Ms.Grocott's Grade 8 English Class

Today in class students extended their characterization understanding from traits to tales!

Starting off with some light literary theory, we discussed Joseph Campbell’s monomyth theory and the hero’s journey. https://vimeo.com/140767141

Students then used a text (film or novel) that they are familiar with to look at how it corresponds or deviates from this idea.

This weekend students will begin to brainstorm ideas for their creative writing and how they will bring in inspiration from their own favourite characters and stories. This ties in much of what we have learnt from all of our other units this year and I look forward to seeing what they come up with!

Spring has sprung and it is time to get ready for poetry month by starting a poetry unit!

Students will inquire how the concepts of style, structure and purpose are related in poetry. 

Each day I will share with students various doses of creative inspiration and we will discuss how the poet creates relationships between their style and structure for a purpose.

Ya! Starting a new unit with an amazing graphic novel...American Born Chinese! The novel starts off with the tale of the Monkey King, if you know this story-you could discuss and share what you know with you child, if you have never heard it, here are some links to help further understand (suitable to watch with the kids). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD1AL6rBbiU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN3_6efimoQ

This text explores the concept of communication with the purpose to show the theme of stereotyping and fitting in under new circumstances. Students took part of a 4 corner debate in which they debated the statements:

When moving to a new place, one should learn the language and adopt the customs of that culture. 

Only those born into a culture are truly able to understand it. 

Stereotyping is offensive. 

Graphic novels are not real literature. 

Dear Parents,

This is a website we use consistently as a class to develop vocabulary we are using in class. http://www.vocabulary.com/lists/913622#view=notes

This is a screenshot of a typical lesson in our class. This is generally displayed on the board, and students have full access to it on their onenote. 

Students use onenote to access documents and information and everyday they can clearly see the criterion objective we are focusing on and the criteria they need to fulfill in order to succeed. 

Students are consistently asked to self-assess their next step in order to achieve this success, and then continue to work on building the skills they need to accomplish the particular task. 

Dear Parents,

Students across the English department are embarking on a “for-pleasure” reading program. Each student is encouraged to read (as always) books of their choosing. When they are finished they are to log their books on the website https://www.goodreads.com/group in our XIS group. 

At the end of each trimester we will do a celebration of reading in which students will choose to do either an oral or a written creative task which shows their unique understanding of one of the books they read. 

Please encourage your child to read in their spare time and to fill out reading reflections (which they all have-they are called D.I.E reflections). They should do a reflection for every few chapters they read, I suggest 3-5 per book. 

If students are struggling with analysing, organization, or using language, I encourage them to meet with me and go over their reflections or a small section of their book. 

I am available every Wednesday and Thursday in my classroom at lunch for them to drop by and chat. 

I hope this helps to encourage a love of reading in all students. 

You can also support us by sharing your favourite books with your children and give them recommendations, in the picture above you can see that whenever I finish a book I put it up for a recommendation in my class!

In many aboriginal cultures, winter is the time for storytelling. As the temperature cools down, the learning goes up in Ms.Grocott’s class! 

Students are inquiring into a chosen culture’s oral storytelling tradition. It must be a culture that is still functioning in today’s society, so no ancient Mayans here. 

Students will look at how stories connect with the natural geographic landscape of a particular region. They will read a variety of stories, read about the culture, read about the geography and find their own connections and analyse oral story traditions. 

I introduced the unit by sharing some stories from the First Nations culture in the region that I grew up in, the Coast Salish people of the Pacific Northwest. 

We went to the library and Ms.Wilson shared some videos and knowledge of the Hopi and Navajo regions where she has lived for the past 5 years.

The Grade 8’s shared their final projects in a science-fair style in which the class was split into two groups. Each group viewed and gave feedback to each other on their final presentations according to “the feedback ladder.”

As each person was a tourism minister, they acted as the intended audience of the task giving more authenticity and hopefully, a sense of pride to each individual.

I believe that student work always deserves to be showcased and not to be stored somewhere that only the teacher looks at.