Monday, March 30, 2015

8L: A reminder for tomorrow's trip to the Toyota manufacturing plant: students need to bring a lunch (there is no place to buy food), warm clothing (we may be eating outside), and their best behaviour.   As well, we will be returning to school BEFORE the busses, so everyone will be coming home on time.  Finally, we will be doing a reflection on Career Cruising after the tour, and the topic will pertain to automation: we are going to see a vehicle assembly plant, and I would like students to make observations and draw conclusions about the balance between jobs being done by humans and jobs being done by machines (please, no "Terminator" references). Here are some prompting questions:
-which roles are now done by humans, and will there be further automation in the near future?
-why automate? What are the advantages? The disadvantages?
-which roles will always be human-directed?
-when considering your own future employment, is there already some automation in place?  Will there be more to come?  

8 ENGLISH: 
Essay will take place this Thursday.  Students will need their novels (chock-full of sticky notes), a couple of decent pens, and any healthy refreshments.  I gave the rubric out today, and I bet it would be a bunch of fun to discuss it over dinner.  

As well, these are the essay topics students need to prepare for:
1. Jonas fits in/does not fit in
2. Jonas' society is a dystopia
3. Ignorance is bliss
4. What is the theme of the novel
5. The Giver is a bildungsroman
6. The Giver is a cautionary tale

8 Math: Seeing as I taught the wrong lesson today, there is no homework.  Sigh...


7 ENGLISH: I handed back the framework "Things are Rough All Over" with comments.  Afterwards, I gave the class some general tips regarding this particular essay topic.  It's very important that students read the feedback carefully, and make any necessary changes.  The grade 7 in-class essay will take place next week.  The rest of the frameworks are due this Thursday.

7 MATH: Did not have math today.  However I did teach a riveting grade 7 math lesson to the grade 8s.