Thursday, April 30, 2015

May 4-8 Schedule and Reminders; Genius Hour Final Reflection Questions

Flex times:  Monday and Tuesday this week!

Monday - May 4:

  • Last day of class time to work on your filming, editing and dvd booklet
    • These are due on the double block days - beginning of the block - so that I can put together into a film during class.
Tuesday - May 5:
  • Genius Hour presentations continue
Wednesday/Thursday May 6/7:
  • Final Genius Hour Presentations first block
  • Introduction to the Renaissance second block
  • we will be stringing all the videos together to make a film and collecting the DVD booklets too at the beginning of class
Friday:  Film Festival!  
  • Self/peer assessments and reflections for film project
Genius Hour Projects:  By today - Friday, you should have all your  process loaded onto your FHLearn Blog (including 
  • email me with the link to your blog when this is done 
Genius Hour Final Reflection Questions:  Remember we are looking for your ability to self assess, reflect and articulate your learning clearly as part of developing your metacognitive skills.  This is also your last opportunity to show how much you learned, even if you faltered throughout different moments in the GH process.

1.  Looking back, what were you most proud of during the Genius Hour Project process?

2.  What do you think were your biggest challenges completing the GH project?  What did you learn from them and what would you do differently if you could? Explain with specific reasons and examples.

3.  What is your biggest "take-away" from this overall experience - sum up your biggest learning in 1-3 sentences.  


Tuesday, April 28, 2015

GH Presentation Reminder !

Apple TV has not been cooperating so make sure anything you are using to present on the computer can be done via flash drive on the class room computer.

Monday, April 27, 2015

Genius Hour Presentations and Flex

Hi everyone,

 I will be open for flex on Monday and before school Tuesday to help answer questions regarding Genius Hour Presentations.  However, I won't be giving you all the answers - you are in charge of this project. You own it.


"If parents [or teachers]  want to give their children a gift, the best thing they can do is to teach their children to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning." Carol Dweck


Learning is messy.  Our aim is progress, not perfection. 

Some of you are panicking that you are not or did not "do it right".  Each project and presentation will be different as they are based on your interests and skills - my biggest expectation is that you show new learning, growth and have evidence to support.

Just a reminder of my expectations for Genius Hour Process and your end product - these were the steps we followed and now that we are near the end,


  1. Genius Hour Brainstorming
  2. Proposal - with notes from our conferencing.  If this did not get done ages ago in class (February), you were expected to attend flex. If it is not done by now, it is too late for this step.
  3. Log of your process and reflections along the way - don't try to make it up if you have not done so.  May be in many forms -dependent upon your project and how you said you would log your process.  It should include reasons for changes/decisions you made along the way, especially if you deterred greatly from your original proposal.
  4. Peer Review - minimally 2 people (1 from our class) - you were told to ask specific questions and to record responses in some way.  
  5. Your presentation - notes, script or other.  Again - will vary dependent upon your project.
  6. Reflections - after your presentations.  I will post reflection questions this week and they will be due (with all your project process in one place) by next Friday (May 8).  This is an opportunity to further demonstrate your learning and your metacognitive (reflective thinking skills).  Even if your project or presentation does not go as planned, you can make up for it here as this is where the depth of your learning can be demonstrated.  
Need further encouragement? Consider these articles on a Growth Mindset to better understand why struggle and challenge are important to learning and growth.







Friday, April 24, 2015

Schedule April 27 - April 30 and Genius Hour Presentation Info.

Monday:  Time to finish filming.

Tuesday: time to work on editing and dvd booklets.

Wednesday (1,1) and Thursday (4.4) Double Block Days: Genius Hour Presentations

What you will need:  You cannot print during class time as we will get started right away.

  • printed copy of your proposal (after review and conferencing) - if you did not conference or review with me, why not?  There was time in class and at flex since February.
In preparation:  complete the appropriate survey for your block

Block 1:  Survey Form

Block 4: Survey Form

Question Re:  DVD booklet

Q:  Is the plot synopsis of the book or of our adapted film version.

A:  Both - we want to see how you adapted the book into film.

Eg.  Pony and Johnny run away to hide in the small country town of Windrixville.

Adapted:  In our "Alice in Wonderland version" Pony and Johnny escape through the looking glass to the Mad Hatters' Tea Party.


Thursday, April 23, 2015

Alert - Maiya and Insung's Film Production Crew

Sounds like communication breakdown - Brandon, Steven and William

Everyone check your email as there is a google doc for you and don't forget to bring props and costumes.  You will need to work doubly hard to prepare Thursday for filming on Friday - to make it more efficient, make sure to script, rehearse, and make sure you review the criteria/expectations in the rubric.  If you cannot film tomorrow, you can start to work on your dvd cover.  You will need to work together and support each other to finish the scenes.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Thursday April 23 - flex times

Reminder - flex time will be open and you need to check in with a partner to do your peer review for Genius Hour projects.  My intention will be to have presentations starting in the double blocks next Wednesday and Thursday.



Monday, April 20, 2015

Welcome to your Film Challenge!

Blocks 1 and 4 (Ms Lees) and Block 2 (Mr Hoskins) have embarked on a film challenge - may the "bestest" film win!

Reminder to come prepared for each class - all materials can be found here:

Film Project Overview

Film Production Team Planning Sheet

Assessment Rubric

Scene Planning Sheet

Story Board Template

Director's Guide

Actor's Guide



DVD Cover Description and Criteria - actors do this while editor and director finish completing the film.

I'm so excited!   ....


Friday, April 17, 2015

Speechmeet results and more!

Here is a link to the parade info and road closures if you are trying to get around Surrey tomorrow.

Surrey Vaisakhi Parade

Reminder to continue to work on your Genius Hour Project and to log your process.  Presentations are after next week.

Block Order switches to 3412 next week!

Hum 8 Speechmeet 2015

Congratulations to all the Finalists

Congratulations to our gr 8 winners!

                                                           1.  Andy Jiang
                                                           2.  Evelyn Gondosiswanto
                                                           3.  Michelle Quan and Ronald Li

Awards will be given at the year end evening awards assembly.

Thank your teachers, and judges for all their hard work!

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Hum 8 Speechmeet Finalists

Hi everyone,

So far, congratulations on your hard work all week.  The Humanities teachers and our guest judges of staff and senior students have had nothing but good things to say about your speeches - well done!  We are very proud of you!

Your scores are very close!  I know you are anxious for the list of finalists and sadly, I will have to post on my classroom door and email to your teachers before school.  I was on a fieldtrip and had an appointment after school today,  so the Humanities department did not quite get all the information we needed to narrow our finalists.  Finalists will be posted by 8am and I will ask to put them on the school monitors too.  Sorry for the delay.

In anticipation, I know you should have seen your feedback and scores for each round so if you scored 4.6 or better in both rounds, you may be a finalist.

Get a good night's sleep and come to room 213 in the morning!

We are excited for our final round at lunch in the library - all are welcome!  We only ask if you come to support your friends, you must stay for all speakers so as not to be disruptive.

Hope to see you there!

Ms Lees

Sunday, April 5, 2015

ms lees will we have a day this week to work on genius hour????

Friday, April 3, 2015

sorry mrs lees had troubles getting onto new blog

writing the speech
1.be memorable-condense your theme into a 15-20 minute epigram and build everything around it top to bottom.
2.have structure-set the expectations near your opening and what you will be covering
3. don't waste the opening-share a shocking fact or statistic aka engage audience
4.strike the right tone-when writing pick a topic your audience will find entertaining
5.humanize yourself-make sure your speech is something you care about or the audience may not think you care so why should they
6.repeat yourself-repeat the main topic a few times in case the audience doesn't understand what your topic is about
7.use transitions-take a rhetorical question and end it with a pause
8.include theatrics-try to make a visual imagine in audiences mind
9,end strong-make a ending your audience will remember
10.keep it short-audiences like a nice short speech they have places they need to be and will probobly get bored so keep it short

delivering the speech
1. don't rock back and fourth
2. don't st-udder
3.make eye contact to different sections of audience
4.use hand gestures
5.enthusiastic voice
6. don't get to repetitious
7.speech loud and clear
8. don't turn your back on the audience
9.try to memorize your speech
10.pause often pause after a sentence or two give you and audience time to think