Middle East Introduction

Understanding the Middle East is not an easy feat. Understanding is often defined as a knowing, as having empathy, as an ability to predict an outcome as in science and math disciplines. For the purposes of this study "understanding" shall be understood to have breadth and depth. In his book Understanding by Design, Grant Wiggins suggest the following 'facets' to evaluate understanding.

explain, connect, systematize, and predict
show its meaning, importance
apply or adapt knowledge to novel situations
see it as one plausible perspective among others, question its assumptions
see it as author/speaker saw it
avoid and point out common misconceptions, biases, or simplistic views. ( Wiggins, p. 168 )

From these 6 facets of understanding a rubric could be constructed to guide you in your writing assignments. This rubric is presented for the parent/teacher to evaluate understanding to grade the research paper AND for the student to use as a guide. Each facet would have a maximum value of 17 points or an overall maximum grade of 102 or A+. Your writing assignments can range from an exploratory essay with no footnotes or bibliography to a full blown research paper worthy to save for college! Notice that your paper will not be evaluated on your ability to cite references. This is an important skill that you should work on in conjuction with your English course. All research papers will require a bibliography and at the very least parenthetic notes after quotations. See the example above after the list of facets.

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Access to the Valid & Relevant Lending Library
Links to over 300 websites specially chosen for the secondary student and for their various perspectives in a growing serachable archive.
Webquests ( plural ) built into each course through the sections.

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