Just a reminder regarding our final two weeks before the Christmas break.
Monday, December 10th: 5th novel discussion and reflection post
Monday, December 10th: Novel poster or Animito assignment due
Wednesday, December 12th: One hour exam on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms outlined in chapter three of your textbook. The test will consist of a multiple choice section, PAT example questions involving analyzing source documents such as a political cartoon, and a final analysis section where you will be presented a current issue related to the Charter and asked to analyze in what ways fundamental rights and freedoms are being violated. Please use the study guide as your test preparation document.
Thursday, December 13th: Final novel discussion and reflection post
Friday, December 14th: Introduction to the final assignment for the novel study where you will be asked to write a five-paragraph essay related to a theme in your book. In this essay you will be asked to make connections between this theme and your novel, experiences and events in your own life, along with events and issues in the greater world today. To support you in this process Mr. Publack and Mr. Scott will be making a series of videos outlining how to improve your essay writing abilities based on criteria from the Language Arts PAT rubric.
Wednesday, December 19th: Five paragraph essay due
Keep in mind that Peace Festival will be happening during the final week which includes assemblies, plays, and various events. Consequently, use what little class time you have to write the essay wisely.
To gain a better appreciation of how The Canadian Charter
of Rights and Freedoms is relevant to our lives today, you are asked to explore
a current event or issue where a Charter right or freedom was violated. To do
this you may choose one of the issues presented by your classmates or a new one
you learn about through research.
Assignment: Once you have chosen an issue, you are asked
to create a Rick Mercer style rant (see examples attached) exploring the relationship
between this issue and rights and freedoms guaranteed in the Charter.
Your rant should include:
-An explanation of the issue or incident in a way that people can relate to
-How a particular right or freedom
guaranteed in the Charter was violated. When doing this, use specific language
and rights from the Charter to support your position.
-Explain why this right or freedom that was violated should be guaranteed in the Charter.
To prepare for this begin by watching the examples of Rick Mercer style rants below. Consider how he hooks in his audience, outlines his position, and uses humour, sarcasm, exaggeration along with carefully chosen arguments and supporting evidence to back up his central position. Like Rick Mercer's rants, your rant should be about 2-3 minutes long max, which would make it 350-450 words. If you are working with a partner your rant should be no longer than 3 1/2 minutes long. A rough draft of your script should be handed in to Edmodo by Wednesday November 28th.
Once you have received formative feedback, your final rant should be walking or sitting down, videoed and then posted on Vimeo or YouTube (you will need to
create an account). If you would like this to be private, change your privacy
settings ensuring to include my email: david.s@calgaryscienceschool.com.
Here is the rubric for this assignment borrowed from the Alberta
Assessment Consortium:
Level
Criteria
4
Excellent
3
Proficient
2
Adequate
1
Limited *
Explains impact and relevance of Charter on our lives
/8
Provides an insightful explanation
of the impact and relevance of the Charter in relation to a current event in
Canada today.
Provides a thoughtful explanation
of the impact and relevance of the Charter in relation to a current event in
Canada today.
Provides a suitable explanation
of the impact and relevance of the Charter in relation to a current event in
Canada today.
Provides an irrelevant explanation
of the impact and relevance of the Charter in relation to a current event in
Canada today.
Formulates and supports position
/8
Formulates a strong andclear position and
provides compelling evidence to support position some of which is
based on specific language from the Charter.
Formulates solid position and provides convincing evidence to support
position some of which is based specific language from the Charter.
Formulates a position that may not
be clear and provides simplistic evidence to support position, which
may not include evidence from the charter.
Formulates an unclear position and provides inconclusive evidence to
support position.
Employs
rhetorical devices to communicate position
/8
Adopts rhetorical devices like
wit, slippery slope argument, sarcasm, analogies, and exaggeration to make
the viewer strongly relate to your
opinion.
Adopts rhetorical devices like
wit, slippery slope argument, sarcasm, analogies, and exaggeration to make
the viewer relate to your opinion.
Some rhetorical devices like wit,
sarcasm, analogies, and exaggeration may be absent making it hard to relate to your opinion.
Adopts rhetorical devices like
wit, sarcasm, analogies, and exaggeration to make the viewer strongly relate to your opinion.
Communicates information
/8
Communicates information in a skillful
manner to engage the viewer. This includes speaking clearly and
fluidly, with conviction and in an animated way.
Communicates information in an effective
manner to interest the reader.
This includes speaking mostly clearly, fluidly, with conviction and in
an animated way.
Communicates information in a straightforward
manner that generally holds the attention of the reader.
Communicates information in an ineffective
manner that does little to sustain attention of the reader.
Filming
and Editing of rant
/8
Filming
and editing is exceptionally professional
employing camera tricks similar to Rick Mercer’s rant, camera is steady,
sound is clear, and any cuts between takes are seamlessly integrated.
Filming
and editing looks professional
employing camera tricks similar to Rick Mercer rant, camera is steady, sound
is clear, and any cuts between takes are seamlessly integrated.
Filming
and editing lacks professionalism
employing few camera tricks similar to Rick Mercer rant, camera may not be
steady, sound not clear, and any cuts between takes are less than seamlessly
integrated.
There are
major issues with the filming and
editing in terms of sound, transitions between cuts, movement, or other.
Here are two examples of Rick Mercer Rants to use as a guide. Although his rants follow no set formula, you will notice a number of characteristics common to each of his rants:
-He begins by introducing the topic by relating how this issue relates to our lives -Then he states his position on the issue by first showing how the opposing position is ridiculous, or employs a slippery slope technique to show what would happen if this policy was pursued in the extreme (i.e., if we give the government access to our hard drives next they will want to record our phone conversations), or how the future would be intolerable if we took this position. -Ends with a funny, affirmative statement.
Over the next four weeks all grade 9's will be doing a novel study of their choice. Over the course of this time we will have a series of six discussion sessions as follows:
Novel Discussion 1 (read 1/6 of your book): November, 16th
Novel Discussion 2 (read 2/6 of your book): November, 19th
Novel Discussion 3 (read 1/2 of your book): November, 26th
Novel Discussion 4 (read 2/3 of your book): November, 29th
Novel Discussion 5 (read 5/6 of your book): December, 10th
Novel Discussion 6 (read final 1/6 of your book): November, 16th
Before the discussion session begins you are asked to create a 150-200 word response to either post on Edmodo or in the google doc your group is working within. These posts are due for the beginning of the discussion session and will be considered late if they come in after this. These posts should be either an interpretative, antidotal, or an editorial type response mirroring the work we did before the novel study began. See your Edmodo group for specific questions or themes to consider. Assessment will be based on the originality of the insights you bring to your response and your ability to support your insights with direct quotes from the novel or other research. For a full 8/8 you must find genuine insights and support your ideas with quotes from the text or other sources. An undeveloped post with no supporting details will receive a 4/8. Work on taking on one idea or insight rather than engaging a series of insights.
In
this assignment, you will be choosing 3 of the 6 poems, short stories,
and short films to write a response concentrating on themes. You must
turn in one Analytical, one Opinion (Editorial), and one Anecdotal
response. Please turn them all in on one document. You should also be
choosing at least 2 different types of media. For example, at least one poem and
one short story. Each response should be at least 350-500 words.
Please use the discussion questions below to help guide your responses:
What themes about life and the human condition does the film, short story, or poem explore?
What message is the author trying to communicate?
What language, phrases, metaphors does the author adopt to convey this message?
What connections can you make to experiences from your own life or other books and movies you have read or seen?
What do you think about the author's message? What is your position on this?
What supporting details can you bring in to back up your position?
Explanation and example of what an Analytical, Editorial, and Anecdotal response should sound/look like (Part 1, 2, 3): Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Exemplars:
Interpretive:
Evocative, powerful, but also depressing, The Boy Who Wanted to be a Lion,
by Alois Di Leo, explores issues of identity and isolation. Although
difficult to discern, the film's primary message points to the
impossibility of being something you are not, even when your
circumstances are close to unbearable. In the story the main character
Max, feels forever on the margins of society due to his inability to
hear. Frustrated with a hearing aid that emits an abrasive high-pitched
buzz, he discards this device in favour of the quiet solace of his own
imagination. After a seeing a lion at a zoo, seeking the acceptance,
power, and respect he does not possess, Max decides to take on the
identity of this courageous beast. Literally. He soon has his mom sew
him a costume and proceeds to fully embrace life as lion. However, after
sneaking into the cage of the lion that inspired him to take on this
new role, Max’s attempt at securing a new identity ends with tragic
results. For those of us used to a Hollywood ending this final scene was
shocking. This being said, in creating this sequence of events the film
shows that on some level we must come to grips with who we are, as well
as who we are not. Max could never be a lion, and moreover needed to
respect that a lion is by nature a wild, dangerous, and ferocious beast.
The film demonstrates that losing oneself in a world of fantasy can be
very dangerous as we can lose sight of the nature of reality and its
inherent dangers. In this way, no matter how painful, we must all learn
to accept our limitations and work within the bounds of the possible.
Editorial: (I would use most of the above paragraph, but I would add the following)
While
I understand why the author believes this to be true, I must disagree.
Alois Di Leo believes that following our dreams is somehow dangerous,
that conformity is preferable to being different or unique. Such
a message is offensive and deplorable. In the film there are multiple
occasions when Max is portrayed in colour, whereas his colleagues are
all coloured yellow; this is a perfect example of how the author is
implying we should all conform to society, and sacrifice our unique
identity. Conformity and the sacrificing of our dreams should not be
the message being sent to our youth, being pushed on the next
generation. Alois Di Leo has made it seem as though only pain and
misfortune can come of being different, of having hopes and ambitions
that are perceived as usual to the majority.
Please respond to three of the six below, either with an Analytical response, Editorial response, or Anecdotal response:
