Thursday, September 18, 2008

Objectives:
After this class, students will be able to:
1. create a list of guiding questions to begin their research.
2. contribute opinions and thoughts to the class.
3. define plagiarism and sign a contract.

Agenda:
1. Warm-up: In their notebooks, students should answer the following question: What is plagiarism? We will then have a brief discussion of this topic.

2. Notes: What is a guiding question? A guiding question is meant to help you conduct your research. You will need 10 guiding questions for a complete senior project. A GQ is any question you have about your topic, no matter how far fetched it may sound.

Example: My topic is Students' Rights. My guiding questions are:
a. Do students really have rights?
b. What was life like for students in the past?
c. Are students' rights provided in the US Constitution?
d. Do we really have rights or do we just think we do?
e. What are some famous cases involving students' rights?
f. Are their students today whose rights have been taken away?
g. Who can help students stand up for their rights?
h. What kinds of things get students in trouble?
i. Why don't young people seem to have the same rights as adults?
j. Is the Supreme Court involved in any way?
l. What is my personal experience with students' rights?

Students will brainstorm their list of guiding questions in class. This list of guiding questions will become their research proposal - we will discuss the format of the research proposal by Tuesday, October 9, 2007.

Pass-Around Activity: After completing their list of 10 questions, students will do a pass-around activity with their lists. Each student in class will add one question to every other students' sheet. In this way, the class will work to help each other collect ideas and questions.

3. Plagiarism Contract: Students will write the following contract into their notebooks: From class discussions, I understand that plagiarism means __________ (write your definition here). I understand that there is a serious penalty for plagiarizing my senior project. If I need help, I will ask ____________ (any teacher that can help you). Signature

Students will type up this plagiarism contract to include with their research proposals.

Homework: There is no homework assigned for this class tonight.