I was fairly happy with how today's lessons went. Read 180 was the same as always, so not much new going on in a scripted class. In English 12, we started discussing what debatable topics were. I had the classes come up with a list of debatable topics that they could write a pro/con paper on. I was surprised at the depth of topics some of the classes came up with. There was, of course, the staples of legalizing marijuana and lowering the drinking age, but most classes also suggested topics such as later start times for schools, the pending altercation in Syria, corporal punishment, gun control, and minimum wage. They showed they actually pay attention to their world and aren't as lazy and as laissez-faire as they seem.We also discussed fact vs opinion of statements that could be confusing. The statement that stumped them the most was that milk does a body good. They have heard this their entire lives, so they assumed it was a fact. This led to a good discussion on how what we hear isn't always fact, even if we are inundated with it.
Today was also D-Day for their papers be doing. I had a quite a few who didn't have them finished on time. I'm not sure if they didn't think I was serious about the deadline or just thought they could BS me with excuses, but I heard many of them today. I have a feeling that many of them will be shocked with their grades on this first essay, and not in a good way.
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