Friday, May 30, 2014

June 2-6




Contact me by e-mail at: kbenoy@nvsd44.bc.ca 

This blog provides lesson plans for each week.  Look ahead to see where we are going.  Look back to see what you might have missed. All assignments are provided here.  If anything is underlined, click on it to bring up the document or, in the case of videos, link to an online version of what was scheduled for seeing in class or as enrichment.  
So you just want to see photos of Sutherland activities? Click here to see my Picasa Albums. 

Things that are static -- not requiring regular change -- can be found at my website:http://sites.google.com/site/kbenoy/.  Admittedly, I do not update this site regularly, so there may be dead links.


I take a few photos around the school, if you are interested, click here to see my Public Picassa photo albums.  


Grad Boat Cruise photos are now posted.

Recent albums include the Centennnial Theater and Sutherland concerts of the Asahikawa High School Wind Orchestra, the Senior Girls' soccer games vs Howe Sound, Carson, Windsor and Seycove - also the playoff games against St. Thomas More and Windsor. The Junior Girls vs Windsor, Handsworth, & the playoff game vs Sentinel, the Junior Boys' rugby game vs Seycove, and the May 9 Ultimate Tournament.  Finally, there are also pictures from Gwynne Dyer's talk to Senior Students.

***Strike Advisory:  Tuesday, June 3  has been set for North Vancouver's one day strike -- part of the ongoing labour dispute involving revolving strikes throughout the province.  There will be no classes Tuesday unless a settlement occurs.  Teachers are trying to minimize the strike's impact on students.  In the months that we have struck so far there has been little to no impact;  as the dispute ramps up the impact will be greater, but I am hopeful that things are sorted before the impact becomes appreciable.

***Partial Lockout Advisory:  I'm afraid this will impact students and I am not able to buffer them from its effects.  You can read the full letter by the Government's chief negotiator here.  Clearly those who wrote the letter don't understand the impact of what they order.  To justify cutting teacher pay by 10% they have reduced what we are allowed to do at work or at home:"...we are suspending the performance of specified duties and reducing the hours of work of your members, which provides the basis for this reduction in salary."  I face government sanctions if I try to do more than they outline!

Most significantly:"unit employees are directed not to work during recess or lunch hours except as specifically required by the essential services order."  This means I cannot supervise make up tests or provide tutorial assistance as I would normally...or provide the usual extra exam prep classes for Provincial Exam writers. We are also directed "not to attend their workplace earlier than 45 minutes before the commencement of their instructional time or later than 45 minutes after the end of their instructional time...." This means there is no longer the opportunity to make up missed tests before or after school -- as 45 minutes is insufficient to do so.  From now on, students will have to miss another class in order to make up tests.  

I have no idea how final exams will be marked if I cannot legally work beyond the hours they specify.  The Social Studies 11 provincial exam ends at 4:00 p.m. on the day before we are locked out for the remainder of the year.  I have to leave school before the exam ends and I will not walk into school the next day if all my other colleagues are locked out on the street. Someone else (not teachers) will have to mark these.  Similarly, now that the ministry has made it necessary to write non-provincial final exams during regular classes, I do not have time to mark these tests in the time provided and also complete report card entries. Report cards are endangered.  Clearly this dispute has the potential to turn the year end into a major train wreck.

Social Studies 8 





I expect we will write the Renaissance and Reformation unit test on Wednesday, June 4.  This test will be smaller than usual.   I expect the Renaissance and Reformation test will be as follows: 25 multiple choice questions (1 mark each) and a choice of two from four long answer questions (6 marks each). The total is, therefore, out of 37 marks. 30 properly-done flashcards are needed to earn 3 bonus marks. 

Please Note:  If you looked at the blog before Wednesday morning, I have made a change.  I've moved Thursday's homework to Wednesday, after the test.


    Social Studies 11 


    I am concerned about any further loss in teaching time.  If more classes are lost to strike or lockout, I will have to direct students to cover curriculum on their own.  This will be outlined in future blog entries.  As it is, I will have to condense material to complete the whole course.  I will do my best to cover the material most likely to appear on the Provincial exam.

    We made faster progress than I thought we would on Al Gore's film.  I have therefore changed the Thursday and Friday plan this week.  Please note this if you looked at the blog before Thursday.

    Now is also the time to begin thinking about and preparing for the Provincial Exam.

    ***Here is a set of summary notes for the Social Studies 11 course -- excellent for use in studying for the final exam. 

    ***Here is another, shorter, set of notes for the Social Studies 11 course.

    ***Here is a much more thorough webpage of review materials. 


    Find another set of notes on the Counterpoints text at:

    http://www.members.shaw.ca/ss11exam/Counterpoints.htm


    Be sure to look at past exam material to get comfortable with the format.  Go to 

    http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/exams/search/.


    To see how to approach the essay questions, look at this document provided to train markers of the exam. Link from my web page on writing the SS11 final, and also see my PowerPoint on how to approach the test.

    • Monday, June 2 - Exam post-mortem.  Continue PowerPoint for chapter 1. Read pp. 6-16 of The 21st Century World text -- paper or online. Do #1-5, p. 11, #1-9 p. 16 and #1-4 pp. 16-17.  Video sidebar (I do not require you to watch this, but highly recommend that you do so:  Tom Friedman's MIT address - The World is Flat 3.0.)
    • Tuesday, June 3 - Sorry people, this is a strike day so there are no classes in session.  Use the time to begin preparation for the final exam.  In particular look at my PowerPoint on how to approach the final exam -- see above.
    • Wednesday, June 4 - Take up homework: #1-5, p. 11, #1-9 p. 16 and #1-4 pp. 16-17.  Complete the Chapter 1 PowerPoint if we did not do so on Thursday.  If time, begin watching Al Gore's seminal documentary An Inconvenient Truth and questions (part 1part 2part 3part 4,part 5part 6, part 7part 8part 9part 10) -- or buy it online (no I don't get a cut for advertising it and I really can't suggest checking Pirate Bay or an alternative)Read pp. 18-22. Do #1-4, p. 21.
    • Thursday, June 5 -  Take up #1-4, p. 21.  I think we should complete the resto of An Inconvenient Truth and questions (part 1part 2part 3part 4,part 5part 6, part 7part 8part 9part 10).  Discuss the video -- Why is it sometimes seen as controversial?  We will go over your conclusions from the Al Gore film and then will  watch Climate of Doubt which deals with the Climate Change denial viewpoint.  While watching it, answer the following questions:  1.  What groups in society are most prominent in denying climate change?  2.  What are their reasons for doing so? Work on flashcards for chapter 1.Read p. 22 and do the "Further Thought questions, #1-2, on p. 22. Optional: For an alternative view, see The Great Global Warming Swindle.  Interestingly every BC school was sent a free copy of this by an organization (hard to determine the parent organization) that felt it needed to combat Climate Change proponents. To make sense of this debate you could look into what respectable academic bodies say. Many countries have academies of science; investigate their views. The United Nations' Secretary General, Ban-Ki Moon recently traveled to the Arctic and he is on record as speaking on the subject during this trip. His view is representative of most of the world's nations on the topic. Also the 2007-2008 United Nations Human Development Report took as its over-arching theme Climate Change. You will find the report's accompanying video interesting (choose your download speed and language).
    • Friday, June 6 -  Take up #1-2, p. 22.  Watch Hans Rosling's  200 Years; 200 Countries; 4 MinutesBegin chapter 2 - PowerPointRead pp. 29-31. Do both #1-3 on p. 31.