Lesson Review 1 ASE Morning May 2004

Wednesday, May 26, 2004 7 Learners present. 3.25 hours

-- Analyze and explain methods for solving proportions (Number Relationships & Computation)

Equivalent Fractions (Geometry, Proportions, and Algebra)

Equivalent is a fancy way of saying "equal"

How can you use shadows to measure a very tall tower? (Hint use equivalent fractions or proportions)

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Tuesday, May 25, 2004 9 Learners present. 3.25 hours

--Forces affecting continuity and change (Continuity & Change)

Supreme Court Cases

Luz handed everybody an outline of a famous Supreme Court case. We listed them on the board in

chronological order and discussed them briefly. (We also briefly looked at the year, historical period,

and "significance" of each case). Each class member is expected to become an authority on their

particular case.

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Monday, May 24, 2004 8 Learners present. 3.25 hours

-- Express thoughts in writing (Writing)

Writing Lab:

Checked in about people's status with resumes, bacteria paragraphs, and other writing projects.

Compared the way people use the terms "bacteria" and "germ".

Then people worked on their own writing issues.

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Thursday, May 20, 2004 9 Learners present. 3.25 hours

-- Express thoughts in writing (Writing) order and organize objects and events using similarities and difference

and explain reasoning for doing so (Order and Organization)

Bacteria and Germs

The goal is to write a "group paragraph" about bacteria along with paragraphs on bacteria written by

individual learners. Today we started writing and sharing our ideas about "bacteria". We ended up with

many different definitions of the word "germ".

1. Germ - a bacteria or virus that causes sickness (under this definition SOME bacteria are germs)

2. Germ - anything that causes sickness (under this definition SOME bacteria are germs)

3. Germ - a bacteria or virus (under this definition ALL bacteria are germs)

4. Germ - any microscopic organism that causes sickness (under this definition SOME bacteria are

germs)

5. Germ - any microscopic organism (under this definition ALL bacteria are germs)

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Wednesday, May 19, 2004 6 Learners present. 3.25 hours

-- Represent and use numbers in a variety of equivalent forms and in order relations (Number Relationships &

Computation)

Equivalent Fractions:

People were asked to come up with 3 pairs of equivalent fractions. We used various methods to "check"

and see if they were really equal. We followed up with some writing and discussion. (Equivalent

fractions are important for understanding percents - and proportions which is at the base of a lot of

algebra and geometry. We were just "making numbers up", but we were manipulating these numbers in

valid ways to get equal values.

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Tuesday, May 18, 2004 9 Learners present. 3.25 hours

--Dynamics among power, authority, and participation (Power, Authority, & Participation) Strategic Reading

(Reading)

Voting Rights

We looked at some documents relating to the history of voting rights in the history of the United States.

This discussion frequently touched upon the Iraq war and other issues relating to warfare.

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Monday, May 17, 2004 9 Learners present. 3.25 hours

-- Awareness of rules for grammar and mechanics (Writing)

Sentence Structure (Subjects and Verbs)

Discussions: Brown V. Board of Education ( 1954 . . . .today is the 50th anniversary), Plessy v. Ferguson

(c.1898), Rosa Parks. Also some discussion on marriage, gay marriage (and related expectations, laws,

and traditions)

Most people knew the basic structure of a sentences is a Subject plus a Verb. (A sentence like "There

are people here" gets us into a little trouble though.)

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Thursday, May 13, 2004 9 Learners present. 3.25 hours

-- the signs, symptoms and causes of health conditions (Prevention, Early Detection, and Maintenance)

Development of comprehension strategies (Reading) Recognize formal & informal systems (Critical Thinking)

create connections between building blocks and complexity in our natural in designed world (Similarity and

Diversity)

Bacteria: Classification Systems of bacteria - and how they interact with humans

Bacteria (Monera Kingdom) can be classified by how they react to the gram stain (+ or -), by how they

get their nourishment (energy) or by how they are shaped. Some bacteria are helpful to us, others are

very dangerous to us.

When scientists talk about bacteria they often refer to entire phylums (sub classifications under "kingdom"

. . .in the case of bacteria the kingdom is "Monera"

Many scientific terms are easier to understand if you know their word parts

exo = outside (exit) sept = "rot" or bacteria

endo = inside (in) cemia = blood

toxin = poison

other key words: symbiosis

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Wednesday, May 12, 2004 10 Learners present. 3.25 hours

-- human body systems (physical, mental, social, and spiritual), their interdependence, and their roles in health

protection (Systems and Interdependence) Analyze and explain computation procedures and how operations are

related (esp. reversibility of operations) (Number Relationships & Computation)

Equivalent Fractions, Factorization . . .

Reducing Fractions = finding the equivalent fraction that is in lowest terms. (Lowest terms means that

there is no whole number that will divide evenly into both the numerator and the denominator.

Factor - a number that will divide evenly (no remainder) into another number.

Prime Number - a number with only 2 factors (ONE and itself). A number that has more than 2 factors

is a composite number.

And "STAYING CALM WHATEVER THE CHALLENGE"

Deborah Schey from the Career Center led a brief workshop on "Staying Calm Whatever the Challenge"

She covered "Positive Self Talk", "Self Knowledge", "Building a Stress Management Network", and

"Going with the Flow". She ended with some guided imagery.

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Tuesday, May 11, 2004 12 Learners present. 3.25 hours

--Complexity of managing and resolving conflict (Conflict & Resolution) Express thoughts in writing (Writing)

Two Discussions: The Iraqi Prisoner Abuse Scandal and "Headphones in the Classroom"

Most people did their very best to keep the discussions responsibly focused and productive.

It looks like we made a lot of progress regarding the Headphone question. The main question still

unanswered is how to make this policy work with new arrivals.

General agreement SEEMS to be that headphones no one else can hear should be allowed during

Individual Learning Time as long as an individual is actually focusing on some valid educational effort.

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Monday, May 10, 2004 11 Learners present. 3.25 hours

-- Awareness of rules for grammar and mechanics (Writing)

"Subject" plus "Verb" = the basic structure of a sentence.

Starting with the subject verb combinations "Freak ate" we elaborated on the subject (The red freak . .

.The red communist freak . . . The red communist freak who came from Russia . . .etc). Then we

elaborated on the verb (ate dirt . . . . ate dirt when the crowd knocked him down etc. We ended up with

a very long sentence: "The young red communist freak who came from Russia and spit on the flag ate dirt

when the crowd knocked him down and the police, who should have protected him, kicked his teeth in."

Starting with another subject verb combination "Christmas is" we first elaborated on the subject and then

the verb over many steps to come up with "A very merry Christmas in the short, dark, lonely days of

December is a good time for family, friends, and parties even for grinches."

(There was some question as to whether these sentences were "run-ons" of if they were just awkward.)

The class started with some very good writing, thinking, and discussion.

There was also a fairly serious petition drive to allow headphones to play during Individual time if people

are doing their work and nobody else can hear the music.

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Thursday, May 06, 2004 3 Learners present. 3.25 hours

-- create connections between building blocks and complexity in our natural in designed world (Similarity and

Diversity)

Bacteria and Classification Systems

Reviewed the Linnaean Classification system (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species).

Humans are in the animal kingdom. Bacteria are in the kingdom: Monera. We also reviewed the

framework: "Structure Inside Structure": (Atoms>Small Molecules>Large Molecules > Organelles >

Cells)

We used the first 15 minutes to review how number forms can be converted without changing their values

(equivalent fractions or converting mixed numbers to improper fractions)

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Wednesday, May 05, 2004 7 Learners present. 3.25 hours

-- Analyze and explain computation procedures and how operations are related (esp. reversibility of operations)

(Number Relationships & Computation)

Adding Fractions

You cannot add unlike fractions. (unlike fractions have DIFFERENT denominators)

You cannot add fractions unless there is a common denominator !!!!!!

Finding a common denominator is only ONE step.

You then need to use your knowledge of EQIVALENT fractions to get the right numerators.

It takes a lot of practice to transform unlike fractions so that they have common denominators.

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Tuesday, May 04, 2004 11 Learners present. 3.25 hours

-- Recognize formal & informal systems (Critical Thinking) communicate how different systems relate to and

interact with each other (Systems)

Financial Seminar IV: Credit

Tim reviewed the first 3 weeks (planning, budgeting, saving) and then covered different types of loans

(mortgages, student loans, commercial loans, credit card debt) and loan practices. These concepts

included APR, credit limits, credit reports, costs of credit (compound interest) and benefits of credit. He

handed out certificates.

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Monday, May 03, 2004 10 Learners present. 3.25 hours

-- Awareness of rules for grammar and mechanics (Writing)

Sentence Combining.

Some discussion at first about who should be responsible for getting the class going.

More discussion about what it takes to be a good writer. Then we worked on combining the following

sentences one by one: "The boy was accused." "The boy was troubled." "He was accused unjustly." "He

had been in lockup." "He was accused of theft."

The combinations were: A) The TROUBLED boy was accused., B) The troubled boy was UNJUSTLY

accused., C) The troubled boy WHO HAD BEEN IN LOCKUP was unjustly accused., D) The

troubled boy who had been in lockup was unjustly accused of theft

Irene shared some rules and concepts for comma use.

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