Grading Syllabus


At the end of the course, I will give you a letter grade that I feel reflects the learning you accomplished during the course.  I will use three criteria to determine your grade:  (1) attitude, (2) class attendance, and (3) academic work.


Attitude

Attitude is displayed through preparation for class, class participation, and adherence to honor code.  Participation in class includes coming to class having read the assignments, offering insights, asking inspired questions, utilizing your scriptures during class discussion, volunteering to read out loud, and taking notes on class discussions, particularly impressions received. 

Things that will significantly hurt your grade are:
  • The use of cell phones during class time, particularly text messaging.
  • Sleeping in class.
There is no quantitative score kept of this area but it CAN affect the final grade.

Class Attendance
Class attendance is a crucial part of the course.  DO NOT BE LATE OR LEAVE EARLY!!   You may miss two classes without effecting your grade.  Each class missed after that will effect your overall grade by a half grade drop per day missed.  If you miss five or more days, you will not be given credit for the course.


Academic
 Assignments  ( ? pts)
Most of the learning that you will do will involve daily reading assignments from various texts.  These are found on the Daily Topic/Reading Schedule and Assignments link.   

Current Events Journal  (2 pts each day - for 50 days  100)
Durring the semester (beginning May 8th and continuing to July 10th), spend 10-20 minutes a day to quickly look at a few online news sites (such as BBC News-World Middle East; or Middle East Daily and in a journal  briefly record the major daily events that are happening in the Middle East (Magreb, Levant, Arabia penisula, Iran, and Afghanistan.  Keep an eye on the problems going on in Mali as well.).    You will hand in the journal at the end of the course (July 11 ).  It will be returned to you.   [Just a note:  the major countires to keep an eye on are: Israel, Syria, Egypt, Iran, Mali-Algeria problem but note any others in which a big problem arises)

There will be a total of 62 days.  Only 50 days will be required.  If you do more you will receive extra credit for each day you do.


Map Quiz  (63 pts)
There will be a test of names of the countries and their capitals of the Middle East.  The countries that will be on the quiz are the same as those you have already made a brief study about in this course.   It is worth 63 points.



Paper  (240 pts)
To increase your understanding of various topics that need to be understood in order to grasp the conflicts in the Middle East toady, towards the end of the course you will hand in a single-spaced typewritten paper regarding six specific topics regarding the Middle East.  There are three required topics and three optional topics.

Required topics: (110 pts)
  • What is the Middle East, the Arab World, and the Islamic World?  (30 pts)
  • The Islamic Religion (30 pts)
  • The Arab/Israelie Dilemma (50 pts)
Optional topics (choose three of the following): (30 pts each)
    • Sunni/Shi'ite Division
    • Islamic Fundamentalism
    • Arab Nationalism
    • World War 1 and it's Aftermath
    • War on Terrorism
    • Arab Spring
    • Oil
    • Water
    • One subtopic of the Arab/Israelie Dilemma (The Arab/Israeli Dilemma is a large topic.  You may have a greater interrest in one of the sub-topics and would like to write more about it.)
On the class page you will find some resources that will help you in your research and writing of this paper under the sub-heading Resources for Course Paper.

Use the following criteria as a guide in writing your paper:
  • Audience:  An American who knows next to nothing about the root of the conflicts in the Middle East
  • Begin with an introduction explaining what and why your are writing what you are writing
  • 5 pages minimum -- 8 pages maximum
  • Single spaced
  • You must use at least  2 different resources for each topic.
  • Include the resources at the end of each topic not at the end of the paper.  *ALWAYS TRY TO FIND THE ORIGINAL RESOURCE--even over the interent source if possible.
  • Bring hard copy of paper to class on the date specified on the Daily Topic/Reading Schedule and Assignments
  • Click here to see an example of an excellent paper.
*I have included a number of resources to help you on your paper.  In those cases that are PDF I have given you the original resource.  USE THAT REFERENCE when citing that resource on your paper.


Grading for Paper
  • The paper is worth 200 points.  50 points for the Arab-Israeli Dilemma, 30 points each for the other four topics.  So you can see there is heavy emphasis on Arab-Israeli Dilemma.  That should tell you how much emphasis to point on the various topics. 
  • Class periods given to work on paper is worth 40 points.   During the semester, on certain days class will not be held. so that you might have time to work on the course paper.  You should put in at least two hours of work on the paper (researching, writing, etc.).  You will receive 10 points for each hour.  You will hand in a Accounting Sheet for each class period given for you to work on paper.




Grade Scale for Academic Work

Grade Scale  (NOT ACCURATE FOR CURRENT SEMESTER)

A   663-629 points        B+   595-576 points          C+   529-510 points          D+    463-444 points
A-  628-596 points        B     575-550 points          C     509-483 points          D      443-417 points
                                        B-    549-530  points         C-   482-464 points          D-      416-397 points