Webquest: Kaffir Boy and Apartheid South Africa

Today you will be conducting some research and obtaining some important background knowledge to supplement our reading of Kaffir Boy. The information you will collect in this webquest will also support what you will be doing in Ms.Cody's class these next few weeks.

Your Webquest and accompanying packet are due today by the end of class. Anyone that is off task will result in a loss of points. Good luck!

Step 1. Download the packet by clicking here or getting a copy from the P: Drive under the "Teachers" folder (directions on board.) This will be the packet that you fill out and turn in.

Step 2. Follow the instructions on the packet. Here are the links you will be visiting for each step:

1. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/lo/countries/za/za_overview.html

2. http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html

3. http://africanhistory.about.com/library/bl/blsalaws.htm

4. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/mandela/

Step 3. Once you have completed your Webquest, address the following question below and post your responses here as a comment to this post. Type your response first in a Word document, proofread and save. Copy and paste the text into the "Comment" field, don't forget your name and class period, choose the "Anonymous" option unless you have a Google account, and click "Publish Your Comment."

Consider our unit essential question and theme: How do societies use power to affect change? Based on what you have learned about Apartheid so far, how did the government exercise their power to affect change in South Africa? What were some of those changes?

Please respond in a well-developed paragraph. This is due by Friday, before class.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Today, we reviewed Chapters One and Two in class. We also discussed your assignment, your Reader's Response #1. Click here to download. This is due on Thursday, so don't forget! The rest of the period was spent independently reading. For homework, please read to Chapter 6 by Thursday.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Today, to prepare for reading Kaffir Boy, we conducted a gallery walk. Posted around our room were various images and quotes regarding Apartheid in South Africa. As you walked around the room, you recorded your personal responses and questions regarding each quote or image. Everyone then returned to their seats and we discussed the themes that emerged from viewing these images and quotes. Oppression, poverty, racism, discrimination, freedom, conflict, power, and protest were all themes that you suggested and that we recorded on the board. Next, we discussed your predictions about what this book is about, based on what you saw in the gallery walk. After sharing your thoughts, you got out your notes and took down some definitions to some key terms, including what Apartheid actually is and what the word "kaffir" means. After a brief power point and slide show, I passed out your books and we read Chapter One aloud in class. For homework, please read Chapter 2 by Tuesday.

Friday, November 13, 2009

Today students took a test on Falling Leaves and I collected your books. If you were absent, you have until next Wednesday to make it up!

Monday will mark the beginning of our new unit - Africa and Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane. Yay!!!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Today you shared your vocabulary books and I checked them for completion. We also went over what will be on the Falling Leaves test tomorrow. Remember, the test covers up to page 140. The rest of the period was spent participating in small group discussion and review of the book, and also composing a MEAL paragraph that asks you to apply our unit essential question to the content of Falling Leaves, which was due at the end of class. To help you study, please see the vocabulary review power point by clicking here.

Good luck! =) Please email me by 8pm tonight if you have any questions. megan.l.alvarez@adams12.org.

Monday and Tuesday, November 9-10, 2009

We integrated with Ms. Cody these past two days to participate in a simulation to prepare you for your social studies unit on India. After viewing a power point that introduces the Indian social caste system and taking notes, the class broke into groups and established rules for each caste for the classroom. Names were then drawn out of a hat to determine which caste each student was assigned. Each student was also assigned two students to observe during our two integrated periods this week. Your observations (and ours) will help determine each student's grade according to positive dharma and karma. The remainder of the period was spent working on a specific task in your caste group related to Falling Leaves. Click here to see the weekly calendar and instructions, and see me if you have any questions.

For homework, read to page 140 by Thursday.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Today you took a quiz on Chapters 1-7 in the book. If you were absent, you have until Wednesday to make it up, so don't forget to see me if this is the case! For homework, please read to page 117 by Monday.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Today we spent some time discussing the reading and going over some key scenes and passages in Falling Leaves. I also collected your Chapter 1-6 questions. We reviewed our vocabulary terms, and then the rest of the period was spent doing some independent reading. For homework, please read to page 90.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

NO CLASSES TODAY - EXPLORE/PLAN TESTING FOR 9TH GRADE

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Today we briefly went over the reading and then spent the majority of the period creating vocab flip books using vocabulary terms from the text. The books you created in class today are going to be used and added to throughout the unit, so don't lose them! See me if you were absent and need instructions on how to make them. Click here for Vocab List #1. In your vocab books you need to include the following:
1. the word and the part of speech
2. a picture or comic that represents the definition
3. a sentence that uses the word correctly

For homework, please read to page 74 by Thursday.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Today we continued discussing some key themes in our new book, Falling Leaves, and connected them to our unit theme and essential questions. We went over the first chapter and prologue, looked at a brief power point that covered some background info about China and about foot binding, and then you spent the rest of the period independently reading. For homework, please read to page 34 (Chapters 2-4.)

October 31, 2009

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! Be safe this weekend and don't get arrested. =) Here is a funny Halloween story to enjoy:

Us and Them by David Sedaris

Here are some other ones that I love. Feel free to post your favorites here, too.

1. Bunnicula by Deborah Howe

2. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

3. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

4. Haunted: Stories of the Grotesque by Joyce Carol Oates

5. The Telltale Heart by Edgar Allen Poe

6. The Witches by Roald Dahl

Friday, October 30, 2009

Today you recieved your copy of Falling Leaves. In small groups, you shared some information you found about China from your Tuesday research day, and then tackled our first vocab list for this unit. For each word, you were asked to define using the dictionaries, provide a synonym, and use the word in a sentence. Hang on to this work, as we will be reviewing it on Tuesday of next week. Next, you recieved some guided reading questions and read the Prologue and Chapter One of the book. The questions are homework and will be collected on Monday.

Click here for Vocab List #1

Click here for the Chapter One questions