“We are all born mad. Some remain so.”
Which of the leadership styles that Itay shows us do you think is the most effective and why?
What was effective about Itay’s talk?
How did he use direct and indirect examples in order to make his points about leadership?
Please add comments to this blog post.
Task
Find a TED talk that you think is effective in terms of the way it is communicated and the message it is attempting to make. Embed the talk in your blog and explain why you chose it.
Task:
Record a conversation about what you have learnt this year and what you are excited about for the future.
Process:
Step 1. Get familiar with the task and with voicethread.
Step 2: Sign up for a voicethread account, use your school e-mail and a password you often use. If you are leaving YIS you can use a personal e-mail address.
Step 3: Think about the last year at school.
What have been the big themes for you this year?
What are you really proud of?
What are you not so proud of?
What ideas do you have? What/ who has been a big influence on you this year?
What would you like to change about yourself?
What would you like to change about the school?
More to follow.
The Eng. Dept
Dear (your name),
After your wonderful audition we are delighted to offer you a part in our production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. However we cannot decide which part you would be best at. We are are not so worried about your physical appearance we have an excellent wardrobe and make-up department but we do want to be sure you are comfortable in the role.
Please write back to us with answers to the following questions. We think this will help you and us get the casting right for this play.
Which character do you want to play and why?
What do you think are the important features of this character and how would you go about showing these?
What is, in your opinion, the funniest moment that your character is involved in? How would you make sure this scene worked?
What do you think is the most important speech or single line that your character has in the first three acts? Please explain why this line is important.
Having read a the first two acts what do you think the themes of this play are and what is Shakespeare saying about those themes?
There are some notes at the end of the version of the play you have that might help you with these questions.
Thanks so much for your interest in our production,
Yours sincerely,
The YIS theatre company.
Over the past couple of months the grade 6 students at YIS have been working on an historical picture book project. In their humanitities (Humankind Curriculum) class they considered how important inventions or breakthroughs made by our early human ancestors might have come around.
The students then brought these ideas to their English class where they developed their plans into full picture book narratives appropriate for a grade two audience. The challenge for them was to keep the setting, characters and main events believable for the time period while developing entertaining and engaging stories.
An additional challenge was to get a digital version books onto their school blogs below are links to the students who have completed this so far. Comments are most appreciated. You can zoom in to see the pages more clearly by clicking on the fullscreen tab. We will add more stories next week. Thanks to the YIS grade two students who have already been a fantastic audience for these books. Comments on this post or on the students’ individual blogs most welcome.
Karina and the first bone flute by Emily
In pairs prepare a short blog entry or presentation to share with the rest of the class on the following topic.
What are some of the main reasons that people become homeless? Are these reasons common or different depending on the context/country the individual is in?
Keep a record of the links that you use to place on your websites.
The Sakura Medal project is a great chance for you to discover some new authors and develop your reading and writing skills. Last year many of the author’s read and responded to the reviews that the students wrote on the Sakura Medal website.
Click here for a full explanation of what the Sakura Medal Programme is.
Click here for the list of middle school books.
Click here for the high school books.
Remember you need to read five books in a category (three for high school) to be eligible to vote. The deadline is April 23rd if you want to read enough books to vote.
Please add your reviews of the Sakura books you read both to the Sakura Medal website (set-up by YIS librarian Mr. Farrell) and your own blog.
Happy reading.
The YIS English Department
Six ways to write better blog posts Six ways to improve your writing
1. Choose a topic you care about.
If you, as the writer, are not motivated by the topic then you are not going to capture the attention of your readers. Choose subjects that you care about. Follow your interests, respond to ideas, issues, films and books that made an impact on you. You can constructively criticise or you might have a new and original angle on a familiar topic. A few links to get you thinking: Opinion: Looking For Meaning In Games, The Joy of Failure
2. Think about your audience as a community
Good writers think about their audience as they write. This helps them to make good decisions about what to share with their audience.
3. Try to hook your readers with a catchy title or subheading
Your title should try to grab people as they skim through your blog. Mention the topic but try to add something pulls the audience in. Here is an example that mentions the film’s name but also gives an idea of what will follow with some clever use of language. Coraline film review: Sparklingly spookish stop motion
4. Make comparisons and do not be afraid to bring in other people’s ideas
Show that you have read and listened to other people writing about the same topic. If you review a science fiction film, show that you understand some of the common features of this type of film. Evidence that you are knowledgeable about a topic or genre will help your reader trust you and make them want to come back and read more of your posts.
5. Keep people reading
Avoid giving everything away in your opening paragraph. Use structure, humour and planning to keep people reading. Avoid lists, endless plot descriptions and repetition to stop people leaving your post for something more interesting.
6. Use paper and pencil to plan
Typing at a computer can lead to writing that lacks thought, shape and reflection. Use an old-school paper and pencil approach to plan your ideas. This also works well for presentations or, in fact, any complex task you are working on. The internet is great for research but also pretty good for distractions.
In your groups discuss and give examples of techniques that Roald Dahl uses to make this event exciting?
Dear students,
As I am sure you remember, today (Thursday) for the double period you will be working on your response to the film version of ‘Skellig’ that we watched and took notes on. Use your notes to help you, but here are some links and questions to help your thinking;
If you are comparing the film and novel.
How was the film different from the novel and why do you think these decisions were taken?
Later in your response you can say which one you preferred but explain why?
If you think the story is better suited to a novel or film version try to give reasons and examples.
You can also review the film without mentioning the novel. There is some advice on writing good film reviews here.
The assessment sheet for your blogs is here.
For both periods you can use the ten computers in room 404. The other students can get laptops from the 3rd floor cart for period 2 but need to return them at the end of the period and go to the IT lab where there will be 7 spare desktops during period 3. Mr Ames will be there with a grade 11 class but he knows that some grade 8 students will need to use the computers as well.
Look forward to seeing what you got done tomorrow, you should complete your response by next Thursday.
Thanks,
Mr Campbell
14webbk:
14lafittem: 
Siya:
Jamie Raskin:
campbellc:
16mellbinl:
16mikit:
Utana:
16weegelst:
16smithj: 