We started working our way through this week's reading, which was rather funny considering the first chapter covered supply chain management. I was pleasantly surprised by how much Brandon remembered from last semester, and we were able to work through the chapter questions pretty easily.
Another big reading to tackle today. Brandon and I read through 40 pages worth of an assigned article for this week's post. The article detailed the various plagues that were passed and spread through the New World in the face of mass emigration and contact. I was impressed with Brandon's motivation to finish the reading. Once we had everything we needed, we brainstormed issues for Brandon to discuss for his assignment.
Brandon had a lot of reading to do this week, so we began tackling the Civilizations course with his Hans Koning required reading. This reading was long, but entertaining, as it discussed the atrocities that many of the Amerindians of the New World were forced to experience at the expense of the Spaniards. Brandon took avid notes on things that he could use in his discussion post. By the end of class, we had finished the reading.
Brandon finished this week's discussion post during our session. He not only iterated the various intricacies at work in the moral conundrum of the City of the World vs. The City of God, but he also discussed the implications of that quandary, which was the objective of the post. Brandon is getting away from merely stating the facts, but considering the impact of historical events both on the future and in terms of the specific epoch. Nice work, Brandon!
Brandon began brainstorming for his discussion post on the idea that Saint Augustine's City of God, which was a doctrine world denial, and the conflicting idea of the City of the World, which was world affirming, led to the ill treatment of the indigenous population in the New World. This complex argument required a lot of explanation, and Brandon spent most of his time on the first half of the argument, finding page numbers to support his reasoning. He will finish the post tomorrow.
The professor did not post the exam until Saturday, so we had to do it today. Brandon had done no additional studying, but the test was 50 true/false questions, and frankly, not a very good test. Many of the questions were subjective, and he answered at least 3 that were correct, but marked incorrect. He scored 42/50, but that grade should go up after the corrections.
We finished up with all the prep work for the mid-term. Brandon still seems to think the exam is going to be easy, even though we have no idea of what the format will be. Between the homework questions (which he's only gotten on back, but got an A on), and the key terms, he should be pretty covered. My concern, as always, is that he doesn't do all of the reading, but I fear that won't change until he doesn't get a high score on the exams.
We continued working on the list of key terms for the mid-term. Brandon didn't find out until today that we also have to cover three more chapters for this week, so he agreed to do some reading tonight. He has a pretty solid understanding of the material, but I still think he should put more study time in for the exam.
Brandon watched several videos today and took a quiz based on the content information. we spent the rest of our time reading through an article on Saint Augustine's The City of God to prepare for this week's post. Very productive day, but we have a lot of reading ahead of us. We will talk about adding a Friday session to make sure we finish everything.
We spent today going through the first week's reading and making notes on key terms and concepts. Brandon worked hard for the full session and we got through most of the first 3 chapters. We have two more days of prep and I think he should be in good shape for the exam.
