One of the real issues we've been dealing with is Michael's lack of opinion or real interest in anything. When he reads, he's so focused on forming the words, he rarely pays attention to what he's reading, and in his own words, he really doesn't have opinions. We read an interesting essay today about a doctor who believes in being a life-long learner. That's a term Michael is not familiar with, so we spent the class talking about it. I stressed the importance of paying attention and forming opinions. He's not going to get the information from reading, so I suggested video based research. So, his homework tonight is to find as much information about the situation in Syria as he can, and be able to talk about it tomorrow. We'll see how he does.