Task Time!

This week we completed our study of Colonial America by reading the Providence Journal Article on King Philip’s War, using our text to discern what life was like in Colonial America and comparing the challenges of women in Colonial America with challenges of today.

Each of our classroom tasks gave you the opportunity to practice the skills you will need to be successful with your first graduation portfolio task. After marking up the ProJo article and discussing the big ideas you practiced writing an effective thesis statement. Your thesis statement should be clear, strong, and responsive to all parts of the document- based question. Our text reading gave you another opportunity to read for understanding. What are the essential concepts you need to know about Colonial life? Finally, we used the readings on Colonial Women to recognize different points of view and bias.

Rubric

On Thursday we analyzed the rubric for your task. Each of the components that you will be evaluated on is clearly outlined in the rubric. This weekend I would recommend that you go over the rubric and explain it to a friend or family member. Talking through the rubric will give you the chance to check your own understanding of the required elements of your essay. If you are unsure about one of the components this is the time to gather more information: call a friend, post a question on the blog, or see me Tuesday morning before the 7:25 bell.

The task will be an on-demand response to informational reading. On Tuesday you will be given six document excerpts with some guiding questions along with the essay prompt. On Friday I also gave you a list of helpful hints on dealing with the documents. Take the time to read carefully, mark up the documents and respond to the questions. Prior to writing, make an outline or a web of your key ideas. You may want to underline your thesis statement as a double check that it is a clear, strong, and complete sentence. Be sure to use parenthetical documentation: incorporate information from the documents to help you respond to the question.

Class Portfolio Update

On Friday you organized your work and updated your status of assignment sheet. If you are given the opportunity to revise, you must turn in the revised work the next class period. If you decide not to revise, you need to write on the work that you are not revising and turn it in so you can earn some credit. Revisions, if done properly and in a timely manner, will meet standard. Take pride in your work....do the revisions....meet the standard!

Current Events:

Your next current event is due Tuesday and you must select an article about the upcoming Presidential race. The papers and news magazines are following the primary races closely. This is a unique contest in many respects. It is the first time in 50 years we don’t have an incumbent (someone who is already serving as President or Vice President) running, which means this is a wide open race for both the Democrats and the Republicans. It is the first time one of the most viable nominees for President is a woman. It is the first time one of the most viable nominees is an African American. It is the first time one of the most viable nominees is a Mormon.

This is an exciting time as we get closer to selecting the nominees for the two leading parties. Talk to your family and friends and find out who they are supporting. Start thinking about some of the issues that you are interested in and how the candidates are responding to your questions. The person elected President in November 2008 will most likely be a candidate in 2012...the year when you will have your first opportunity to cast a vote for President!