Category Archives: Homework

Unit 4: Chapter 4 Project

After reading Unit 4: Chapter 4 of Urban Reader for College Writers do the following assignment:
Find a public school in NYC and another in any other American town. Look at both schools’ lunch pages. Find out what type of food choices are given to the students.
  • Make note of some of these choices and compare. (For instance, compare what both schools are serving on Wednesday this week.)
  • Which school has a healthier selection?
  • Which school do you think has a lower carbon footprint?
  • What could one or both of these schools change to improve their students’ health and their impact on the environment?
Finally, plan a set of school lunches for a week. You can imagine your schools is located anywhere in the country. Name where your school is and what age group or grade ranges you’re feeding.
Keep in mind:
  • What foods do you serve and why?
  • What healthy options does your school serve?
  • Does your school have a low or high carbon footprint?
  • Will the students actually eat the food you provide?
  • Will the school be able to afford to provide the food you’re planning to serve?
  • What challenges did you face in planning your lunches?

Type a document answering the first set of questions (comparing the schools), your lunch plan for a school week, and include answers to the second set of questions.

On Thursday, you will present your menu to your classmates and turn all of this in.

 

Unit 1 Content and Vocabulary Exam

Directions: Click this link: urban-reader-unit-1-content-and-vocabulary-exam and download the exam to your computer. Then, you can type your answers right on the page. (If you are using Microsoft Word, you might have to click “enable editing” at the top before you can begin.)

Email your test to me at Kelsey.C.Fox@gmail.com. The subject of the email should be your name and Unit Exam. For example, mine would say “Kelsey Fox Unit Exam.” Also put your name at the top of the exam.

This is an open-book test. You may use any resources at your disposal, but your answers must be your own, not copied from another student or source.

You have until 1:00 pm today to email this exam to me. If you turn it in after this time, it will be considered late and will not receive full credit.

 

 

Utopia Project – Due October 18th

Below I have copied the project instructions which I have also handed out in class.  If you were absent on the day this project was assigned, you are still required to contact your group members and participate. Every group member is expected to do an equal and fair share of work for the project. Each member’s contribution will be outlined at the end of the project, and your grade will suffer if you do not participate within your group.

Groups (this may be jumbled if you look at it on mobile):

    3           |        6            |       2         |         1              |    7           |       5            |     4
Bihao       | Mengchen  | Jingxun   | Chenzhong   | Kexin     | Tianzhen   | Jiahua
Murjan    | ZhiJie          | Arman     | Hui Lin         | Tan         | Maged       | Mustafa
Cesar       | Tanvir          | Uri           | Sai                  | Dilmar   | Jenny         | Z
______ | Moses                              | Drake

Utopia Project: Due October 18th

With your groupmates, you will create a country with what you view to be the best government possible. You are aiming to create a utopia where all of your citizens will be happy.

You will also act as the travel advocate for your country, trying to convince your classmates to move there when you present on the 18th. Here is what you will need to do:

  1. Decide where in the world your utopia is. Are you in the north, the south, along the equator, on an island, in a rain forest, where? The leaders of the world have agreed to give you any land you want to form your new country.
  2. Decide what your utopia looks like and how big it is. Is it tiny and a perfect rectangle? Is it huge with beautiful fjords to rival Norway’s?
  3. Decide the minimum and maximum population for your utopia and immigration rules. Do you want a large country with a huge and diverse workforce? Do you want relatively few people, letting in only the elites?
  4. Decide on a type of government. Is your utopia a dictatorship, a democracy, a communist or socialist country, or something else?
  5. Break down your government and explain the pieces. We know that the American government has checks and balances (the executive, judicial, and legislative branches all keep each other from gaining too much power). How does your government work? What is done to ensure one person or committee doesn’t gain too much power, or, alternatively, what is done to ensure the person or committee in charge retains as much power as possible?
  6. Explain how laws and policies are made and who enforces them. Do people vote on laws or does the government dictate what is and isn’t legal? Are there police and courts to enforce these laws or does your country use a different system? How involved are citizens in this process?
  7. Come up with 5-10 rules for your country’s constitution. In America, the constitution is the supreme law of the land. All other laws and policies must agree with this document. Ours explains things like how to maintain our military and what are the state’s rights, and it gives citizens the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion, etc. What does your country’s constitution look like? You may want to look at the United States Bill of Rights for ideas.
  8. Come up with a mission statement and a name for your utopia. A mission statement should summarize the aims and values of your country. What does your country stand for or what are its goals? Also, a country needs a name!

You will present this project to the class on October 18th. Your presentation will be 7-12 minutes long and each group member must speak. At that time, you need to have a typed page answering all these questions with all the group members’ names and their contributions to turn into me.

You are campaigning to have new citizens join your utopia. Your presentation will include some sort of visual aid for the class. You can make a poster, show a Power Point presentation, or have handouts to distribute. Your visual aid should show where your country is in the world and what it looks like, as well as outlining the great things that make your country and its government the best. Try and convince your classmates to visit and settle in your utopia! At the end of the presentations, the class will vote on which country they’d like to move to, and the winning group will receive bonus points on their midterm.

iCivics Game Homework

For this assignment, you will play a game online, upload the screen showing you’ve completed the game, and give a short summary and response of the experience, all as a comment to this post.

Step 1: Go to https://www.icivics.org/games and play any game on the site. (Scroll down on the site for more options.)

Step 2: Play a game all the way until the end, then, screenshot your results.

To take a screenshot, hit this button:

printscreenkey

This will take a picture of everything on your screen, so hide anything you don’t want to be shown. I just need to see the game.

Step 3: Then, go to a photo sharing site such as http://imgur.com/ and upload your image.

If you use Imgur, just click the green “New Post” button at the top and you can right-click and hit “paste,” use Ctrl + V, or browse to find or drag the image you saved on your computer to the box.

Step 4: Then, once you have uploaded the image, there will be a link on the right side of the page with a button saying “copy.” Hit that button and paste the link you get as a comment to this post.

You may use a different photo sharing site, but you cannot ask for my help in uploading using different sites, because I am not familiar with all of them.

Step 5: In addition to the link you provide, do the following:

Tell us what game you played and summarize your experience playing. What choices did you make? How did they affect the game?

Respond to the experience explaining whether you think you did well or poorly, why, and how something specifics in this game has expanded your knowledge of its subject matter. How has this game affected your understanding of politics or civics?

This is due by class time on Thursday, September 29th.

Unit 1: Chapter 4 Homework

After reading Unit 1: Chapter 4 of Urban Reader for College Writers, answer both of the following questions as a comment on this post:

What is your reaction to neighborhood residents having decision-making power when it comes to traffic, noise, or business in their communities? What if not everyone in the community agrees?

and

What suggestions would you make to improve your neighborhood? Why would you change these things if you could?

Be as detailed and as opinionated as you like. You may speak about a personal experience, or just discuss the idea in general.

You must post a comment answering this question before noon on Sunday, September 25th. Leave a reply* to one of your classmates’ posts before class on Tuesday, September 27th.

*Note: Replies must be well thought out and complete sentences. Saying “I agree” is not enough. With what do you agree (or respectfully disagree)? Why? Do you have suggestions, additions? Be thorough.

NOTE: Read the below post to know what you need to do before class this Thursday, September 22nd!

News Article Homework (Due Thursday)

In addition to the homework in the next post, you also have some homework due Thursday, September 22nd I want to tell you about in advance:

Find a news article related to civics, politics, or government and cut it out or print it and bring it to class on Thursday.

There are many free papers available or you may print an article out online, but it must be related to the correct topic(s) and you must have a hard copy with you in class on Thursday. You will have a week to look out for an article of this nature, so “I couldn’t find one” is no excuse!

 

NOTE: You also have homework due Sunday/Tuesday which is outlined in the post below. Please continue to the next post and be sure to complete that homework as well.

Unit 1: Chapter 2 Homework

After reading Unit 1: Chapter 2 of Urban Reader for College Writers, answer either one (not both!) of the following questions as a comment on this post:

The CIRCLE reports that “80% of students in the study were encouraged in the classes they took to form their own opinions regarding [politics or government].” What is the benefit of students being able to form their own opinions regarding political issues?

OR

What might be some disadvantages of all students in the United States taking the same civics course? Explain and illustrate the potential disadvantages.

Be as detailed and as opinionated as you like. You may speak about a personal experience, or just discuss the idea in general.

You must post a comment answering this question by noon on Sunday, September 18th, and you must reply* to at least one post by a classmate before class on Tuesday. You may feel free to post as many times and as much as you like beyond the minimum requirement. Have fun with it!

*Note: Replies must be well thought out and complete sentences. Saying “I agree” is not enough. With what do you agree (or respectfully disagree)? Why? Do you have suggestions, additions? Be thorough.

Unit 1: Chapter 1 Homework

After reading Unit 1: Chapter 1 of Urban Reader for College Writers, answer the following question as a comment on this post:

Do you support the call for more civics in the classroom?

If yes, how do you propose we add it to the curriculum, keeping in mind the important classes students are already taking and the eight-hour school day?

If no, why not? Why not? What suggestions do you have to maintain a civics-educated population without school instruction? How do you suggest educating our population about civics without classroom instruction? Explain.

Be as detailed and as opinionated as you like. You may speak about a personal experience, or just discuss the idea in general.

You must post a comment answering this question by noon on Sunday, September 11th, and you must reply* to at least one post by a classmate before class on Tuesday. You may feel free to post as many times and as much as you like beyond the minimum requirement. Have fun with it!

*Note: Replies must be well thought out and complete sentences. Saying “I agree” is not enough. With what do you agree (or respectfully disagree)? Why? Do you have suggestions, additions? Be thorough.

Note: Don’t forget your vocabulary log, which will be due at the end of the unit.

Tuesday, August 30th – Welcome!

Welcome to the class blog! Occasionally I will upload documents on the blog here. I might also use Open Lab to alert you to a canceled class or about extra credit, so having an account is very important (and, besides that, is a requirement of this class)!

Today’s assignment is listed below. Please note that I will often upload assignments here or list them for your convenience. I will also list homework here. The homework directions will always be clear and complete and include a due date. To receive full credit on assignments and homework, you must follow all directions and turn it in on the due date.

Assignment:

  • Join the OpenLab.
    https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/ is the OpenLab website.

  • Join our class page
    • You can search by clicking courses on the main OpenLab page and then on the far right, search for the keywords: ESOL 022R Fall).
    • Click what comes up and then join the site.
    • From there, you can click Visit Course Site or follow the link directly to the blog above and:
  • Comment on this post with
    1. Your name (and nickname, if you would prefer to be called by one)
    2. What type of reading you like the most (fiction, nonfiction, magazines, sci-fi, etc)
    3. What you find most difficult about reading

Details:
When you create an OpenLab account, it will ask you to fill out some information about yourself. Please use your actual name or nickname given in class as your display name.

After you create an account, don’t forget to add the course and comment on this post by clicking the grey words saying “leave a reply” at the top!

Due:
This assignment is due by the beginning of class next Tuesday, September 6th. No credit will be given to posts made after 11:30 am on Tuesday. 

Additional Note:
These are the books you need for this class. Buying them is a requirement:

Urban Reader for College Writers, 1st ed;  L. Grujicic-Alatriste, Kendall  Hunt Publishers and the Reading and Vocabulary Workbook.