What does a good war diary look like?

Today 8R12 students analysed exemplar war diaries written by students in previous years.  They worked in small groups to read the diary entries and determine what they like about the diaries and how they would improve them.  They then scored each of the diaries out of five (five being the greatest).

Tomorrow, they will add their ideas to collaborative documents so they can compare their ideas with the other students in the class and start building a picture of what makes a good war diary.

Learn more about the task they did and look at the collaborative documents -- Click here.

'My War Diary' Assignment Underway

Today 8R12 students started creating their character and timeline for their war diary.

View the assignment instructions

DUE DATE: Last Wednesday of term 1 - 16th April

Today students should have created a visual representation of their character and mind-map of their background/qualities/characteristics. Students also should have started their timeline of important events in their character's life, based around major events in the war which might have affected New Zealanders.

I was very impressed with Kayla and Holly's idea to weave their characters' stories together. Well done.

I can't wait to read what the class produces!

Field Trip to the Auckland War Memorial Museum

Today 8R12 students visited the Auckland War Memorial Museum to learn more about the experiences of ANZAC soldiers during WWI.

View photos and videos from the trip -- Click here

Homework

I have recently spoken with a parent about homework expectations. I feel it would be beneficial to hear from parents and also students as to what we should expect from homework.

How long should students be spending on homework every day/week?

What about other commitments? Sports training etc.

What sorts of activities are students being given to do? What sorts of activities do students want to do at home?

Please consider the questions above and post your comments below to grow the discussion. Comments are moderated by Mr Hagler before being shown on the blog.

Gearing Up to Gallipoli

Today 8R12 students were introduced to an interactive animation which takes them through the events of the first day of the Gallipoli Campaign (April 15th, 1915).

View the interactive animation (log in with your child's username and password)

Students will be using this animation to support the writing of their diary entries for their upcoming project.

Several students in the class also started collaborating on a digital map of the WWI battle fronts, including Gallipoli.

View the map in a new window

Students were also introduced to NZ On Screen resources which include a variety of interesting films which they can use to support their diary writing as well.

Visit nzonscreen

On Monday, the class will be visiting the Auckland War Memorial Museum where they will continue to collect ideas to use in their war diaries.

View the war diary assignment instructions

Discover WWI with 8R12

8R12 students produced a collaborative presentation on aspects of WWI which they wished to research.

The presentation below is the first version of their work before feedback from their peers and teacher on how to improve their work.  This is the work that will be formally assessed.

Constructive comments are welcome.

Click here to view larger version of presentation in a new window

Archibald Baxter - His Own War

Today 8R12 students started an assignment on the story of the war pacifist Archibald Baxter (father of famous NZ poet James K. Baxter) who fought his own "war" during WWI against those who wished to make him fight in The Great War.  His story is quite famous and shows to what lengths people will go to stand up for their convictions.

Click here to view the assignment instructions on the class's homework page

Click here to view the actual assignment in Google Drive (log in with your child's username and password)

Check out these "movie trailers" made by 8R12 students last year (Assignment Section C, question 8):

http://youtu.be/hl7rR_u29cE

http://youtu.be/fJ3Aa8g90lU

Jury Duty

Mr Hagler will be away Monday for jury selection. If he is selected, he may be away for anywhere between one and four weeks.

He will set relief work for whatever period he is away and will continue to engage with the class digitally through emails, Google Drive, Blogger and perhaps VoIP (Skype, Hangouts etc).

You can access the relief work in Google Drive -- Click here to access . You will need to log in with student username and password (all parents should have their child's username and password for security).

Any questions, please email saunil.haglerATajhs.school.nz

Discover WWI with 8R12

8R12 students have started work on a collaborative Google Drive presentation as a mini inquiry into something that interests them about The Great War - World War I.

Each student must create one slide in the presentation which addresses a research question they wrote in a collaborative exercise aimed at getting them distinguish between closed and open questions.

The project is due next Wednesday, after which time the students will peer assess each others work and provide quality feedback.

Click the link below to open the Google Drive document and view the students at work. You should not be able to edit or comment on the work; nor should you be able to chat with them. You should be able to see any work being done in real time though, so tune in via desktop browser while your child's working on it in another room, and watch their progress. NO SIGN IN REQUIRED!

Next week Wednesday, the final presentation will be published. Students are able to improve on their work after feedback from peers by making their own copy of the presentation. They can then refine several other slides in order to improve the quality of the overall presentation as they see it. These will then be published on the students' own websites and blogs (blogs yet to be created).

Click below to view the collaborative document in a new window:

Discover WWI with 8R12 in Google Drive

Using Digital Devices Safely

I've just been having a fascinating discussion on our bus ride home from camp with some parents and students about the risks of students using digital devices. The reality is that the digital world that our students live in is undoubtedly quite alien to many parents and potentially a very dangerous place for young people, regardless of the opportunities that they afford them in tiheir learning.

So how do we ensure that their digital world is the safest it can be? At school we have a filtering service (cyberoam) which all students on our wireless must pass through before accessing the web. I'm a similar way, routers at home can precey students from accessing websites which might compromise student safety.  iPhones etc allow parents to set safety features which limit what students can do without permission.  

What are your tips and tricks as a parent for ensuring your child uses their digital devices in a responsible way and is as safe as you can make them?  Let's share our ideas/questions/concerns as comments below. 

Comments require moderation before they will be posted. Please include your name in your posts.

Camp Day 2

We started the day early and headed over to the mount. The classes then split off into 2 groups to take it in turns climbing the mount and rowing the waka ama. Unfortunately our class couldn't ride the waka due to bad weather so instead we went to a lovely beach and had a water fight.

Next we went to the hot pools YAY!!! It was tonnes of fun as there was lots to do such as aerobics, swimming round, kiddie slide, shop and more. What a day.

We are coming towards the end of the day and are looking forward to dinner, and the talent show after that. 

Camp day 1

Today was the first day of our year 8 camp 2014. It was an amazing fun filled day in Paparoa marae. Although the bus trip was long and boring, we made two stops along the way at gold mines. We visited old and new mines which allowed us to compare and contrast the differences between the two, the best part of that was that we got 2 small chocolates!!! 

We have had a very fun time at the marae, we were welcomed with a powhiri and hongi, where we got greeted and shared breath and knowledge. We then watched them lift the hangi which we ate soon after. It included lamb, chicken and VEGTABLES!!!!!! (Which was delicious) 

After dinner we experienced, we were fortunate enough to be givin a Maori cultural show. The concert singing, poi dancing and several different types of Haka.

What a stirring way to end a fabulous day!!!

Discribe what your favourite part of the day was in 5 words or less???

The hangi food was superb.

--Andrew Saville (parent helper)

Hard core Haka with the boys.

--Mr Hagler

The Haka was boss.

--Filip

We touched gold.

--Seb

Dom having no pants

--Raf

A Golden Experience

Today 8R12 explored the old gold mines in Karangahake gorge and the newer mines in Waihi. 

"It was interesting how much old mining material was still lying around. " - Sebastian

"How on Earth did they make those tunnels back in the old days?" - Max

"I wonder just how many people died when these mines were working? Try looked so dangerous." - Jonathan

"When was the last time this mine was used?" - Fraser

"I wish we could've explored the really long tunnels. Just how long are they?" - Hamish

"In what area did they find the most gold?" - Liam

"Just how did they actually mine the old mines?!" - Dom

"I can't believe that when Martha Mine is closed it will fill with lots of water over seven years!" - Holly

To think that olden-day miners had to worry about rats eating their good!" - Kayla

8R12 Camp 2014 Photos