Comments (0) Val’s car came out for its second appearance, the first being Halloween, this Saturday for Bells on Danforth. It has been repainted in anticipation of the East York Canada Day Parade on Saturday.
Here are some photos from the last few days of school. Thanks for a great semester!
Our man Akhenaten – remember – tyrant or visionary? – is in the news a lot lately.
Read this interesting article on archaeological excavations at Amarna, Akhenaten’s capital, suggesting that child labour was used to build the new city.
Here are some other interesting Akhenaten links:
The Lost City of Akhenaten (CNRNews – 3D models of buildings in the city)
Meet King Tut’s Father, Egypt’s First Revolutionary (National Geographic – amazing photos, including the one below of a skull with preserved hair)
When are people going to stop referring to him as Tut’s father? Tut should be Akhenaten’s son!
Here is the brochure which lists all the workshops. You’ll need to choose your top 2 for each session.
2017_TDSB-UofT_History_Conference
Please return permission forms to Ms. G ASAP = first come, first served (I can take 8 people). Bring your $5.00 as well.
Thanks,
Ms. G
Years ago, in the span of two weeks, my grade 11 students would take notes for a 5-paragraph essay on Egypt or Mesopotamia and produce the actual essay, including a draft. These days, time has slowed to a crawl and I have tried to adapt; I’ve changed the essay to a paragraph, and scaffolded it to a major degree, with the opportunity for feedback on an outline via comments on google docs.
Sadly, despite these adaptations, I have received a surprisingly low number of outlines. Now that the “deadline” has passed, I think I have received 16 out of 27.
What has happened? Or more accurately, I think, where has students’ time gone?
In the past, students didn’t spend 4-5 hours per day on social media.
If we think these phones aren’t harming students’ productivity, we are deluding ourselves. If we think these phones aren’t harming students’ ability to write, we are lying to ourselves.
I am seriously concerned about some students’ ability to be productive on any job, including paid work.
Students need to take responsibility for their own learning, which is precisely why I have increased my use of “assessment as and for learning”, wherein I give feedback but not necessarily marks as practice for upcoming assignments (as per the requirements of the Ontario curriculum). This Egypt or Mesopotamia paragraph will eventually be the first body paragraph in the students’ culminating essay at the end of the semester. Why wouldn’t students jump at the opportunity to get it done early and receive feedback from the teacher? The Ontario curriculum is designed for students to practice their skills. I am providing that opportunity. The fact that some students don’t want to take it really concerns me. That’s why I say they have to take responsibility. I’ve created the conditions in which they have the opportunity. They just have to do it.
Ultimately, it may be that paragraphs and essays aren’t the most engaging types of assessments. I get that. But I feel that after my nearly 20 years of teaching I have a position from which to judge what they need to work on most. I’m really trying to get my students to think, first and foremost. But I also believe that expressing themselves, both in terms of detailed evidence and strong arguments, in a formal written manner, is crucial for their future.
It seems to me that the culture we live in does not promote responsibility. I will keep trying to go against this current.
Uncategorized
As usual I’ve watched a lot of figure skating this season. Most happily I have watched Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir in every competition. That all wrapped up today at the World Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki, Finland.
(Global News)
While it wasn’t their best free dance, it was a great feather in their cap for Tessa and Scott to win at Worlds in the first year of their comeback. I cannot be happier that they have decided to return. CBC ran an interesting feature on them in which they said that in the past they had created some programs they felt were never finished. I hope they weren’t referring to “Carmen”, one of my favourites. This year’s program is an absolute masterpiece of understated elegance. Even nicer, they have such a contrast between their uptempo Prince short dance and their subdued, emotional free dance.
While ice dance is a scoring mystery, I am very confident in my own preferences. In Tessa and Scott’s absence I had transferred my loyalty to Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje, perennial oh-so-close finishers. Much was made this year of their coaching and training locale changes. I had not been buying in until the free dance today. I thought she was much more understated than in the past (which I prefer). They opted not to go over the top, a good decision in that they finished fourth. Again, oh so close, but much better than last year. Apart from Tessa and Scott’s free dance, my favourite program of the year is Paul Poirier and Piper Gilles’ exquisitely sharp tango. Paul can cool it with the moustache antics – their skating is plenty fine.
I had quite a few Patrick Chan moments as well this season, from the high of clean skating at Canadians to the low of flailing at Grand Prix finals. I thought his long program at World’s, while not clean, was a good culmination to a rough season. At least he ended on a relatively high note: great quad salchow, no stupid doubling of jumps, beautiful programs as usual. I’m very happy he finally has some quality coaching and some recognition that his mental game is not strong enough.
I have said to Val many times that it’s hard to be a Patrick Chan fan. At Canadian nationals this year after his fantastic long program I actually cried.
(Toronto Star)
I have to give a shout out to Javier Fernandez (who I love as much for his skating as for his personality) for an incredible short program and to Yuzuru Hanyu (who I normally do not love) for a perfectly controlled free program when it really mattered. And of course, to Brian Orser for having three pupils in the medals and Marie France Dubreil and Patrice Lauzon for their amazing coaching of the gold and silver dance teams! Heartbreak for their American team who were sitting in third but sadly screwed up what was a mesmerizing program.
It was most interesting to see Tracy Wilson on the sidelines and in the kiss and cry area with her students. I used to really like her as a commentator for the insights she’d share. I’m kind of done with her now as I tend to disagree with her assessments. It’s nicer to see her coaching and sharing her technical knowledge and artistic intuitiveness.
I look forward to seeing most of our amazing Canadian skaters at Stars on Ice in May.
Richard Parker has been doing well so far in his new life. Sure, he gets a lot of corrections – “Richard, get out of there; Richard, stop that; Richard, calm down; Richard, don’t eat that!” But he’s very easy going. He has gained a lot of weight already, so much so that he’s not a super skinny guy anymore.
Yesterday he had surgery to “fix” him. We were hoping it would calm him down somewhat. When he came back from the vet last night, he was insanely hungry and tried to eat and lick everything. Today he’s taking it easier and napping a lot.
Bailey also had surgery yesterday, his to remove most of his horribly rotten teeth. He is not quite feeling better yet so no pictures.
Oops, we got another cat. Well, really he adopted us. We found him wandering around at our cottage as the weather was getting colder and colder. Need I say more? Just look at him, scratching to get in. We did check with locals if they knew him. We did take him to the local vet to check for a micro-chip. He was a complete mystery.
So let me introduce Richard Parker, our newest addition. Fletch’s “mini-me.” 
Sweet and cuddly. Obsessive eater. I have never seen anything like his ability to vacuum up food. Even Val, the cat whisperer, has trouble keeping him contained during feeding time – he’s in everyone else’s food in a flash.
He’s only about one year old, so he has a lot of energy, followed by a lot of napping. 
We already love him very much.
Many of you may know I rarely leave my house, other than to go to work, pilates, riding, the cottage, or guitar. Oh yes, and my mom’s condo. I’m a bit of a home body.
Well, I went out three times this week. Do I look extra tired? Don’t answer that.
Last Saturday, at MY urging, Val and I went out to see a movie: Hidden Figures. Very good movie – worst seats in the house – front row. I kept asking Val, “is that Kevin Costner?”
Last Sunday, I hosted a brunch for Val’s birthday at The Hothouse. There was a lot of bacon. Lindsay and I had a lot of bread, good bread, mind you.
Last night, my sister-in-law Felicity took Val and I out for a mystery event. It turned out to be a taping of the CBC Radio show The Debaters. It was hilarious. We laughed for three hours. And I finally made it inside the Danforth Music Hall. But there was vegan bashing. Mean, yet funny, people.
(CBC)
There you go. My outings for the year are done.
Now on with the marking.
Uncategorized
I’m sitting here “watching” the lead-up to the Oscars with my sister-in-law Felicity who absolutely ADORES the whole thing. I’m not into it – haven’t seen a movie for a long time – however, I thought it’d be nice to share this family moment. And I got some vegan ice cream.
Were there ancient equivalents to the Oscars? Maybe not, but here are a few relevant links.
Two years ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that in ancient Greece awards for acting included a goat, not a little golden statue. The Getty Museum blog also revealed the origin of the word trophy – worth reading. In case you don’t know, The Getty Museum is located in Los Angeles and the foundation is dedicated to preservation of art.
While watching the Oscars (or any other award show – or show – for that matter) you might munch on popcorn. NPR’s The Salt traces the history of this fibrous food from its origins in Mesoamerica. In case you don’t know, NPR is National Public Radio, a very erudite radio network. Also in case you don’t know, I can’t eat popcorn. Don’t talk to me about that!
Here are Felicity’s picks:
Best Picture: Moonlight – she says, “broke her heart. Had to control vocal sob in theatre at the end.”
Best Actor: Denzel Washington for Fences. “Because Casey Affleck doesn’t deserve the award unless people acknowledge his numerous sexual assault allegations.” Here’s her historical perspective: “white men continue to get away with everything.”
Best Actress: Emma Stone for La La Land. Two las, to be clear. She is “magical in the movie and her song, ‘Audition,’ is so moving.”
Best Director: “it just can’t be Mel Gibson.” I have to agree with her on that even though I haven’t seen one single film nominated.
Just an aside, I did recognize one of the interviewees on the tv: Lin Manuel Miranda, musical genius from Hamilton.
I will say that I do wish to see Hidden Figures some time soon, at least within the next year.
Uncategorized
Panorama Theme by 
Themocracy
