As the new semester gets underway, I just can't help think about how much I love new beginnings. I really appreciate a fresh start, and I hope that the ELA students feel the same way. I am really excited about the courses we are looking at and hope that others begin to love them as well!
For Grade 9, we are almost coming to a close on our "Write for Success" Unit where we covered real-life situation writing such as letters, emails, resumes, cover letters, and speeches. The resume assignment which includes a cover letter and two letters of reference is due next Wed, the 8th of February. We are just covering the details about speech writing and delivery, and the students will soon be writing a special occasion speech of their choice and performing it in front of the class. Parents are welcome to come watch.
In Grade 10 we have just started ELA B and it is an issue oriented class. We will discuss things like inequalities of gender, sexual orientation, religion, race, physical appearance, class, and so on. In the last unit we will look at how these inequalities affect students and the way the media portrays students.
In Media Studies 20 (the second ELA for Grade 11) we are focusing solely on media and media related issues. I am really excited to teach this class and incorporate a lot of technology into it. We have already made a class wiki-space, which you can check out here. The students will be completing a week long bar graph of how much media they consume in that time period. They will be due next Friday.
In ELA 30 we also have started a new course. I LOVE B 30 English Language Arts! It is so much fun to teach and there are a lot of opportunities for fun assignments. Our first Unit is called "A Sense of Self", and it focuses on the human condition, human relationships and, of course, the individual student. Their first assignment is all about their name and if their name suits them. It should be fun and you should expect some questions from your son/daughter on this topic.
Until next time!
