Together Crossing Borders

Letter to Parents / Guardians

June, 2014

Dear Parents / Guardians,

This semester, Mrs. Woods's and Mr. Racco's ENG 1DY Grade 9 Pace English classes will participate in a class blog. This is one of the academic extensions in our PACE course. The purpose of this activity is to promote cooperative learning in a virtual space, to meet, learn, understand and accept various cultures through different genres: the novel, the film, and the documentary. Students will reflect, respond, and critique each others' posts based on their understanding of the Jewish and German cultures and Holocaust literature and film.

The creative writing activities posted are culminating tasks that stem from the reading and discussion of the various genres. The students' responses will inform our understanding of the preconceptions of different cultures, and how these relate and affect our daily lives.

The aim is to create an awareness of various cultures in our daily lives and to create a borderland where various cultures come together to learn and accept one another.

Given the sensitive nature of this learning activity, please be aware of the following:

. the blog will not be published on a public listing; this prevents anyone who has not been personally given the site's URL from accessing the blog.

. since only my students will be given the web address for this blog, they are asked not to share it with anyone except their parents/guardians.

. Administrators will be given the URL and invited to participate.

On the blog site, we have posted the "ground rules" - the parameters which will help to ensure a safe and enriched learning environment. Should there be a breach in these ground rules at any point, this activity will cease. Please feel free to visit our class blog at togethercrossingborders.blogspot.com.

We encourage parents / guardians to enjoy our students' reflective responses on this blog. Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at the school.

Sincerely,
Mr. Racco, Department Head of English Mrs. Woods, Teacher of English
Father Bressani Catholic School, YCDSB

YCDSB Guidelines for Blogging

The following are the ground rules for classroom blogging:

1. Academic language only please! Students are assessed and /or evaluated and therefore, the change in format does not translate into a change in expectations in terms of the kind of language, phrasing, etc, that is acceptable. This includes refraining from the use of text messaging language systems.

2. Inevitably debate will arise since students are expected to comment on their peers' postings. That said, personal attacks and offensive language and remarks will not be tolerated. If this happens at any point, the class blog will be shut down and serious consequences will follow.

3. Meet deadlines. Each posting comes with a date and time stamp.

4. If students refer to information from other websites in your postings, the expectation for citing your resources remains the same. At the end of your posting, always include the URL for any sites that are referred to in the posting, in addition to proper citation within the text, depending on the teacher's preference.

5. Students are asked not to share the blog's URL with their friends. The class blog is for students in

English 1DY-a and b classes only.

6. Parents will be made aware of the URL and a notice to parents in advance to using the blog in class will be sent.

7. Administration (along with the Department Head of English) will be made aware of the URL and be made aware that this software will be used in our course.

Friday, 13 June 2014

Final Post: Dialoguing with your Peers

Now that you have shared your thoughts on the documentary, read over the thoughts of your peers.
Respond to two of your peers' comments regarding the documentary (one from Mr. Racco's class, one from Mrs. Woods's class).

Thursday, 12 June 2014

Post # 4: Night and Fog

We are building cultural awareness through a different medium: The documentary. Share your thoughts and feelings about Night and Fog - a documentary that shows man's violence toward man and presents the unsettling suggestion that such horrors could come again. Has this documentary shed new light on Jewish and German culture? Has it increased your knowledge of these two cultures? How does this relate to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and the interview (found in the last few pages of the book following the story)? Do these images make you pose questions about your own family culture/s?

Tuesday, 10 June 2014

Post # 3 The Single Story - Ted Talk

Students are asked to post their reactions, comments, questions and opinions on the Single Story. How does the theme of this discussion influence your understanding and views of the Jewish and German Cultures?

You are then required to spend some time reading and reflecting on peer's initial posts to The Single Story. Please comment on two peer posts (one from each class). Begin your comments/reflections with "My response to (name of student) is..."

Friday, 6 June 2014

Post # 2: Respond to your Peers

Over the weekend, please sit back and read some of your peers' comments to Post # 1. Your task is to reply to two of your peers' comments (one from Mr. Racco's class and the other from Mrs. Woods's class).

Steps:

1. Select the comment to which you wish to reply.

2. Click REPLY (found at the end of the comment).

3. Reply and publish/submit.

4. Maximum response length: 100 words

5. Suggestions: Write post using Word Document, check for spelling/grammar, do a word count, cut and paste.

6. Invite your parents/guardians to participate!

Wednesday, 4 June 2014

Post your initial reactions, comments, questions and opinions of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.
Your initial post must not exceed 100 words.

Suggestions:

Always write your response on a word document, then check for spelling and grammar, word count, and then copy and paste onto the classroom Blog.
Always begin your reply by writing your first and last name.
Always click Submit after writing your response to any post.

Always invite your parents to respond/comment to any post. **Please remind your parents that they must first become followers of our blog.