Year 7 English

For our final blogging lesson I have a list of some of the many things we covered this year in English. Have a look at the list and pick out one or two things you remember and write about your memories. You will have a chance to keep blogging next year. If you want to keep you blog going please let your readers know to keep coming back. Of course you may want to blog from home in the holidays and there is nothing to stop you. BUT if you are going to give up your blog it may be good to let your readers know that you will not be updating any more. Of course you can always start another blog if you change your mind. Here is the list of some of the learnings we had in (and out of)  class this year:

• Name stories (stories about how we got our names)
• set out our folders
• wide reading throughout the year
• looked at ourselves as readers - what do we like?
• class customs
• Listened to Mrs Pratchett’s revenge
• writing autobiographies
• studied Ice Age and themes such as being part of a herd and bonding as a team and overcoming difficulties
• twilight swimming carnival
• camp
• wordles and block words
• writing paragraphs
• learned about writing essays
• wrote essay on Ice Age
• peer conferencing
• worked on our journals and time capsules throughout the year
• blogging, learned how to make a blog, to comment, to write, to upload photos and internet safety as well as being a responsible citizen on line
• read and studied Parvana
• learned new words like burqua and Taliban
• did athletics
• learned about ADHD and ODD
• started our research
• looked at poetry by Yeats Wild Swans at Coole
• Science competition
• researched on life in Afghanistan
• made PowerPoints with visuals and without the text of the whole oral
• used cue cards
• rehearsed presentations in groups
• Afghanistan celebration with food, music, presentations and an afghan carpet
• started studying Millie and the Night Heron
• looked at the areas of interaction and what we did in the July holidays
• wrote a poem using our favourite words
• looked at our favourite colours
• looked at our colour palette for our clothes
• wore our favourite clothes in class
• information literacy
• learner profile
• discussion on what is a family?
• writing about change
• made posters on different chapters of Millie
• did some brainstorming on Inspiration
• wrote a play script on Millie
• researched about World War 1
• learned about copyright and places to find copyright free images on the internet
• taught each other about our area of research in small groups
• in blogging read some blogs of students in other countries (USA and New Zealand)  and wrote comments on them
• looked at picture books and how they explore serious themes
• read in Flanders Fields about WW1
• illustrated a part of the text
• creative writing on change
• responding to the text of the picture book

This is a photo of one of the aspects of the Learner Profile. As learners I would like us all to be:

• Inquirers
• Knowledgeable
• Thinkers
• Communicators
• Principled
• Open-minded
• Caring
• Risk-takers
• Balanced
• Reflective

Another quality is Risktaking:

I wonder what you think of this?

This afternoon I would like you to visit these blogs of students not in our school. Read some posts and find one that interests you. Write a post about this topic, responding to what the other students said and make sure you link to their post. Try: Collaboration Nation, Year 7 and 8 Collaboration, or Room 3’s blog

Hey gang, this morning it might be interesting to try a different idea. Click on this link to find an interactive writing prompt that I think you will like. If that doesn’t suit there are others here. Scroll down until you reach the student instructions. If you want you can publish the result on your blog or print out and hand up at the end of the lesson. Of course as you know by now, if you have a different idea for blogging you can do that instead. Please talk to me about it first. You will will need to spend some time moderating your comments if you have them. A class in Portland, Maine has begun looking at your blogs and it would be great if you responded as well. And where is Maine? You will see if you click on the link below.
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Have a read of Josh’s reflections on making friends. Josh goes to school in a small town 800 miles from the nearest city in Canada. I think you’ll find what he has to say quite interesting. When you have done this have a look at some other blogs from the list below. You may write about something you read, or any other thing that’s on your mind. Perhaps you’d like to write about your research into World War 1 and the book we are reading in class, Standing in the Shadows. I would like you to make at least two hyperlinks in your post and include a picture from one of these copyright free sites: Flickr Creative Commons, Behold, or Stockvault. Also try Getty Images.

Update: just found another site for copyright pictures

Student Blogs to look at (click on the list of students in the blogroll): From our school - Year 9H, Year 9F, Year 9D, from other schools - Year 7 (USA) Year 7 and 8 (Canada), year 7 and 8 (NZ).

 Image credit

I am going to send you to read the blogs of some year 7 and 8 students in Snow Lake Canada this lesson. After you have read several of the posts of most of the students listed in the blogroll of Katie’s blog Reflecting on Life can you get a sense of what life is like in Snow Lake? I would like you to make some comments on these students’ blogs, responding to their ideas. Make sure you leave your website adress in the URL section of the comment form.

When you have done that I would like you to write a post answering these three questions:

1. What is your favorite or the most interesting thing you like about blogging?

2. Does blogging help you learn more writing and language?

3. What is the worst problem you have in blogging?

It has been a long time since we have blogged. In the meantime we have been reading Millie and Night Heron and working on a project for the novel. I know that some of you have really loved doing the artistic side of the project, which is great since Millie is a bit artistic as well. She sure showed this in her local area assignment that she made by taking pictures and displaying them of a wetland area. She made that look really great by the sounds of things and she learnt a lot by having Tom help her.

 Today I would like you to write a book review of Millie and the Night Heron by Catherine Bateson. Tell the reader of your blog who may want to read the book, so don’t give away the ending or any surprises, what the book was about, some interesting characters, some things you learnt while reading the book, any ideas or interesting thoughts you had while reading the book, and anything else you want to tell your global audience about.  Also you might tell us about your project. What did you do and why did you decide to do it? Try to include a link to something when you write your post. This book review can be used for assessment if you are happy with it, so do try your best.

Picture credit

Congratulations, class, on a great term of learning and an interesting transition from primary school to high school. We have changed a fair bit I think. Try to imagine the person you were six months ago, the things you thought, the worries you had, the unknowns you were facing. Now think about yourself today. Read some of your earlier blog entries. Think what you wrote in your journal. Now write a blog entry on your favourite part of Year Seven so far and how you have changed. You will look back on this again at the end of the year so you can trace your journey through the year. It’s not Parvana’s Journey, it’s your journey. You may want to write a bit about the presentations you did on Parvana (or just tell your blog readers a bit of what you wrote for your journal.)

Enough of the past. What are you looking forward to in the holidays? There’s only a week to go. Finish off today’s blog entry with your hopes for the holidays. I am looking forward to reading them and so are all of your blog readers.

This photo was taken in Afghanistan by a soldier back in 2006. He says it is a touch blurry because it was taken from a fast-moving HMMWV. If you have any responses to the photographer about this photo or about the novel (He spent a year in Afghanistan recently) I could pass them on. How many of you have read the whole novel? How many of you have read other novels by the same author? Here is an interesting website called CW4WAfghan which is a site to help women in Afghanistan. Have a look at it. You can reply to this in your own blogs or as a comment to this one. I have been reading some of your poetry and it makes for interesting and enjoyable reading.

This poem is one that I learned about in my secondary school education and has become a favourite of mine. I can still remember the teacher’s face as she told us about her love for this poem and what it meant to her. And now I am passing it on to you. After our discussion of some of the images, the words and ideas of this poem, read it again and write a reflection telling us what you think of this poem. Maybe you could tell us what you like, what you find hard to understand, what this poem means to you. Do you write poetry? Would you like to write poetry?

The Wild Swans At Coole by W. B. Yeats

THE TREES are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine and fifty swans.

The nineteenth Autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.

Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes, when I awake some day
To find they have flown away.

 As you know I am back from the exciting learning experience I had in China. The things I went to learn about were all to do with the MYP. But what I came back with as well was a strong interest in China and its culture. I’m sure you will hear more about it in the next few lessons. The people I met were mostly teachers of the MYP in many different countries. I am looking forward to reading what you are writing about a place that you have visited, whether it’s in Victoria, in Australia or overseas. Remember your readers can be from anywhere in the world and they would love to read your experiences of travel. Many may never have visited Australia so describe it so that we can really imagine what it’s like.

The work on Afghanistan that you are doing at the moment should be completed by Tuesday. Please come and see me if you have difficulties with internet access at home and would need extra time to complete it. Come to class prepared to discuss what you have found out so far on Thursday. I can’t wait to hear what you think about what you have learnt. After our discussion we will see if we can blog about it.

Try to make sure that you have called your blog an interesting name (not just “blog”) and that you have changed the tag line by next computer lesson. Is that enough homework?