Fri. Dec. 1, 2017: Discussion of Fact vs. Opinion & Completing Active Reading of "Children of the Earth"

Today, I started off by presenting a hypothetical situation which we then discussed. I have pasted it below. 

Hypothetical situation:

Bob is caught cheating on a test. Ms. Benoit calls him on it and tells him that the class is very disappointed in him. Is this a fact or an opinion? Explain your position.

Most of the class stated that this was an opinion as it hadn't been proven. We then added "evidence:"

 Chase and Alvin were so upset that they both left the room and refused to return until David was punished. Kecia agreed and felt that the crime was so bad that David should be publicly beaten. Nolan and Abby not only agreed but went so far as to offer to administer the punishment.

We agreed that these "weird" examples back up the claim of disappointed. 

I then showed them a case where evidence is presented, but it doesn't prove an opinion:

David enjoys playing basketball, working on art projects, eating pepperoni pizza, and the colour red.

We agreed that evidence must specifically prove an opinion to be worth putting in a paragraph.

The students then worked on completing the third of their related readings: "Children of the Earth."

This is due at the start of class on Monday, as are the other two of the series.