Natalie submitted a revision from her rough draft of last week that is a definite A. She revised much of it very precisely, missing only a few things. I'm teaching her how to integrate citations in MLA format that are woven in, rather than full sentence quotes. Even with these, she must remember how to lead up to the quote with a signal phrase. Her Works Cited page looks very good now as well. Natalie is preparing to write her next essay on To Kill a Mockingbird, due in two weeks. She completed vocabulary from Mockingbird and a beginning of book quiz.

I enjoyed our meeting this afternoon, and I am so proud of Will and his accomplishments. It was especially good to have him join us at the conference and participate in planning for his future. He is so driven to be independent and wants to do all that he can to ensure success in his first year of college! I truly believe that he is prepared to take on that task. In our session today, he reviewed the four examples of propaganda techniques. He did a fine job on this assignment and found some great examples of the techniques. We then dug deeper into the topic of social propaganda and discussed the use of stereotypes. We had a great conversation about why it is wrong to stereotype people based on religion, race, or gender. Will has a well-developed sense of right and wrong and was quick to point out that stereotyping people by race was “racism” and that it was very wrong. At our next session, we will talk about the difference between a stereotype and a generalization. Will has no homework this weekend. I hope he has an enjoyable weekend at Lynn University, and I look forward to hearing about his visit next Wednesday.

Sam turned in her LORD OF THE FLIES take home quiz. We completed our introduction to the novel. We discussed the double journal entry. We began reading the novel. I explained annotating to Sam. She needs to annotate the novel and write her double journal entry based on her annotations.

We began today’s session with a review of Will’s homework assignment. He chose a movie poster and analyzed it for the 5 core concepts of media literacy. He did a very good job on this assignment. Then, we discussed the difference between propaganda and advertisement. Will understood that propaganda techniques are designed to change someone’s belief. Will brainstormed examples of propaganda and did a great job coming up with ones he remembered from history. I then gave him an article to read about propaganda. We discussed the importance of close reading of articles. He was instructed to always read an article through the first time to get the “gist” and then reread to highlight, notate, and take notes. After the first reading, he shared that he really understood the difference between advertisement and propaganda. For homework, he has another article to read about the 7 common types of propaganda techniques. After reading, he should select 4 of the seven techniques and find a media example. This was an awesome class!

Sam did not complete her take home test on LORD OF THE FLIES. She promised that she would complete it for tomorrow. We began by completing lesson one in the vocabulary book. Sam will put her words on quizlet so that she can study/use them better. She put the 20 words from lesson one on Quizlet. Then we began an introduction to our new novel. We ran out of time and need to continue that tomorrow.

British Literature, James Joyce. Natalie took an open book quiz on James Joyce, scoring 92. She also handed in a documented research essay of substantial length addressing the plastic problem. For a rough draft it was very good. Problems with inserting in-text citations were addressed, and a chapter from College Composition 2 was provided that shows clearly how to put these into the text. That same packet on integrating sources addresses plagiarism and the subtleties to be aware of, as well as examples of synthesis with clear explanation. Natalie will have a test on that material in a few weeks. She has a printed schedule of due dates into the middle of May.

Sam and I finally finished reading and annotating the novel. We discussed plot, characters and themes. Sam began the take-home final assessment of the novel. It involves some objective and short answer questions.

Natalie is editing and proofreading an essay I gave her, and will hand it in tomorrow. Today she read more of To Kill a Mockingbird, and is keeping in mind the prompt for the culminating essay: Keep in mind the concept of injustice as you read -- take notes and mark scenes and situations that you will use for textual evidence. Explicitiy write about the complexities involved in the major injustice found in the novel and the part that the historical setting and racism play. Include character analysis, and a parallel historical event from that time. Natalie also has five vocabulary words from the first part of To Kill a Mockingbird. She will write definitions, synonyms, antonyms, and its part of speech. She is completing a straight-forward open-book quiz on part one as well.

Will reviewed the 5 core concepts of media literacy in our session today. Then, he selected an advertisement to analyze with the guiding questions for the core concepts. Will chose to analyze the Lincoln motor advertisement. He did an excellent job analyzing the advertisement and was able to identify the purpose, format and audience. For homework, Will is going to choose another advertisement, either for a product or a political party, and fill in a graphic organizer which was emailed to him.

Trying to complete the novel and the novel's assessment.