Tuesday, 7 June 2016

The students were able to clarify the one hundred and fifty words making the words clear within the context of U.S. historical use and present applications. Some of the difficult words were “war”, “rights”, and “freedom”. The word “war” meaning a conflict between nations has many different uses and connotations today. For example of the difficulties students faced with applying the word today is the fight against terrorism which sometimes do not have a state. Does the word “war” still apply and if so is it clear enough to promote the values the students wish to apply? For “freedom” the definition to do as one desires when applied means “anarchy”. Many students acknowledges that “responsibility” was the better word in association for “freedom” when applied. The difficulty for many of the students is simply reading. Many of them are not trained on how to read effectively. I provided them with reading prompts and question games to develop a mindset for reading. Another difficult habit to implement throughout the quarter was building their creeds step by step a little bit at a time. Many of them wanted to simply complete it in a day, which when compared with the posted exemplars failed to meet the agreed upon standards of quality and clarity. Those who accepted the idea of writing as a process of growth and development faired very well. They weren’t set back by editorial mark ups, but found them as useful tools for improvement and as an easy way to do make up work. Others simply turned in work with expectation that it would be enough to “pass”. Some of the final products were truly impressive.