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.

Tuesday March 26

Today in class we talked about my last peice of advice for those writing the OSSLT.

After that I announced the countdown for the start of the Culminating Activity for this class.

We then read to page 114, the start of Chapter 13. Beah is being trained by the Army by the end of Chapter 12.

For work, we need to finish off the Vocab. Here are the words to do and hand in by the end of classtoday:

Somber

Turmoil

Unmerciful

Dispersed

Rastafarianism

Monday March 25

Today we read from page 93 to 103.

It is starting to get gross, to be frank. Here is the assignment for the day:

Torment

Anvil

Reinstated

Deceptive

Please do a point form written description of:

Junior Beah                 Musa  

As students were working on this in class, I was able to conference with some about their updated marks.

It's Monday. Be safe!

Friday March 22

Whoa, it's like we are in another course - a great day to be here in class.

I did have a bunch missing for First Aid training today. I think that is awesome, it's a great thing to put on a resume when looking for a job this summer. One of the things I recommend for other students to get if they have nothing to do this summer.

Here is what we did in class today.

We did a bit of writing help right off the bat - for the OSSLT and for my class. Today we talked about structuring a paragraph.

Start with a bit of thinking on paper.

Then write a sentence that you want to write about.

After that, most students knew that they had to use the ideas from their thinking on paper to fill in the rest of the paragraph.

After that bit of help, we read from page 71 to 93 in the text and we got this for work to be handed in by the end of class.

Vocabulary words

Envision

Convoy

Reggae

looted

To be handed in in jot dot form:

Character sketch of Ishmael Beah and Ishmael’s dad

Thursday March 21

Another pretty productive day in class.

We chatted a little about getting ready for the OSSLT and good writing in my class. I will keep doing helpful discussions like that throughout the semester.

We took up the homework, very briefly.

Then we read from 72-81 in the novel together.

This was assigned for in class work to be handed in by the end of the class:

Repatriate

Ablution

Scoping

Festooned

(Remember ... for full marks, you have to write the word, the definition and then use it in a sentence)

In a well written paragraph, describe the setting of this novel.

Describe the point of view of this novel.

Finally, I'm not entirely sure how it was mentioned, but this was brought into the discussion in the classroom:

Wed March 20

Today was a good day in class.

I did a presentation ... not very interactive, I admit ... on Writing for the OSSLT and my class. The .pdf version is here.

After that, we read to page 72 in the text and got the following assigned to us.

We are switching up how the work will come into the teacher for the rest of this unit. Each day I will assign work to be done in class before anyone gets to leave the class for any reason.

I'm finding that this is working for most, but not all students. I will share the data about percentages of handing in with anyone interested, as long as personal information is not shared.

In any case, here is the thing that must be in by the end of class:

13. How does LLCoolJ help to save these boys in the novel?

Riff raff

Usher

Kiosk

Resilience

Quick reminder, if you were away, it is understood that you are still responsible for missed work. This statement is in the Classroom Expectations and other documents put out by the Board and School.

Tuesday March 19

Before  we read the novel today, we had a bit of a session on the OSSLT News Report writing. I have copies of this helpful handout in the class. We did discuss how to get to a passing level in this part.

I did also share the scedule for the day for those writing and those not writing.

We read to page 64 in the novel and got the following to hand in by the end of the period.

Question 12

  How do you heal scalded feet?

Vocabulary

You have to write the word, give me a definition and then use it in a sentence that you make up for full marks.

Ambush

Reverie

Brown brown

informant