Wednesday, November 30, 2016 (Day #68)

Post date: Nov 30, 2016 8:55:46 PM

This time I'm completing my blog first thing! No more forgetting for me!

In Literature 9 we enjoyed three of the four Reader's Theater presentations. As each group presented we stopped and filled out various sections of the story detective. This technique worked really well, and I hope to incorporate it more in the future. Maybe it worked so well because the freshmen are such great kids!

In English 10 I conferenced with each student. It got a little frustrating because I was repeating myself a lot! Each main point has to be parallel. If the first main point is five words, then so is the second and third. If the second sentence has a prepositional phrase in it, then so do the other two main points. We will be adding the verbs and predicate adjectives as we go on, but as long as we start with the main points, we should be good. Then we took notes on how to evaluate sources - the 5 W's. I always am amazed at how shocked students are when I show them Martin Luther King dot org. Deciding what is fake and what is real is one of the most important skills we can develop.

In American Government we briefly discussed Pres-elect Trump's cabinet postings. We then moved on to our Founding Fathers. What characteristics did they share? They were white, men, average age 42, Protestant (religious), well-educated, successful, leaders of their states or communities, had a servant heart, and were willing to compromise. We discussed on the Articles of Confederation was a league of friendship (as long as everyone was going in the same direction - the war then life was good). Once the focus shifted then dissent began. Our game proved that. Everyone knew what they were supposed to do - choose blue, but there was always that one "group" that wanted to make more money and was willing to sacrifice the all for the one. After the quiz, with the time remaining, I assigned everyone a particular Founding Father. They are to research his background and be prepared for our Dinner Party on Monday.

Today just flew by. I skipped lunch, and I still felt like I needed more time. Time is a precious commodity, and I think oftentimes we squander it. As Ben Franklin once said, "Dost thou love life? Then don't waste time, for that is the stuff life is made of." You're a wise one Ben Franklin.