Week 2 Zoom Notes and Resources

Below are the highlights from today's Zoom meeting. You will also find the PowerPoint made by Mr. Smith that we referenced.

• Grading: Your baseline grade for Semester 2 will be whatever your grade is right now in the gradebook. This is the grade as of March 12th when school closed. Your grade can not end lower than this. You can improve that grade with continued diligent work. You MUST engage in the required learning. If you choose to not engage in the learning you will receive an incomplete for the semester.
• So What Evidence: A big issue we're seeing with the outlines is making claim with your so what and then not giving evidence to prove it. Example: "...leading to a loss of traditional culture in Africa." The evidence for your what and how does not prove that this happened. You MUST give evidence showing that culture was actually lost, that society was unstable, that a wrongful perspective of Africa in Western society exists because of media. 
• Below is a PPT that Mr. Smith created showing examples of this and other common issues in the outlines and suggestions on how to improve. 
• On Santos' website yesterday is a post titled Research Resources that gives some articles you can use for evidence for your so what. Lots of good information there.
• Analyzing Rhetorical Appeals: In general, be extremely cautious in pointing out rhetoric. It is very difficult to prove that someone was actually persuaded and if you are saying they used pathos to get an emotional response from someone, you are going to have to prove that the emotional response existed.
• In TFA, just don't. Fiction is not meant to persuade. You should not be analyzing the rhetoric (which is different than language) of fictional characters.
• In media: You need to look at the effects. If you are saying an NGO used pathos, you either need to show that donations increased because of this, that ads with this technique bring more donations than ads that don't, OR explain why their attempts to make people feel bad for Africa are bad and then give proof of that.
• If you have additional questions about this, please email Santos or Smith.
• Peer Edits: Once rough drafts are submitted, PLEASE go to the peermark assignment and give a classmate a peer edit of their draft. Help each other out! If you can't tell who needs one, email Mrs. Santos and she'll assign you one.
• Other Notes:
• Please stay in past tense when writing!
• Do not stress about your conclusions. Do your best to summarize your argument and emphasize your so what.
• The Intro and Conclusion PPTs on the websites are great resources.

Outline Feedback with examples

Research Resources

Below are a few articles that could help with the so what part of your thesis statements. Many of you are making claims in your so what that you are not backing up with evidence. You MUST have proof that what you're claiming is actually happening. If you don't find what you need in one of these, email Santos and I will try to help.

Is Foreign Aid Bad for Africa? This helps with the NGO prompt but also has good stuff on how Africa is viewed by the rest of the world.

What do African Aid Recipients Think of Charity Ads? Same help as above. Good for seeing how people see them and how the aid works.

History of Africa through Western Eyes Good information on western perspectives of Africa

Why Africans Worry about How Africa is Portrayed in Western Media Remember this can be useful for any prompt if you so what has anything to do with the western perspective of Africa

Faith in Africa Great article on how the loss of traditional African religion (statistics included!) has shaped society

4/24-5/1/20

Below is the document containing instructions for this week. This week you will again have both LA and SS time to work on your research paper each day. Instructions are in the document and resources are linked below. Zoom meeting will be on Tuesday at 1:00 pm. Santos/Smith will give some guidance on your rough drafts and discuss common feedback given on the outlines. We will leave time for questions at the end.

**Important Reminder: The Weekly Feedback assignment is ONLY for asking questions and getting help as you work. Your finished assignments should always be uploaded to the Second Semester Research Paper assignments (Revision 1, 2 or the final which just has no revision).

April 24-May 1 Assignments

Santos and Smith will be giving full feedback on your outlines. We will work as fast as we can but it does take time. If you have already received feedback, use it to guide your rough draft. If we have not yet gotten to yours, still start on your rough draft. You can use the outline feedback to go back and revise your rough draft before submitting once you have received feedback.

A few tips to get started:

• Work on just one section at a time if needed. Mental blocks (especially in this crazy time) are real! Start with just your introduction and then take a break for the day. Then the next day do BTS 1, and so on. Just leave some time for adjustments at the end of the week.
• Just start writing! The easiest way to unblock the brain is to poke a hole in the dam. Even if it feels a little like a free-write at first, just start getting your thoughts on paper. The more you write, the more coherent you will become. You can always go back and edit later.
• Use the resources below. Seeing ideas and examples can help get the words flowing.
• Don't stress!! This is a rough draft. It will need editing. That's normal
• Take a break! Go outside! Move! Maybe you only write for 30 minutes and then take a break before continuing. Do what works for you. Our brains can only handle so much time staring at the screen.

Due Dates:
5/1: Rough Draft
5/8: Final Draft

While all previous resources are linked below, here are some key resources for this week:

 If you are using an image in your paper, here is some guidance on how to cite and refer to your image.

On a page before your Works Cited page, you will have this:

Appendix A (center, no other formatting)

Picture (just copy paste your image, left aligned)

Fig. 1 (Centered underneath the image)

Then in your works cited page, include a normal MLA citation for the image. In text, you can reference the picture by referring to Figure one “In an ad released by…celebrities are shown…  (see fig. 1)”

Below is a great resource for how to properly cite images and gives an example. It shows how to do it using the image in text, but the idea is the same. You will just put your image in an appendix instead of in text.

Purdue Owl citing images/maps/graphs 

Problems Smith/Santos saw reading your outlines

Turning Outlines into Rough Drafts (This is additional guidance to be used with the rough revision ppt below)

Using TFA evidence correctly (This is the integrating TFA evidence document we keep referring to.)

As always feel free to upload your paper with specific questions for feedback to this week's weekly feedback assignment. You'll see in the document that there is also an opportunity for a peer edit this week.

Peer Editing

Outline and Rough Draft revision guidance

Integrating Evidence

Mr. Smith's Intros and conclusions (This combines some of the stuff with Mrs. Santos slides as well. I recommend starting here and then looking at the slides below if you need more examples).

Intros and Conclusions

Something to make you laugh

Here is your laugh for the week, and a little insight into where my household is at right now.

First read this thread (just until you get to the part asking for donations, though you can read comments if you choose). If a little language offends, just skip this.

https://twitter.com/mspowahs/status/1240676111534653442

So my husband sent me the above. We laughed really hard. And then on Sunday, this happened:

Don't worry, I am in the abomination camp. Though my husband was not... :)  We're thinking of making it an April tradition to commemorate the world that is Covid Quarantine. Will you join the totwaffle world?

4/20/20-4/24/20

Below is the document containing instructions for this week. This week you will have both LA and SS time to work on your research paper each day. Instructions are in the document and resources are linked below. Zoom meeting will be on Wednesday at 12:00 pm.

April 20-24 Assignments

Due Dates:
4/24: Outline Submit to Tii on Revision 1
5/1: Rough Draft
5/8: Final Draft

While all previous resources are linked below, here are some key resources for this week:

**New Resource: If you are using an image in your paper, here is some guidance on how to cite and refer to your image.

On a page before your Works Cited page, you will have this:

Appendix A (center, no other formatting)

Picture (just copy paste your image, left aligned)

Fig. 1 (Centered underneath the image)

Then in your works cited page, include a normal MLA citation for the image. In text, you can reference the picture by referring to Figure one “In an ad released by…celebrities are shown…  (see fig. 1)”

Below is a great resource for how to properly cite images and gives an example. It shows how to do it using the image in text, but the idea is the same. You will just put your image in an appendix instead of in text.

Purdue Owl citing images/maps/graphs 

Problems Smith/Santos saw reading your outlines

Turning Outlines into Rough Drafts (This is additional guidance to be used with the rough revision ppt below)

Using TFA evidence correctly (This is the integrating TFA evidence document we keep referring to.)

As always feel free to upload your paper with specific questions for feedback to this week's weekly feedback assignment. You'll see in the document that there is also an opportunity for a peer edit this week.

Peer Editing

Body Thesis Statements

Outline and Rough Draft revision guidance

Integrating Evidence

Mr. Smith's Intros and conclusions (This combines some of the stuff with Mrs. Santos slides as well. I recommend starting here and then looking at the slides below if you need more examples).

Intros and Conclusions

4/6/20

Happy Monday!

First a little fun.


If you have never seen Groundhog Day, it is your unofficial assignment to watch it this week and laugh your face off.

And now to business!

April 6 Weekly Activities

While you will notice that the activities are essentially the same this week, there is one important addition: We have an official due date for the paper! (see document above) As such, while this week is still optional, we strongly encourage you to make some progress this week, especially if you have not looked at your paper yet during the closure.

You will essentially be shooting for one of 2 goals this week: Submitting an outline to Revision 1 for teacher review or completing a rough draft for peer edit by Friday.

While all previous resources are linked below, here are some key resources for this week:

Problems Smith/Santos saw reading your outlines

Turning Outlines into Rough Drafts (This is additional guidance to be used with the rough revision ppt below)

Using TFA evidence correctly

As always feel free to upload your paper with specific questions for feedback to this week's weekly feedback assignment. You'll see in the document that there is also an opportunity for a peer edit this week.

Peer Editing

Body Thesis Statements

Outline and Rough Draft revision guidance

Integrating Evidence

Mr. Smith's Intros and conclusions (This combines some of the stuff with Mrs. Santos slides as well. I recommend starting here and then looking at the slides below if you need more examples).

Intros and Conclusions

3/30/20

Below you will find this week's guide for success! It is likely that soon we will be starting new curriculum. When that happens, the official due date for the paper will come very quickly.  So PLEASE work on your paper this week! 

March 30 Weekly Activities

You will essentially be shooting for one of 2 goals this week: Submitting an outline to Revision 1 for teacher review or completing a rough draft for peer edit by Friday.

At the end of this week's weekly document, you will find some tips on Language Analysis. I put these together after our Zoom meeting on Thursday. Hopefully this will help answer questions for those that couldn't attend. As always, feel free to email if you have any questions.

In addition to the guidance document, I have included the outline and rough draft revisions PowerPoint as well as some helpful tips on Intros and Conclusions (examples included!). I have included Mr. Smith's newly updated document as well. This will be slightly less general with ideas for this paper. Please look over these as they give some great guidance on your rough draft.

As always feel free to upload your paper with specific questions for feedback to this week's weekly feedback assignment. You'll see in the document that there is also an opportunity for a peer edit this week.

And now for my new Monday tradition, something funny!! 

Just to show what you can do with your time given enough motivation, here is Coronavirus Rhapsody (hopefully we have some Queen fans out there)

Peer Editing

Body Thesis Statements

Outline and Rough Draft revision guidance

Mr. Smith's Intros and conclusions (This combines some of the stuff with Mrs. Santos slides as well. I recommend starting here and then looking at the slides below if you need more examples).

Intros and Conclusions

Integrating Evidence

3/27/20

Below you will find a link to the rubric that will be used for the research paper. The percentages indicate how much of the overall project is attributed to that category.

This is especially helpful for seeing how the Source Evaluation will be graded. Note that the OPCVL and Language analysis will be graded as one score, though they are separated in the rubric.

Research Project Rubric

3/23/20

Below you will find several links. The first is a the document that details activities we would like to you work on this week. These are focused around the process for revising/improving your research paper. If you are behind and not quite to the steps listed, we encourage you to catch up! Do some research. Work on your outline.

If you have technology needs or other needs such as meals, please reach out to me and let me know and I will get you in contact with the right channels to help you ASAP. 

March 23rd Weekly Activities

For this week we would like you to focus on reviewing your research and source evaluation feedback and building your outline. PLEASE DO NOT WORRY ABOUT A FINAL DUE DATE. With things constantly changing, we want you to slow down and really revise your outlines, source evaluations, and language analysis.

Below are resources to use in this week's activities. As always, you may email me or Mr Smith at any time for help or questions. In general, your 7th period teacher will be the one reviewing your assignments and giving feedback on Turnitin, but either teacher is available for questions via email. For 5th period, Santos is giving feedback for last names McCuistion-Zhang. Smith has everyone above that in the alphabet.

Peer Editing

Body Thesis Statements

Outline and Rough Draft revision guidance

Below is the link if you would like to express interest in a Zoom meeting with Santos.

Zoom meeting form

3/17/20

Quick update to Turnitin instructions.

If you are choosing to continue work on your research paper you will notice the assignment titles for Turnitin have changed. When submitting your outline it should go under Second Semester Research Paper Revision 1. The rough draft goes under Second Semester Research Paper Revision 2. The final draft will just be under the second semester research paper. This will prevent Tii from thinking you plagiarized yourself.

3/15/20

Hello students.

Thank you to those of who have turned in thesis statements. Please know that at this point all due dates are not required and will be merely left as a guide if you would like to continue working. We will communicate more information as the district gives us more information.

If you choose to continue work towards your outline, please refer to the following resources. Remember you have done this before. This should look the same as the 4-level outlines you did in first semester. You may use either my formatting or Mr. Smith's. Just make sure it is in MLA format and that all template formatting is removed. You should include your research question and thesis statement. This should hopefully be a second revision on your outline using feedback from your initial thesis.

You do NOT need an intro or conclusion.

Organizing and creating an outline

Outlining Template

Body Thesis Statements 

Tips for using TFA evidence


At this time we are still waiting for information on what learning will look like for the next 6 weeks. However,  I encourage you to continue to work towards finishing your research paper. Now is the best time to continue while your research and ideas are fresh. It will be much more difficult to come back to the paper after the school closure. Feedback on the source evaluation will be available no later than Friday the 20th. Thesis statements we will get back as soon as possible. You will find Tii assignments for each step on Mrs. Santos website.

• Monday 3/16: Initial thesis
• Thursday 3/19: Outline
• Tuesday 3/24: Rough Draft
• Monday 3/30: Final Draft

Mr. Smith and I will send email reminders. We will also watch our emails and be tracking Tii to give feedback throughout the process. Please feel free to contact us if you have technology or other issues.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out.

3/13/20

Hello students.

Until we receive further guidance from the district, at this point we are proceeding with learning by simply encouraging students to finish that which was already assigned and in motion. You may also work with me through email to catch up on any missing work. As such, please work on the following:

1. For those that missed the Socratic Seminar, please check your emails for make-up information and get that to Mrs. Santos' Turnitin account no later than next Friday.

2. I encourage you to continue to work towards finishing your research paper. Now is the best time to continue while your research and ideas are fresh. It will be much more difficult to come back to the paper after the break. Feedback on the source evaluation will be available no later than Friday the 20th. Thesis statements we will get back as soon as possible. You will find Tii assignments for each step on Mrs. Santos website.

• Monday 3/16: Initial thesis
• Thursday 3/19: Outline
• Tuesday 3/24: Rough Draft
• Monday 3/30: Final Draft

Mr. Smith and I will send email reminders. We will also watch our emails and be tracking Tii to give feedback throughout the process. Please feel free to contact us if you have technology or other issues.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out.

3/12/20

Today students had work time for their research paper outline.

Upcoming Dates:
3/13: Africa Exam
3/16: Initial Thesis Due
3/19: Outline Due

3/11/20

Today students had time to collaborate and brainstorm with peers that are working on the same research prompt.

** Notes for source evaluation: Remember this is a rough draft! You will submit this and receive feedback. After reviewing feedback and working with your sources during outline and rough draft, you will revise your source evaluation and submit the final version with your final paper.
Also, don't forget to do both OPCVL AND a language analysis on both sources. The language analysis will be just on an excerpt that you choose to use.

To submit to Turnitin, make copy/paste charts and photos into one document.

Source Evaluation due on Santos' Turnitin by 10 pm Wednesday!

Africa Unit Study Guide

Map Quiz Practice game

Upcoming Dates:
3/11: Source Evaluation Due (Due on Mrs. Santos' Turnitin)
3/13: Africa exam

3/10/20

Today we held our Socratic Seminar. Students need to fill out the reflection form below no later than 9 am tomorrow morning (Wednesday).

If Absent: A make-up Socratic Seminar will be held on Tuesday 3/17 during flex time. Students will be placed in Mr. Smith's flex time.

Socratic Seminar reflection form

Source Evaluation due on Santos' Turnitin by 10 pm Wednesday!

Africa Unit Study Guide

Map Quiz Practice game

Upcoming Dates:
3/11: Source Evaluation Due (Due on Mrs. Santos' Turnitin)
3/13: Africa exam

3/9/20

Today students had time to prepare for tomorrow's Socratic Seminar.

Socratic Seminar Prep (requirements and suggestions)

Socratic Prompts

Africa Unit Study Guide

Map Quiz Practice game

Upcoming Dates:
3/10: Africa integrated Socratic Seminar
3/11: Source Evaluation Due 
3/13: Africa exam

3/6/20

Today students did some source evaluation practice in groups.

Socratic Seminar Prep (requirements and suggestions)

Socratic Prompts

OPCVL chart

OPCVL guide

On Monday we will have work time on our source evaluations so please come prepared with your 2 primary sources. We will also have prep time for the Socratic Seminar.

Upcoming Dates:
3/10: Africa integrated Socratic Seminar
3/11: Source Evaluation Due 
3/13: Africa exam

3/5/20

Today we finished Hotel Rwanda and discussed UN responses to crises in Africa. We then reviewed guidelines and requirements for Tuesday's Socratic Seminar (see below).

Socratic Seminar requirements and guidelines (stop once you reach today is the day)

Socratic Seminar prompts

Upcoming Dates:
3/10: Africa integrated Socratic Seminar
3/11: Source Evaluation Due 

3/3/20

Today students did a gallery walk of their independence visuals. We then had work time in the library for our research papers.

Upcoming Dates:
3/10: Africa integrated Socratic Seminar
3/11: Source Evaluation Due 

3/2/20

Today students continued their analysis of Hotel Rwanda.  Tomorrow students will review their independence movement visuals and have time in the library to work on their research.

Upcoming Dates:
3/10: Africa integrated Socratic Seminar
3/11: Source Evaluation Due