil within the city Cologne?

1. We also were told to read Chapter 2 and do the questions above.

Why?
This book is historical fiction; part of the middle ages. We are reading this because it will not only teach us about what they did back then but a good novel to study. To help our reading skills, oral skills when reading aloud and our opinions on events that goes on in the book.

Tips:

Be sure to have your name, date, and title at the top of the page.
Take your time and work neatly.
Answer in full sentences.
Include good grammar and vocabulary.

Homework:

There will be wolves Chapter 2 reading and Questions. (Scroll up to see)

Monday Feb 3: Intro to the Middle Ages and Historical Fiction

What did we do?

1.  Today we brainstormed ideas to clarify and define what historical fiction is. We used examples like the Outsiders and Troy to clarify our understanding.  We concluded that Historical fiction is a story written in a time period throughout history where the characters may resemble or be actual historical figures and where the events in the story are based on actual historical events.

Why? (Learning Intentions)
 To access our background knowledge, and for the teacher to assess student background knowledge of historical fiction.  

2.  Brainstorm Web:  Middle Ages

Why?  (Learning Intentions)
Again this was to individually access student background knowledge on the Middle Ages.  Additionally, since the format was a web, the teacher can see how the student is making connections.  

3.  Students received the novel, There Will Be Wolves, set in the Middle Ages.  We then reviewed the structure, format and expectations of "Think Aloud Responses" in T-chart form.  Expectations included:

Left side of T-chart:

• 5 quotes with page numbers or  passages paraphrased with page numbers
• reminder to use [ ] for names to replace pronouns  (he, she, it, we, they, us,...)
• for eg.  " [Peter] through the rock at Sir Phillip ...."

Right side of T-chart:

• Responses to the quotes should be directly across from the quotes
• Response expectations: 3-5 sentences each
• What kinds of responses:  looking for connections, questions, and comments
• Connections:  Text to self, Text to text, Text to world
• Questions - looking for higher level questions (more on this tomorrow)
• Comments:  offer opinions or other comments that you explain and justify

Why?  (Learning Intentions)

To revisit how to respond to literature and make our thinking visible.  This helps to clarify comprehension as well as showcase other skills like predicting.  Using specific quotes forces the readers to examine passages closely and make very specific connections.  This is the beginning of being able to use quotes to support your thinking in future writing (e.g. essays)

Homework Reminders (What is the homework)?

Read chapter 1 of There Will Be Wolves  and complete your Think Aloud Response Chart.  Please do not read ahead.  If these are done well - then we will not do a lot of them.

***If you did not finish your Semester 1 Reflections and Goal Setting you need to attend flex on Tuesday at 11:10 ***

Homework Tips: (How to do well, hints from the teacher, connected to the learning outcomes/why)

Don't forget to:

• Include title, date, name 
• use a ruler
• include page numbers 

Review expectations above or look back at your earlier responses from semester one to remind yourself of the expectations.  There should be a difference between your first responses on short stories and the responses you will be writing here.