Woe is me!
Okay, enough whining. Today's plan is relatively simple, to my mind. In science, we started out by trying to identify the different structures in a Eukaryotic Cell based on a diagram. Part of this was to demonstrate the importance of proteins to cell structure and function. We then moved on to watch a short clip about how the info in DNA is transcribed to form a messenger RNA (mRNA) that could leave the nucleus to deliver the information to a Ribosome, where the info is then translated into the language of a protein. The last 2 minutes of the video are not critical, so we skipped them. It is: here!
In social studies, we got back into our cooperative groups to finish reading through the "Columbian Invasion" text, and to take some time to pick one of the prompts to respond to in CAR format. For those students who finished early and completed their response, they were allowed to use a laptop to go to the History.com website and read and watch some of the videos about Columbus. About that:
As a social studies teacher and a general fan of learning about the entertaining complexities of history, I revile the History Channel. Why? Principally because it is not an educational venue, but an entertainment channel driven to draw viewers so they can charge advertisers to show commercials. There is no real professional standard for historical accuracy when it comes to their shows. With that said, their production values are high, and at the minimum they can be interesting. The goal for students who finished their work was to watch some of those videos and read some of the material to generate questions for discussion. The caveat I would like to emphasize is that anyone who uses entertainment as a source is to remain skeptical, and to ask themselves, "How would we prove that? How could anyone know that what they are claiming is true?"
In any case, for the curious, more information can be found at the History Channel Website.
See you tomorrow, and get ready for a three day weekend!