Debating Confederation

Today in class we re-enacted the Charlottetown Conference, with the students playing the roles of the Father's of Confederation. We debated issues such as defence, building a railway, provision of a subsidy for the Maritime colonies and Confederation. I was so proud of the effort so many students went through - dressing in shirts and ties, making top hats out of construction paper and reading eloquent speeches about the threat of Fenian invasion and the need for increased trade between the colonies. Many students in both of my History classes come to English as a second language, but that did deter them from participating. As the chair of the meeting, I could barely keep up with the demands to get their names on the speaker's list. We will continue the debates tomorrow. Will we decide to come together to create a new nation from six diverse British colonies? I can't wait to hear the results...

Chilean Miners Rescued Safely

Today, as part of our study of Media Literacy, we discussed yesterday's successful rescue of the miners in Chile who were trapped in a deep mine below ground for 69 days. Many students had followed the story in the news and already knew a great deal about the issue. We are reading an article on the trapped miners to follow up this discussion. As part of our discussion please comment in the blog on the following question: What do you think would be the biggest challenge of being trapped underground for 69 days?

Class Relays

Today we had class relays at Central Park. The relays are a school spirit event that were started by an amazing former teacher at the school, Mr. D, and have been a tradition for many years. My homeroom, 8-4, dressed all in white and black and sporting black shading under their eyes, gave it their best. We had perfect fall weather but got a few soakers from the wet trail conditions. Our class participated in both the recreational and competitive categories and showed great team spirit, running their hardest and cheering on their friends. I ran in the competitive relays on the teacher team and we actually won our heat and made it to the finals, thanks to a great group of colleagues. 8-4 rules and 8-5 is pretty amazing too!!

Reader Responses

Most students have finished their first novel and have started writing a reader response. A reader response is different from a book report. When they are writing their responses, I have asked students to imagine that they are having a conversation with me about the book that they are reading. They have a number of paragraph starters to choose from and we have modelled a number of these paragraphs with the class. Some paragraphs could discuss their favourite part of the novel, compare the novel with something else they have read, discuss one of the characters from the novel or what a particular part reminds them of, just to name a few choices. Students need to remember to support their ideas with examples from the text, when they write their response.

The Causes of Confederation

Last week in History we learned the causes or factors which led to confederation of the British North American colonies, to form the country of Canada. One of the greatest factors was the fear of American takeover. Americans had recently purchased Alaska from the Russians, American settlers were moving into the Red River Colony in search of land and into British Columbia in search of gold. In addition there was a fear of Fenian invasion of the colonies. Fenians were Irish Americans, who had attacked the colonies to get back at Britian. United, the colonies would be better able to defend themselves. Trade was a third factor. The loss of trade deals with both Britian and the United States led the colonies to consider a union in order to promote trade between the colonies. A union would also help the colonies to build railways, which were needed for trade and defence. Finally, the British were happy to be rid of the colonies, which were becoming a burden.