I adore Katya, but this has gone on long enough and I just no longer want to be a part of this situation. It's not getting any better. I empathize with Katya and my heart breaks for the stressors in her life. But I have observed elements of manipulation and Katya simply not wanting to do the work that are also at play here.
Today we continued and completed a project where Katya has been tasked with designing a modern world history timeline from five units covered this semester. We completed the final three out of five modules. From the third module on imperialism, Katya chose to focus on the Boer War. From the fourth module on Italian/German Unification, Katya chose to focus on Garibaldi and Italian unification. For the fifth module, Katya chose Japan's Meiji Restoration/Era. This focused on the modernization and industrialization of Japan from 1867 - 1912. So glad that Katya adhered to the directions and completed the project!
Katya showed me her work that she completed so far. I let her know that her work was incredible. She let me know that the subjects that I had chosen for her were difficult for her style, so I suggested that she choose some characters that she would like to illustrate. I gave her some time to complete her work and come up with the list of new characters.
I reminded Katya that a research paper is organic. It goes through stages until it researches a final draft that needs to be carefully proofread. Shared with Katya that I found interesting that her research so far has given us many different answers to the question: What are the causes of divorce. The "experts" we've found do not agree at all on the top and most significant causes. That problem raises some interesting questions one of which is: How do we solve this problem? I justed an additional idea: Why not make this problem a discussion point at the start of her paper? Going back to solutions to the problem, I asked how do we validate a so-called expert? What qualifies a person to be believed and trusted? How do we distinguish between sources that are reliable and sources that cannot be relied on to give us fact-based, research-based statement? Going further, I suggested that any dubious quote might easily be used. First, by quoting the source and then proving that the view point being presented is really a misconception. Correcting misconceptions can be an interesting strategy and a nice piece of education for the reader, one which the reader should appreciate. Plus, you the researcher get praise for your insight. We discussed the bar graph Katya found and, second, how important it is to spending time "ingterpreting" the bar graph for the reader so the reader comes away with the key concepts in the block quote the writer wants to emphasize. To keep things "neutral," "unbiased," "objective," "open-minded" in tone (for the sake of the writer's image), I suggested two formulas: First framework: Some people say that....Other people believe....Still others argue that....Recent research has suggested....; or Second framework: It might be argued that....It might be argued that....It might be argued that... But recent research has suggested ...... Note: each element could easily get its own new paragraph, and each paragraph could be developed by completing the phrase "According to ....." which would be followed by a block quote.
Assignment
Katya to continue to all block quote, and following the strategies I taught here give some shape to her paper. I am hoping to get a first draft of the paper before Thursday.
Session Minutes
120
Minutes Student Attended
0
Lesson Comments
I put in the preparation time to have a good lesson for Katya today, but Katya did not show up for class. I called her but was only able to leave her messages that I would make myself available to her anytime today. I also left Katya a message using Teams. Last, I spoke with Elise to tell Nicole that there was no class today because Katya never showed up.
Absent. Katya and I should have class right now. I called her and she didn't answer. But she sent me a message:
[1:35 PM] Katya Dieffenbafch
"hey i have to finish a math worksheet can we resedule tommorow"
[1:35 PM] Katya Dieffenbafch
"i was looking foward to your class"
Session Minutes
60
Minutes Student Attended
0
Lesson Comments
I have no available time to meet with Katya tomorrow. Our next scheduled class is Wed. at 1:30pm.
Katya presented her work that she started on the Six Art Fan Challenge. I reviewed her work and made some minor suggestions for her work.
I gave Katya a plan for what she would need to do to complete her work for the last quarter.
Today we focused on a project where Katya has been tasked with designing a modern world history timeline from five units covered this semester. We completed two out of five modules. From the first module on independence movements, Katya chose to to focus on the Haitian independence movement. From the second module on new philosophies, Katya chose to focus on Adam Smith, the famous economist, considered the father of modern day economics and capitalism. We will continue with this project preparation in our next class on Monday.
