The Borges Blog – September 9, 2007

Well, I can’t believe that another year is about to begin. Two months passes so quickly when you’re having fun but I honestly always look forward to a new school year. It’s always full of promise and surprises. I enjoy meeting and working with the new students in my class and I am always excited to catch up with students from the year before, hearing all they have to tell me about their summer adventures, their families and how much they missed me.

For those who may not be familiar with the Home School Program, I’ll briefly explain what it is. Home School is the fancy name for the Special Education class and this is how it works:

Our school is on a rotary system (kind of like high school where you go to your different classes with different teachers). Home School students are integrated for all subjects with the exception of English and Math. For these two subjects, students work with Mr. Borges (that’s me) and Mr. Lopez (that’s the Special Ed Assistant) through individualized programs based on each student’s specific needs. Aside from these two subjects, Home School students have the opportunity to work in the Language Lab and use specially designed computers that assist with reading, writing and research. They can come from any of their classes and we are always ready and willing to help out in any way we can.

We always begin the year at Sir Ernest MacMillan with something we call Harmony Week. It’s a time when all students are given the opportunity to learn about the school, the teachers, their classmates, and themselves through self-discovery and teambuilding activities and games. Last year, Harmony Week was a great success and definitely set the tone for a prosperous and productive year. I’m sure the same will be true for this year.

The Home School Program has some very interesting and exciting things planned this year. Some of these things include:

An in-depth and multi-media enriched curriculum (fancy way of saying we use technology to teach stuff) including units on Social Justice and Human Rights, African History, Real-life Math Skills, and much much more
A trip to the Forest Valley Outdoor Education Centre (Oct 25)
Fundraising (with the help of “Free the Children”  to help children in developing countries (Throughout the year)
A pen-pal exchange with a school in South America
And of course, continuing our work with Ability Online
…And these don’t even include the things Home School Students are involved in with their regular classes!

I’m so excited about this year and I can’t wait to get to know my new students and continue to work with the ones who have been here before.

Cheers

Mr. Borges

Welcome!

For two years my class and I worked with Ability Online writing Blogs as the Blog squad.  I figured if my students were doing it, it was only fair that I do it.  I have added the posts here so everyone can read them.