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 * AP U.S. Government Current Events Discussion Board **

Current events assignments are designed to get you thinking about how what we are learning in class ties into the news of the week. The goal is not only to get you to read the news more frequently, and more carefully, but to get you to analyze what you are reading, hearing, and watching, using the language and concepts from class.

__**Responsibilities**__
 * **All students are responsible for posting 2 articles per quarter**, according to the schedule on your class's page. Articles must be posted by __Monday at 11:59 p.m.__
 * **All articles** must be from within the 6 days prior to the due date, and must have some relevance to a topic in U.S. government.
 * **All article posts must include** information on the source of the article, including a link if available, as well as a 2-paragraph response to the article that summarizes the __relevant points__, discusses the __significance__ of the article to a topic in U.S. Government, and explains your __response__ to the content of the article. Posts must conclude with a __discussion question__ posed to the class about the content of the article.
 * **During the weeks you are not assigned to post an article**, **you must comment on 2 different articles posted by others**. Comments should be a well-thought-out paragraph that addresses either the question posed by the original poster, or reactions to other peer comments (or both). Comments should be thoughtful, demonstrating that you have read the original post and have thought about the topic at hand. Finally, while you should feel free to voice your agreement or disagreement with other posters, NO personal attacks -- respect each other's opinions, and right to voice those opinions. Comments for the week must be posted by __Thursday__ of each week, at 11:59 p.m.

__**Instructions**__
 * To get to the discussion page, click on your class period on the left of this page, and then click on the Discussion tab along the top that page. //Do not post in the Discussion tab at the top of this page. Go to your class page first.//
 * To post a new article, click the "New Post" button.
 * **The subject of your post must be** "Week of Monday, : ". For example, if I were required to post on Monday, August 29, my post subject might read "Week of Monday, 8/29: Aliens Invade!".
 * After writing your subject, you can type your response directly into the "Message" field (but I recommend writing it on Word first, and then cutting and pasting into the box). You cannot edit your post after you post it!
 * To comment on a post, just use the "Reply" box at the bottom of the post to which you want to respond.

__**Notifications**__ I encourage you all to change the notification settings so that you know when posts are made to the discussion board. If you click on "Notify Me" at the top of this page, you can select to receive an e-mail whenever the discussions are updated. Additionally, if you just want to monitor a specific post, there is an option to do that on the discussion page itself.

__**Grades**__ At the end of each quarter, you will receive one current events grade equivalent in points to a small test. Grades will be based on the quality of your article posts, responses, and discussion questions, as well as the thoughtfulness of your comments on other students' posts. Articles and comments not posted by the deadlines will result in point deductions from the current events grade.