During the first portion of the session, we completed a study of the executive branch by reviewing Olivia's study guide answers identifying the role of the 15 executive departments. We examined in a practical context the role of the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of the Treasury. I emphasized that the enforcement agencies we are all familiar with such as the FBI, ICE, and the IRS are all agencies operating within an executive department thereby giving the president great power notwithstanding the more limited explicit powers enumerated in Art II. We then began our examination of the judicial system by learning some basic legal vocabulary such as common law, civil law , and criminal law. I discussed the difference between common law and statutory law as well as the role of Blackstone and Holmes in creating common law. We further reviewed the difference between a civil and criminal matter , and the role of the courts in preserving a civil society where disputes can be resolved by a neutral party, a judge or jury, without resorting to violence . For homework , I assigned reading pages 394-396 and 400-401.

As the take home test on the novel I distributed yesterday measures analyzing metaphorical quotes from the book, we today looked at the first question. I provided instruction on how to analyze the quote in terms of identifying the figurative language, the things or ideas being compared, and last tying them to the symbolic or thematic motifs in the novel. Olivia then projected her document screen so that I was able to assist her in writing an analysis of the first quote. One goal of the exercise is to avoid awkward constructions such as "this quote means that" and to instead begin each answer with a broader thematic statement and to then discuss how the quote supports that statement . I then provided instruction on where and how within the answer to place the quote in the context of events in the novel. Olivia worked on drafting a response to the first question which we then discussed and revised. The remainder of the test is due on Friday. For homework,I assigned reading the next two chapters of the novel.

I continued working on problems with Olivia about angles, their terminal sides, complementary and supplementary angles, radian measures and degree measures. I also introduced the subdivisions of a degree as minutes and seconds and we did a couple of conversions involving those subdivisions. There was no assignment.

We first discussed the role of third parties in presidential politics focusing on how a third party candidate can change the outcome of an election without even securing one electoral vote,. For example,Ralph Nader's candidacy in 2000 shifted enough votes away from Al Gore in Florida to give Bush all of Florida's electoral votes and ultimately the presidency. I explained how if a candidate fails to secure 270 electoral votes, the House of Representatives decides the election. We then focused on the role of the president's cabinet and the duties of each of the 15 cabinet departments. I pointed out that some of the cabinet positions were more recently created such as the Dept Of Homeland Security and the Dept. Of Education. We examined the enforcement agencies that act under the auspices of some of the departments such as the IRS,FBI, and ICE and are working on an exercise in class wherein Olivia is determining which department addresses particular public policy issues. For homework ,I assigned reading on the judicial system and completing the study guide on the reading. We will have a test on the executive branch on Thursday.

Feminism, point of view, and motifs were studied today. This year Olivia has read "The Scarlet Letter", "A Doll's House" and "Daisy Miller" and importantly recognized while this current novel has traits of a feminist work, the main character still seems only able to define herself within the confines of a relationship with a man. Olivia further noted the main character imbues god-like imagery upon her new love interest. Of further interest, the point of view shifts from Janie to the perspective of the Black community of Eatonville judging Janie as she leaves town with a man 20 years younger than she. In this vein, we again noted the importance of oral story telling as an element of African-American literature . Here, the community acts like a Greek chorus commenting on the events of the novel. Last, Olivia commenced an examination of Janie's relationship with her third husband, Tea Cake focusing on why Janie would be attracted to a man who has limited intellect, and no ambition . He ,however, will grant Janie the dignity of a "voice" and the equality in a relationship that she seeks in her life. For homework, I assigned reading the next two chapters and reviewing a take home exam so that we can address the first short essay in class tomorrow.

I continued to work with Olivia on problems involving coterminal angles, complementary and supplementary angles, the quadrants for various angles, positive and negative angles. There was no assignment.

I provided historical background regarding the Bush v Gore presidential election and the critical role of Florida 's electoral votes in all elections. I described the voting cards used in 2000 as well as the issue that arose when voters did not cleanly punch through the voting card, i.e. the "hanging chad" issue. The problem counting the voting cards led to the need for a recount that first went to the Florida Supreme Court and ultimately to the US Supreme Court. We then studied a synopsis of the US Supreme Court case of Bush v Gore as well as the 14th Amendment arguments urged by the Bush campaign. Olivia did a very good job parsing the arguments and determining which arguments supported each side and why. We discussed how the problems in the 2000 election have been hopefully remedied as the voting "punch cards" are no longer in use yet noted how our state continually seems to have problems in counting the votes. I mentioned how our state's problems were so severe last election in 2018 that the governor had to remove the Palm Beach County and Broward County Supervisors of Election. For homework, I assigned introductory reading on the legal system as we will begin studying the federal court system next week.

We examined Olivia's test response essays as an avenue to review grammar, word choice, and syntax. I first directed attention to sentence fragments ,and we reviewed options for correction. Next, we focused on subject-verb agreement and using new paragraphs to introduce new points in the essay. In this regard, I addressed where additional information could clarify the thesis within the topic sentence. Last, we addressed literary substance and how to elaborate and add supporting details. Olivia always introduces good ideas . Today, we discussed ways to make sure her insights do not get lost by vague word choice or grammatical oversights. For homework, I assigned reading the next two chapters of the novel.

I started the lesson by explaining positive and negative angles, initial and terminal sides, and coterminal angles to Olivia. I showed her how to change radians to degrees and vice versa. I also showed her how to find the arc length given a radius and a central angle. We did some problems to find the correct quadrant for given angles expressed in degrees or radians. There was no assignment.

Olivia took a test on the legislative branch and lobbying during today's session. For homework,I assigned reading and taking notes on the function of the various cabinet departments.