1) Reading Response Directions
2) Chapter 3 Reading Response Questions
SPARTANS,
1) Reading Response Directions
Please take note of the suggestions and directions for RR posted today and on 22 June.
Please make sure you have the proper heading on your assignment (Blog entry: 4 July), and assignment title centered below the heading and in your e-mail subject line.
Please also start parenthetically citing any quoted information, as some of you have already begun doing. For example, at the end of a sentence using a quote to answer #1, a student would add the following at the end of the sentence before the period: (Kennedy, Cohen & Bailey, 2002, p. 44). This is APA format, not MLA which you are using for your mini-research papers.
DO NOT wait until July 15 to begin this assignment. It is due in my e-mail inbox at spartan.hoa@gmail.com by 11:59pm (Pacific Time) on 15 July 2008. Anything received after this time will get no credit/0 points.
2) Chapter 3 Reading Response Questions
1) Explain the ideas of John Calvin and their influence on the Anglo-American colonies and their people.
2) Describe how documents such as the Pilgrims' Mayflower Compact, the Fundamental Orders, and the New England Confederation were influential in developing representative government in the New World.
3) Explain (the causes and effects) of the Great English Migration.
4) Describe how the ecclesiastical nature of early New England society impacted the concept of government.
5) Evaluate the the actions and consequences of religious dissidents like Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams.
6) Explain the roots and impact of the Pequot War and King Philip's War.
7) Briefly describe the impact of the Glorious Revolution on the Anglo-American colonies.
8) Compare and contrast Dutch colonization in the Americas with English colonization in the New World.
9) Describe the Religious Society of Friends and the Pennsylvania settlement.
10) Analyse the Middle Colonies and their unique characteristics.
11) Define the term "Eurocentric" in your own words.
12) The term "historiography" refers to the history of the historical record, methods of historical investigation, and interpretations of history. (We will spend more time on "historiography throughout the year.) Explain the implications of the newer historiographical approaches to colonial history shared by historians such as White, Kupperman, and Gutierrez, to an understanding of early American history and the study of history in general.
Showing posts with label deadlines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deadlines. Show all posts
06 July 2008
Grading Assignments and Feedback for Chapter Reading Response Assignments
1) Grading Assignments
2) Feedback for Chapter Reading Response (RR) Questions
SPARTANS,
1) Cutter White e-mailed me asking about how students are being graded on the assignments:
You are being graded based on completion, quality of answers, and following directions. Those students who do not complete the assignment or have low quality answers due to a failure to follow directions, address the questions properly, etc. will earn lower grades. Students who do not have assignments to me by the deadline will earn no credit ("0") for that assignment.
2) I responded to about the first dozen or so of the Ch. 1 Reading Responses that were e-mailed to me, but stopped since I was essentially writing the exact same response to each student. I posted some feedback which you would all do well to heed (see 22 June post). Here are some more recommendations for your RR assignments:
a) Command Terms: Most of you are not following the Command Terms (see the last page of your Summer Learning Packet) properly. These directions are VERY specific. When an assignment asks you to "EXPLAIN" something, it does not to just mean to type out an answer. According to the Glossary of Command Terms, "Explain" means students must "give a detailed account, including reasons or causes". May of you are failing to follow directions. You are not answering the questions fully because, for example, you do not follow the command terms. These are critical directions because they are the same that will be used in your Papers 1, 2, and 3 (IB essay tests) at the end of the course. If you do not start using them properly, you will do poorly in the class and on the Papers.
Most of you had the hardest time with questions that began with "To what extent". These are not just words to vary the way a question begins. Think about the phrase. What does it mean? It does not ask if something happened or not. It does not ask how it happened. That phrase is asking if the impact of the person/event/thing was extensive, limited, significant, unimportant, et cetera.
b) Errors: Many of you have consistent typographical errors ("typos"), improper grammar, wrong spellings, or incorrect capitalization or punctuation in your assignments. There is simply no excuse for these mistakes. If there are one or two of these errors it is understandable. We're human. But to be consistently doing these things shows a lack of concern, laziness, poor work ethic and/or inattentiveness to the assignment. If you are doing the assignment on MS Word, Grammar and Spell Check should help you. Everything should be spelled correctly since you are writing about what is in your book (everything is spelled out in the pages in front of you!).
c) "Thus" and "hence": Many of you use transitional phrases such as "thus" and "hence" and other "smart sounding" phrases in your writing. Please make sure to use these phrases and other terms properly. I get the impression that some of you are sprinkling these words into your writing because they "sound" good. Keep in mind that if you use words incorrectly in your writing just because they seem like they will make your writing look "smart", they may be used incorrectly and do the opposite. Don't write the way you think you should to appear like Honors students. Just write well.
d) Do not write in sentence fragments. Write in complete sentences, restating the question in the answer.
e) Make sure you answer questions fully and correctly. You do not need to add information that does not apply to the question. It does not make your answer better. A long narrative is not necessary. Make sure to answer the question adequately and appropriately.
PLEASE take all of these points into consideration for your future assignments.
2) Feedback for Chapter Reading Response (RR) Questions
SPARTANS,
1) Cutter White e-mailed me asking about how students are being graded on the assignments:
You are being graded based on completion, quality of answers, and following directions. Those students who do not complete the assignment or have low quality answers due to a failure to follow directions, address the questions properly, etc. will earn lower grades. Students who do not have assignments to me by the deadline will earn no credit ("0") for that assignment.
2) I responded to about the first dozen or so of the Ch. 1 Reading Responses that were e-mailed to me, but stopped since I was essentially writing the exact same response to each student. I posted some feedback which you would all do well to heed (see 22 June post). Here are some more recommendations for your RR assignments:
a) Command Terms: Most of you are not following the Command Terms (see the last page of your Summer Learning Packet) properly. These directions are VERY specific. When an assignment asks you to "EXPLAIN" something, it does not to just mean to type out an answer. According to the Glossary of Command Terms, "Explain" means students must "give a detailed account, including reasons or causes". May of you are failing to follow directions. You are not answering the questions fully because, for example, you do not follow the command terms. These are critical directions because they are the same that will be used in your Papers 1, 2, and 3 (IB essay tests) at the end of the course. If you do not start using them properly, you will do poorly in the class and on the Papers.
Most of you had the hardest time with questions that began with "To what extent". These are not just words to vary the way a question begins. Think about the phrase. What does it mean? It does not ask if something happened or not. It does not ask how it happened. That phrase is asking if the impact of the person/event/thing was extensive, limited, significant, unimportant, et cetera.
b) Errors: Many of you have consistent typographical errors ("typos"), improper grammar, wrong spellings, or incorrect capitalization or punctuation in your assignments. There is simply no excuse for these mistakes. If there are one or two of these errors it is understandable. We're human. But to be consistently doing these things shows a lack of concern, laziness, poor work ethic and/or inattentiveness to the assignment. If you are doing the assignment on MS Word, Grammar and Spell Check should help you. Everything should be spelled correctly since you are writing about what is in your book (everything is spelled out in the pages in front of you!).
c) "Thus" and "hence": Many of you use transitional phrases such as "thus" and "hence" and other "smart sounding" phrases in your writing. Please make sure to use these phrases and other terms properly. I get the impression that some of you are sprinkling these words into your writing because they "sound" good. Keep in mind that if you use words incorrectly in your writing just because they seem like they will make your writing look "smart", they may be used incorrectly and do the opposite. Don't write the way you think you should to appear like Honors students. Just write well.
d) Do not write in sentence fragments. Write in complete sentences, restating the question in the answer.
e) Make sure you answer questions fully and correctly. You do not need to add information that does not apply to the question. It does not make your answer better. A long narrative is not necessary. Make sure to answer the question adequately and appropriately.
PLEASE take all of these points into consideration for your future assignments.
04 July 2008
Late e-mails (AGAIN), Assignment Headings & Ch. 3 RR Questions
1) Emailing assignments/late work
2) Headings for all assignments
3) Posting of Ch. 3 Reading Response Questions
SPARTANS,
1) Let me once again state my policy on late work: I DO NOT accept late work. All Reading Responses need to be in my spartan.hoa@gmail.com e-mail inbox by 11:59 (Pacific Time) on the due date. Do not risk delivery problems and a late assignment by waiting until the last day to start your assignment.
2) I have noticed that many of you are e-mailing me from accounts that do not state your name. Also, your assignments sometimes do not have your names on them. From now on, it is required of all students to include the following heading in the upper right-hand corner of every assignment:
Your name
RM student number
Date* (day month year; example: 4 July 2008)
Assignment title should be centered at the top of the page underneath your heading.
*Dates are written in this fashion throughout most of the world (approximately 90 countries). Since IB is an international program(me), we must all get used to recognizing and using this dating format. The standard format used in the U.S. is writing the month, day, then year. This is done in about five countries.
3) Posting of Ch. 3 Reading Response Questions will be posted on the blog on or before Sunday, 6 July.
Thank you for your attention to these matters,
Mr. Todd
2) Headings for all assignments
3) Posting of Ch. 3 Reading Response Questions
SPARTANS,
1) Let me once again state my policy on late work: I DO NOT accept late work. All Reading Responses need to be in my spartan.hoa@gmail.com e-mail inbox by 11:59 (Pacific Time) on the due date. Do not risk delivery problems and a late assignment by waiting until the last day to start your assignment.
2) I have noticed that many of you are e-mailing me from accounts that do not state your name. Also, your assignments sometimes do not have your names on them. From now on, it is required of all students to include the following heading in the upper right-hand corner of every assignment:
Your name
RM student number
Date* (day month year; example: 4 July 2008)
Assignment title should be centered at the top of the page underneath your heading.
*Dates are written in this fashion throughout most of the world (approximately 90 countries). Since IB is an international program(me), we must all get used to recognizing and using this dating format. The standard format used in the U.S. is writing the month, day, then year. This is done in about five countries.
3) Posting of Ch. 3 Reading Response Questions will be posted on the blog on or before Sunday, 6 July.
Thank you for your attention to these matters,
Mr. Todd
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