Wednesday

The more I think about it, the more I wish I would have just done my own research paper instead of working with what they were working on in Mr. Day's class. As we started some book research today, I noticed that a lot of students have no idea what their topic for their group even is. A lot of them have topics (sagging pants) that, even though it might seem like an important issue to them, is not going to be easy to research. I was very disappointed in what a lot of students were able to accomplish today because they were struggling with poorly-chosen topics. I may need to reevaluate the final project (the book, brochure, or poster) for my class. I think the experience, at the very least, is a good lesson in the importance of organizing information and starting with a narrow topic. Racism, the topic a lot of them picked in Mr. Day's class, is too big for one research topic. Narrowing it down to current immigration issues and the discrimination of Hispanics is much better.

So to be completely honest with you guys, I'm a little depressed about the research project.

Nevertheless, we did learn some stuff today. We reviewed note cards, and I emphasized the important of those topic categories--those research questions that will help give shape to their overall topics. We visited our favorite media specialist Mrs. East (she's our only one, but she's still our favorite), and she taught us about the book resources that are available. The students started taking some notes and using their bibliography sheets to keep track of their sources.

In the next few weeks, we've really got to dig in and look at ISTEP writing. Did you know that the writing portion of ISTEP is less than three weeks away?

Reminder: Vocabulary quiz is on Friday.