Winter Break Extra Credit Topics

 "What is the most valuable possession?"
          "Knowledge."

  - The Mahabharata

Purpose:
The Purpose of Extra Credit is not simply to boost your grade, but rather to enhance your knowledge. Keep that in mind as you consider that the work for these extra credit points is considerably greater than the corresponding work you would have to do for the regular readings in class.  It is strongly recommended that you chose a topic that interests you as opposed to simply the one that looks easiest.
 
Choosing Your Regional History Topic: 

Look over the four sets of readings (W - Z) listed at the end of the Unit 4 Syllabus.  Each set has two or three subsections with readings attached.  X (Africa) and Z (Japan) each have two readings, W and Y each have three readings.  Correspondently, X and Z are worth a potential 20 points each, W(The Americas) and Y (SE Asia) are worth a potential 30 points each.  To get the extra credit you must complete the work for one or two full sets.  You cannot simply do one of the readings of a set, you must do the work for all the readings of the set.  Students are allowed to turn in two sets.  Feel free to do more, but I will only give credit for up to two sets (thus a maximum of 60 points possible).   You cannot do all four sets - or even three of them - for credit.  Two is the max.

Once You Have Your Topics Chosen:
  
 A. Read the indicated pages, including the BBR's (Brown Box Readings).

 B. Create a List of 10 Key Terms per reading, give the definitions and indicate the page # they are on.  Remember: these can be important people, significant places, events, documents, works, battles, technologies, or concepts.  (If there are three readings in the set you need to have a total of 30 key terms.  It is okay to have only 6 key terms for one reading, for example, and make up by having 12 terms on the next two readings - just so long as the total equals 10 terms per reading.  Be sure to indicate which reading the terms correspond to.)

 C. Create a set of 10 - 12 Quiz Questions (with answers provided) based on the readings similar to the quizzes you have in class.  Be sure to provide the answers as well as the questions.  Be sure to include one question on each of the BBR's indicated on the reading list (if there are any).  You may not alter the number of questions per reading, each reading section must have 10 - 12 questions related to it.

 D. Type it all up, organize and label it correctly (indicating what pages are being tested on), be sure to include your name, date and period... and hand it in on the FIRST day after Winter break.  I will not take late work unless you are absent that first day back and have a readmit for it.

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Winter Break Extra Credit FAQ’s:

Question: What FAQ's will you answer in this section?

Answer: Well, I'll create a thread on the message boards for people to post their FAQ's there, then I will type in that information ultimately on this page here. 

Question: Can I do one reading from one set and another reading from a different set?

Answer: No.  If you do a set, do the whole set.

Question: Can I just do the Key Terms for each reading and skip the quiz questions?

Answer: No.  You will get 0(zero) credit that way.  I need to see that you have attempted to do the complete assignment.

Question: What if I forget to do the Quiz Questions?

Answer: Then I may forget to give you credit.

Question: What if I forget to put the page numbers for the key terms?

Answer: I'll accept your work, but will deduct points, certainly.

Question: What if I write really stupid questions?

Answer: Then you will get a fairly stupid grade on this extra credit.  The idea in writing the questions is to generate the same key idea questions that I use on quizzes with a few "check-to-see-if-they-really-did-the-reading" questions thrown in.  A question such as "What is the second word of the last paragraph on p. 59?" is not a valuable question which would help students understand the material better and will not count towards your points.

Question: Can I make all my questions based on the key terms?

Answer: No, but I'll accept questions that reference the key terms.  For example, if Christopher Columbus is in your key terms and you've explained what he's known for in the key terms list, you could still ask a question referencing him such as, "Even up unto his death, what country did Columbus believe he had sailed to?"

Question: Why did you make this so hard and time consuming?

Answer: Because it's EXTRA credit over winter break.  It's VOLUNTARY and I don't want to grade a ton of them when I come back - so by making it complicated I reward the die-hards (who missed class due to athletics or sickness) and get rid of the people who are too busy to do the regular readings and just want to get freebie points.

Question: And you think that's fair?

Answer: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Fruitful Kwanza, and a jolly New Year!