English I students conducted a Socratic seminar about the short stories “The Necklace” and “The Gift of the Magi.”

We used the more formal paired alignment of the Socratic seminar, which we will use later in the year for more formal discussions.

The end goal of this work was to provide students with some initial starting places for their writing which they will begin tomorrow.

English 8 students began the second half of the first unit which focuses on argument analysis and argument writing. We began a new informational text called “The Automation Paradox.” We began with some vocabulary, explication, namely, defining what paradox is. To do this we had a hands-on activity which included the surprising occurrence of throwing a ball at the teacher with the aim of hitting them in the chest.

This was to illustrate Xenos’s Paradox: theoretically, according to the math, it seems like the ball should never come in contact with the teacher. But in reality, as long as the aim is good, the ball makes contact.

From this we shifted to an analysis of the first two paragraphs of “The Automation Paradox” looking for a paradox within the text. We discovered one in paragraph two. We determined that there were two contradictory statements. One was that automation and computerization leads to increased unemployment. The other ones that computerization and automation leads to increased job possibilities. Both cannot be true. It seems because they are contradictory, but they are in fact, both true.

Homework

• English 8 Studies: none.
• English I Honors: complete the district-mandated diagnostic test on No Red Ink. (This is not for a grade. Remember to sign in with Clever.)