February 28

Today we split the class into two groups, some of which went to the library to do some library research on an American entrepreneur. The other half of the class remained in the classroom doing some work on the laptops on the same project.

February 25

I gave you the assignment sheet for the American Entrepreneur project. I haven't set a due date for this assignment just yet, but it will definitely be due in Term 3. We held a draft to in both 9A and 9B so each of you could select an entrepreneur to profile. Ultimately you will be doing research, writing power notes, creating a PowerPoint presentation based on the power notes, presenting the PowerPoint presentation, and finally writing a case study essay using your power notes as an outline for creating the essay.
We also continued reading excerpts from Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet.
I recommend that you try to do some preliminary research this weekend, either online or at the nearest branch of the public library.

February 24

Today in class I gave you some more time to do your Power Notes on the two entrepreneurs that you chose to profile from Chapter 5. Here's the note-taking format for these Power Notes:
(1)Entrepreneur's Name
    (2)Biographical Details & Background
     (3)origins
     (3)family facts
     (3)education
     (3)pre-entrepreneurial life
    (2)The Entrepreneur
     (3)the creation of the business
     (3)the early days of business
     (3)entrepreneurial success
     (3)reasons for success
    (2)Hall of Fame
     (3)this person's business philosophy
     (3)his/her legacy in America
     (3)ways in which the person is an inspiration to others
Additionally, we continued our Shakespeare unit by delving in to the excerpts from the play. We finished with Act II, Scene 2 from Romeo & Juliet (the famous balcony scene).
Please remember to complete your Power Notes tonight! There will be a homework check tomorrow in class.

February 23

Today we started doing some Power Notes on the entrepreneurs featured in Chapter 5 of Made in the USA. You had to chose which two entrepreneurs you were going to take notes on. This is practice for an upcoming American entrepreneur project. We also started our Shakespeare unit with a brief introduction to the purpose of the unit. Basically, it won't be a scholarly approach to Shakespeare, but hopefully you will learn a little bit about the Bard and then you won't be too intimidated by his work when you encounter him again in high school. Essentially, you'll leave Grade 9 with an understanding of the main plot points of Romeo and Juliet, the main characters in the play, and some of the major quotes from the play.

February 15

You wrote your Chapter 4 Quiz today in class. You will get this quiz back on Tuesday, February 22nd when you come back to school. In the second period the final groups to present their "songs as poetry" presented them to the class.
Here are some upcoming important dates:

• The USA Dictionary Project is due on February 22nd
• The James Fowler Tour is also on February 22nd, please make sure that you return your forms on Tuesday!!

February 14

Today we did a little review game which covered terminology from Chapters 1-4. Don't forget that you have your Chapter 4 Quiz tomorrow. This quiz is really important because many of the concepts on this quiz (which covers the Market Economy) will appear on your Provincial Achievement Test at the end of June. Additionally, some groups did their presentations in class for Ms. Holland. Please remember that you must be prepared to present tomorrow in class. Please come prepared: that means that lyrics MUST be in my submissions folder! Also, you must bring your music to class, and don't forget your TASTE and OBJECTS. I also reminded you that a lot of you that you didn't hand in your Candy Market Simulation Writing Assignment (which was due on Friday!), please make sure that get this assignment A.S.A.P. it's now OVERDUE!! Tuesday is the last possible day to hand this assignment in and still get credit for it.

February 10

Sorry, there was no post yesterday. You wrote an Open Notes Test yesterday using your Chapter 4 Power Notes. You then marked it in class.

Today you wrote your Chapter 3 Quiz. Please don't forget that you are writing your Chapter 4 Quiz on Tuesday. Please use the weekend to review material from the Market Economy. Also don't forget to save your song to my submissions folder. All presenters must be ready to present their song to the class on Monday!!

In case you missed it, here is the Chapter 4 Study Guide:

Format:

1. Matching Section
2. Multiple Choice Section
3. Short Answer Section
4. Fill in the Blanks Section (with a word bank)
   

Topics:

• Key Terms
• Compare the Command Economy, Mixed Economy, Market Economy (How do they answer the basic economic questions?)
• Karl Marx (Check out this hyperlink on Marx from the Social Studies Web)
• Adam Smith (To read about this really cool Scottish philosopher and his ideas about the "invisible hand", please check out the hyperlink above)
• J.K. Galbraith (you'll find a little blurb about this Canadian economist in the textbook on page 49)
• Law of Supply and Demand (in your textbook from pages 50-52, also from the Social Studies Web)
• Characteristics of a Market Economy(this is straight from the Social Studies Website, please make sure that you print off the handout from this web page!!)
• Self-Interest/Freedom of Choice (How does it affect the market/price of goods?)

Here's a list of key terms, key people that will appear on this quiz:

• Karl Marx
• Adam Smith
• J.K. Galbraith
• factors of production
• goods
• capital
• antitrust laws
• monopoly
• "invisible hand"
• scarcity
• market economy
• mixed economy
• command economy
• equilibrium
• law of supply and demand
• economics
• individualism
• private ownership
• capitalism
• basic economic questions
• Wealth of Nations
• mercantilism
• marketplace
• consumers

Here's a list of upcoming important dates:

• Candy Market Simulation Writing Assignment is due Friday, February 11th
• Presentations (everyone must be ready for Monday, February 14th)
• Chapter 4 Quiz is on Tuesday, February 15th
• James Fowler Tour is on February 22nd
• USA Dictionary Projects are due February 22nd

February 8

Just a quick warning: this is going to be a long post!
Here goes: Today we did a simulation of the market economy. In the simulation you were able to use "Monopoly money" to purchase candy. The amount of money that you had to bid on the candy varied from student to student. Some students had a lot of money, some were less fortunate. This simulation allowed you to further understand the law of supply and demand. At the end of the simulation you were given an assignment related to the simulation. This assignment is very similar to the factory simulation assignment that you did for me last week. You were given a list of vocabulary words that you have to work into your description of what happened during the simulation. Here's th list of words that should be in the assignment:

• opportunity
• open market
• distribution of wealth
• scarcity
• supplier
• command economy
• mixed economy
• market economy
• captive market
• producer
• goods
• profit
• individualism
• resources
• capital
• monopoly
• buyers
• pooling resources
• equilibrium
• pricing
• consumers
• law of supply and demand

The good copy of this assignment is due on Friday, February 11th.

In the second part of the class Ms. Holland introduced the three type of presentations that you may choose from to do next week. Here is a brief summary of the three presentation types:

1. "The Music I Listen To"
2. "A Verse to Share"
3. "My Verse"

"The Music I Listen To"

The goal of this option is to persuade Ms. Holland, Mr. Gilchrist and classmates that the music you listen to is poetry. Please make sure that you connect the artist's meaning to your own life!! You must choose a song that you feel represents poetry or has poetic elements. In your presentation you will include the following:

• the lyrics of the song (save it as a Word document into Mr. Gilchrist's submission folder)
• a 'taste' that represents the mood of the song
• a visual/physical object that represents the tone or theme of the song
• communicate/express to the class what makes this song poetry? how does this song relate to your life? who wrote/performed the song? how does this song represent a verse in the "play of life" (Dead Poet's Society)

"A Verse to Share"

The goal of this option is to share a song that you feels represents poetry, has poetic elements and was written before you were born. The emphasis of this presentation is connecting the song's meaning to the time and place of the artist; what was different/the same to your life today? In your presentation you'll include the following:

• the lyrics of the song (save it as a Word document into Mr. Gilchrist's submissions folder)
• communicate/express to the class what makes this song poetry? who wrote/performed this song? how does this song represent a verse in the play of life? in other words, within what broader context does the song belong? what elements of society are important in understanding the meaning?

"My Verse"

The goal of this option is to create your own song. You can write your lyrics and music, or just write lyrics to a song that has none. You must perform this song for the class. Your presentation will include:

• the lyrics of the song (save it as a Word document into Mr. Gilchrist's submissions folder)
• include a brief outline of the process that you went through to create your masterpiece

Please refer to the assignment sheet that Ms. Holland gave you for the presentations, especially for the rules and guidelines. You must get approval for any song that you wish to present.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to give you your Chapter 4 Quiz Study Guide in class today. Here's the study guide for this quiz (it's next Tuesday):

Format:

1. Matching Section
2. Multiple Choice Section
3. Short Answer Section
4. Fill in the Blanks Section (with a word bank)

Topics:

• Key Terms
• Compare the Command Economy, Mixed Economy, Market Economy (How do they answer the basic economic questions?)
• Karl Marx (Check out this hyperlink on Marx from the Social Studies Web)
• Adam Smith (To read about this really cool Scottish philosopher and his ideas about the "invisible hand", please check out the hyperlink above)
• J.K. Galbraith (you'll find a little blurb about this Canadian economist in the textbook on page 49)
• Law of Supply and Demand (in your textbook from pages 50-52, also from the Social Studies Web)
• Characteristics of a Market Economy(this is straight from the Social Studies Website)
• Self-Interest/Freedom of Choice (How does it affect the market/price of goods?)

Here's a list of key terms, key people that will appear on this quiz:

• Karl Marx
• Adam Smith
• J.K. Galbraith
• factors of production
• goods
• capital
• antitrust laws
• monopoly
• "invisible hand"
• scarcity
• market economy
• mixed economy
• command economy
• equilibrium
• law of supply and demand
• economics
• individualism
• private ownership
• capitalism
• basic economic questions
• Wealth of Nations
• mercantilism
• marketplace
• consumers

Here are the upcoming important dates:

• Chapter 3 Quiz is on Thursday, February 10th
• Candy Market Simulation Writing Assignment is due Friday, February 11th
• Presentations (everyone must be ready for Monday, February 14th)
• Chapter 4 Quiz is on Tuesday, February 15th
• James Fowler Tour is on February 22nd
• USA Dictionary Projects are due February 22nd

February 7

Today we started off by reading Chapter 4 in the Made in the USA textbook (p.45-55). Part way through reading this chapter I distributed your Power Notes guide for this chapter. Here's what the Power Note guide looks like for this chapter:
(1) Economics
(1) Economic Systems
(1) Command Economy
(1) Mixed Economy
(1) US Market Economy
(1) Free Enterprise
(1) The Market/ Marketplace
(1) Private Ownership
(1) Self Interest and Freedom to Choose
(1) Things Adam Smith did NOT predict within the Market System

For each of these 1's (main ideas) you must find the 2's (supporting details) and the 3's (specific examples). You may even find some 4's as well. These Power notes will be due by this Wednesday!

In the second half of the class Ms Holland did a poetry lesson with you. She showed you a couple of clips from the movie Dead Poets Society. You also listened to a couple of songs. Ms. Holland will be introducing some project ideas to you tomorrow related to what she discussed with you in class today.

February 4

Today I gave you the Chapter 3 Quiz Study Guide. If you missed it, here it is, with some hyperlinks to the Social Studies Web:
Format:

1. Matching Section
2. Multiple Choice Section
3. Short Answer Section

Topics:

Key Terms (see later in this post for a complete list)

Industrial Revolution (results of the Industrial Revolution, causes of the Industrial Revolution, when did it happen?) Here's the hyperlink for the Industrial Revolution from the Social Studies Web: http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b689/mainFrame/departments/humanities/gilchrist/9atut3.htm

The Enclosure Acts (what are the four main components?). If you don't have the Enclosure Acts notes, please go to the Social Studies Web and print off the handout. Here's the hyperlink: http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b689/mainFrame/departments/humanities/gilchrist/9atut2.htm

Trigger Industry (What is a trigger industry? What are four changes that trigger industries cause? What was the trigger industry for Great Britain? What was it for the USA?) Please go to the Social Studies Web and print off the notes for Trigger Industry. Here's the hyperlink: http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b689/mainFrame/departments/humanities/gilchrist/9atut4.htm

You should also be able to complete a chart that deals with life before the Industrial Revolution and life after the Industrial Revolution. Specifically, dealing with the following questions: where did people work? why did people work? where did people live?

Cottage System and Factory System (You need to be able to define each of these terms. You also need to be able to list off advantages and disadvantages for both systems.) For help answering this question, please check out the Social Studies Web, here's the hyperlink: http://schools.cbe.ab.ca/b689/mainFrame/departments/humanities/gilchrist/9atut1.htm

Agricultural Revolution (What were the inventions of Charles Townshend and Jethro Tull?)

Here is a list of the key terms that will appear on the quiz:

• captive market
• industrialization
• means of production
• capital
• capitalist
• tariffs
• entrepreneur
• creative innovation
• standard of living
• individualism
• social mobility
• union
• Industrial Revolution
• Enclosure Acts
• trigger industry
• Eli Whitney
• cottage system
• factory system

Please make sure that you study for this quiz! Your Chapter 3 Quiz is on Thursday, February 10th.

February 3

We started doing some power notes on American Industrialization today in class. I gave you the 1's (the main ideas), and you were asked to find the 2's (supporting details) and the 3's (specific examples). Here are the main ideas for the power notes on American Industrialization (all of these are 1's in your power notes):

(1) Reasons why the USA didn't industrialize at the same time as Great Britain
(1) Major ways industrialization in USA differed from industrialization in Great Britain
(1) Challenges the USA had to overcome in order to industrialize successfully
(1) Stages in American Industrialization
(1) Reasons for the Civil War
(1) Ways in which the Civil War encouraged industrial development
(1) Ways that the Civil War spurred change in many areas

Next, we listened to some songs in class, including "Big Rock Candy Mountain", Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi", The Talking Heads' "Nothing But Flowers", and finally we listened to John Lennon's "Imagine". Can't see the common thread between these songs? Essentially, what the common theme was in these songs was different conceptions of what "paradise" means to different people. I then asked you to brainstorm a list of what "paradise" means to you. It could be a warm embrace from a loved one, or Skittles raining down from above whenever you want them.

Just a reminder of some upcoming important dates:

• Factory Simulation Writing Assignment due tomorrow
• Chapter 3 American Industrialization Power Notes due tomorrow (see above)
• The USA Dictionary Project is due Tuesday, February 22nd

February 2

If you missed today's class, you will not be responsible for the writing assignment that goes with the simulation. Today, the class was divided into two groups which were meant to represent two factories. There were also a couple of students who acted as cottage system workers. Both the factory and cottage system workers were asked to produce "fortune tellers". At the end of the simulation we debriefed and then you were given the assignment. In the writing assignment you must use each of the following terms correctly:

• cottage system
• factory system
• mass production
• quality
• quantity
• specialization
• division of labor
• assembly line
• quality control
• skill

Please make sure that you underline the terms above in your written assignment. Also, please make sure that you demonstrate an understanding of the key terms. The good copy for this written assignment is Friday, February 4th.

February 1

Today you wrote your Chapter 2 American History Quiz in the first period. In the second period, Ms. Holland took you through a lesson on "music as poetry", and you listened to some blues music.