Because of the two-hour delay schedule, we did not have our Paideia Seminar today–there would not have been enough time for everyone to have an equal say. We are holding off on the discussion until Wednesday. Instead, today we prepared for the seminar with some really fascinating reading from the New York Times.
1. Reminder: Any student who has already chosen and bought a book of their own should bring it to class tomorrow. We will meet in the library for all classes to choose books. Those who already have books can read silently.
2. Intro to article. I gave students an overview of the article we would read: a recent study shows that now more people than ever are living alone by choice and enjoying it. Students had a brief discussion with their partner about their immediate reactions to this piece of information before reading the article.
3. Overview of chart and homework. Students received this chart: (Honors version has 8 questions, Standard version has 4) Paideia Seminar OMM and this writing prompt: Individualism Prompt. We reviewed how we might fill in row 1 and row 2/3 of the chart and I reviewed the prompt with them. These two are homework to be completed after reading the article.
4. Article reading and summary. Students then received this article (One’s a Crowd) which you can read online here. We read the first five paragraphs aloud, summarizing the main idea of each and writing a brief summary in the margin. Then, students continued reading independently and summarizing as they went. In addition, students wrote down connections, opinions, predictions, and found language patterns.
HW: Finish reading and SCOPE-ing (annotating) article, complete chart, and write opinion paragraph by Wednesday.
ALEXA GARVOILLE 