Happy New Year Everyone!
The third week of November (18 - 22)
is Anti-Bullying Week, an annual event that aims to raise awareness of bullying
and to find ways of preventing and responding to it. The campaign is geared towards children and
young people. The awareness campaign
originally began in the United Kingdom back in 2004 and has been observed and
promoted in other countries including Canada.
Unfortunately, bullying is not
foreign to the students of Inuujaq School.
It is just as much of a problem as it is for schools down south. On Tuesday, November 19, the high school
students gathered in the science room to watch Bully, a 2011 documentary film about bullying in the United
States. The film follows the lives of
five students who are bullied on a daily basis, how the students' families
fight for change & action, and what can happen to victims of bullying if
they don't receive help (ie. suicide).
The film was directed by Lee Hirsch, who also runs The Bully Project website.
After viewing the film, the teachers
and students discussed the problems that were addressed and related them to
their own experiences or situations they have witnessed. It was surprising to hear the comments and observations
that were shared. Before being
dismissed, the students were reminded to not ignore bullying behaviour but to
report it to a teacher or to someone they trusted. Bullying does not stop when good people do
nothing.
My Grade 10 Social Studies students
were quite busy in the second half of November. They wrote a definitions test,
made biographic posters about the Inuit land claim negotiators (ie. Tagak Curley, Paul Quassa, John Amagoalik), created timelines showing the most
important events of modern Inuit history, and looked at a cartoon analogy of
how the Nunavut territory came to be. I
had to increase the pace because December was fast approaching and I didn't
want to leave any important details out.
My Grade 11s learning about the Syrian Civil War. |
For Grade 11 Social Studies, I
decided to have my students examine the quality of life and standard of living
of one more country: Syria. In
particular, the current civil war that has been ravaging the country since
2011. Since the lessons progressed, (or
regressed, depending on your interpretation), from developed nation (Canada),
to One-Child Policy (China), and to famines (Ethiopia), I felt that naturally,
civil war would be the next topic. My
students had minimal knowledge of Syria because it was on the other side of the
world and not on 'their radar'. However,
they soon became interested in learning why the country was experiencing
internal conflict and how it was affecting those who lived in and around the
country.
One of my Grade 11 students decided to turn my mouse . . . into a mouse. |
My drummers spent the remaining two
weeks of November practicing the two Christmas pieces I arranged and a familiar
warm up that would serve as the 'opening number' at the evening concert. After attending the first Christmas Committee
meeting, to which I am a member, I learned that my drummers would be the second
last act in the program. The staff of
Inuujaq School were always the last act.
Friday, November 22, was a unique
day for my drummers because we put on an exclusive demonstration workshop in the gym for
Ina's Grade 2 class. Several
days prior, Ina explained to me that she wanted her students to see the various
drums up close, and understand how they worked and sounded differently. I accepted her request and came up with a
plan.
The workshop kicked off at 1:30pm when
Ina & her students arrived in the gym.
I spoke in English and Ina translated into Inuktitut. I began by introducing myself, the drummers,
and the drums that we played (snare, bass, quad-toms). After each drummer played a few sounds on
their drums, I passed around the large white Ralph Hardimon snare sticks my
drummers' use when playing on the practice pads.
The Grade 2s were surprised by how heavy they were. I then took one of the snare drums off its
stand and held it while each Grade 2 student hit it with a drum stick. The Grade 2s also got to hold the large bass
drum mallets.
My drummers and I played a few
simple and complicated rhythms; all were received with "ooohs" &
"aaaahs". I think by the third
rhythm, the Grade 2s were drumming along with their hands on the gym
floor. For the last activity, I taught
the students two stick tricks where the sticks bounce off the floor. I was taking a huge gamble because there is a
risk of breaking and/or snapping the sticks down the middle of the shaft. I only had 6 pairs (12 individual sticks) and
I didn't want to lose any. Thankfully,
that didn't happen. The students had fun
catching the sticks in the air. At the
end of the workshop, Ina & her students thanked us for a great performance
and left the gym wanting to learn more.
My Grade 12 Social Studies students
had their last test for the semester.
They were no longer required to write a departmental exam; the Social
Studies Project would be their final assessment. One of the major components of the assessment
is the 20-minute presentation where students talk about their topics, give a
brief outline of their essays, and showcase their products. The product is something that addresses your
topic but also benefits the greater community (ie. video, website, model,
artwork, radio show, etc). The remaining
portion of the presentation is fielding questions from the audience and panel
of judges.
Like most high school students, my
Grade 12s were getting jittery as the date of the presentations
approached. I had scheduled them for the
first week of December. To put their
minds at ease, we reviewed the presentation process, how to plan & prepare,
but most importantly, how to present oneself (ie. maintain eye contact, speak
clearly, don't chew gum, and engage the audience). I also advised my students to brainstorm what
they were going to say and write out how they were going to say it. But I stressed not to write a detailed
speech; just the most important points.
Writing in a formal tone was the main challenge because English is their
second language and they normally speak common English amongst each other. But they took the challenge in stride and
with my assistance, it appeared the final results would be good. Of course, I wouldn't know for sure until the
day of presentations.
Having fun with silhouette photography. |
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