Monday, November 8, 2010

En 12: From Monday, 8 Nov

Today we continued our discussion on the logging poetry of Pete Trower and paid attention to how "poetic" something that we often associate with ruggedness, can be.  We also saw how a poem can be made "authentic" through not only the use of jargon, but by language "of the people" under examination.  Next day we will look at answering the paragraph-type questions on provincial exams - starting with Trower's "Railway Club Blues."  We will also start the Remembrance Day assignment looking at the shift in war poetry that occurred during the First World War.  That will be all the "new" work except prep for the unit test.

27 comments:

  1. I think it will be a nice change for a war veteran to come in and speak to us directly about his experiences. We learn all through senior high school about both world wars, but never get the chance to hear any of it first hand. This is especially special because soon no one will have this kind of opportunity as many of the veterans of the world wars will have grown old and passed on.

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  2. I think bringing in a survivor of the holocaust to our school for a remembrance day presentation is a great idea. To not only remember the people we lost but to listen to someone that survived it will make it more real, and help us understand the whole experience in more depth. He will bring real stories and experiences that we would usually just hear in a book or a poem. The presentation will overall broaden our knowledge about the holocaust. I am excited to hear what he has to say.

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  3. I'm a little nervous about the holocaust speaker coming in to speak to Pender Harbour Secondary. This man has gone through so much, and there is no way I could possibly understand what it has done to this mans life, and his heart. I wonder if he will speak about his experiences directly or about World War Two and more general well known facts. Either way, it will definitely be interesting to have a holocaust survivor speaking at our school.

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  4. Im very excited to listen to this guest speaker from the Holocaust. This is different than anything we've done on Remembrance Day. I think his presentation will have a big impact on our school and hopefully students that don't know a lot about the Holocaust will learn what a horrible thing it was. To see a survivor of this event will make everything more real and not just a story we see in a text book or poem. Students will have more respect for the people that served for our country.

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  5. Oops im sorry i meant to say holocaust survivor, not veteran.

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  6. it would be be nice to have some one share his stories about what had happened to him during the holocaust.

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  7. While having a survivor of the Holocaust speak at our school could certainly help people understand the experience of the Holocaust, I am more interested in being able to ask questions. Perhaps it's just me, but I can *understand* the Holocaust fairly well just by reading information about it, and reading the accounts I have already seen, however a Holocaust survivor represents a great opportunity to try to understand the psychology of it all, in a way that would otherwise have to be entirely theoretical.

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  8. Im stoked about the Veteran, it would be an honor to have such a survivor, come to our school. With such a historic story, come and share his experiences with us :) And i agree with with Mitch WR about being nervous.. i wonder how the Veteran feels about story telling to us..

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  9. Remembrance Day brings about thoughts and feeling of mine that don't come forth very often. Every year I witness our Remembrance Day assembly, none of which however were like what will take place this year. I believe that having a survivor of the Holocaust will bring all the students a much greater understanding of the effects of war. I am very glad this man is coming to speak to us and hope he gives students a greater respect and understanding of what they should "remember".

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  10. I didn't know we had a speaker coming, this is exciting news for me and i will very much enjoy.

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  11. Hello, My name is CharlesNovember 9, 2010 at 9:32 AM

    Having a Holocaust survivor in our school to discuss about his experiences can be a once in a life time chance to hear what happened 1st hand. There are not many Holocaust survivors left and also a little percentage actully wants to stand in front of a hundread people and talk about what happened to him. This would be a great experience for our school.

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  12. I think its a good change to bring in a holocaust surviver. Giving us a presentation is more meaningful than just having the ceremony. It will give us a different perspective on the war and I think he will teach us a lot.

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  13. I think that it will be interesting to hear the holocaust survivor speak to the school. It will be a great experience for everyone.

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  14. Joseph the 5th McKayNovember 9, 2010 at 9:35 AM

    The holocaust is a very depressing topic, but I feel very privileged that a survivor is willing to come talk to us about it. Although I am looking forward to it I am also worried most of the younger students wont be able to grasp the seriousness of it all. I can't even fathom how difficult it would be experience such a gruesome thing, let alone talk about it to a bunch of kids who could never really understand how terrible it was.

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  15. Like Mitchell, I'm a little nervous about the Holocaust survivor coming to speak at our school, but it isn't quite for the same reason. Most, if not all, of us will never be able to comprehend the travesty that this man faced during the Holocaust. Nevertheless, for the senior high students (or at least most of us) we will be able to show respect by listening and not fidgeting and playing with our phones, or something along those lines. However, it is the junior high students I am fearful of. I fear that these younger students (or at least most of them) will not be able to mask the fact that they don't understand and i am worried that they will show this by not even listening. This man has gone through the worst event imaginable and he survived! He deserves to be respected and I would hate to think that this man will leave here thinking that we do not understand how to show respect. I just hope that I am wrong. I hope that all the students listen quietly, are engaged and I hope that there will be at least a few, well thought out questions. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens tomorrow.

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  16. I think that having the the guest speaker who lived through the holocaust come to our school will be a positive change, breaking free from the routine of the past years. I believe that by having this guest speaker come it will add more and allow people to become more interested than they would otherwise have been if they had to go through the same thing we have every other year. Allowing people to really hear what things were like first hand, from someone who was alive through it all.

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  17. War poetry before the First World War had been about the glory of war, how one side out did the other and how people succeeded in there goals. However this type of poetry changed during the first world war it became more about the fallen soldiers, how horrible war really was and what it takes to accomplish goals in war. Although I have not read much pre World War I war poetry I have A thought on why the tone changed. I believe that the tone has changed because the brutality of the First World War and the more modern weapons that were brought to the war. The new weapons used in the First World War were more effective and could cause more damage then then the old weapons and the use of chemical gas that could clear trenches full of people. Although I could go on longer about how much more brutal the first world war was then the previous wars I think that I have used enough examples to explain my thought.

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  18. I didn't think that there would be a Holocaust survivor willing to go to thru all this to show us and tell us what he went thru in his life

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  19. I agree with Jones, its very concerning to think that some of the younger student, or even older ones, would be disrespectful. I hope that teachers and students take the time to explain to each other the seriousness of this man's experiences.

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  20. Thank you for your comments thus far - they are well-presented and have a sincere tone. While many of you acknowledge how fortunate we will be to hear authentic oral history from someone who suffered through the Holocaust, I'm struck by your concern to ensure that we (as a school community) show respect during our guest's visit. I wonder if any of you feel it would be advantageous for you, as senior students, to have an opportunity to express your concerns to your younger student colleagues? I see this as a "teachable moment" and a chance for you to demonstrate some positive and fraternal leadership.

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  21. I, unlike Jones and Becky, am not that afraid of younger students being disrespectful. WIth younger students just a few words uttered quietly towards them from us will silence them. I'm sure staff and older students will be watching out for this. I, on the other hand, am a little bit more worried about the willful disrespect on the part of some older students. If I see kids walking out in the middle of the presentation, or sitting on the bench in the hall when everyone walks out of the gym, I will be furious.

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  22. I think it's going to be interesting to see how the students react when the guest speaker shares a little bit about his experience during the Holocaust. I think it will be good for the students to learn about the war from a person who's been in one and survived. It's going to be different from the previous ceremonies we've had at this school and i hope everyone treats this speaker with the great respect he deserves.

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  23. I too am worried that some students will treat this assembly like they have many others. I'm not going to lie, I have talked quietly to my neighbour during an assembly but some take it much further. I would like to express my concerns to younger students, however it is not the grade 7's and 8's that worry me. It is the grade 11's that are pretty much our peers and probably won't listen.

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  24. Does anyone have an idea on how we can bring this topic to some of the older not so respectful students ( grade 11's)?

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  25. I think the fact that we have a holocaust surviver coming to speak at our remembrance assembly will be a good thing, not only for myself, but for everyone attending. Agreeing with Mitchell's point about being a little nervous about how the survivor will react to speaking to a adolescent group of kids about his personal experiances that happend during that time. Or rather speaking about the main facts. Either way, I believe that it will be a good thing to help some younger kids really understand why we take November 11th so seriously as a day to remember in Canada. Perhaps making more people truly understand the respect we should give. Overall I think it is a great thing that he is giving our school the honor of speaking, and helping people realize what we should really be 'remembering' about this day.

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  26. I am excited to hear first hand from a survivor of the holocaust. This is a once in a life time opportunity to listen to such a powerful story. I believe it will help me (and others) gain a more clear understanding of this horrid experience.

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