9T English 2025

 Kia ora koutou katoa, this year's 9T English class has 26 students from around the district. They are an amazing group of learners who always arrive, happy and cheerful and ready to do their work. We start our lessons with a Do Now Activity either working out of their English Basics workbooks. Or, completing a Rapid Reading Respose card. This activity will normally take about 10 minutes. Then students get on with the days lesson. In Term 1 we started with our Speeches. They had 5 weeks to research and gather information about a chosen topic. The topics were (1) Someone I admire (2) A special place I like to go to (3) Determination creates success. All but one student completed their speech in front of the class and were duly awarded a grade. The second unit of work was a Biography of themselves. These were great to read and for me to find out more about each student in my class. 

In Term 2 we are working on a Novel Study and the book is called Cuz by Liz Van Der Laarse. Students are completing this work at the moment. For those who have already completed the unit. They have extension work An intro to Canva - Smart learning. They are creating resources based on our novel Cuz. 

I am looking forward to the rest of this year with this amazing group of students. Nga mihi nui 

Term 3 Under Way

Kia ora koutou, it is Term 3 already and our 9T English class is starting with our unit on Creative Writing. This is an enjoyable unit to teach as the students start looking at similies, metaphors, personification and other styles of writing to think creatively and to write creative pieces of work. The jungle scene below is used, starting with nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs setting the foundation for students to look and think outside of the box when writing. 

About Us - 9T English

 

Kia ora koutou katoa, this is our 2024 9T English class. Whaea Katie to the right is our teacher aid/supporter and I, Whaea Annette are standing to the left of the picture. 9T is the year 9 Reo Rua class and the majority of them are fluent speakers of Te Reo Maori. They have also been raised, steeped in Maori tradition and customs or tikanga as it is called.  These students are very academically charged and love to succeed. In Term 1 they completed their speeches, short story studies and a biography piece of themselves. This term we have started with our Novel Study unit and the book we are reading is called CUZ by Liz Van Der Laarse. We are enjoying reading this story because it is set in New Zealand and the main characters are Maori. So, until next we blog, tēnā koutou katoa. 

PLD Training to start the year off

 Kia ora koutou, today is our first full day of training before school starts and the students arrive.  Updating my website and trying to make learning exciting is a goal for the year. Breaking news is an app that I will be using to make learning a bit more intersting for my 9T English class. Here is an example of  what they can create. Using an image and write a small paragraphy would be great. 

Portrait of a teacher

 Kia ora mai ano. This year I was asked to sit for a senior class of art students so that they could sketch and draw my portrait for their art portfolios. I was humbled and very pleased to sit for them one morning in Term 2. The students asked a lot of questions about my upbringing. Where I was born and raised and information about the town in which I grew up which was Moerewa. After the sitting they (the senior students) would come to my office and show me their sketches and drawings. Here is one of them that I was allowed to have a copy of. I am very chuffed to have it. The tuna/ eels in the backround of this drawing represent Moerewa's nickname which was tuna town while I was growing up. 

Story Board Planning

 Kia ora ano e tatou ma, story board planning is a cool way to get students to map out their own stories before putting it together either in writing or by video clip. Here is a sample that I gave my students in order to get them thinking about what they wanted to say. 

Novel Study - See Ya Simon

 This Term we have studied a novel called See Ya Simon by David Hill. David is a New Zealand author and the story was based on a 14 year old boy called Simon, who had muscular dystrophy. Although Simon had this debilitating disease it did not stop him enjoying life to the full, attending school and having great friends around him. One of the chapters was able poem writing in their English class and they likened it to creating layers of an onion. Each layer had its own ideas which formed the poem. Our class turned it into an excercise about writing a poem about ourselves. Here is my example of the poems we wrote in class.