Ms. Groeller Grade 9 Humanities

This week in humanities, we continued exploring the human stories of immigration, by examining the following guiding questions and using a variety of resources, including a guest speaker on Monday. Why would someone leave their home? Where do they go when they leave? (What is the journey like?) What is it like for them when they arrive? Thanks Samantha @Calgarylip & Umashanie @yycbridge for speaking to @connectcharter 9s today about current realities of immigration in our place. We really appreciate your time to help us understand the intersection between legislation & the human face of immigration. pic.twitter.com/DbJ3iZwaOJ — Jaime Groeller (@missg_teaches) March 4, 2019 What is the journey like for some who come to Canada? @connectcharter 9s used an interactive documentary to try and understand the refugee experience. pic.twitter.com/XtNfN0NAiP — Jaime Groeller (@missg_teaches) March 5, 2019 Where on the map do you fit? What is your immigrati

This week in humanities, we continued exploring the idea of "home," and by extension immigration, by examining the following guiding questions: Why would someone leave their home? Where do they go when they leave? (What is the journey like?) What is it like for them when they arrive? We used a variety of resources to help us with this, all aimed at grounding our examination of immigration policies in Canada in an understanding of the human side of the story. We started by digging into what the word "home" means to us, then, I asked students to consider our first guiding question more closely: We the moved onto inquiring into our guiding questions using a variety of resources such as a short story , an interactive documentary , and a read aloud of a novel . When intentional use of technology allows for deeper inquiry, it is “actually kind of interesting” & “different...good.” High praise from grade 9s. 😉 @connectcharter pic.twitter.com/eqHsX2aQ

As we move through our exploration of the grade 9 Social outcomes connected to economic systems, I planned two experiential opportunities to help students make connections between the content and their lives. The outcomes related to consumerism, values, and identity lend themselves well to this. With this in mind, what better place is there to think about and analyze consumerism than a mall? Our trip to Cross Iron and New Horizon Malls was successful and an enjoyable day of examining our consumer choices.  (As always, a huge thanks to the parents who joined us as without them, we couldn't have gone!) How does your identity influence your consumer choices, and vice versa? Find examples of a variety of advertising techniques. What demographic is this store targeting? How do you know? Social 9 outcomes, and more, while shopping with @connectcharter 9s today. pic.twitter.com/nBVSA6p8Ld — Jaime Groeller (@missg_teaches) February 4, 2019 The second experiential activity we p

This week, students chose partners and started preparing arguments around this debate topic: Using independent research and details from our film study of The Pursuit of Happiness, pairs have been challenged to prepare speeches based on two main pillars/arguments. To make it even more challenging, students have been asked to prepare to debate BOTH sides; they don't find out which side they are going to debate until the morning of the debate,  this upcoming Monday, January 28. Next, we will embark on an inquiry into consumerism, which will include a field trip (February 4) and a participatory final task. Students can start preparing for this final task now by looking through their belongings and deciding which things they own "spark joy" for them, and which ones they are ready to thank and get rid of by bringing them to our swap meet on February 5.

Discussion Prompts: issues for Canadians;  The Pursuit of Happyness (film) ; economics; mixed, market, planned economy; government intervention; consumerism Economics *understand, apply, analyze, evaluate After finishing up viewing the film  The Pursuit of Happyness  in class, students used the collaborative notes they took to complete a quick summary/refection showing me if they were able to make connections between the big ideas using details from the film. Some examples of this are below: This collaborative reflection after our film study helps students summarize learning while helping me identify where to go next (clarity, dig in, etc.). Best part of this one: the actions students say the film inspired them to take. @connectcharter pic.twitter.com/r0j0ixmvU4 — Jaime Groeller (@missg_teaches) January 10, 2019 We also used this film as a text to apply our ELA knowledge, specifically analyzing the film for symbolism and juxtaposition, an

Global Issues Novel Study *analyze, evaluate Along with starting the student budget consultation, both classes went through the process of choosing a novel for the upcoming novel study this week. This novel study asks students to choose from a pre-determined collection that focuses on "global issues." Some of these books are fiction, others are non-fiction, and still others are a mixture of both (like historical fiction). The goal of this novel study will be to have students consider a big issue facing our world, and explore how these issues affect Canadians. All assignments for the next month or so will be posted on the project blog here. Included in this collection are titles such as: Students will demonstrate their thinking and understanding in a variety of ways, but for this week our focus was just deciding on the book each student wanted to read. I had them go through a "book walk" activity on Tuesday that included filling out a graphic organizer w

Next Level Writing A student turned our lesson about the D5PE(dreaded 5-paragraph essay)into art. 😉 My message to students over the course of this assignment will be that this format is contrived but can still be used to showcase great written communication & critical thinking. @connectcharter pic.twitter.com/JTsNVHJHOP — Jaime Groeller (@missg_teaches) October 19, 2018 This week, we started exploring the five-paragraph essay as a model of "academic" writing, examining its pros, and its cons . The basic ideas behind a D5PE (dreaded 5-paragraph essay) are useful: organization in written communication and supporting one's arguments. With a focus on the quality of communication, rather than just the format, this can be a great starting point for all students, and those who are passionate about writing can quickly take this to the next level. Those that are less passionate can stay within this format and find success communicating their ideas, especially i