HOW TO TURN IN YOUR FINAL PROJECT

This week we will turn in (upload) our final projects and give 1-2 minute presentations on them in class. The presentation should be quick. Think of it as presenting the OVERVIEW (“topic”), the ESSENTIAL UNDERSTANDING (What you want to teach), and the ACTIVITIES (how you will teach it).  As I discussed in class, you MUST be present when your name is called to present. Please be in class promptly at 9:35AM.

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The final part of your “Teaching the Freedom Struggle Project” is due May 5th by 8:00PM. (As I mentioned in class, as long as you get it to me before Monday, May 6th at 8:ooAM I won’t mark you down as late.) Since our project is meant to be shared widely with the world around us it is important for you to turn it in electronically, in a format ready to go live on our website.

You should have already become a “Contributor” to our blog. In the same way you uploaded a short biography of yourself at the start of the semester you will also upload this assignment. You should have read the Assignment Sheet, reviewed the handout on Standards, received this handout in class last week, and read last blog post on the assignment.

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Type up EVERYTHING you want to turn in as a Word document. The easiest way to work with WordPress for a first timer will be to cut and paste and then re-format. So compose an original that is done before trying to submit online.

2. You will need the url addresses to link to EVERYTHING you are providing as class materials. This includes YouTube videos and images, as well as documents. (If you are using a document that is not available online, see below.)

3. Cut and paste your entire document into a new “post” you create. I recommend doing this after you have clicked the “Text” tab (instead of the default “Visual”) and then after you paste in the content click back to “Visual”.

4. Now format your material by creating bold headings, italics, underline, and by inserting links. The toolbar above the text box should get you through just about everything you need to do. One note of caution: do NOT choose the “Ordered list” button to create your numbered list #1-11. This formats differently than you want it to. Just keep your manually typed numbers (1., 2., and so on).

5. You can click on “Preview” to see what it will look like.

What if our source isn’t online?
If you need to make one or more of your sources available online you will have to scan it as a PDF, email it to me, and then wait while I upload it to my server space and send you a link to it. You can also upload sources to Good Drive or other online locations where they can be publicly accessible.  Images and YouTube movies can be directly uploaded and embedded into your post on WordPress.

We have a week of “lasts” ahead of us as we hit the last full week of class of the spring 2013 semester.

On TUESDAY we will have our last reading, discussion, and short lecture, all related to the topic of “Third Wave” feminism. Your reading assignment is provided to you as DCR 16, in the password protected page above. It is comprised of selections from the book This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. The book is a significant historical event in and of itself. You should learn a bit about that significance before reading.

Unlike every other week, you do NOT have to complete a “prep sheet” for this week’s readings. I DO want you to type up a ONE paragraph statement of ONE lesson you draw from the readings. This statement should be no more than 75 words in length. You should also be comfortable reading it aloud to others. Of course–print it out and bring it to class!

On THURSDAY we will have our last course lecture, hopefully wrapping up our story a bit. We’ll also have a chance to complete some in-class evaluations.

Be good, be healthy…

This post is designed to give you an overview of the final part of the final project. If you have any questions that remain after reading it, and after re-reading the posted assignment sheet (and the handout that will be passed out in class on Tuesday, April 30), then please feel free to ask them as comments on this post.

The final part of the “Teaching the Freedom Struggle” project must be uploaded as a “Draft Post” on our WordPress.com class blog. All of you have already successfully done this when you submitted your short bio at the beginning of the semester.

1. You will need your username and password for WordPress. You are already listed as “Contributors” to the blog, which means you can submit posts but only I can make them live. Your final assignment will be submitted as a properly formatted bog post.

2. You do NOT have to make ALL of your sources available online. As the assignment sheet suggests and as we have discussed, #10 can be a regular Bibliography. #8, however, requires you to make available only those sources and materials that are necessary to complete the in-class activity you design.

3. The key to your teaching module is to make sure there is a relationship between the Essential Understanding (#4) you want to teach and the Activities (#9). That is, your teaching activities should enable students to reach the understanding you intended.

4. Some parts of this (really, most parts) are speaking to the teacher. They are the one who would implement what you design. However, some parts (especially #6-9) are also geared toward being presentable to students.

5. Your intended audience should be a high schooler. Don’t forget to make this about “movements.”

6. The “Standards” you have to link to (#11) are provided for you in a Word document or in PDF. All you need to do is select which standards are served by your project. At the same time, choosing these early on will help you design your Essential Understanding as well as your Activity.

7. The heart of your Activity should be an analysis of a manageable section of a primary document. But it doesn’t ONLY have to be that. Think about how you learn, and the multiple ways you build toward that process of reading and making sense of a primary document.

8. The activity doesn’t just have to be a solo action the student does on her own or something they read then discuss. Be creative how students dissect the source together. Frame their engagement!

9. Be mindful of the two sets of knowledge we discussed in class: 1) what you want them to know and 2) what they need to know in order for them to learn what you want them to know. The second can be provided to them. To reach the first you need to get them “doing.”

Here are some examples from the website “Teaching Tolerance.” There are many, many more online from last year’s class. Since you follow in their wake, you have a higher bar to reach! Don’t let them define and limit what you are to do. Let them set the bar you will surpass!

If you were NOT selected to serve as a facilitator of this week’s “Collective Discussion” then you are expected to post a comment below relating to the reading assignment and/or our in-class discussion.

Your comment is due no later than Wednesday, April 24th at 9:35 a.m. PST.

We are nearing the end of our semester. You should review our final major assignment, part 3 of the “Teaching the Freedom Struggle” project. It is due May 7th. The assignment sheet and a blog post that goes live this week should answer any questions you may have on the steps and expectations.

On Tuesday we will read chapters 4-7 in the book Rethinking the Asian American Movement. As usual, you will write a “prep sheet” for our in-class discussion. On Thursday we will watch a film on the fall of the I-Hotel, a topic well-covered in our readings.

If you were NOT selected to serve as a facilitator of this week’s “Collective Discussion” then you are expected to post a comment below relating to the reading assignment and/or our in-class discussion.

Your comment is due no later than Wednesday, April 17th at 9:35 a.m. PST.

We begin our final class transition this week as we move to examine Asian American movements for change.

On Tuesday I will give you a brief overview of the scholarly field and some of the significant themes for our class. We will also have an interactive discussion on the course reading, chapters 1-3 in our final course book Rethinking the Asian American Movement, by Daryl Joji Maeda. As you write your “prep sheet” for our in-class discussion it might be useful to begin the work of “thinking big” and forging some larger class conclusions through your examination of the Asian American movement.

On Thursday we will look more directly at the war in Vietnam and the myriad ways it affected the movements we study. You will also turn in your Questions & Evidence assignment.

If you were selected to serve as a facilitator of this week’s “Collective Discussion” then you are expected to post a comment below relating to the reading assignment and/or our in-class discussion.

Your comment is due no later than Wednesday, April 10th at 9:35 a.m. PST.

I want to thank you all for your effort and critical attention this semester. I have been very pleased at the way our discussions–both in-class and online–have developed over our weeks together. It is an unavoidable thing for you all to deepen your analysis as you connect to a more expansive base of historical sources on our class topics. But it is not always a given that you should so visibly grow in your sophistication of important issues related to those topics. So THANK YOU and keep up the good work! The end of the road is just around the bend!!

Our reading for Tuesday comes from American Indian activist Leonard Peltier. Very few people are more associated with the term “political prisoner” than is Peltier. He is also an important figure in the evolving narrative of our class, made all more so by the fact of his imprisonment since 1977. Peltier has now spent more than half of his life in a federal penitentiary. Before you do the reading, I ask that you do some research on who Peltier is, the conditions and controversies of his imprisonment, and the historic movement to see him released. Your readings (available as a DCR 14) are selections from his 1999 book, Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance. Please bring your “prep sheet” to class on Tuesday as well as your insights on what we can learn from him.

We’ll follow up our discussion with a short lecture on the FBI and its surveillance programs of the 1960s and 70s.

For Thursday you are expected to read an article on Women of color political organizing. It is made available to you as DCR 15. While you do not have to produce a “prep sheet” for it, we will have a very involved discussion/activity in class where we will be using the reading. Please come prepared.

If you were selected to serve as a formal part of this week’s “Collective Discussion” then you are expected to post a comment below relating to the reading assignment and/or our in-class discussion.

Your comment is due no later than Wednesday, April 3rd at 9:35 a.m. PST.