Wow!

Wow, that's all I can say after my first two honors classes had their discussions on their big project. Not only did they understand the material but they really caught on to what the candidates were saying, what they were not saying and what they were implying.
For those of you who are not familiar with what you're reading let me recap this quickly for you. My 9th grade honors students had to pick two foreign policy essays, one from a republican candidate and one from a democratic candidate. They then had to read both of them and take notes. Then they discussed their findings with the other students who had chosen the same essays that they had. Any new information was to be added to their notes and then put onto either a Venn diagram or a double bubble map. Then they would start on their essay drafts finally finishing them around the 11th of next month.

Right now two of the three classes just did the notes and the discussions and boy did they pick the essays apart. Hillary and John Edwards really got hammered in 8th period and the criticism was spread around pretty evenly in 2nd period. It was also nice to see that the periods had different opinions and views about the six essays. 7th period is going to do their discussion tomorrow and I am going to add a second set of discussions next week because it was so helpful for everyone today.

If this project is going to be my finale at this school then it looks like I'm going to go out with a bang and not in a ball of flames.

If you want to read the essays in question go here.