WELCOME TO THE HISTORY HAUS!
A digital platform for Government & Economics
This web site is designed to support students of Mr. Hausman's Government & Economics classes at Tualatin High School. The name probably made more sense when I also taught IB European History and World History classes, but "History Haus" it remains. This site is packed with course resources, including readings, lectures, screencasts, links to articles and services, and more. It may also include important due date information, in the event you missed class. If you are absent, this web site is the first place you should consult in order to figure out what happened when you were gone and what lessons or readings were assigned.
IMPORTANT COURSE DOCUMENTS
KEY DOCUMENTS:
Course Overview and Syllabus
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iPad Responsible Use Policy
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CURRENT UNIT: Government TodayRuns from November through January.
MAJOR ASSESSMENTS IN THE UNIT: a) Argumentative Essay (generates three 4-3-2-1 scores: Arguments, Evidence & Citations, and Organization) - due Monday, Dec. 14. b) Unit 2 Test (one retake will be available for students who score at a 1 or 2 level: it will be given during the Finals period only) - scheduled for Tuesday, January 26 c) CongressSim Participation (assignments completed for CongressSim and participation during sessions will be rolled into a single 4-3-2-1 mark) - the simulation is scheduled to begin Wednesday, Dec. 16 and continue through Friday, January 15 (although these dates are subject to change). KEY DOCUMENTS:
Argumentative Essay (overall explanation and due dates):
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Argumentative Essay Scoring Guide:
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Essay Chunk #1: The Member of Congress Profile (due Wed. 12/2)
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Essay Chunk #2: The Bill Under Consideration (due Thurs. 12/10)
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NEXT UNIT OF STUDYMicroeconomics (runs from February to March).
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ABOUT GRADES & SYNERGYWhen will meaningful grades begin to appear on Synergy StudentVUE / Teacher VUE? It usually takes about a couple of weeks into a semester to see assignments start to appear in Synergy. Assignments make up 20% of the grade, overall, in a semester. But performance scores (such as unit tests, essays, reading assessments, projects) make up 80% of the grade, and these may not start to appear until 5-8 weeks into a given semester. This is because it will take time to prepare students for unit tests and reading assessments, and then to score them. Essays are usually a couple months into school, so again there will be few performance scores in the grade book in the first month and half. As a result, the grades posted during that time frame are not very predictive of the final grade, since the performance scores that necessarily come later will have a much bigger weight in the final grade that the assignments that appear early (and then throughout the rest of the semester). Thus, early grades are helpful to see if students are falling behind on classwork or homework, but may end up being a distortion of where any given student will eventually end up. Toward the end of the semester, however, grades are highly predictive of the final grade. A low grade in the middle of Quarters 2 and 4, for example, is cause for serious concern and immediate action on the part of the student.
If you ever have questions about a grade, contact me through email (chairman@ttsd.k12.or.us) or by phone (503-431-5583). Note: Students will not have homework every night in this class. Depending upon the unit, they may have between 1 and 4 homework assignments in a unit (which is roughly the length of a quarter, give or take a couple of weeks). We do not check out textbooks for students to take home. We use them, as needed, during class time. Students may need to finish classwork not completed during class time, from time to time. ONLINE SERVICES USED IN CLASSDuring either semester of this course, students will use a few different online services to complete certain types of assignments. However, all grading information will remain within Synergy StudentVUE and ParentVUE.
Turnitin is where we submit essays to be graded.Turnitin is a comprehensive service that analyzes student papers, comparing them with a database of the Internet (current and past), books and magazines or other publications. It also compares papers to other student papers written around the world - and at the same school. This results in an Originality Report that can check for plagiarism. This is an important tool for learning how to paraphrase and cite sources effectively so as to avoid plagiarism. In addition, Turnitin will provide built-in grammar and spelling feedback. Any essays and longer papers we write in class must be submitted to Turnitin. Scoring, comments and feedback also appear there.
Quizlet is used to study for unit tests.Quizlet is a convenient online service that allows students to study for unit tests with virtual flashcards and practice tests, along with review games.
JupiterEd is used for paperless reflections and forum discussions.We use JunoDocs (one key function of JupiterEd) as a convenient and easy platform for writing paperless reflection assignments and participating in discussion forums and class surveys.
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