Carson completed the lab "From Top to Bottom" which experimented with positive and negative static electric charges created by Scotch tape. He recorded his data in a table and answered the follow-up questions. He read about charges, electric field, and completed the 3-Dimensional Thinking on page 204.
For instructional purposes, we are studying an argumentative essay from the Lit book to assist Carson in composing his own argumentative essay on the impact of hate speech. First, focusing on the essay from the Lit book, we studied the author's evidence about the effects of automation on employment. I provided instruction on critical reading ,i.e. how to analyze and to question an author's claims based on the strength of the evidence. I addressed why the author's claim that automation has increased jobs in the legal profession by lowering costs is faulty in that automation of the discovery process has increased the number of jobs, but has proportionately increased the cost of legal services by requiring more employees. Hence, automation is not decreasing the price of the service and thereby increasing demand as claimed. We further questioned the conclusions the author derives from his employment growth graph. Carson then completed the evidence paragraph of his essay . Last, I listed elements or techniques to use in drafting the conclusion which Carson will draft tomorrow.
Today he read about famous characters from the past, on page 54. He did such a good job with pronunciation. After that, he answered questions 1 to 6 and picked a character for his project.
We continued working with linear functions today. We practiced writing the equations of a line given a point it passes through and an equation that is either parallel or perpendicular to our line. We know parallel lines have the same slope and perpendicular lines have the opposite reciprocal slope. Carson worked with slope intercept form of a line, substituted the x and y values and then used it to find the y -intercept of the graph. I made sure Carson wasn't just memorizing the process by asking him What if type questions. He showed me he has a good understanding of this material.
Today he started to work on his project about verbs in the past tense. He has to write and present about a famous character from the past. He chooses Neil Armstrong. With this project, he will learn new verbs and practice old ones.
Carson completed the Magnetic Forces quiz. We went over the correct answers. He completed the Lesson 2 Launch "Electric Charge." He completed the lab "Move that Water" which experimented with charging a balloon with static electric charge and moving a stream of water with it. He wrote a claim about why the water was attracted to the balloon on page 200.
Today Carson and I continued with our review of linear functions. We reviewed what we did last class on the different ways to find a slope, write the equation of a line, and graph a line. Today we started by writing the equation of a line passing through two points. Carson recalled to find the slope first with the formula. Then he was stuck. So I showed him the parts of the slope intercept form of a line and how we know the x and y values. He realized he could substitute those in, to find the y-intercept and correctly write the equation of a line. We practiced this with a few examples. Next we saw what happens when the slope is 0 or undefined. We discussed how these would produce horizontal and vertical lines, so their equations won't look like y=mx+b. It will just be x=Number or y=Number.
We first studied an argumentative essay in the Lit book as instruction and as an example of how to incorporate expert evidence into an argumentative essay. Carson also completed exercises on the reading wherein he very skillfully located quotes from the experts that support the writer's claim. Having studied this example, we then returned to Carson's argumentative essay on hate speech and discussed how to incorporate, from an essay I previously distributed , expert opinion that supports the thesis that hate speech can cause physical as well as mental harm. Carson then continued work on his essay by incorporating quotes from this passage into his essay.
