Exploring topical issues on the West Coast

Essay writing

Do now:
write down all your thoughts on legalising cannabis.

Then we are going to use this document to start planning and then writing our essays.

Essay writing: thinking about a controversial issue

On Friday we looked at Mike Hosking's opinion on the proposed changes to the laws in New Zealand on cannabis.

We frontloaded some new vocabulary together in groups:

the department of common sense

myriad social ills

Colmar Brunton poll

the legalisation of cannabis

the dope market

MMP

New Zealand First

Andrew Little

We watched Mike Hosking here. 

We read an adapted version of his article here.

Lily suggested that we draw up two columns - one for reform of the cannabis laws to make it legal to smoke cannabis in New Zealand and one against this reform.  Everyone participated in our group discussions and contributions to entering ideas in each column.

Exam preparation: reading & writing

1. Do now: at each table, there is a plastic packet with ten pieces of paper in it. In your groups, please write a word which uses onomatopeia on each piece of paper.  Use a new word for each piece of paper.

2. Resources for the exams in week nine:
Exam timetable:

Resources to help you prepare:
Reading + Writing (Essay)
Reading + Writing (SEXY paragraphs)

Today's focus: reading
In groups, you can choose what to do:
1. Sign up for https://readtheory.org/ and work through the tasks there.
2. Using an A3 copy of the poem My Sister and I, annotate the poem to identify each of the language techniques used in the poem, and to show understanding of what each stanza is about.  Ms Quick will give each group more guidance on how to do this.

Do now: go to Socrative, and complete the questions on your storyboard on bullying.

Room : MSQUICK

LO: To show understanding of a theme in Akeelah and the Bee SC: We can identify techniques in our storyboards which develop the idea of bullying We can describe the difference between an idea and a theme We can explain how  the events that happen in Akeelah and the Bee work together to create a theme

Idea vs theme

Idea - something developed to link events or objects together.  e.g. I have an idea on how to fix your car.  e.g. I have an idea on how we could dress up for the party.  e.g. Do you have any idea where I left my keys? e.g. One idea I have about Akeelah is that she doesn't like school because it is boring and the building is really rundown.

Theme - when an idea is developed over a longer text and has a message for us, something we can learn from it.  e.g. a theme in Mr England's speech at assembly is that we will all feel better about being GHS students if we wear our unifr