An Eye for an Eye Makes the Whole World Blind Oct. 7

Writing Portfolio
We reviewed our practice exercises on writing transitions both between paragraphs and between sentences within a paragraph.  Students turned in these practice exercises for credit.

Our final writing assignment for this term will be a rewrite of the essay on the prompt regarding whether or not schools should eliminate grades. On the rewrite, students should focus on two skills in addition to those we have already practiced:
1) transitions
2) anticipating counterarguments and rebutting them

To help develop the latter skill, we began examining both sides of the grade question, considering counterarguments and rebuttals.  We will continue this work on Thursday.


Core
Bellwrite #18: Please respond to the article on the Promised Land. Which ideas stood out to you? What questions do you have? What does the article mean to you personally?

After discussing the bellwrite, we spent the majority of our time in class finishing the documentary on Israel. Considering the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict brings to mind the words of Gandhi who said that an eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind. Thus the history we are studying echoes the theme of blindness in The Chosen. While viewing the documentary, students have taken notes.

Whereas the Israel-Palestine Conflict is the final topic for our history unit on the Middle East, we will now be reviewing and preparing for a unit assessment. Students will be writing responses to questions we have considered in this unit. This is an open-note assessment. We will be taking time in class tomorrow to select the questions for this assessment.

Students also received final essay prompts for The Chosen (see separate post).  Students will be asked to finish reading the novel (Chapters 15-17) by Thursday. Tomorrow in class a couple of students have been selected to read from and discuss Chapters 13-14. This learning experience is meant to echo the student-led Talmud discussions in the novel. Then on Thursday, we will hold a class literature seminar on Chapter 17.

Homework: Begin preparing for the essay on The Chosen by gathering your thoughts. If you haven't yet finished the novel, please work to finish it by Thursday.