Homework for the long weekend, 11/30

Over the weekend, finish reading the chapter, pages 418-428.

We will have an in class essay on Wednesday.  It will be Change Over Time.  The time period will be Classical through Post Classical Era, and the regions will be Rome-Byzantium, China/East Asia, India/South Asia, Middle East/Dar-al-Islam. (It will only be one of those regions across two time periods.)  You will be able to re-write this essay, but it will be for an averaged mark between the first time through and the re-write, it will not be for an all new grade.

Enjoy the long weekend!

Homework for 11/29

For tonight please read pages 410-418 in the textbook, covering the economic systems of the Indian Ocean basin.

Homework for 11/28--The Idol Smasher

The textbook doesn't really do a lot with a very controversial figure in Indian history, Mahmoud of Ghazni.  So for tonight, look at two views of Mahmoud of Ghazni (a.k.a.: the Idol Smasher) to read. First:

http://www.indianmilitaryhistory.org/kings_master/kings/mahmud_ghaznavi/Mahmud%20Ghaznavi.html

Second from a professor at UCLA:
http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Mughals/mahmud_mughals.html

Read them both tonight.  We will work with the contents of each in class tomorrow. Bookmark them so you can get to them easily from your iPad.

Homework for 11/27

For tonight's homework, we are moving on to India, the next chapter in the book.  Please read 405-410.

Tonight's homework

For tonight, read pages 383-389 in the textbook.

The description of the book report is linked up here. Remember, you can substitute the word "book" with the word "film." You may do up to 2 fictional books, and 1 non-fiction and 1 fiction film. The rubric I'll use to score it is linked up here.  Remember the difference between meeting expectations and exceeding expectations!

The list of books is linked up here.  You may use another book, but you must have it approved first before you submit the project.  You must also have approval for your film if you choose to go that route.  An email conversation is sufficient for attaining approval.

The scoring guide for the COT is linked up here.  We will practice with it next week, and then write one for real the week following.

In class and homework 11/16

This chapter contains lots of information that you need to know.  There are many names, terms, and ideas that are new and important.  Working in a group of no more than 4, design a quiz that would cover this chapter. (You probably can use a google document, but as long as you all can share it with me, I don't care what you use.)  Your quiz must have the following three sections:

      1. Terms/names--you must ask questions or design an activity that checks to see if the person taking the quiz can successfully identify the terms/names and their significance.

      2. Timeline--you must ask questions that allow the quiz-taker to place the important events in order of occurrence.

      3. Themes--you must cause the quiz taker to articulate how the themes of this course (Remember them? They are posted waaaaay back at the start of the class) show up in the dar-al-Islam in this time period.

      Oh, and the quiz should be do-able in 20 minutes or less...That means you don't have to cover everything!  Just cover what you believe to be important! That also means it doesn't have to be even--you could decide that the themes are less important, so you have fewer questions.

How you design the quiz (the format of the questions, etc.) is entirely up to you.  The quiz you make will be graded as a (gasp) quiz! It will be worth 30 points total.

So your information must be:

• factually correct (no wrong information or incorrect spellings!); 
• you must have the three sections with questions/relevant activities; 
• and you must include a key/answers to the quiz.  

All of your names must be on it, and everyone will get the same grade for the work. It must be done and shared with me by the end of the class. Any not done and shared by the end of class today will automatically lose 5 points. You aren't going to be taking these quizzes, so don't worry about making them super easy so you don't become less popular...

For homework, dive into the next chapter. We are going back to China, but adding in Japan and Korea as well. Read pages 375-383.

In Class and Homework 11/15

It's Harun al-Rashid day!  In class, find and read Harun's Wikipedia page. (The wikipanion app can make this easier, or you can go through...lightspeed...) He is mentioned in the textbook, but only briefly.

After you read the wikipedia entry, turn to your trusty blog and think and compose the following:

First, evaluate this as a quality source. Is it a good one, mediocre one or a bad one? Note how the page is organized.  Is it evenly written? Is there any evidence of bias or is it an objective source? What tells you so?

Second, do some thinking about what you read. Having read this entry, what questions do you have about Harun, his life, his importance? Does this Wikipedia page answer questions or generate more?  Where would you go to find out more about him?  When you google search his name, you get over 490,000 hits...how would you filter it? (explain the process of refining your search.)

Lastly, ponder: Why does Harun al-Rashid spark such imagination? Why is he so prevalent in pop culture? How do you explain his "fame"/notoriety? Does this wikipedia page serve to add to it, or temper it?

For homework, read pages 365-370. Feel free to start this if you complete the above task.

If you are interested, A Thousand and One Nights is linked up here. It is from the gutenberg project, which means you can download it in a couple of different formats and read it here! For those of you who get all nostalgic for the Disney version of Aladdin, this would be a very interesting read for you!