Last year, my university shifted its policy on assignments, meaning that faculty members suddenly got the option to change extant assignments, make new ones, and alter the weighting of any of them. This was a big transition, given that in previous years assignments were set by the department and students in each of our three class years could expect similar assignments in their courses. As a result, I’ve been playing around with assignments of zero or very little weight to try to prepare students—especially first year students—for the sometimes daunting task of the final essay assignment. Whereas before there was one low-weighted writing assignment before the final essay was due, I now have the low-weighted writing assignment (it’s half the length it was in previous years), an unassessed research proposal, and an annotated bibliography worth 10%. I want to talk about one of the problems with this last assignment. Continue reading
Author Archives: Rachel Herrmann
Junto March Madness: Presenting Your 2015 Champion
After a month of narrowing down our field of 64 primary sources on early American history, the results for March Madness are in! Continue reading
Junto March Madness: Final Four Results AND Championship Voting
March is over, but March Madness is still here, and can only survive with the help of your votes! Clap your hands if you believe in fairies!
And by “fairies,” I really mean brackets; you can find the original bracket here.
The championship game promises to be close. Click through for results on the Final Four, and to see you championship matchup.
Presenting Your Final Four March Madness Competitors
Results are in, and we’re in for some fun voting next week.
Junto March Madness: Elite Eight Voting
We’re getting close to the finals here at The Junto. Elite Eight voting starts AND ends today at 5 p.m. EST. We’ll post results tomorrow and give you the weekend to mull over your final four choices.
Junto March Madness Round 2 Results
There were some close races this time around–a fact which bodes well for the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight voting next week. Results and match-ups for the next round follow after the jump. Continue reading
Junto March Madness Round 2 Voting on Brackets 1 & 2
Happy Monday, everyone! You can cast your votes for Round 2 of Junto March Madness after the jump. Continue reading
Junto March Madness Round 1 Results
As always with March Madness, there have been some expected wins and some upsets–and man oh man am I excited for the next round. Results and match-ups for the next round follow after the jump. Continue reading
Junto March Madness: Round 1, Day 2 Voting (Brackets 3 and 4)
Today we commence with voting on Round 1, brackets 3 and 4. As a reminder, you can find the entire bracket here. Again, we’ve included arguments on behalf of various documents, written by either Junto bloggers or friends of the blog. Please feel free to add your arguments in the comments, because the purpose of this month’s “tournament” is to provide a resource for teachers of early American history.
Reminder: BGEAH CFP due March 20th
Today we’re featuring a friendly reminder from our friends in the British Group of Early American Historians (BGEAH) that the deadline for abstracts is imminent. Continue reading
The Junto 