Hello, everyone. The excitement is building as both warm weather and the March Break approaches. Look at the forecast for the week. The melt is beginning!

This is a good time of year! It’s also a busy time of year as students and teachers, (including me!) are out of the classroom a bit this week.

On that note, some important announcements:
PROGRESS REPORTS will be provided to students on Monday, March 7. These reports will not have a mark, but instead provide general information on how students are doing in terms of work completion, efforts, organization, and the like.

PARENTS’ NIGHT is scheduled for Wednesday, March 9 from 6:30pm-8:30pm. Please note that I may not be back from a training session in Red Rock in time but I will make every effort to be at GCHS that evening. If you’d like to schedule a meeting outside of Parents’ Night, please contact me and we can definitely set something up.

Otherwise, here’s an update on what’s happening in class this week:

In ENG3U – Grade 11 University English, we continue to study Frankenstein. Students have been doing a really good job developing collaborative skills through the use of technology to discuss the novel. We’ve been using Google’s tools for this and the discussions will continue this week. We’ll also consider perspective as students complete a writing assignment.

The collaboration has been valuable and the discussions that follow in class have been awesome.

ENG4C – Grade 12 College English students have also continue to work on a novel study. Crow Lake has captured the interest of many in class. We will focus on theme this week as students discuss some of the themes that have been developed in the novel so far. Then, students will choose a theme and do a close examination of it through a bit of a project. You can access the Crow Lake unit materials on the ENG4C – Lessons page.

Finally, in ENG4U – Grade 12 University English, we are getting very close to the end of The Great Gatsby. The seminar discussions in this class have been interesting as we examine all of the elements that make Jay Gatsby tick. Our focus this week will be on character and conflict, especially between Gatsby and Daisy, and this will be a good introduction for all the craziness that happens in Chapters 7-9 of the novel.

Once again, please get in touch with me if you have comments or questions, or need any extra help. A mere five days separates us from a well-deserved March Break!