Well, that's all, folks!

Dear students,

I guess this is the end of Mr. Marshall's Pender Blog for the time being.  As I post this, nearly 18,000 views would suggest it has been a useful endeavor.  I would like to thank you for your part in what has been for me, a wonderful past number of years.  We have had our ups and downs and been affected by stressors from within and without our school, but through it all, we have managed.  I like to think that a big reason for that is the family atmosphere that we have.  Yes, our school is small and no, it doesn't offer the broad selection of courses and activities that a larger school can, but we do feel connected and cared-for.  I have always tried to foster a sense of academic and personal responsibility for you, without neglecting the need for laughs.  I have tried to adapt our classroom to follow what I see as best practices and that has meant the need for flexibility on your part.  I like to think that we have fostered a relationship of mutual trust and respect and the result has been the creation of what I hope you will agree has been a desirable place to be.  In school, we often talk about how teachers help students, but I want to acknowledge that you have helped me.  There is no doubt that I leave Pender a better teacher than I arrived and I wish to thank you for supporting my pursuits both inside and outside of Room 102.

I'll be thinking of you...

En 11: Monday, 23 Jan

Today we practiced for tomorrow's final exam.  We did two editing practices and discussed our writing for the paragraph and the essay.  You may write the whole exam (using tomorrow's lunch period to complete the essay) tomorrow, or you may break the exam into two pieces and write the essay on Thursday at 9 a.m.

Good luck.

En 11: Friday, 20 Jan

Today we discussed the format of the final exam, scheduled for Tuesday 24 Jan, second block.  The essay section may be written over lunch on Tuesday, OR on Thursday at 9 a.m.  Once you start the essay you must complete it in one sitting.  The over-all exam is designed to be completed in two hours.

En 11: Wednesday, 18 Jan

Today we completed our garrison mentality essays.  You should be prepared to hand in yours on Thursday.  See yesterday's post for clarification - see me if you need more support.

En 11: Tuesday, Jan 17

Today we did a group pre-writing activity for the essay.  We used the laptops to encourage editing and quality writing.  We will finish the essays tomorrow.

En 11: Monday 16 Jan

Today we debriefed the question for Saturday Climbing that you read on Friday.  We also read The Labrador Fiasco p. 78-87.  Next, I issued a handout on the garrison mentality and I gave some explanation.  Tomorrow we will write on the prompt on the back of the handout.  I need you to come to class with the story read.

Mr. Marshall's Prognosis: 18 October, 2011

Hello All,

As you know I fractured my ankle on Sunday, 9 October.  At present, I am suffering at home, mostly watching t.v, surfing the Net and doing a bit of homework support with my kids.  I am taking it one week at a time.  Unfortunately, mine will be a non-weight-bearing cast for the entire six-week expected healing time.  When the doctor did a CAT scan of my ankle, he found what is thinks to be pre-existing damage to a bone in my foot; it is right under the fracture.  They are a bit perplexed and other damage to the joint from my arthritis adds further complications.  The end result is that I am currently unable to teach because I need to keep my foot up to control the swelling.  In addition, my fluctuating discomfort (a euphemism for pain) is often such that I find it difficult to concentrate and I need to be able to concentrate in order to teach. 

Thanks for your good wishes - especially for the card (Amber and Liz - it was very creative and made me LOL).  I'm thinking of you.  I hope things are going well for you all. 

En 11: Tues, 11 Oct Entry 2

Here is a copy of the assignment for Act One. 

En 11: Macbeth Lesson, Tuesday, 11 Oct

Go to the link http://bit.ly/q8wcFd to see a demonstration of how to complete the Act One quotations activity.  These quotations are the ones that will be on your upcoming test.

En 11: Friday, 7 Oct

Today I checked Act I vocabulary words to find that half of you failed to finish.  That was disappointing.  We read and discussed Scenes 6-7 and then you set to work noting responses to the 10 small-bullet questions for the act.  When that was done we broke into groups and discussed one of the big-bullet questions.  We'll share our thoughts with each other next class.

Ensure you have the 10 questions and the vocab work done for Tuesday's class.

 

En 11: Thursday, 6 Oct

Today I checked to ensure everyone was finished the contractions worksheet.  Then we read and discussed Act I, sc 3-5.  We finally got to meet Macbeth, Banquo and Lady Macbeth.  Hmm, things are not sounding good for Duncan.  We used the last 20 minutes of the class to complete the Act I vocabulary sheet - please ensure it is done for next class.

We'll finish reading Act tomorrow.

En 11: Wed 5 Oct 2011

On Monday we got an intro to Macbeth and played with the opening scene.  Yesterday we saw how where we stopped when we read changed the meaning and ease of understanding of the play.  We also read II, ii and got Mr Lewis' class mad because I spoke the Sergeant's lines so loudly.  Today we learned how to block a scene.

For homework, please read the remainder of Act I 
(scenes iv-vii = scenes 4 to 7).

En 11: Friday 30 Sept

Today we worked at editing our TOMATS essays.  First we copied the essay to a fresh page so that we had two copies of it.  Next, we edited the second copies.  Then, we chose a sample paragraph from the edited version and copied it again to a third page.   We also took the undedited version of that paragraph from the original essay and added it also to that third page to we could compare it to the edited version.  Finally, we added "comments" to the edited version using the "insert" tab from the Word toolbar in order to participate in meta-cognition.  I've included a sample of the last step as a model.  Note how some of the comments are about writing style and format; others are reflective and still others explain why certain editing choices were made.

En 11: Thur 29 Sep

Today I returned the TOMATS essays and then we worked on assessing our thesis statements for accuracy.  We ended up examining our topic sentences for their effectiveness.

En 11: Wednesday, 28 Sept

Today we discussed a plan to incorporate ScreenFlow as a means of recording writing/editing sessions to the Internet.  This way we could learn editing and assessment skills from the essay samples we produce, and also create a resource to visit on YouTube when we want to revisit those lessons.  No homework today.

En 11: Tuesday, 27 Sept

Today we wrote the objective test for TOMATS and finished watching the film.  There is no homework.

En 11: Friday, 23 Sept

Today we went over the format of the objective test that we will write on Tuesday, next week.  Then we started the TOMATS film - we will finish it after the test, next class.

En 11: Thursday 22 Sept

Today we did our in-class essay for The Old Man and the Sea.  Tomorrow we will watch the movie since I forgot to give you the objective test outline in advance - thus, test Tuesday.

En 11: Wed 21 Sept

Today we discussed the elements of your essay for tomorrow's in-class writing assignment.  We then had 40 minutes to plan and create a "cheat sheet" of notes to bring to class.

En 11: Tuesday, 20 Sept

Hmmm: lots of notes.


Today we finished our notes for the novel as a whole.  We discussed allegory and developed some ideas about the themes in the story.  We also developed a working thesis statement.  We will continue this work tomorrow and we will write our esays on Thursday.  On Friday we will write the objective test and on Tuesday (Monday is a pro-d day) we will watch the film.