Josh and I continued to research and write for his history assignment. Josh has a hard time typing his thoughts, often skipping some words and misspelling others. With help, he was able to articulate his thoughts, but we had to work at a slow pace to ensure that everything was legible and coherent. Josh's knowledge of basic sentence structure needs some work, and in writing he often skips over subject and verb combinations. On the whole, our progress on this project has been a bit delayed, but things have come together nicely in the end. Josh seems to be gaining more insight on grammar and the flow of writing.
I helped Josh with a History assignment today, focusing his writing on the description of the History of Egypt. This took longer than expected: Josh's typing was a bit labored, but his reading comprehension seemed high, and he was able to recount some very minute details from the text. We did some research on the political leaders of Egypt, which seemed to interest him quite a bit. In order to finish this assignment, Josh must spend some time at home typing his research findings. He informed me that he would have the next page typed and completed before our session next week.
Josh and I conducted research for his History Paper, searching the internet to get an overview of Egypt's historical periods. After getting an idea of how many periods we needed to cover, I had Josh write an outline, composing two sentences for each historical period. On the whole, we got to at least 4 periods. We will work on the rest next week.
Assignment
Continue to work on History Project
Session Minutes
60
Minutes Student Attended
60
Lesson Comments
Josh was very productive today, but at times he digressed a bit and needed me to help him refocus.
Unusual Stories, ch. 9: Ethics
-Reread article "Why Students Cheat"
-Answer and discuss reading comprehension questions
-Discuss topics for further consideration
-Write paragraph discussing the question, "What moral obligation, if any, does a student have if he or she witnesses cheating?"
-Discuss writing
Session Minutes
120
Minutes Student Attended
120
Lesson Comments
Joshua, again, had a lot to say on this topic. He likened it to his field of interest, paranormal psychology. He was interested in the profile of a cheater. He told me how he would be able to tell if someone was lying about a paranormal experience based on the types of questions he would ask. Essentially, before he would be able to detect paranormal activity, he would have to verify whether the haunted person is truly being haunted, is delusional, is lying, etc. It was very fascinating to hear this part of his preferred profession.
Unusual Stories, ch. 9: Ethics
-Discuss famous quotes about ethics
-Preview vocabulary & use in own sentences
-Read article "Why Students Cheat"
-Discuss journal responses
Session Minutes
120
Minutes Student Attended
120
Lesson Comments
Joshua had a lot to say about this topic. He was very fascinated at the conflict between cheating and punishment, particularly if a student turns him/herself in. Should the student be redeemed? What would be an appropriate punishment? We had a very intense and in depth conversation about the students profiled in this article.
Son of Slappy
-Write summary of book
-Discuss book ending and signs of foreshadowing
-Predict sequel for book
-Edit summary & discuss grammar issues
Session Minutes
120
Minutes Student Attended
120
Lesson Comments
Joshua's writing skills have improved immensely. His first summary was written fairly well. We discussed major grammatical issues from his paper, specifically the use of commas. He seemed to follow this well, and was able to predict where to add commas in many of his sentences after our initial discussion.
Popular Culture Essay Discussion and Response Questions
Lesson Outline
1)Joshua and I read the second essay in his popular culture packet ("Confessions of an eBay addict"), tracking the thesis and main point progression.
2)Joshua answers discussion questions.
Popular Culture/Blue Jeans Recap and Discussion Questions
Lesson Outline
1)Joshua and I work on the Pop Culture assignment that his teacher left for our class, recapping on the Blue Jeans essay we read on Monday.
2)Joshua answers discussion questions pertaining to the essay we read on Monday.
1)Read Chapter 5, "Popular Culture," identifying what it means to be "in vogue" while working on reading and reading comprehension.
2) After reading our chapter, Joshua journals his own personal connection to popular culture.
