Humanities Homework Help

Question 1

Greek Discussion

Discussion Reminder:

Remember that successful discussions involve your analysis and personal connection, not just observation or restatement of facts. Make sure you cite your selection(s) and don’t just post links. Remember to move beyond observation to analysis and synthesis.

Lastly — unless your entry requires it because it is multimedia or video or some such, please do not upload documents for your initial post. Just put the text and images straight into the window. This eases the burden on readers so they don’t have to download files, etc.

OVERVIEW

*Initial post must be a minimum of 250 words, single-spaced. (You will not see your peer’s posts until after your initial post.)

*You should respond to at least two peers with 100 words at a minimum. It should feel like you engaged in a full, authentic discussion.

*You should make it apparent that you fully read/engaged with course material. Be clear, organized, and cite any summarized material.

*You should summarize less and respond more. In other words: assume I’ve read the material.

*NO PLAGIARISM.

GENERAL ASSIGNMENT

The goal of each Discussion Board is to contribute to the learning process in two ways: first, by allowing you to reflect upon the material yourself in an original way (you will post an initial post before you can see other student’s posts) and second, by affording the opportunity for you to respond to other students in ways that contribute to their learning as well as your own (you must respond to at least two other students and hopefully your peers will be responding to you).

Asynchronous discussions pose a unique challenge, but the goal is to create a useful discussion amongst yourselves. Useful and engaging discussions will be rewarded…

GRADING CRITERIA

There are three types of engagement: demonstrating comprehension, engaging in analysis, and offering an original synthesis — an informed opinion or creative response.

1) A developing (average) set of discussion board responses will demonstrate basic comprehension of the material. In other words, you understand the material but do not really say anything more than what has already been said by the author or other students.

2) A proficient (above average) set of responses will engage in analysis of the material. For example, deciding why and how the artist used particular features to convey specific ideas, or placing the material in a larger historical or cultural context?

3) An accomplished (excellent) set of responses will result in an original synthetic response of some kind. An example of synthesis is when you read several books and use all of the information to come up with a thesis on the subject. Or view several pieces of art and discuss a common theme between them. A synthetic response can also be a personal and creative response to the material. By personal, we mean a response that goes beyond “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it” and analyses why and in what ways the piece worked for you.

What I want is proof not just that you have read and understood the material but – more importantly – thought about it in a meaningful way, and then had a response to it. You thought or felt in some way that changed you, even if only a little. 

An analysis question is one that asks a student to break down something into its component parts. To analyze requires students to identify reasons, causes, or motives and reach conclusions or generalizations. Some examples of analysis questions include …

“What are some of the factors that … ?”

“Why did … ?”

Synthesis questions challenge students to engage in creative and original thinking. These questions invite students to produce original ideas and engage in evaluation: Why is something significant? here’s always a variety of potential responses to synthesis questions. Some examples of synthesis questions include …

“How would you … ?”

“How would your life be different if … ?

CREATIVE RESPONSES ARE ENCOURAGED

I would be open to people posting songs, poems, short stories, visual art, plays, dance, or other humanistic expressions that are inspired by something in the chapter so long as they’re building a bridge to the learning and it’s not just disconnected show and tell. This would need language in the assignment description to explain what’s allowed and how students might need to build connections.

Question 2

Greek Discussion Continues………….