Science Center

Tuesday we went on a field trip to the Detroit Science Center. We first explored the human body exhibit, which showed the body’s systems in great detail. This exhibit contained real bodies that had been preserved with parts replaced with plastic so people can see what the inner workings of the human body really look like. After we went through the human body exhibit, the kids were able to go through the many other exhibits on their own. Before leaving, we watched a movie as a group in the IMAX theater about how the human body works.

writing a letter

We began Monday's class with a review of last Tuesday's lesson about the three different types of appeals; ethos, pathos, and logos. Each student was instructed to choose a person of power, (involving their topic) and compose a letter to them. The letter is supposed to be persuasive and is ideally going to convince their audience to listen to their requests and concerns. The students found the contact information of the person they are directing their letter to, and once finished, we will be mailing out each student's letter.

Finally able to post!

The last three days have been devoted to drafting, revising, and more revising. Students have been working on their first editorial--addressing an issue that is important to them--and attempting to get the editorial into post-worthy shape. It's not an easy task. Along the way, we have also focused on constructing a Works Cited list. After paying so much attention to finding valid and reliable sources, we certainly want to make sure we cite them properly. Today is the last day for this particular assignment, so the goal is for every student to have their first (real) post by the end of the day.

Editorials

Tuesday's class began class by reading an editorial written by Leonard Pitts Jr. about Jay-Z. Pitts claims that rap has become a way of free advertising for various companies, and he accuses Jay-Z of being a pitch man rather than being a truth-teller or a world-shaker. We used this article as an idea of how to propose and support an argument, and as an example of an editiorial-a format very similar to many blog posts. Upon discussing the article, each student revisited their assignment from last week and answered as many questions as possible that they had written on their topic. Finally, we discussed ethos, pathos and logos.

Summarize, Quote, Paraphrase

On Monday we went over the importance of using quotes, paraphrasing, and summaries in writing. We clarified the differences between the three, went over the definitions, and read examples of each of them. After, an assignment was given to help the students with using the three different techniques on their own.

Quiz!

On Friday, we began the class with a quiz on the information we learned in the library on Thursday. We then discussed what to look for when looking for reliable sources. We talked about how using Google and Wikipedia are not necessarily the most legitimate ways to find accurate information. The assignment following the discussion was to use the resources we had learned about in the library the day before to find some credible sources for information on the topics chosen by each student.

Library Day

Today we went to the library and the librarian Jill talked to us about the many different resources the library holds. She mostly focused on how to use the database search engine and also how to find scholarly articles. We looked at how to know if a website is credible and if it has scholarly backing. We also saw how it is easy for people to make websites to look credible when they really aren't. Finally, we touched on citations, plagiarism, and different websites that can help students cite sources properly.