Orange Shirt Day / September Weekend Update

Students discussed the history of Residential Schools and the meaning of Truth and Reconciliation in humanities today. After lengthy discussions, students were assigned a paragraph written reflection on the topic. Three questions were presented for students to reflect on:

What were Residential Schools? What does Truth and Reconciliation mean to you? What is your assigned political party's plan for moving forward with Truth and Reconciliation?

Students were provided with 45 minutes to respond to the question via lined paper or Google Docs. Unfinished work was assigned for homework. It will be counted towards students September Weekend Update paragraph writing mark.

Following the written reflection, students attended a historical exhibit with artifacts related to Residential Schools. This was hosted by our Indigenous Learning team. They ended the day with a sharing circle in the Main Gym to debrief.

September Week 4 Update

Students completed their first political debate, yesterday. Great job to all of the parties. Congratulations to the Green Party for winning the 9-5 Debate and the NDP for winning the 9-4 Debate. Next week, students will prepare for their second, and final debate, on school issues. This week, students will begin preparing their commercials. Here is a link to the assignment and the rubric: Commercial Outline  Commercial Rubric. Here is a link to next week's debate questions along with a planner and rubric: Political Debate #2

September Week 3 Update

This past week, students continued working on their reading, map, and paragraph writing assignments based on Quebec's New Secularism Act. Students were provided with Monday's class to complete the assignments. All unfinished work was assigned for homework and is due before the end of September. The writing portion will be graded as September's Weekend Update mark. Please see last week's post for a link to the assignment.

Students also continued working on their research outlines for the upcoming class political debate. The debate has been pushed back to Tuesday, September 24th to allow more time for groups to prepare. The research portion should have been completed by the end of Thursday's class. All unfinished work was assigned for homework. On Monday September 23rd, students will use class time to prepare a group outline and/or script with main points for Tuesday's debate. Access to the project can also be found in last week's post.

Resources for Political Campaign

See the attached link to questions for and answers from all the major (and some minor) political parties in the upcoming federal election. The questions are asked by students and answered by party leaders. All communication is via video with speaking and captions. This should be very helpful for student research: link

Also, here is a website that covers a large range of election issues from all the major political parties. It is very straightforward, yet detailed, and user friendly: pollenize.org/canada

Political Debate Questions for September 19

This week, students are beginning their preparations for the grade 9 2019 Political Debates. They will be held on Thursday September 19th. Groups will also be preparing their party's campaign posters and flyers, which are due next Friday, September 20th. This past Monday, students began working on a current event study of the Quebec Secular Act. The activities in the booklet, along with the paragraph question prompt at the end of the booklet, will be due at the end of class on Monday September 16th. Here is a link to the booklet: Quebec Secular Act

September Week 1 Update

This week, students have continued working on their Party Platforms Assignment. It is due this Friday, September 6th. Next week, students will begin prepping for their first political debate, which pertains to national issues.

Reminder: This Friday, the school is hosting a community pancake breakfast from 7:30 - 9:00am. Students and family are welcome. Breakfast will be followed by a guest speaker presentation in the Main Gym from 10am - 11am.