Learning Log- January 9, 2012

Learning Log ~ January 9, 2012

What we did today:

Today was a peaceful day that was quite enjoyable actually!

We started out with a few rounds of Geography Challenge. There was one particularly interesting one called “It’s Party Time!” about different festivals and celebrations all over the world. It was kind of fun to see what we got right and wrong although my best score is 4/10 from an earlier round. After, I think, three rounds of Geography Challenge we forged ahead and got right to Concept Mapping/Mind Mapping.

We all had to copy down notes about the criteria, the organization, and reasons why they are useful graphic organizers. Ms. Lees then handed out a few sheets, two consisting of a web evaluation rubric (how we will be marked and what we will be marked on) and a peer evaluation rubric for Wednesday when we edit a friend’s rough draft of their paragraph. But we’ll be talking about that some other day in class .

Why we did what we did:

We did what we did today because somewhere along the line, we will actually have to use this stuff!! Seriously! Anyway, we did our Geography Challenge for the actual Geography Challenge that we will take tomorrow... bright and early !J

We took notes about important details that we needed to know so that when it comes time to start our book group webs, there will be no surprises if we didn’t get our desired marks. These webs are very important. Not only are they quick way to organize info, but it also helps us to make connections with the information that we’ve gathered.

Working in our groups helps us to boost our communication and collaboration skills, getting us more comfortable with talking to our friends and acquaintances (I think Trevor has already mentioned this in one of his posts). By collaboration, I mean problem solving peacefully, giving constructive criticism, having a fair distribution of work, being open minded, and working as a team. Remember that there has never been an “I” or “U” in team, and there never will be!

Connections and Reflections:

I usually start with reflections first, but today I thought I’d shake it up a bit J Here I go!

Having social/collaboration skills will help us later on in life, especially when we enter into the “real world” and we start working. Bosses are obviously not going to look for the biggest grouch to make the whole office grumpy with a storm cloud on top! Although they may be persuasive in a way, that’s not the type of leader that they want. They want somebody who is capable of influencing their colleagues for the better instead of the other way around.

I think it’s really good for our class to be able to practice our social skills in this manner because there’s usually at least one person that you sort of know. These types of activities just make it easier for everyone to get to know each other better, faster!

I used to be a really shy person up until high school, I guess I just realised that I couldn’t live in my own bubble with my own friends forever. It was always sad to find out that my friends weren’t in the same classes as me, but it’s a good thing that other people were more friendly, outgoing, and willing to make new friends than I was. I hope this social trend continues for me!

Homework:

© If you really want to, you can study for the Geography Challenge, it’s tomorrow by the way!

© Ms. Lees said to look over the web rubric for Wednesday.

© If you haven’t finished your portfolio you should go to FLEX which is on Thursday, or contact Ms. Lees to schedule a different time if you can’t make it.

© If your paragraphs aren’t complete, finish them up! You need an outline for the last two. If, by any chance, you are stuck for a topic you can refer to your heart map.

© You may want to take a refresher and skim through your novel once more.

I’m really not sure if there’s any more, if there is please comment and enlighten us.

The generous honour of posting tomorrow has been bestowed upon Shanese. I wish you luck, you’ll do great!!