In today's class, we would have continued our discussion on genetics, including talking about human heredity, gametes, meiosis, chromosomes, and Gregor Mendel and his experiments. Bella would have taken notes that followed along with the material.
Session Minutes
45
Minutes Student Attended
25
Lesson Comments
Bella was a little late to class but unfortunately I could not get Teams working. I either had no video or no sound. I restarted Teams several times and Bella also restarted hers more than once. By the time class was over I still couldn't get the system to work. We will try again tomorrow.
Today, Bella and I began collaboratively drafting an outline for her Othello essay. She selected the topic of racism. She fleshed out her body paragraph topic sentences, then went back into the text of Othello, cited quotations supporting those topic sentences, and wrote elaboration. This was all recorded in her outline.
Review of take home test and methods of solving quadratic equations
Lesson Outline
Review methods of solving quadratic equations
Assignment
Finish last assigned homework and scan and send me your work
Session Minutes
45
Minutes Student Attended
25
Lesson Comments
I'm a bit concerned with our lack of progress over the past couple of weeks. Bella has missed several lessons (two this week), and it has become "normal" for her to miss the first 15-20 minutes of the lessons she attends, as she joins online late. More importantly, this week in particular she has seemed unprepared and distracted. She did mention to me that she had a tough time focusing on work last weekend, as it was the anniversary of her mom's passing, so this could just be a blip, but her dip in performance is significant enough that it seems worth mentioning. I also continue to think that her attending virtually makes it much more difficult for her to learn things that are becoming more complex over time, and as she does not use the camera at her end it's hard for me to know if there are things at her end (eg, possibly her phone, or something else) that are distracting her.
Strategies & Influence of Interest Groups on American Politics
Lesson Outline
An interest group's main goal is to influence government officials to pass favorable legislation that supports their group's goals. Interest groups can use either direct or indirect lobbying strategies. Direct strategies include lobbying techniques, rating government officials, building alliances, and offering campaign assistance. Indirect strategies include generating public pressure, using constituents as lobbyists, and public protest demonstrations. Finally, while the Federal Regulation of Lobbying Act of 1946 was largely ineffectual, Congress passed a slew of lobbying reforms in 1995 to remedy this.
Session Minutes
45
Minutes Student Attended
40
Lesson Comments
Bella texted me through Teams that she would be stating class a few minutes late. I responded that the class is open on Teams for her to join when she is ready.
The Relationship Between Political Parties & Interest Groups
Lesson Outline
Political parties and interest groups are both comprised of individuals with similar viewpoints and those who are working to add, change, or amend policy. Political parties and interest groups are plentiful in the US. Some of the more recognizable brands are the Democratic and Republican Party (political parties) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Civil Liberties Union (interest groups). Political parties and interest groups both represent individuals with shared beliefs and try to advance those beliefs through policy creation or amendments. However, political parties are often broadly focused to appeal to the general public, ensure members remain electorally viable, and signal what they stand for through their platforms. Interest groups, on the other hand, are generally more narrowly focused on specific interests and use tactics like lobbying, advertising, and educating others to achieve change from the outside. We discussed that casting an informed vote requires some homework for a voter because there are usually additional candidates and issues in an election in addition to the major candidate who have been more visible and running ads.
