Tuesday June 18

These students should be carefully working on material due last Friday in the “All About Me”, a description of which is here:

1)    Online portfolio (A LinkedIn account)

2)    With a profile pic

3)    About me section filled in

4)    Portfolio piece of writing

If done this, and there are not very many ....  students can work on exam prep. Three links are on the right-hand side of the blog. One is the document to work through as exam prep.

Monday June 17

It was a pretty easy day ... sort of.

I asked for the All About Me Final Product to be emailed in today. Some had difficulties and some had yet to start the online profile.

In any case, we also walked though the now two exam prep and review documents on the right hand side of the blog.

Friday June 14

Hey, if you are worried about the exam, you should read this article

It'll help get you ready for the exam.

Hand in stuff, it'll help your mark.

Thursday June 13

These students should be carefully working on material due tomorrow in the “All About Me”, a description of which is here:

1)    Online portfolio (A LinkedIn account)

2)    With a profile pic

3)    About me section filled in

4)    Portfolio piece of writing

5)    iPads are in the portable and are available for use but must not leave the portable.

These must be submitted by a professionally written email sent to the teacher. The email address is on the side of the portable in red.

Some unprofessional emails have already been rejected and been asked to resend. Most Hiring Managers won't do that, you will just get your email deleted. Rewrite your email and resend.

Here is a video on how you submit from your phone:

Tuesday and Wednesday June 12

On tTuesday we did a bit of prep work for the exam. We also watched this interview with the author of the novel we studied this semester:




On Wednesday, we turned our focus to the current Unit, All About Me. On Friday a number of things are due, including the following:

A LinkedIn account link (or other online protfolio)
An approriate profile picture
An "About me" profile
A Portfolio Piece

All of this needs to be sent to the teacher in a professionally written email. Key words there are "Professionally written email".

Monday June 10

1.     So … how specific can you be when looking for a job?

2.     By the way, wheat is the difference between a job and a career?

3.     Does it make sense that people will help you if you just ask?

4.     What is the best way that you can you educate/let your network know what you want?

5.     What is the best way to thank your network?

Friday June 7

Ok, so .. .here is the article for the day.

And here are the questions:

Networking and how it works

1.     Draw a visual representation of your network – basically … who do you know

                                               i.     See the example that the teacher has up on the board

2.     How does one “reach out to one’s network” exactly?

3.     What are personal references? Do you have three you can use for a job application?

4.     Why do you have to “Maintain your network”? What exactly does that mean?

5.     Any of the recommended readings at the end of the article appeal to you? Not even the “Networking for the shy” article?

Thursday June 6

Today. Today was a weird one for the teacher as I forgot my laptop at home. Honestly, it was like not having a left hand for most of the day.

I’m off topic.

I did offer to show the class how to use Blogger to blog the final product of the class, but was asked not to by the group. Instead, I did show how to write a formal email in order to submit the final product for this unit.

The final product is due June 14th.

After that we got a sneak peak of something we will have to do next week while I conferenced with students about missing assignments and other items for the class.

Wed June 5

Paying for Post-Secondary

1.     This is quite a lengthy Power Point on how to pay for school after secondary school. One of the points of the Careers course you took in Grade Ten was to have a five year plan. How would you describe what you are doing (or what you think you may be doing) in 2024 in fifty words or less.

2.     That’s great … having a plan is awesome. How might you be paying for this?

3.     Do you know your way around a College or University Calendar? Why might that be a skill that you should pick up?

4.     How might you also work to help out the other parts of a “Wellness Triangle” – a combination of your physical, mental/emotional and social wellbeing?

Tuesday June 4

Hopefully we've all recovered from yesterday's circus.

I shared the description of the class with a fellow teacher. We kinda chuckled at the weirdness of it all.

Anyway, on to today ... we are reading this article and answering these questions:

3 tips to Ensure Your Online Presence Is Helping

1.     “Personal Brand”? What’s a definition of that?

2.     Is that important in 2019? Seriously? Can’t I just get hired by my network of people?

3.     How complete is your Final Product for this Unit, anyway?

4.     How well might your other social media support your job finding attempts?

5.     If a person looking to hire you actually googled you, what would they find?

Monday June 3

We made it to June. ... I mean I still think that May had 1,643 days ... but I digress.

We took a look at the numbers and still want my students to do the "About me" piece of writing. I was hoping to get them done today, but there was a Track adn Field meet for five or six elementary schools on the field outside the portable. Then the lawn mowers came.

Yeah .. not the greatest way to learn, I have to admit.

I did get a few more handed in to me before the end of class, but I still want to edit more.

Oh, and we took a peek at a few profile pictures that were good and some that were bad for this assignment.

Friday May 31

Hey there, if you are getting concerned that the exam is coming up soon, you may want to read this article.

In other news, we continue to work towards finishing our About Me page for the final product.


As a part of that concern, we watched the first half of this video and I'm hoping the ideas take hold:





I think today we need to get a lot more specific in terms of what else we will need to complete this Unit.

I will also be conferencing with students about their marks and what they can do to improve them leading up to the end of the course.

Next week is June! Woot!

Thursday May 30

Ok, now ... today y'all need to email the teacher a draft version of the "About" part of the Portfolio. See yesterday's post about what it might look like.

Wednesday May 29

Writing the About section of your Portfolio

In the notes, it's called a Bio Poem ... I'm working with "About" instead"

Tuesday May 28

I was preparing for today's class when I got an email and there was this:

Karma.

In any case, we will be poking around on that site today, and working on questions on "How SnapChat could hurt your career".

The questions for that article are here.

I will also conference about marks and outstanding sections of the CA with some students today, too.

Monday May 27

I was very disappointed to find out June 1 is not Friday.

Ah well. We will move forward in our "All About Me" Unit.

Today was a bit of catch up for some students in the class.

There are some students in class that have been away for a while and today was their first day back. I walked the class though the unit and talked about the homework and the final product for this unit.

I shared a look at the LinkedIn and Blogger portfolios that I keep for professional purposes. I'm hoping that my students can have something as polished as they can by the end of this unit.

We also talked about Blogger, WordPress and LinkedIn being cost effective ways to get their profile done for this unit. They don't cost anything, but there are premium services offered. I am constantly offered to go to a paid model with LinkedIn, for example. However, I say no and don't pay for any one of the services.

We did watch this young man testify to why he uses WordPress in his online businesses:





Finally, I did another round of meetings about outstanding culminating activities and also did some conferenceing about updated marks. I will continue the conferenceing tomorrow and Wednesday this week.

Friday May 24

Today was a weird one.

We did chat about the first section of this article about "Does Education pay?" that I found when prepping for something else.

As this is my first year at this school, I was unaware that the event on the football field would be taking as many students away from my class as it did.

I will expect everyone to do the online response to the article from yesterday for homework.

Thursday May 23

Please email your answers to the email address in red on the side of the portable.

1.     What percentage of employers that CareerBuilder surveyed used social media to screen candidates for hiring?

2.     In a piece of writing of about a paragraph, tell me what you think about this line:

“I think it should be very clear to anyone old enough to be looking for a full-time job to understand that, given all the social media scandals, you should assume employers—or anyone else that might have a say in your livelihood—will see what you post.”

3.     In this time of “hyper connectedness” and some would say “oversharing”, do you have a right to privacy if your social media messages conflict with the messages of your employer? Why or why not?

4.     There are five really annoying online habits listed below. Of the five, which ones do you see as "the one" that would prevent someone from getting a full-time job after high school? What makes you think that?

5.     What if you were working at a restaurant as a server and you disagreed with someone much higher up in the same company? Do you have the right to voice your disagreement with them without consequence?

6.     If you do disagree with your employer or customer in public, is there anything to protect you from getting fired?

Wed May 22

Built into this unit are opportunites to look at different ideas that come up in class.

One such question that was asked in both Grade Eleven College classes today was "What are soft skills?"

I've used this article before to explain exactly that: Soft Skills to help your career"

The set of questions for this article are here:

1.     In the first ten lines, the author tries to explain what “soft skills” are. Can you rewrite his explanation into a definition that you would share with the Principal of the school?

2.     “If you are good at what you do, why does it matter if you argue and can’t get along with people at work. They should just listen to you because you’re good at your job.” Is a statement I have heard about this piece of writing before in my classes. Do you agree with this idea? Why or why not?

3.     In the Communication skills section of this article, it was mentioned that people need to be able to express the W5H to an employer. Where in your high school career has this idea been taught to you or tested?

4.     If you understand that our school environment is a preview of the working world, and by extension the office/ working environment, how well do you think you support the idea of a “friendly office culture” that you might see in this classroom?

5.     Being able to resolve conflict is a skill that most employers are looking for. Why, do you think that is?

Tuesday May 21

Today we did a couple of important things in class.

We started the final unit and outlined what specific things we will be doing in class everyday from now until exam time.

We got the unit outline on lovely purple paper and worked our way through a video and an article to get our "Minds On" for the learning that will be doing in this unit.

After assigning questions on the article "10 Skills Students all students need" - link is on the right- hand side of the blog, I conferenced very briefly with each student about the final touches of the CA.

At the end of the class, we peeked at the LinkIn profile of the teacher as an example of the final product for this unit.

Friday May 17

This is the last day of the CA for this class.

I'm working hard with submissions to help improve them - keep them coming!

Please be safe and come back on Tuesday in one piece, please!

Next unit is already up, we'll start it on Tuesday!

The reason for the season.

Thursday May 16

Today we are working / polishing up work on "Presentations" section for the CA.

Don't do this. This is not a good example.

Wed May 15

Today was the second in class writing day.

Keep writing!

Thursday and Friday are the Presentation Days.

Tuesday May 14

Today was the first day of in class piece of writing day.

Whoa, that was a mouth full.

Anyway, life is good and people were working.

It was all good

Monday May 13

Today was the final day of preparations for the In class writing part of the CA for this class.

Writing folders were gathered and it's ready for tomorrow!

Friday May 10

We were in the library, working on the CA

Thursday May 9

Here is the presentation I did the day.  I was asked by a few people to show them how to turn a thesis into an introduction paragraph.

After that, people were to start finish working on their pieces of writing. I was hoping to see them submitted electronically throught the Brightspace.

Interviews continued after the presentation and through out the period.

Count down to the end of the semester is at 28.

Wed May 8

So I saw this event for Managing Money being run by the Burlington Public Library. It's free and nearby.

Go for it!

Today in class I was bringing the CA to the next step. Interviews and editing help for the pieces of writing we are doing next week. Some editing and a lot of "Talk to you tomorrows, Sir."

Make sure you get the CA research done - it is worth a lot of marks!

Tuesday May 7

Today we worked on the following to get ready for the second round of interviews for the Culminating Activity.

Your thesis for your piece of writing that we are going to be doing in class on May 14 and 15th.

Your research of your topic that you've been collecting for the last few classes.

Your draft version of your piece of writing. This would be a really big boost for you and your final In Class piece of Writing. Seriously, you should do this and upload it to the Communications Unit, Activity 3 inside the D2L area for this course.

This was from a presentation we did last week.

If you have already done all of this, I'm starting to post things we are going to be working on after the Victoria Day weekend on this site. You can peek at them, under the "All ABout Me Unit" subheading on the right side of the website.

Ok - get 'er done!

Friday and Monday May 6

Friday was a wash with only one student attending.

Well, we continued our countdown to the next conference for the CA. It's down to two days.

Work on the draft version and be able to upload it to the Communications Unit in the Brightspace page for this class.

It'll help me give some feedback to students. We're getting ready for the in-class writing days May 14th and 15th.

In any case, the sun was shining outside making us all wish for the summer to come faster.

I'm starting to get the last unit ready for us ... 31 classes left before the exams start!

Thursday May 2

Hmmm ... I'm not sure what happened there. I will try again on another wifi later on today.

Students should continue working on their CA and the D2L/Brightspace Communication Unit. I can't believe I need to remind people that marks are being earned through these units.

In any case, we made some progress today with a "How to submit Communications Unit Activity 2" powerpoint at the start of class. We then moved forward.

Wed May 1

Here is something else to try for us ... you can watch this video before answering.

Tuesday April 30

Culminating Activity countdown is at 6 ... six moire classes until we are talking about the major piece of writing ... and getting marks for it, too. Research needs to get done, man.

So ... the Brightspace material is coming due and there are still some outstanding ALWG material too.

Lots to do, lots due.

Hey, check out this link. It's cool, my mom said so.

Monday April 29

Here is a great resource for PiktoChart - something that we decided to use for our Culminating Activity in our class.

I like the video, but I'm not sure of the voice over. I played it without the sound, to be frank.

As a class, we were to work on our CA's, any outstanding ALWG assignments and/or D2L stuff. I've updated the D2L material for us.

I did show the Brightspace Pulse app, but wasn't working for some students in the class. Interesting, I'll see what I can do to help with the technical side of the app.

I also shared this video with the class:

Friday April 26

We were in the library.

We worked on a few items, including the BURP Unit and the Communications Unit within the D2L system. As was noted by a student today, it runs "just like the summer online classes they took last summer."

In addition, it was time that people could have worked on their Culminating Activity research or books, too.

Keep going and we'll see you on Monday!

Later on, I saw this Infographic and thought I'd share:

Thursday April 25

We were still working on our Bleanded Unit for Responsible People unit today.

I did show people how to upload documents from a computer yesterday, so today I thought I'd show how to upload from a phone.

You need to have the completed document saved to your Google Drive. (You should have the Google Drive app on your device - it's free!)

I'm sorry to say I don't think the audio recorded, but here is the video you can follow:

And... as as last thing for this class... see if you can change your profile pic. I have a small prize of food on Monday at 1:10pm (the start of class on Monday) ... is when we will do the judging.

Picktochart example

Loading...

Wed April 24

So we will keep doing the BURP unit today. Also ... finish ALWG and the CA interviews ... sigh.


Here is the video for U1A3

Tuesday April 23

We will watch this together and explore the D2L Brightspace Learning environment today.

I'm also going to be checking in with a few students about a few items from the CA interviews and ALWG Research Projects that are still owing.

We get to restart the countdown to the next CA section - it's at 10 classes!

UPDATE

At the end of class, we were able to get most people on to the D2L system. It is very much like the login for the Googel Classroom. I did also share why I liked the D2L system better and showed why that is the case.

After that I was able to chat with students with outstanding ALWG and CA interview assignments.

At the end of period 4 class, we also talked about this article about the changing of the rules around OSAP loans.

Thursday April 18

We are back for one more day in the library.

If you are done the conference about the Culminating, perhaps you might continue to work on the things due next. Perhaps read your books or look into more sources of information for your subject.

If you are not done your Research Presentation on A Long Way Gone, that should be a priority.

Finally, if you have any outstanding ALWG daily entries, you should be doing them.

We are also going to be conferencing about midterm marks today, too.

Wednesday April 17

It is a Litergy day.

I'm not sure about the start time and end time for class today. We are going to play that sort of a thing by ear.

In any case, this is what we are going to continue to complete during our time together:

Tuesday April 16

We are in the library. That's what you need to make sure happens before the end of the period.

Monday April 15

Hello. If you are done everything related to ALWG, then please watch this video and get yourself logged in to our D2L online space.

If you are done ALWG, watch this video and get yourself logged in to our D2L Online space.

24 .How does Uncle Tommy die? And how, if at all, is his death facilitated or even triggered by the civil war fighting that has reached Freetown and its environs?

25 .The memoir ends with a little story of Ismael listening to a mother tell a story to her children. Ismael had heard the same story as a child. In an informal piece of writing of about 50 words, explain how is this final little story is a nice little summing up of A Long Way Gone?

Thursday 11 April

23.    Eventually Beah gets to go to New York. Why does he get to go? What are three things he likes and dislikes about NYC?

We got to the end of Chapter 21 today.

One question for work today. Also ... Presentations are due today.

I also tried to talk to every student about their mid term mark.

Wed April 10

22. In a piece of informal writing of about 50 words, describe the family that Beah goes to live with after he is done at Benin Home.


 We read to the end of Chapter 20. All is good.

We then conferenced about marks for mid terms.

Tuesday April 9

1)    Every student is asked to send an email to the teacher about their choices for the Research Presentation due April 10 or 11:

a.     their partner (if desired) and

b.     their topic and anything they may want to write, relevant to the topic that they chose.

c.     Students should also write what kind of method they are using to share their research with the rest of the class.

d.     The Email should be about 50 words, please

2)    The email address to send it to is posted on the wall in the portable.

3)    iPads are in the portable and are available for use but must not leave the portable.

4)    When the students complete this task, they are asked to work with their partner (If they have one) to complete their presentations that are due Wednesday or Thursday.

Monday April 8

It was a bit of a catch up day.

We read to page 187 and I asked students to email me.

I've now asked for three days for an update to their presentations.

Maybe two ... as the walk out was Thursday. In any case, students need to email the teacher in order to get the assessment in to the teacher. Paper is not really an acceptable thing to do for this minor little assignment.

I also had updated marks for my students today. I showed most if not all the students their updated marks today.

I found this in my Google Drive. I have no reason to post it here.

Friday April 5

So much dodgeball

Well, we had a day.

I was hoping to be able to show updated marks and mark the quiz on ALWG today. Interestingly, even though most had not signed up for Dodgeball, most were absent from class today.

Not interesting, but interesting.

What I am still looking for from most of my students is this:

1)    Every student is asked to send an email to the teacher about their choices for the Research Presentation due April 10 or 11:

a.     their partner (if desired) and

b.     their topic and anything they may want to write, relevant to the topic that they chose.

c.     The Email should be about 50 words, please

2)    The email address to send it to is posted on the wall in the portable.

Thursday April 4

1)    Every student is asked to send an email to the teacher about their choices for the Research Presentation due April 10 or 11:

a.     their partner (if desired) and

b.     their topic and anything they may want to write, relevant to the topic that they chose.

c.     The Email should be about 50 words, please

2)    The email address to send it to is posted on the wall in the portable.

Wed April 3

We started today off talking about a couple of important dates this week.

Number one date is tomorrow - a short quiz is on for tomorrow.

Number two is the 8 days remaining until we are in the library talking about the Culminating Activity for this course.

Finally, today.

We read to a bit into Chapter 8 in this class, page 168.

I then gave students a chance to work on the ALWG presentation. I did see an awful lot of Bomb Beach and a few Youtube videos, too. Along with SnapChat.

Right.

On to tomorrow!

Tuesday April 2

This video was mentioned in the text today. We read to page 162 in the text.

This is also a topic for the Research Presentations that were selected by students today.

A list of topics will be posted in the Hlepful Links on ALWG part of this blog. Students did get a copy today if they were in class.

Monday April 1

We started the class with a discussion of due dates - we have ten days until the first part of the culminating activity and April 4 will be a short quiz on the novel.
    
We read to the end of chapter 16 in the book, and we got these things to respond to
        
   21   While at Benin Home, Beah keeps hearing people say this it is not his fault, but Beah does not believe them. Do you think it is Beah’s Fault? Why would you think that?

Character sketches of

Lieutenant Jabati                    Corporal Gadafi

This is the national symbol of Sierra Leone

Friday March 29

18. As Chapter 15 begins, a dreadful, nightmarish routine is, by now, firmly in place “In my head my life was normal,” Ishmael writes (p. 126). How long has he been a soldier?

19.  What happens to Ishmael and Alhaji, and a few other select boys, in the town of Bauya? Where are they taken, and by whom?

20  Who is Mambu? Why does Ishmael take a liking to him?

It's Friday. Those are the questions that are due by the end of class.

Just as a side note, the precentage of things being handed in continues to rise with the switch in the way we handle our homework.

Which makes the students happy, even if it is not easy to do.

Thursday March 28

So ... today.

I was very happy to see almost everyone in class today; we did get to conference about what to do in the summer, now that the pressure is off from the OSSLT.

I recommended students focus on helping to make next year way more smooth by getting volunteer hours done, for example.

Anyway, we read to the end of Chapter 14 today, to page 126 in the text.

We got the following questions to do before leaving class:

14 At Yele, Beah goes from being an observer to a perpetrator of violence. How does this shift happen?

15 Do you think Beah had any choice or say in this shift?

16 So what does a boy soldier watch for entertainment? What else do these boys do between battles?

17 Beah got himself promoted – to what rank did he get promoted and how did he earn the promotion?

If that picture disturbs you, a great Canadian is trying to solve the issue of Child Soldiers. Romeo Dallaire is the man's name and his website is here.