Gillian Kee-3/617

Today at school, the Wifi was done so we were unable to use our Chromebook in Mr. River's classroom. We were in the computer lab instead. At the beginning of class Mr. Rivers went over a brief review of the essay and what is required. Our rough draft is due this Thursday (3/ 9/17) at 11:59. He also went over how we will be turning our essay in, turnitin. You need to make an account if you do not have one already, the class code is;
Class ID: 14894349
Password: oldsport
The rest of the class was ours to work on our essay. Mr. Rivers suggested that we start with our body paragraphs then go to our introduction and conclusion (we will be going over this tomorrow and Wednesday in class). If you were absent I would, just make a turnitin account and start writing some of your body paragraphs so you are not too far behind.

Nick Elnasser 3/6/17

Hello class,
Today was a different class than almost all others because we were not in Mr.Rivers' regular classroom. From the time we got into school today the wi-fi in the english wing was down so we were unable to use our chromebooks. Class was held in the computer lab today. In the beginning of class Mr.Rivers addressed us all by explaining the next part of our research papers. He said that we will be constructing our rough drafts this week and they will be due by Thursday night. However, the most important thing that Mr.Rivers said to us today was to make sure we write our body paragraphs before our introduction and conclusion paragraphs because we don't know what we're introducing or concluding until we've written it. Mr.Rivers then introduced us to a website called turnitin.com which is what we will submit our paper to. He said to use this website because it will prevent us from plagiarizing or copying another student's work. After he explained turnitin.com he gave us the green light to start constructing our rough drafts and we did just that for the rest of the period.

3/3/17 Tony Xhudo

Todays class was very similar to every other. We started with a class discussion but todays topic was Counter Claims again. We were told to go on to a website to view and discuss with our groups how the professionals use counter claims and logical fallacies. Soon after Mr. Rivers went over his example of the claims and counter claims each group got their own editorial and shortly after went to find more counter claims and logical fallacies. Overall todays lesson was to help prep us for writing our documentary essays.

Sarah Kokoszka 3.3.17

Yesterday in class, March 2nd, 2017, Mr. Rivers was absent so we were left with a sub. This sub was a new substitute that no one has ever had before, so he did not really do much. He told us what was our agenda for the class period and let us go on about our day. What our objective was during the class period was to go over fallacies again. For the past couple day in class we have been working on fallacies and relating them to our research paper. First we had to define the fallacy and name it, then we had to write a sample claim from our opposition from our research paper, then lastly explain in various sentences why our opponents logic is flawed. Since fallacies are new to us, we were able to work with and discuss with our group members. It was easy to work with our group members for part one, but as part two came about we had to focus on our own topic and research. Nothing else had to be done during class today besides working on the fallacies. There was no given date on when the fallacies were due so if people got them finished then they can hand it in for now. If people did not finish their fallacies during this period then they are most likely given more time later on in the week to work on it. The atmosphere of the class yesterday was pretty mellow, everyone had their headphones in and worked on their computer or they were conversing with their peers, helping one another. Nothing was posted on google classroom, no work was due, all we had to work on were the fallacies.

Ben Dottinger's 3/2

Today, in Mr. Rivers’s absence (and in Mr. S’s presence), we continued what we had been doing yesterday and the day prior with logical fallacies and our research of different types. Yesterday and the day prior, the different groups of desks researched 4 of the given 24 fallacies on a website (yourlogicalfallacyis.com). Some of the fallacies on the website include ad hominem (attack on the character of the opposing arguer), strawman (misrepresenting an opposing argument), and tu quoque (refuting criticism with more criticism). What happened today was we rearranged the groups of 2 to 4 so that each of us had researched different logical fallacies and could teach the others the ones we were now well-versed. After we had fully explained the aforementioned logical fallacies to one another, we began to draft a counterclaim paragraph based on our own research paper and our own topic. When it comes to the counterclaim paragraph, there was some ambiguity as to the format of the paragraph: would it be better to refute just one well-developed (through multiple sentences) antithesis, or to refute multiple smaller, less-developed counterclaims (through only a sentence or two). Upon emailing Mr. Rivers and rescuing him--albeit briefly--from the fatal, overwhelming boredom of his meeting, he promptly replied with some answers. He explained that it would be beneficial to argue against one well-developed counterclaim at a time, and that it would not be a daft idea to, especially in larger works than even our own, include multiple counterclaim paragraphs. This would also help ensure that multiple opposing arguments are effectively countered rather than with merely a blanket attempt and a vague refutation. In the picture below, we see ad hominem. Jimmy may seem to have a strong argument, capitalizing off of the opposition’s own insecurities, but we can quickly poke holes in his argument when we realize that he’s purely using logical fallacies (sorry Jimmy). All in all, it was still a rather productive day.

Chloe Rippey 3/2/17

In class today our sub announced what we were doing for the class period. While taking attendance the sub asked if we could correct him on how to pronounce people's names. Connor then corrected the sub saying his name was actually Konnor. Following this our class everyone was meeting  up separately talking about different fallacies that could be used in our research papers. If you were not in class today you could just go on to our classroom page and follow the link the the logical fallacies. Then pick one of the fallacies that would work well for your counterclaim. We then drafted a counterclaim paragraph which we can possibly use in our paper. I am sure Mr. Rivers would like us all to have that available for tomorrow's class.

~Chloe

Zabrina Branning 3/1/17

Today in class we continued looking into the different logical fallacies in preparation to improve possible counterclaims we may put into our future research paper. Within my group, we looked into the four fallacies known as appeal to authority, genetic, appeal to nature, and middle ground. Mr. Rivers explained how based on our different claims and topics in our paper, we will have to refute the possible counterclaims, but our argument should be based on the logical fallacies reviewed in class. Following up the work we started in class yesterday, defining the different fallacies and learning what they mean, today, we created possible counterclaims to our own research paper topics, then refuted them, pretending if someone were to argue our topics, and refuting their arguments. We had to make a counterclaim and rebuttal for all four fallacies we looked into as a group, each 2-3 sentences long, then prepared to submit it in Google Classroom. We ran out of time in class to review and talk with other groups to learn about other possible fallacies that could be representative as counterclaims in our research paper. If not done in class today, we must finish completing the counterclaims for homework so it is prepared for class tomorrow, while he is out, preferably by 7:00 AM tomorrow.