September 28

Today's schedule: D C B A

D block - Socials 11

Today, Mr. Young will be doing a review with you for the unit test. You will also have time to work on your Election Challenge.

Here are a few studying tips:

• go over your notes and write important things on a separate piece of paper (sticky notes work really well for me)
• make some flash cards with important terms and ideas from this unit
• read through the study package that Mr. Young printed out for you
• try to write out concepts and definitions in your own words

Good luck on Monday!

C block - Humanities 8

After Silent Reading, we'll do Current Events. Today's event is a story from Toronto, and you can check it out here. We'll do some discussion questions and then summarize the event in the journals.

Afterwards, we will work on the "What am I?" poems. Did you include any similes or personification pieces? How are you using descriptive words? You'll share your poems with a partner, and hopefully they'll be able to guess what you were describing!

September 27

D block - Socials 11

Today, we talked about our Fundamental Freedoms as Canadians as well as our rights (as found in the Charter of Rights). Here's a link that has all of the information that we discussed.

Individually, I asked you to come up with the top 5 rights that you think you have as a person, as a Canadian and as a human in this world. Then, in groups of 3-5, you discussed the top 8 rights, and made note of what right you think is most important.

I showed you some examples from past provincial exams. You can study from them whenever you want - here's the link (just click on Grade 11, English and then "I accept" at the bottom of the page). They're a great tool for studying!

Tomorrow, Mr. Young and I will review the government unit and you will have some time to work on your election projects.

September 26

D block - Socials 11

I wanted to talk about how Canadians - of all ages - can influence government. We brainstormed some ideas of what this might look like. We can call/write/email our MLA, MP or alderperson, and/or petition or lobby the government. The important thing about today's lesson is that lobbying and petitioning are ways of influencing the government, and lobbyists are people hired by companies to influence legislation decisions.

You read the handout on Influencing Government from the Student Workbook and then answered these questions (which are due next class!). After that activity, I asked you to find some examples of civil disobedience in Canada (these questions are not for homework, but some things I want you to think about when you're researching the various examples).

Tomorrow, we'll discuss what you found on the computers and briefly talk about the Charter of Rights. Friday, with any luck, will be a review day - your unit final will be on Monday, October 1. 

September 25

D block - Socials 11

Today, we went over majority and minority governments, first-past-the-post voting and proportional representation. I showed you some old campaign videos.

To have a majority government, the federal government must have at least 155 seats (why? because there are 308 ridings). A majority government has it pretty easy - because they have at least 50% of the vote, they can pass bills really quickly. A minority government, on the other hand, makes passing bills a slow process. If the leading government has a minority, they may form a coalition government to get more votes in the House.

First-past-the-post vote means that there is a clear winner in an election. It doesn't matter if the NDP got 9 votes and the Liberals got 8... the NDP wins the seat. We discussed the pros and cons to this (it's efficient, but it doesn't represent voters' wishes).

Proportional representation is a possible solution to first-past-the-post. It would mean that voters could choose more than one candidate and the election results would be a better reflection of what the voters want. It could potentially mean more minority governments, though.

After the discussion, you worked on your Election Challenges, which are to be presented next Tuesday, October 2.

September 24

D block - Socials 11

Today, we'll talk about the electoral process here in Canada. Elections Canada has some additional information; check out pages 13 to 14, page 19 and pages 25 to 36.

On top of the wanted ads, you have another project to work on this week: an election presentation! For your project, you must include your political party's name, symbol and platform.

You will have time to work on your wanted ads and election presentations today and later this week in class (remember, the ads are due on Wednesday!).

September 20

D block - Socials 11

The objective for this class was to understand what the political isms in Canada mean. I asked you to think about some terms: communism, democracy, socialism, liberalism, ideology and liberalism.

Definition of ideology: a set of ideas that guide the decisions of people; political ideologies are systems of ideas that explain how a society should be organized; beliefs and/or platforms of political parties.

I asked you to agree or disagree with 15 various statements to see 1) what your political ideologies might be and 2) to give you examples of topics that political parties take a stance on (ex: some parties are completely opposed to the death penalty, others are not). In groups, we then came up with definitions for 6 isms: totalitarianism, democratism, liberalism, conservatism, socialism and capitalism.

For homework, please read pages 255 to 258 in your textbook, and answer questions 3 and 4 (a+b) on page 258. You'll find information on the various political parties in Canada here (check out the Rhinoceros Party!).