Friday, 4 September 2015

1 - FIRST STEP















Alright, let's not waste anymore time. Let's get the show on the road.  Let's get the ball rolling. Other sayings that signify a beginning. This marks the first piece of work you will do for me - and it's a relatively easy one. It focuses on you, your interests, your strengths, your relationship with school, and it will also ask you to think about your goals and intents with this course. What do you want to do next? It's important for me to know where you want to go, so I can help you get there. What are you already pretty good at? Do you know that? Ultimately, a learner who knows themselves is one more able and likely to succeed.

So, what are we waiting for? GO!

1 - START Assignment

2 - Into the Wild
















Great. Now things are getting serious. And what a great story to get serious about. For this, your first assignment of any size, you're going to read a short story about an impressive young man. Some of you may have seen Sen Penn's 2007 film Into the Wild. Before it was a film it was a book, written by Jon Krakauer in 1996. And before Jon published his book in 1996 he wrote the basic plot out in a magazine article called (spoiler alert) "Death of an Innocent" for Outside magazine.

The major task for this will be an essay. Not a long essay, not a research essay, but an essay all the same. It will be the first major piece of writing a get from you, so take your time, ask for help, and do it well.

2 - Into the Wild Assignment

You'll also need the story, so here it is:
Death of an Innocent Story

Thursday, 3 September 2015

3 - Marley
















Well then, do you know that guy? Most people can identify Nesta Robert "Bob" Marley, and we're going to use his recent bio-pic to practice some more skills. You'll get to listen to his music, learn more about the man behind the legend, and even build a dynamite slide show at the end! You have to do one anyway, so you might as well do it about a cool guy (womanizing aside). Are you ready? Then dive in!

3 - Marley Assignment

You will also need these:
Link for Mind Mapping Lesson
Link for Informative Slide Show Rubric


Also, at least for a little while the film is available on YouTube.
Until it gets removed, find it here.

4 - Now That's Interesting















Making some ground now, and you're almost half way done. This assignment focuses on two important school skills, Note Taking, and Research. You will be asked to watch/listen to some content (you can choose the talks you choose), take notes on them, and then turn some of that information into some Research Questions.

You can do it! Let me know when/if you need help.

4 - Now That's Interesting Assignment

5 - Research, Glorious Research















This assignment is all about the craft of research - and if I'm being honest, other than word count of papers, the biggest difference between high school and post-secondary school is that your research is MUCH more important in college/university. The process is much more rigorous and the materials are much better. This assignment will draw on work we've done in class around credibility, research questions, and the process and will also use plenty of videos -so get your headphones out. 

So, without further ado, here is The Research, Glorious Research Assignment.

VIDEOS YOU'LL NEED

1. The first thing you'll do for this assignment is watch this video. It's called WHAT IS RESEARCH? and will give you a decent starting point. The last 20 seconds or so are weird and irrelevant, don't hold it against me, it was a found video. 

2. The next one you need is a short one about credibility. It's called Evaluating Sources for Credibility and it will hopefully help to develop a sense of what Credibility is and why it's important.

3. Next you're going to need to go to The University of Sydney's Library page to play a game on scholarly/non-scholarly sources. 

4. Finally, this video will go over the Research Process with you, and it should be the last one you need for this assignment.

6 - Comparative Essay


















OK. Here it is. Your next assignment is essentially just an essay. We will discuss the ins and outs of comparison essays in class, and I will post some lessons in the Skills/Resources section of the blog, but this is basically just an essay. Pick two things and get comparing!

Here is the Comparative Essay Assignment

And here is the Comparative Essay Rubric

You can use this Graphic Organizer to help you plan your comparison.
Or you can use THIS Graphic Organizer.

Or you can use none - two intersecting circles creates a venn-diagram, which works great.

7 - Research Report















More than half-way through the course now, so let's keep things moving. Now I want you to pick a topic, do some research work, and write up (a draft of) a paper. These are high end student skills, so don't be a hero and try to go it alone. Use the resources you have: classroom lessons, the Skills/Resources section of the BLOG, the library and all the wonderful librarians inside, and of course, me.

Here is the Research Report Assignment

Here is the Rubric for the Research Report (or Informative Essay)