Monday, February 11, 2019

Ancient Mysteries Project Due: 2/22

Ancient Mysteries Project! 

You’re going on an archeological exploration.  Sadly, Indy can’t make the trip, but you can!  With the other people who have the same mystery highlighted on the back of this sheet, you will explore that sight and bring back images and information to share with the rest of the class!

We will set up stations around the room to rotate through, so that you get to “visit” each site.  Not all sites will be covered in each class, so your presentation may be shown to other classes. Your job is to make a visual presentation for your station/ancient mystery.

You must:
• create a presentation with at least 6 images of your site.
• include the name of the mystery.
• give the name of its location and show its location on a map.
• tell who built it – and when and why they built it.
• include at least 5 interesting facts about the place in addition to the information above.
• document your sources.
You may:
• create a movie, a slide show, a Prezie, an online scrapbook, or any other visual presentation format that you have access to and can present in class.
• use in class time and at home time to work.
• ask for Activity passes to work with your group.
You may not:
• make a presentation that takes more than 4 minutes to watch from start to finish.
• make up anything about the historical site or its history.
• tell us speculative facts, undocumented information, or conspiracy theories.
• present live.
• include bloopers. (Sorry, but you are welcome to show them to me between classes!)  


________(30) Who, what, when, where and why – there, accurate
________(25) 5+ additional facts are interesting and accurate
________(20) Images and presentation are clear, appropriate, easy to follow (organized),                 
                         4 minutes or fewer
________(10) Presentation is accessible and ready to go at the beginning of class
________(15) All sources are documented


Research
When we research information, we are getting information from someone else, from a source.  The most important things to remember when finding and using sources for research are:
·       Does this relate to my topic/questions?  Is it relevant?
·       Is this source reliable?
·       Have I avoided plagiarism by giving credit to my source(s)?

IF we take a quote from a source – whether we already knew the information or not – you must CITE the source – give credit to them.  A quote MUST be inside quotation marks, must be word for word – punctuation mark for punctuation mark - the same as the original, and must be cited in some way. NO EXCEPTIONS – this also applies to ANY and ALL visual images.

Things get a little more complicated when you use summary, paraphrase and/or common knowledge.

Summary is when you take only the main idea (and possibly some of the most important details) from a source and put them in your own words. In your own words does not mean you copy down the sentence and just substitute a couple of words or switch the order of words.  The sentence structure should be completely different.  It is possible to have a word or phrase in quotation marks within your summary.

Paraphrase is when you take ALL the information (in whole or in part) from a source and re-write it in your own words. This means the words, phrasing, sentence structure are all new and unique.
BOTH summary and paraphrase must be cited UNLESS the information is common knowledge.  It’s usually to better to be safe than sorry with summary and paraphrase and cite the source. Even though the information is in YOUR words – the information comes from the SOURCE – and you are stealing their intellectual property if you do not give them credit.

Common Knowledge is information that is general information – such as the dates of a war or another major historical event, or the full name of a famous person, or the capital of a country.  Common Knowledge is a bit of information that can be found in thousands of places (online, in print, in people’s heads).

When to cite Common Knowledge is where things get complicated.  It is always better to be safe than sorry – if in doubt, cite the source – you will never get in trouble for giving credit to a source.  You will get in trouble (zeros, expulsions, fired, prosecuted) for failing to cite a source.  Generally speaking though, if the information is TRULY common knowledge and/or you already knew it before you looked anything up, it doesn’t have be cited.

 Once you have taken notes/gotten information from your sources the big question is: how do you cite your sources?  The important skill for documenting is learning to FOLLOW a FORMAT. There are multiple formats and those formats are constantly changing, so you need to learn to read everything and follow directions (sound familiar?)! 

1. Give the citation at “point of use” – for example giving the name of a book and author within the sentence or the name of the person you interviewed.  This kind of citation does not include any additional information, so this is often not a good choice when doing formal research.        

                                                            Title of Paper
       
         In Scaredy Squirrel, Melanie Watt creates a loveable, yet neurotic character.

  2. Use Footnotes, Endnotes, Bibliography page, or Works Cited page. This kind of citation is when you put a “marker” in the paper to show the reader, “I got this information from a source.”  Then, somewhere else – either on the same page or at the end of the book/report/paper, there is a complete citation about the source indicated by the same “marker”.  These “markers” are usually numbers or the author’s last name.
      
                Title of Paper                                                                     Works Cited

      Scaredy Squirrel is afraid of just about                Watt, Melanie, Scaredy Squirrel. New York:
everything in the world. In fact, he "never                          Kids Can Press, 2006.
leaves his nut tree" (Watt 2).

                       
3. Create a separate Works Consulted page.  When an author reads a bunch of information on and around a topic, but then writes their own thoughts, they still need to create a list of sources that they consulted.  This kind of citation will not have any direct citations with in the book/report/paper, but have a list of the sources the author “consulted” at the end.  This is also an appropriate way to cite when the research topic is generally considered “common knowledge”, but be VERY careful using it this way.

                                                                                                         Works Consulted

                                                                                   Squirrel Corp. "List of Fears."  All About 
                                                                                           Scaredy Squirrel. 2012. 2 June 2016.
                                                                                   Watt, Melanie, Scaredy Squirrel. New York:
                                                                                            Kids Can Press, 2006.



Friday, February 8, 2019

Religions Chart Key

There is SOOOOO VERY MUCH to all three of these monotheistic religions, but these are the basics and what you need to study.



Thursday, February 7, 2019

3rd Nine Weeks Important Dates

Tuesday, Jan. 8 - first day back from the winter break
Monday, Jan. 14 - present Revolutions Mini-project
Monday, Jan. 21 - MLK Day, no school
Tuesday, Jan. 22 - visit from the Houston Holocaust Museum
Friday, Feb. 1 - Europe Test
Wednesday, Feb. 13 - Monotheistic Religions Quiz
Monday, Feb. 18 - President's Day, no school
Wednesday, Feb. 20 - Friday, 2/22 -Ancient Mysteries Project Due
Wednesday or Friday, March 6 or 8 -  North Africa & Middle East Test
The week of March 11-15 - Spring Break!  Enjoy!

Thursday, January 24, 2019

Europe Test - Friday, Feb. 1

Our test over Europe will have 30 questions. There will (of course) be a political cartoon to analyze, and some mini-essay questions.  The rest will be matching, multiple choice, fill in the blank and short answer.

Review Sheet Part One will go home Monday, 1/28 and Part Two will go home Tuesday, 1/29.  What can you start studying now?  Your ISN.  And, the same map items as you were quizzed on earlier in the unit.  (See that list a few posts back.)




Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Revolutions Reflection - due Thursday, 1/17 BOC

Answer these questions in paragraphs.  Give SPECIFIC examples to support your observations.  I am looking for at least 4 reflective/thoughtful answers between the two questions.

What connections did you see among these revolutions? Use both what you were shown and connections you make on your own.

What lessons should we take away from these historical revolutions to apply to the world today?

Friday, November 30, 2018

Europe Map Quiz - Wednesday, Dec. 12


Europe Map Quiz 

You may be asked to identify any or all of these countries:
England                     Russia (Russian Federation)
France                       Poland
Germany                   Sweden
Spain                         Turkey
Italy                           Greece
Ukraine                     Czech Republic                   

You may be asked to identify any or all of these capital cities:
London, Berlin, Moscow, Rome, Athens, Madrid, Bern, Paris, Prague, Warsaw

You may be asked to identify any or all of these seas plus the Atlantic Ocean:
Aegean, Baltic, Black, Caspian, Mediterranean, North, Norwegian

You may be asked to identify any or all of these physical features:
Alps and/or Ural Mountains
Danube, Rhine, Seine, and/or Volga Rivers
The English Channel and/or the Strait of Gibraltar