Thursday, January 14, 2010

Social 30-1 Question Forum

Social Studies 30-1 students: post any questions that you may have about course content here. Please use your initials and section when you post so I know that you are my students posting questions here and not someone else's students. Click on the comment link below to post a question. Make sure you sign your questions with your initials ( for example. "K.G. in Social 30-1").

Social 30-1 Diploma Exam Part B is on Wednesday, January 27th
9:00-11:30 in the Main Gym

Social 10-1 Question Forum

Final Grades for Social 10-1 Students Have Been Posted!

Please check outside my door for your final grade in Social 10-1. The next time that you're at school swing by and have a look. I do not send out test scores or final marks by e-mail or post them on the blog.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

January 13


We played a review game of Jeopardy today in class. This took the whole period. You have a few days to study for next week's exams, so use the time wisely. The exam schedule for Grade 10 students is really compressed into the first week of the exam period. STUDY! I haven't posted your marks yet, I had to finalize school marks for the 30-1 students, so I'll try to post them in the next day or so outside of my classroom. I will be setting up a discussion forum on the blog here for 10-1 students, so you can post questions that you might have and I'll answer. There are certain rules for posting on the blog, and I'll remind you of them when it comes time to post comments.


You wrote your Comprehensive Final Exam today. I've marked it, and dropped your low test mark from this semester that the Comprehensive Final replaced. I've posted the Final Exam marks outside my door. For most people, the Final Exam pulled up their overall Test and Quiz average by 1-2%. I have also posted your School Awarded Marks. Your School Awarded Mark is your school based mark that you take into the Diploma Exam. Remember, that your school awarded mark makes up 50% of your final score in Social 30-1, with the two parts of the Diploma Exam making up the other 50%. If you want to calculate what mark you need to get on the Diploma Exam to get the mark that you want it is pretty easy math for most of you.

I will be at the school for the next couple of days if you want to come in and see me and ask questions or go over your essays or three source analysis assignments. I will be posting the tutorial schedule as well (these tutorials are on Monday to Wednesday of next week) outside my classroom. On the blog here I will be setting up a discussion forum for 30-1 students, so keep your eyes open for that. You will be able to post questions and I can answer them, so if you can't make it into the school you can always post it online here (I have certain rules for posting on the blog, which I'll remind you of).

Here are a couple of useful links to help prepare you for the Diploma Exam:

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

January 12


We played a review game of Jeopardy today in preparation for tomorrow's Comprehensive Final Exam. Make sure that you review for it, since you throw out your lowest result over the course of the semester with the result from this final. Also, you have Part A of your Final Exam on Friday. Good times!


We finished watching "Black Gold" today. Your "People vs. Starbucks" answers are due tomorrow as well as your "Black Gold" answers. Here is a link to the "People vs. Starbucks" article. Please send this to me by e-mail preferably, or bring it to class tomorrow. We'll be playing a Jeopardy review game tomorrow.

Monday, January 11, 2010

January 11


You have your Comprehensive Final Exam on Wednesday and Part A of your Diploma Exam on Friday, so I gave you the class period to review and study. While you were doing this, I finished putting together your Diploma Exam Study Guide (I have sent this to you already). For 30-2 students, I will be sending you a guide to writing the Part A of the Diploma this afternoon. We'll be playing a Jeopardy! review game tomorrow.


We started looking at the free trade versus fair trade issue by looking at the coffee industry. You are responsible for completing the questions from the handout that go with "The People vs. Starbucks" article that can be found here. We watched the documentary film "Black Gold" for most of the period.

Friday, January 08, 2010

January 8


I went through the key questions for all of the units that we covered throughout the semester, and then we looked at the curriculum itself and the key outcomes that you are expected to understand now that we have finished the course. I will be sending out a PDF copy of the Social Studies 30-1 and 30-2 curriculum to you this afternoon. Please make sure that you complete the homework assignment today (it's due today before midnight, please don't push the deadline!), you have to send me 7 Jeopardy! questions and answers for our review game that we'll be playing on Tuesday. You should be studying for your Comprehensive Final Exam this weekend. This exam will be on Wednesday.

I gave you your seat assignments for your Final Exam Part B, which will be in the Main Gym on Tuesday, January 19th from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Your Chapter 18 and 19 Key Terms and Questions are due on Monday. Please make sure that you read these chapters too! Please study for your final exam this weekend!

Thursday, January 07, 2010

January 7


You wrote Part A of your Final Exam today. I will probably be marking these over the weekend, so please don't ask me tomorrow how you did on the three source analysis. I also collected your Chapter 17 Key Terms and Questions.


I gave you back results of your Unit 3 Final Exam and informed you which exam I would be cancelling out with the results of the Comprehensive Final Exam next Wednesday. We talked a little bit about citizenship, types of citizenship, and rights and responsibilities of citizens in Canada. I gave you a homework assignment that is due Friday night (e-mail me before midnight and you'll get full homework check credit). This will be the last homework assignment of the semester: send me 7 Jeopardy! style questions and answers (I put an example up on the board)by e-mail (you know what my e-mail address is, right?). Please also put down the difficulty level as well (rank it from "100"-easy to "500"-difficult). Don't just send me easy questions!! You should also take the time to review the entire course over the next few days as there is a lot riding on the result of the Comprehensive Final.

Wednesday, January 06, 2010

January 6


You wrote your Chapter 15-16 Quiz today. Your Chapter 17 Key Terms and Questions are due tomorrow. Additionally, you have Part A of your Final Exam tomorrow. Please check your e-mail, I have sent out the Final Exam Study Guide to you.


You wrote your Unit 3 Final Exam today, and you'll get the results back tomorrow. I'll also show you what exam result you'll be trying to beat with next week's Comprehensive Final Exam. You will get to "throw out" a previous result with the result on the Comprehensive Final Exam. Start studying the entire semester's content! Your Unit 4 packages are due tomorrow!

Tuesday, January 05, 2010

January 5


I returned your Unit 3 essays today, and talked a fair bit about them. I gave you some reminders about upcoming important dates, and information related to your Diploma Exam. Please remember that you have your Unit 3 Final Exam tomorrow, please see the study guide here. You also have your Comprehensive Final Exam next Wednesday. I will treat this final exam similar to how the Math Department gives you a "trial final". The results of the Comprehensive Final will count, but I will allow you to use that mark to take out your lowest mark that you received on a test over the course of the semester. On Thursday, I will have a print out that will show you your lowest test result so you can see what test will be replaced with your Comprehensive Final Exam result.


We watched a short video from the CBC News in Review series that looked at global food prices, and then I went through a PowerPoint presentation that corresponds to Chapter 17 material (with some supplementary material as well) called "The Effects of Globalization on Individuals and Communities". I didn't finish this presentation with either class, but I will be sending it off by e-mail tonight. Please study for your Chapter 15-16 Test tonight. Make sure that you read the article on "Human Rights in a Globalized World" and study the section on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the "Quality of Life, Human Rights and Democratization" PowerPoint presentation. Please see the complete study guide for this test here. You also have Part A of your Final Exam on Thursday during class time, it is a three source analysis question. You will have 10 minutes to brainstorm with classmates and 60 minutes to write it.