Day 65

When the students came into class I prompted them to pick something; literally anything on their mind. Then, I asked them to convince me — in three sentences — why we should spend the next period talking/doing/researching that thing. After writing, they switched partners and said what the author attempted to use to convince the reader: Did they appeal to an emotion, group mindset, or a feeling? Afterwards, the students wrote a one sentence response that criticized the argument. Not the subject or evidence, but if the argument was too narrow, general, or emotional.

Afterwards, I gave the students a practice short answer on the Columbian Exchange that mimicked the writing exercise.

Student Response

I feel like every time I’m in class I’m getting somewhat prepared for the AP exam but it’s definitely helping me a lot more than last year. I know because every time I do my checklists I do notes on the videos so if I ever struggle with something I can always go back to them or ask my teacher.

I feel as if I did grow as a learner but not enough to satisfy myself. I’ve always tried setting goals but those goals just never happened. I remember last year in APHG I tried setting up a schedule for when my packet was due and what days I should do it, but with every other class giving me homework it kinda just stressed me out and I didn’t follow the schedule.

I want to learn more about how could I help myself be a better learner because sometimes we get really unmotivated. This year has been a struggle for me and motivation because I haven’t really found something that I can fight for or feel the need to do these things in order to help myself. This brought me down but I’ve been trying to strive for myself and help myself rise.

Most definitely writing it’s not my strongest area when it comes to reading a passage and answering with detail and knowing my facts in order to answer the question. I will improve this obviously the more I do it then I will get more practice knowing how to put everything together.

My Response

This student knows herself. While not glorifying herself, she knows who she is. She knows her ideal. She is working towards it. It’s hard for me to read that students struggle. It’s hard for me to know that there are things in my class that puts them down. I know that is not true of life. But, I can still wish for it and strive to do better. I can strive to make it better for my students.