We gratefully acknowledge, respect, recognize and appreciate that we live, learn and work and teach on the traditional territories of the Kwanlin Dun First Nations and the Ta'an Kwächän Council. 
​Shä̀wnítha / Shro neethun

The Curriculum Document

Click on the embedded link below to visit the B.C. Curriculum page for English Language Arts 8

Building Student Success - B.C. Curriculum

Story/text forms such as narrative, exposition, report , functions, and genres literary or thematic categories such as fantasy, humour, adventure, biography of text Text and texts are generic terms referring to all forms of oral, written, visual, or digital communication: Oral texts include speeches, poems, plays, and oral stories.

Keeping up with The Class

Please note that this page will feature a debrief of the week's classwork.  The assignments and materials are available on the password-protected Yukon Education Digital Cloud Services Google Classroom, which students access using their Rapid Identity credentials. 

It is the responsibility of each student to know their ID and password to access their Yukon Digital Cloud Services portal. 
August

Week 1 - Aug 22nd - Aug 26th 

As is always the case, during the first week of class, the focus is on welcoming students - especially grade eights who are new to their high school experience! - and establishing expectations and procedures. 

All of my basic classroom rules and procedures are based on the Annishinaabe 7 Grandfather Teachings. A Prezi about how these look in the classroom can be found at the link included here, but they breakdown as follows: 
Truth - being true to who you are, behaving with integrity, keeping your goals and sense of self and your priorities as your foundation. 
Respect - offering basic courtesy to everyone as a matter of who you are, regardless of whether or not you like someone, acknowledging the various intergenerational roles and responsibilities and requirements of authority figures in the school environment. 
Honesty - sincerity, accountability and trustworthiness. 
Humility - recognizing the contributions of the diversity of all members of the learning community, and celebrating your own contributions.  Balancing your needs, rights and privileges as an individual with the needs, rights and privileges of those who make up the communities of which you are a part: your family, your friend groups, your classes, your school, your cultural community, and society.  Understanding how your choices and behaviours impact those around you, and owning the consequences - for good or ill - of those behaviour choices. 
Courage - making good choices that support your long term goals even when that means overcoming immediate responses to do something more fun or more satisfying, demonstrate respect towards yourself and others, choices that maintain your integrity and support your growth, and the well-being of your communities. 
Wisdom - making use of your existing knowledge and skills in new circumstances, considering the consequences of your choices ahead of time, working hard to achieve your personal goals, making effective choices about how to use the resources you have: time, energy, attention, etc
Love - kindness, compassion, open-mindedness and a lack of judgement of others, being supportive to others, and encouraging in your self-talk, remembering that we rarely know all of what is going on in another person's life so giving them the benefit of the doubt that they are doing the best they can that day, and being patient with others and with ourselves. 

These form the basis for the classroom rules.  Summed up:
Being on time: 
  • Be on time: students in their seats, having used the facilities, filled water bottles, grabbed a snack or drink from the caf or the Cultural Room, ready with their binders and writing implements WHEN THE BELL RINGS. 
    • Please note that there are 4 breaks of 10 mins or more through the day - students are expected to make the effort to manage their bodies as much as possible, and socialize AFTER their physical needs are attended to. 
    • Cell phone calls and responding to texts, including from parents and siblings should also happen during breaks: 
      • Bus arrival to first bell:  8:00 - 8:35 am [35 mins] 
      • Morning Break: 10:00 - 10:15 am [15 mins]
      • Lunch: 11:25 am - 12:15 pm  [45 mins]
      • Afternoon Break: 1:35 - 1:45 pm  [10 mins]
      • PLEASE if you need to reach your child during class time, call the main office at 867-667-8044 and have your student called down. 
        • If a student needs to leave for an appointment - including regular occurrences - parents need to either have sent a physical note to the teacher and/or called the office AND the student must sign out at the office prior to leaving the building. Parent texts do not count as written permission to leave class as it is very easy for students to change contact information in their phones.  
        • If a student must leave regularly for a repeated appointment, a physical note is required.  Students who need to leave the fourth block early in order to catch the Whitehorse transit bus at 3:04 must have a note from a parent clearly indicating which days they have permission to leave.  They may leave no earlier than 2:50pm if the reasons is to catch the bus (as per the school admin). 
Attendance: 
  • Being in class is the best indicator of student success. 
  • Even when absences are excused, research shows that missing 20 or more classes during a semester significantly lowers the likelihood that a student will have the content knowledge and skill practice to successfully demonstrate mastery in course concepts. 
  • Student absences should be communicated BOTH to the school main office and to the teachers. Teachers are best reached via email, and the front office with a phone call. 
    • If a student is absent-sick for three days, parents need to contact the office each day that the student's absence is to be excused.
    • If a student is going to be away for an extended period, please let the office AND the teachers know ahead of time with written notification of dates. 
    • Students who are absent from class will be referred to the Google Classroom website. 
      • Generally, whether it is for vacation, hospital stays, or sports travel, despite good intentions on the part of parents and students, there is little attention, time or energy for school work during these absences. I recommend that students do what they can, and work with Ms. Carrey to catch up when they return and can focus on their academics. 
    • Students are responsible for materials missed while they are absent. 
    • Packages will not always be available ahead of time. - Again, students are expected to access Google Classroom for materials.  
      • If a student is travelling somewhere they do not have internet access, they will need to catch up when they return. 
  • This course is not intended to be a distance education course. Students need the classroom context in order to effectively complete the work.  PCSS Admin has said that generally we can accommodate students who miss one to two weeks at a given time.  Beyond that point, please contact the appropriate school grade counselor and/or the admin (Gr 8 - 9 = Joanne Seymour, counsellor, Jeff Hills A/VP) for support. 
  • Phone calls / emails go home at 5, 10, 15 and 20 absences.  The administration is kept in the loop on these communications, and they get directly involved by 10 absences, or if absences are a pattern across classes. 
​
ATTENDANCE IS RECORDED EVERY PERIOD. PARENTS HAVE ACESS TO THEIR CHILD'S/WARD'S ATTENDANCE RECORDS.
Please familiarize yourself with your access to the Aspen system. 

Teachers make every effort to have attendance completed 15 mins into the period.
  • Students who arrive later than that may have their attendance corrected at the end of the period or at lunch/end of the day. 

Phones: 
  • Cell phones are not permitted to be used in class except for the following reasons WITH teacher PERMISSION: 
    • Once again - please, parents/guardians, if you need to reach your child/ward during class time, call the main office at 867-667-8044 and they will notify the classroom teacher.  
    • A student gets a single prompt to put their phone away. 
      • After that, it goes into a box on the front desk. 
      • Students are aware of this expectation. 
      • Any arguments if/when this happens will result in the student being referred immediately to the office, where the admin may elect to take the phone for the remainder of the day.
      • If a student continues to struggle with managing their attachment to their phone, they will need to negotiate a solution with the Administration, which may include handing in their phone to the office at the beginning of each school day. 
    • Please note that I model this behaviour for the students. It is important that students learn to manage their phones as a tool in a way that minimizes the distractions that designers build into apps. 
    • Kahoot! Live quizzes 
      • Looking up information for an academic task
      • Listening to music during silent, individual work
        • Other than those times, phones are expected to be on Do Not Disturb and put away (not on the desk) during the class period. 
    • Students are welcome to bring and use laptops or tablets, but they may not use them for texting, gaming, watching videos or listening to music or any other n0n-academic purpose during class time. 
      • If they do, they will be instructed to put the devices away. 
      • Failure to do so will result in a referral to the office.
    • Students should not have one or both earbuds in during instruction. 
    • If a student does not meet the clearly explained expectation for the use of personal devices in class, and their device ends up on the teacher desk or in the office, PCSS staff are not liable for the safety of the device.
      • It is recommended that if students bring a personal device to school that they store it in their locker during class sessions and only take it out during their break times. If they choose otherwise, they do so understanding that there are consequences for their choices. 
Snacks and Food 
  • Students are welcome to bring in water, juice etc. Either purchased here at the school, purchased elsewhere or in reusable bottles from home. 
  • I try to have some hot chocolate available in the classroom and there is always a kettle. If students want cocoa, they need to ask politely for a cup and a stir stick and to fill the kettle.
    • Students are expected to be courteous with each other while waiting their turn for water
    • Marshmallows are a treat and are only offered to students who bring in their own reusable mug (i.e. not one that is disposable) from home. 
    • Students may bring tea and use the kettle or bring in their own cocoa in their mugs. 
  • The snack program administered by the Yukon First Nations Education Directorate will be running again this year.  With so many students it is important to limit students to a reasonable amount of snacks. 
    • Students are permitted one snack item from the back of the classroom per day. 
    • Students may grab a snack from the caf or the Cultural Room BEFORE class, not during class.  That is part of arriving prepared. 
    • Please note that if we run out of snacks in the room, we will need to wait until the next week's snack bag. 
    • Students must clean up after themselves (put garbage, recycling and compostables in the correct bins in the hallway, wipe up any spills or messes using the available paper towels, vacuum up any crumbs off of the carpet, etc. 
      • Persistently leaving a mess may result in a student no longer being welcome to eat in the room.  
Homework and Assignments 
  • Most work will be done in class, with time provided while the teacher is there to help. 
    • Work not completed in class becomes homework. 
  • Late work will only be accepted for three days after the due date UNLESS arrangements were made ahead of time. 
    • Students are encouraged to talk to the teacher if they are struggling with an assignment, so that they get the help they need BEFORE the assignment is due. 
  • Work is provided in hard copy in the classroom. 
    • If a student is away, prefers working digitally, or has lost an item, they may access it on Google Classroom. 
    • Students may submit work either by handing it in to the correct work bin in the classroom (the bin labelled with their classroom name by the window at the class Student Station) OR online via Google Classroom. 
      • Students are not to submit work via email from outside of the Yukon Education Digital Cloud Services platform. 
    • Assignments are always on Google Classroom.  This website will simply mention the Google Classroom number and title. 
      • Parents cannot be provided with direct access to Google Classroom. You will need to ask your student/ward to show you their account if you want to see what's there. 
      • Parents can be invited to get a weekly list of work. 
        • Grades are NOT tracked in Google Classroom, so unless a student has either chosen to hand in something digitally OR has gone in manually to make note of having handed in a paper copy, their work may all say, "Missing" which may not be the case. 
          • Google classroom is ONLY a storage and file sharing platform for this class. 
  • Work goes into five "reporting standards" - please see the syllabus image above or refer to the PDF sent out via email.  These will be visible on the report cards.  A student's level of achievement in the course is reflective of a holistic evaluation of their work in all of these reporting standards. 
    • RS I - Effective use of reading strategies 
    • RS II - Communication of creative and critical thinking (oral & written) 
    • RS III - Effective demonstration of understanding of story and language as part of culture and identity
    • RS IV - Acknowledgement, research, citation and fact-finding
    • RS V - Effective use of the Writing Process (brainstorming, planning, drafting, revising, editing and publishing)
  • Work submitted and observations of participation during class are examples of students providing evidence of their learning.
    • Without work being provided as proof of understanding and skill acquisition, a student will not be able to demonstrate mastery of course concepts, and will need to repeat the course before moving forward to the next level of study. 

Week 2 - Aug 29th - Sept 2nd

September
Information coming September 2022

Week 3 - Sept 6th - Sept 9th

Week 4 - Sept 12th - Sept 16th

Week 5 - Sept 19th - Sept 23rd

Week 6 - Sept 26th - Sept 30th

October
Information coming October 2022

Week 7 - Oct 3rd - Oct 7th

Week 8 - Oct 11th - Oct 14th

Week 9 - Oct 17th - Oct 21st

Week 10 - Oct 24th - Oct 28th

November
Information coming November 2022

Week 11 - Oct 31st - Nov 4th

Week 12 - Nov 7th - Nov 10th

Week 13 - Nov 14th - Nov 18th

Week 14 - Nov 21st - Nov 25th

Week 15 - Nov 28th - Dec 2nd

December
Information coming December 2022

Week 16 - Dec 5th - Dec 9th

Week 17 - Dec 12th - Dec 16th

January
Information coming January 2023

Week 18 - Jan 3rd - Jan 6th

Week 19 - Jan 9th - Jan 13th