Hope all of you are enjoying a well deserved vacation. Our trip to see Paige in Full went well and our journey to the High School to see the Center of Technology was the BEST it has ever been.
Social Studies:
Well, many students came to me for the required retest on the World War II material, but there are still a good many who have not done so. My advice to those students who have not retested yet is to look over your World War II SS test and research the material in the questions you did not get correct. You can read about the subjects you missed in the online textbook, but you may also go on line to google it any way you like. For example, if you missed the question on 'blitzkrieg' then look it up in a dictionary, find out the origins of the word (German) and what it means (Lightning War.) Then find out who was famous for using Blitzkrieg in WWII and perhaps be ready to tell me how it was different from 'regular' fighting. Then when you see me for the verbal retest, I'll just ask, "So tell me about Blitzkrieg," and you'll do most of the talking!
ESSAY OUTLINE UPDATE:
At this time I am grading the "Should We Drop the Bombs on Japan (in WWII)" Essay Outline. That project was very difficult for many who have little experience seeking out quality website for facts. Some of the problems I've seen so far are:
1: Students had a difficult time coming up with a defendable thesis.
2: Students who created a defendable thesis still had difficulty finding quality websites (authoritative) in which to find supporting facts. Many students went with "Yahoo Answers" or "Opinions of modern students in online Blogs." Neither are very convincing.
3: Many students who found facts (or paraphrased them in their own words) failed to cite the sources.
4: Most students struggled with the concept of the third body paragraph where they were supposed to address the opposing viewpoint. I did not mean that they should take the opposing viewpoint, but rather that they were supposed to acknowledge it, and refute it.
In light of all these difficulties, I have determined that the students can use more practice and that I need to do more to prepare the students for this sort of project, so it was both a learning experience for me and for the students. Every student who turned in a project that demonstrates an effort on any level will receive credit. Seeing their difficulties helps me to adjust the lesson, so I was grateful that 99% of the students did turn in whatever they had.
When we return from vacation we will begin The Cold War.
ENGLISH:
When we left English Class, we were trying to write a quick essay (following a class-designed outline) on "Why We Hate To Go To The Movies." I purposefully chose an absurd topic to demonstrate how we can write essays for subjects we don't necessarily agree with. I did this because students often say, "But I don't know what to write." We agreed in class that most of us LIKE going to movies (there were one or two that didn't like it) and then we brainstormed reasons normal people might not like going to the movies. We then sorted the reasons into groups (Disturbances, Unsanitary Conditions and the like) and crafted an outline. Then, students contributed sentences to the essay itself based on the brainstormed facts and the outline. We will wrap this up when we return and try our hand at one more individual 5 paragraph essay on a topic yet to be developed.
