Presentations

We spent part of class Thursday in the Learning Center working on presentations. The students were instructed to take an idea from their journals (this is the writing we do in class, where we use history as a tool to help understand the present), and find some media representation of that idea (an image, song, short video, etc.). After finding the image, they were instructed to condense their thoughts to no more than three bullet points, each using no more than five words to explain how the media is connected with the idea or the course material. These were to be put in text box, in powerpoint, along with the image. Finally, they were to create a google account ( if they didn't have one, already), and upload their Powerpoint slide into google documents. Tuesday, they will present this single slide to the class, and explain it in no more than two minutes, preferably one.

What is a Paragraph?

You probably already know what a paragraph is. However, you still need to know what are my expectations of your discussion posts. Below, I clearly lay out these expectations along with the rubric under which your work will be evaluated. I look forward to reading your posts.

A paragraph is, first and foremost, a unit of thought. You are telling me what you think about a particular topic. In this case you are responding to a question prompt. Therefore, the first sentence should introduce your thought as clearly as possible. I should be able to tell by the first sentence what that paragraph will express to me. Ideally, your first sentence should state a claim. The following sentences should draw evidence from the book to support your claim. They should convince me that what you say is supported by the book. The concluding sentence should answer the question, “So what?” How has this paragraph answered the question that you selected? How has it added depth or breadth to our understanding of the topic? How am I a smarter or better-informed person for having read this paragraph? Very few paragraphs answer all these questions, but you should try to accomplish at least one of them. That is the ideal and the basic structure. Remember, I want to know what you really think; not what you think I want you to think. Have fun, and speak your mind! It’s easy when you actually believe what you are writing.

Grading—paragraphs will be graded on the following:
1. Structure/organization, does the paragraph function as a unit of thought?
2. Evidence, does the paragraph draw specific references from the book as evidence to support the claim(s) made in your paragraph?
3. Analysis, does the paragraph explain logically how the evidence presented supports the claims made?
4. Proofreading, the paragraph should be free of grammatical errors and misspellings.