March 24

Konnichiwa.
We split our time today between working on Romeo & Juliet projects and studying for the upcoming Chapter 6-8 Test. I gave you the study guide for this test, here it is:

Topics:

• Labour Movement
• Labour Unions
• Collective Bargaining process
• Binding Arbitration
• Corporations (Here's a good hyperlink for this topic, direct from the Social Studies Web click here)
• Stock Market
• Trust Companies
• The Great Depression
• F.D.R. and the New Deal
• Business Cycle (Here's the hyperlink for the Business Cycle from the Social Studies Web)
• Consumption
• Consumers/Consumerism
• Consumer Movement

Key Terms:

• labour movement
• collective bargaining
• indentured servants
• closed shop
• suffragette
• bargaining in bad faith
• mediate
• mediator
• arbitrator
• prosperity
• depression
• recession
• F.D.R.
• business cycle
• boom
• bust
• stocks
• corporation
• stock market
• consumption
• binding arbitration
• migrant workers
• humanitarianism
• merger
• dues
• blue collar workers
• aggregate
• equity
• the Great Depression
• the New Deal
• consumer
• consumerism
• inflation
• union
• mechanization
• specialization

Here are some upcoming important dates:

• March 25th-April 10th: Spring Break
• Chapter 6-8 Test: Friday, April 15th
• Romeo & Juliet projects are due on Monday, April 18th

Some of you still haven't sent me your American Entrepreneur PowerPoint projects. Please send them to my Yahoo! e-mail account address (which I gave you in class).

Please enjoy your Spring Break! See you in two weeks!

March 23

Today we had some technical difficulties, but eventually many more students were able to do their Entrepreneur PowerPoint presentations. While we were waiting for the network to come back online, I gave you some more time to work on your Romeo & Juliet projects.

I request that if you sent your PowerPoint presentations to my CBE e-mail account to re-submit it again to my Yahoo! e-mail account. If you missed class today, and didn't get this e-mail address, please get it from a classmate! My mailbox to my CBE account is apparently 25 megs, and my Yahoo! account is 250 megs, so there's plenty of room.

March 21

Konbanwa. (Good evening)
As I sit at home this evening writing this post, I hope that more of you will be submitting your American Entrepreneur PowerPoint presentations to my e-mail account tonight. Please don't assume that you won't be presenting tomorrow, come to class prepared. Either submit the PowerPoint presentation into my submissions folder at school, send it to me by e-mail, or bring the PowerPoint saved to a CD (I prefer a CD-R or CD-RW over a floppy disk). Ultimately, your presentation must be electronically submitted into my submissions folder at school. In case you have forgotten my e-mail address, here it is again: krgilchrist@cbe.ab.ca

During class today, I gave you most of both periods to work on your Romeo & Juliet projects. For about 15-20 minutes Ms. Holland had you do an evaluation of her student teaching experience at Terry Fox.

Here are some upcoming important dates:

• Tuesday (March 22nd) and Wednesday (March 23rd) presentation days for the American Entrepreneur PowerPoint projects
• Good Friday, March 25th (no school)
• March 25th-April 10th Spring Break (no classes)

Mata ashita ne! (See you tomorrow!)

March 17

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Once again, you were given one class period to work on your Romeo & Juliet projects. You will get some time next week to work on them, but you should try to work on this project at home too. Please don't forget to finish your American Entrepreneur PowerPoint presentations for Tuesday. If you are working on this at home you can send your finished presentation to my CBE e-mail account, in case you forgot, here it is: krgilchrist@cbe.ab.ca

During the second period of Humanities, Ms. Holland did some brainstorming with you about what makes a good presentation. She then gave you some notes on presentations, the following are just a brief summary of the notes:
A. The Planning Stage
   1. Know your audience
   2. Know what you want to achieve (leave out unnecessary details, focus on most important details)
   3. Practice (practice delivering your presentation with someone you trust; practice without the PowerPoint presentation; try different approaches, with different introductions
   4. PowerPoint is a visual aid (words are not visuals; keep it simple)
B. The Presentation
   1. Opening and Introduction (sets the tone)
   2. Introduce (introduce yourself, introduce your topic, introduce your presentation)
   3. Body of the Presentation (keep it simple, group your information in groups of three)
C. Prompt Cards
   1. Use a dark color on your cards
   2. Put a heading on each card
   3. Large, clear writing
   4. Keep it simple (don't overload the cards with information)
   5. The point of the prompt cards is to jog your memory
   6. Number at the bottom of each card
D. Keeping your nerves in check
   1. Rehearse
   2. Smile/Confidence/Posture
   3. Make eye contact with several people in the audience
   4. Watch your tempo and volume (focus on your breathing)
E. Hints for Creating Interest
   1. Visual Aids
   2. Try to connect your topic to a current affair or event
   3. You can ask questions of your audience
   4. Mottos, slogans, quotes
   5. Poetic devices (alliteration, similes, metaphors)

Additionally, Ms. Holland did a homework check in class for yesterday's homework and led you through a discussion of the effect of advertising in today's society.

Upcoming important dates:

• T.A. Conferences: Friday, March 18th
• American Entrepreneur PowerPoint presentations due Tuesday, March 22nd

March 16

Good morrow coz.
You were given class time today to work on your Romeo & Juliet projects, one class period to be exact. During the second period, you watched a video from the TV program "21c" on advertising and marketing to teenagers. Ms. Holland gave you some questions to go with the video. You also had a small homework assignment based on the video. You had some choice as to what you were going to do for homework, and the choices were on the question sheet.

Please don't forget that your American Entrepreneur PowerPoint presentations are due very soon (Tuesday to be exact). Please make sure that your PowerPoint is finished and is submitted into my submissions folder on the Assignments drive at school.

March 15

Good evening!
Today was your first chance to work on your Romeo & Juliet projects in class. You were given one class period to work on this project.
In the second half of the class you looked at some work scenarios with Ms. Holland, and talked about the "world of work" for young people, and some rights that you have as employees.
Just a reminder: you have to finish your Chapter 8 Power Notes for tomorrow!

March 14

Konbanwa.
Today we covered a few different topics: I distributed the Romeo & Juliet project list, we talked about doing proper citations in bibliographies, and I gave you the Chapter 8 Power Notes assignment.
If you missed class today, you need to get the Romeo & Juliet project list from me, I still have extra copies.
I also gave you a handout on doing citations according to the CBE format. This will help you to do your bibliography properly for your PowerPoint presentations. We will be doing the presentations for the American Entrepreneur project on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. Everyone must be ready to present for Tuesday!

Here is the Chapter 8 Power Notes assignment:
1. What is consumption?
1. What is a consumer?
1. History of the consumer movement
1. Areas of concern for the consumer movement
1. Causes of consumerism
1. Impersonal and unresponsive companies
1. The budget squeeze and the American family
1. Working for consumer rights
1. How consumer critics and business see the world differently
1. Where do consumer complaints go?

These power notes are due on Wednesday!

Here are some upcoming important events:

• Rough draft of the American Entrepreneur bibliography is due tomorrow (Tuesday)
• Chapter 8 Power Notes (due Wednesday, March 16th)
• American Entrepreneur PowerPoint presentations must be finished by next Tuesday, March 22nd (there will not be any more class time for this project)
• American Entrepreneur Case Study Essays due date is still T.B.A.

March 11

Konnichiwa.
You wrote a "surprise" pop quiz today, on Chapter 7. You were allowed to use your Chapter 7 power notes to help you with this test. I'm still a little bit amazed by people that don't do their homework... you're throwing EASY marks away!

I also briefly introduced your Romeo & Juliet projects to you. I'll be going into much more detail about this assignment on Monday. No homework for this weekend. Enjoy!

Just a quick reminder:
If you are not planning on going to James Fowler next year (for example, you've been accepted into I.B. at Pearson) you need to go to Fowler in person with a parent or guardian with transcripts from Terry Fox and formally transfer.

Have a great weekend!

March 10

Greetings!
We finished watching Romeo & Juliet in class. This was the second half of the movie that we started watching on Tuesday. At the conclusion of the film we had an interesting conversation about one of the "controversial issues" that is sometimes overlooked when students study this play, namely Shakespeare's comment on arranged marriages. We had an interesting discussion about this topic with students sharing information about religions or cultures that have arranged marriages. In Shakespeare's time arranged marriages were far more commonplace, whereas today, it is not as commonplace in Europe or North America. I really enjoyed this discussion because it allowed for people to contribute to the discussion, and share their thoughts, and maybe "break down" some misconceptions about arranged marriages in their religion or culture.

We also briefly looked at the business cycle at the end of the class.

Just a reminder that your Chapter 7 power notes are due tomorrow! Please make sure that you finish them tonight and bring them to class tomorrow!! In case you missed it, here are the main ideas (the "1's") for the power notes:
1. The USA-NOT a pure market system
1. The Beginnings of American Business
1. The Corporation
1. How does a corporation work?
1. How does a stock market work?
1. Trust Companies
1. American Government Legislation against Trusts
1. The Great Depression and Changes to Government Intervention
1. The Impact of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
1. The New Deal
1. The Government's Response to Business Cycles

March 9

Today we split time between doing work on the American Entrepreneur project and creating power notes for Chapter 7. Essentially, if you had access to a laptop in the first period you worked on your project, while the other half of the class worked on the power notes. Then, in the second period we flipped it, and people who had been working on their power notes got computer access, while the other half of the class worked on their power notes. These power notes are due on Friday.

March 8

Today we took some brief notes on the collective bargaining process. Then, we watched the first half of the movie Romeo & Juliet. We'll be watching this movie again on Thursday. Tomorrow will be the last day that I will be giving you in class to work on your American Entrepreneur project. Hopefully, you will have a good start on your PowerPoint project by the end of this period.

March 7

Depending on which academic group you are in, the day may have varied a little. Basically, with 9B you had most of the period to work on your American Entrepreneur project. With 9A, we had to finish doing the excerpt readings from Romeo & Juliet, and then you were able to work on your projects. Most people have started building their PowerPoint presentations. There is no homework tonight in Humanities, unless you would like to do some research outside of class time. Wednesday will be the last day that you will receive class time from me to work on PowerPoint presentations, so please come to class prepared to work.

Here are some upcoming important dates:

• Official registration for James Fowler will happen during class time on Wednesday, Period 5 in both my class and Ms. Peesker's class.

March 4

You wrote your Chapter 6 Open Notes Test today in class, and you also marked it. On Monday, we have the laptops booked so you will have some time to work on your American Entrepreneur project in class.

March 3

Today I had you read Chapter 6 in your textbook Made in the USA. I then gave you a power note guide for Chapter 6. You had the remainder of your Humanities period to create your Chapter 6 Power Notes. Here are the main ideas for the power notes guide:

1. Changes Brought on by Industrial Growth in America
1. Labour Movements- What are they?
1. Labour Movements- Why do they exist?
1. Labour Unions- How have they worked?
1. Growth of the American Labour Movement
1. The Rise of Labour Unions
1. The Growth of Unions
1. Relations Between Labour Unions & Management
1. Legislation That Helps Unions
1. Modern Industries- How do they work?

These power notes are for homework. This assignment is due tomorrow! The "pay off" for doing your homework (and doing it well) is an Open Notes Test that you are writing on Chapter 6 tomorrow in class.

March 2

Today you had some class time to work on your research and planning of your American Entrepreneur project. We looked at some examples from Ms. Sarsons' class. You had some time with the laptops to either continue your research or start building your PowerPoint project.

March 1

You were given both periods today to work on your research for your American Entrepreneur project. The class was split in half for both periods and half of you went to the library to do your research, while the other half of the class remained in the classroom working with the wireless laptops. We also have the laptops booked for both periods tomorrow. You will not be able to have a laptop for both periods (since we only have 15 laptops for 30 students), so please come to class with other materials to work on this project. For example, bring a book or print outs from other websites to continue compiling your power notes. Tomorrow, I will be showing you some examples of some other PowerPoint presentations on a few American Entrepreneurs at the beginning of class.