Wednesday, February 22, 2017 (Day #116)

Post date: Feb 23, 2017 8:07:52 PM

I'm not sure what happened yesterday and why I didn't blog, but I apologize. I simply forgot.

In Literature 9 we annotated Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address". We had different colors and symbols to mark for anaphora, parallelism, juxtaposition, and several others. It was more of a discovery lesson - everyone had a paper describing the element and then the students had to find it in the address. This is a great lesson rather than me just standing at the SMART board and showing them where the rhetorical language was. We will finish up tomorrow. The assignment is to read "Sayonara" in their textbook (pg. 350).

In English 10 we reviewed for tomorrow's test (quiz, twizz, quest). We went through the SMART board notes and our own personal notes and discussed the various elements found on the quiz. Then we assigned the partners for the partner debate. With a flip of a coin, sides were assigned. Some were not happy that they now have to support an opinion they don't personally agree with. Oh well, the joy of debate.

In American Government we had a little welcoming party since I hadn't seen them for a week. I updated them about Craig and his condition. Then we compared a formal amendment to the Constitution (ERA) with an informal amendment Title IX. We had some great discussion. We didn't have a tremendous amount of time left, but we did get started on the activity entitled "You Be the Judge". It asks students to read a court case and determine which amendment is being violated.

In Law we were missing a student, but we had to go on. We compared and contrasted trial and appellate courts. I pointed out that trial courts have original jurisdiction, one judge, a jury, two attorneys, but the decision is all about the facts. In an appellate court there are three judges, still attorneys, but no new evidence is given. The issue of law is what is paramount.

A great day - definitely my mood was better than yesterday. It's surprising how much power a single comment can have over your day. Good thing I was able to let it go and enjoy today.