Grade 9 Short Stories Dec 9 to Jan 28

The short story reading list is posted on the Grade 9 page. Please read each story BEFORE the class. Note: there will be two unannounced short quizzes during the unit.

Grade 9 Ballad Due Nov 25

	Exceeds Expectations	Fully Meets Expectations	Mostly Meets Expectation	Somewhat Meets Expectations	Below Expectations
Content, accuracy, insight	7	6-5	4-3	2	1-0
Use of techniques	8	7-6	5-4	2	1
Spelling	5	4	3	2	1-0
Choice of Subject	5	4	3	2	1-0

Parent Teacher Night

I welcome a chance to meet with any of my students' parents. If you didn't get a chance to see me on November 14, then please feel free to contact me at the school and schedule a meeting. I usually stay as late as 5:30 on Wednesday afternoons and come in as early as 7 am on Thursday mornings. If you would like to arrange a meeting during one of those times, or at another time, then please phone me at the school.

You can contact me at mr.francissouth@gmail.com, or through the email at the school district.

Grade 9 paragraph due Nov 7

A couple of people have come to me asking about the paragraph due Nov 7. Please don't make it too complicated. All I want for you to do is a little research and a brief paragraph. Throughout human history, famines have occurred. You could research one and tell about its causes, who it affected, when it occurred, and where it was. Was there anything that could have been done to avoid it? Was it anyone's fault. Remember how the poem talks about war and armies?

Another topic is food security. This is the concept of making sure that there is enough to eat for everyone. Today we count on there being enough food in warehouses and stores, but where does that food come from? What if there was a glitch in the supply chain? There are lots of smart people thinking about and writing about this issue. It's worth thinking about.

One of the things that could cause a problem with food security is climate change. How does climate affect our food supply? What effects of climate change affect our food supply? What choices should be made to ensure continued agricultural production.

I know this is a big topic and I didn't give you much time. Therefore I'm not looking for an indepth essay, but only a well-written paragraph. Take some time to read a little information from two or three sources. Jot down a few notes, and some good quotes or facts. And begin the paragraph with a really good topic sentence.

The most important thing is don't just cut and paste some information. That's plagiarism.

24 marks.

	Exceeds Expectations	Fully Meets Expectations	Mostly Meets Expectation	Somewhat Meets Expectations	Below Expectations
Structure	7-8 Paragraph has a clear topic sentence, all sentences afterwards are logical and contribute to discussion. Some provocative ideas are discussed. Uses a several properly identified sources that are not plagiarized.	6-7 Paragraph has a clear topic sentence, logic is clear. Ideas are presented clearly. At least one properly identified source identified, not plagiarized.	5-6 Topic sentence may be weak. Ideas may be fuzzy, or some sentences may be irrelevant. Source is identified, but most of the ideas are simply copied.	4-5 Topic sentence may be weak. Ideas not original. Source not identified, or main ideas copied.	3-0 Mostly plagiarized. Lacks coherence. Does not provide information.
Grammar	7-8 No errors of spelling. No run-on sentences. No sentence fragments. Minor grammar errors only.	6-7 1-2 errors of spelling. Not more than one run-on sentence. Not more than one sentence fragment. Minor grammar errors.	5-6 Contains misused homophones. Several sentence fragments or run-on sentences. Grammar errors are not minor.	4-5 Homophone errors, apostrophe errors, sentence fragments, run-on sentences abound. Spelling errors common.	3-0 Problems with capitalization, periods, spelling of common words.
Insight	7-8 Shows excellent insight into the issue and possible solutions.	6-7 Shows good insight into the issue and possible solutions.	5-6 Shows some insight into the issue and possible solutions.	4-5 Shows weak insight into the problem and possible solutions.	3-0 Lacks insight into the issue and possible solutions.

Mr. Francis Teaches English

September 2013

Welcome students and parents to my blog. This blog will provide a means for you to keep track of what we are doing in my English classes at Burnaby South Secondary. If you are a student and miss an assignment, you will be able to contact me to ask me to send you the handout. In addition, all the chapter questions will be available, plus discussion about what the important points are for each learning outcome, just in case you missed something in class.

October 2013

Ok, not so many updates. Most students did quite well on their essays. I'm still chasing a few to complete their work. Overall performance has been excellent.

I hadn't realized that the email for this blog was not forwarding to my other email, so I didn't realize that some people had emailed me and not received replies. The problem has been corrected.

Click here for grade 9 blocks 5 and 6
Click here for grade 8 block 7
Click here for grade 8 block 1




Parents and students, please feel free to email me with questions or concerns. Please note, that although this is not my school email address, it will forward to me automatically. I didn't want to post my school email address to avoid spam messages.