"Lost Generation"

What Do You Think?

Click on the video below. Watch it and then post any thoughts or feelings you may have on it. Comment on how you think this style of writing was so effective.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

Check it out!
Click on the links below to peruse exciting sites related to our learning!

Nelson Literacy
http://www.nelson.com/ned/#cmd/school?dis=LIT

Teen Reads
http://www.teenreads.com

Link to Learning
http://www.linktolearning.com/language.htm

Hands Up! "I Have A Question..": Post your questions to daily assignments here...

"I Have A Question..."

Feel free to use this area for any questions, comments or concerns you may have about daily assignments. You may also email me privately. I will review this section daily and answer the best I can. We can also discuss as a class during school time. If you feel that you can contribute to a question asked, please do so!

Daily Journal Topic

Cell phones, IPods and Laptops- Oh My!

With the mass introduction of electronic learning, we are seeing more and more problems arise with the issues of privacy in schools. Some believe that student cell phones, IPods, and laptops should be monitored daily by teachers, allowing them to search all three to ensure that each is being used appropriately, without the threat of a breach of privacy to both teachers and students. Do you think this is necessary? Or is this a breach of the students' privacy? Prepare a journal entry discussing both sides of the issue. Take the perspective of the teacher and the student, discussing the concerns both sides may have.
Please post your response in journal format in the "comment" section.

Welcome to Grade 8 English!

Dear Grade 8s,
Welcome! This is our official Grade 8 English blog. Here, you'll be able to:

• Retrieve homework assignments and refer to rubrics (including Ontario Curriculum Expectations)
  
• Post questions regarding class work
  
• Respond to 'Daily Journal Topics'
• Chat with fellow classmates about current events
  
• Find helpful literacy links.
  

According the Ontario Curriculum Expectations, this year we will be learning to...

• (Reading) Read a wide variety of increasingly complex or difficult texts from diverse cultures,including literary texts (e.g., short stories, novels, poetry, essays, science fiction, memoirs, scripts, satire), graphic texts (e.g., graphs and graphic organizers,charts and tables, surveys, maps, spreadsheets),and informational texts (e.g.,essays, Canadian and global print and online sources, electronic texts, textbooks,dictionaries, thesauri, websites, transcripts).

• (Writing) Identify the topic, purpose, and audience for more complex writing forms (e.g., a personal memoir about the school experience to share with classmates, family, and friends at graduation; a report on a topic of current interest in the style of a newspaper article, including headlines, for a school or community newspaper; a campaign flyer or brochure to promote a candidate for school government)

Check out the full list of expectations at:

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/language18currb.pdf


Please feel free to visit and interact on the blog daily. I would like us to get used to using it and referring to it. As we venture into a world of online living, consider this blog as one of your daily 'visits' on the Internet.

I look forward to our year together.