### Title: Documentary Preparation & Academic Writing Skills
**Synopsis:** This lesson focused on preparing students for their upcoming documentary presentations, clarifying the expectations for both the documentaries and the accompanying essays. Additionally, the class engaged in a game designed to teach source credibility in academic writing.
### Attendance:
– Number of students absent: Not explicitly mentioned in the transcript.
### Topics Covered:
1. **Documentary Preparation:**
– Presentation etiquette and content rules from the previous semester.
– Structure: Introduction, background, two body sections, and a conclusion.
– Video format requirement and the inclusion of pre-recorded interviews.
– Emphasis on clarity over creativity in presentations.
2. **Essay Structure and Content:**
– Essay map composition: Topic sentences, main points, supporting details.
– The importance of stating the student’s opinion at the beginning of academic essays.
3. **Academic Writing Skills:**
– Differences between Russian and English academic writing.
– Application of academic writing skills to future careers.
– Structure and style of academic writing, including the importance of a thesis statement.
4. **Source Credibility Game:**
– Teams tasked with finding and presenting sources about given topics.
– Objective to assess and categorize the credibility and type of sources (primary, secondary, tertiary).
– Teams attempted to deceive others into categorizing their sources incorrectly.
### Actionable Items:
1. **Documentary and Essay Clarifications:**
– Ensure students understand the distinction between presentation creativity and clarity.
– Reiterate the requirement of including interviews in both documentaries and essays.
2. **Academic Writing Applications:**
– Discuss the relevance of academic writing skills in various professional contexts.
– Provide additional examples or workshops on applying these skills outside the classroom.
3. **Source Credibility Exercise Follow-Up:**
– Review the importance of evaluating sources critically.
– Possibly provide a debrief session to clarify any misconceptions from the game.
### Homework:
– Complete and submit documentaries by next Wednesday.
– Ensure interviews are included in documentaries and essays.
– Finish essay maps with topic sentences, main points, and supporting details.
– Vote on Instagram poll for the preferred date for a planned hike.
– Additional research may be required to supplement interviews in documentaries.