Learning Log for January 9th

Hi guys,

I have not posted in a while, probably due to the fact that Caitlin has been posting for the past week or so!

Anyways, I'm back! And I suppose you are waiting for a learning log of sorts, so here you go...

What We Did:

-Ms. Lees discussed with us about upcoming things in our week like:

• The geography challenge, which is tomorrow. If you do not know what the geography challenge is, it is sort of a quiz, where our teacher asks us questions about Canadian geography and history, World geography and history, landmarks, and sometimes we have to answer questions while locating the answer of the question (a place) on a map provided on the overhead. We write our answers individually, meaning no chatting about the answers. I am not completely sure as to what would happen if you won this challenge, maybe we would have a school wide competition. But like I said, I am not completely sure. This challenge is not for marks.
• The course selection that will be happening on Wednesday. This will be done in a fair like format, where the Grade 8's learn about courses that will be available for them to choose from (their electives). At the end of course selection, we will receive a sheet to take home, and that is when we actually choose the electives. I highly recommend sitting down and talking with your parents, so that you can maybe see what would be best for you. Keep in mind that you must choose with your future in mind. For example, if you were planning on pursuing a profession that requires French as a second language, it might be a good idea to choose French as one of your electives!

Ms. Lees normally does discuss with us about the upcoming week on Mondays, so this was fairly normal.

- We took notes on concept webs. Concept webs are webs about a specific subject, using connections, diagrams, tables, pyramids and hierarchy ladders, pictures, and phrases that are all relevant to the subject. It is a visual way to represent and organise data. The webs on the walls of our class look really good, and it looks like an interesting way to maybe do a book report, write a history web, or take notes, because it allows you to survey all your information on one sheet of paper, and also to make connections you otherwise might not have been able to, say, in an essay. Soon we will be making webs in our groups made up of the people in our novel study group.

Why We Did It:

-Discussions about:

• Geography Challenge: To help us prepare for the upcoming geography challenge, so that we know what is expected of us, and also what to study. This allows us to get a better understanding of our world, and find out some things that we maybe did not know before. The geography challenge offers us a vast variety of information for us to process and remember. It is done in a slightly competitive way, so that it makes it a little bit more fun and interesting for the people who are taking part in it.
• Course Selection: So that we know about our new opportunity to choose our electives. This will help us to be able to speak with our parents before hand, and come to some sort of consensus before we even go to the selection fair. It also gives us some time to process that we are actually selecting our courses now, and not at the end of the year; I know I was a little bit surprised at that!

-Notes on concept web: This gives us an idea of the criteria of the concept webs, and also tells us what they are, because I know that some people may not have known what they are, and this allows us to understand and process what is needed to be done on these projects. The concept ways are great for helping you to make connections, and I feel that the visual element is key, as it gives interest to your eyes, and also helps the visual learners understand the information more. I am glad that Ms. Lees gave us an opportunity to plan these webs in our mind a little bit, maybe formulate what we think we want to aim for, and how we can achieve that goal. Following through, after all, is the key to success!

Connections/Reflections:

-Discussing:

• Geography Challenge: Doing the geography challenge will help us in jobs that involve travel, such as a travel agent, travel guide, or even if you were a traveller wondering where some neat landmarks are in the areas close to your destination. It also helps if you are watching the news, because then you can figure out where and why calamities are happening, whether the reason be of history, location, etc.
• Course Selection will help us in the future so that we can do an elective that will help us on our career path. Also learning about the courses will help us decide which one we would like to take and help us decide on the reasons that we are taking it, so we have a slight idea on why we might be thinking about pursuing a certain career.

- Notes on Concept Web: The concept webs will allow us in future projects in school, to plan out what we want to do. It also helps during meetings if we are trying to get a point across, but can't quite find the words to explain it.

Homework:

-No homework, unless you have not finished your novel. I suggest reading it as soon as you can, because by now we have moved on in class.
-Go to flex if you have not finished your First Knight questions or your Chapter one notes.

Tips:

-Talk to your parents about the courses you want to take. They might offer a point of view that you never thought about, and that could affect your decision.

-Try and brush up on you geography for tomorrow. It couldn't hurt to just surf the Internet for facts.

-Start thinking about your web. Its a good idea to plan it out a little bit (not the content, the format, because we don't really know our subject very much) so that you are fully prepared for the task.

I hope that this helped, and I'm really hoping that it wasn't complete rubbish!

Next up is Hannah. Bye!