Welcome (third time is a charm)

Alright, lets try this one more time!

Welcome to our IB Environmental Systems and Societies blog.  Homework will be assigned on Monday, and will be due either on Fridays or Thursdays (check this HW schedule for all assignment due dates for the first marking period).  Each assignment will be accompanied by a grading rubric, and the assessment will either be complete, partial, or incomplete.  You will be assessing the work of your peers and providing meaningful feedback to each other.   Each week you will be providing feedback for one classmate (choose a different classmate each week; you should make a copy of and use this matrix to keep track of who you have assessed), and your comments must justify your assessment decisions.  For example, if you mark the assignment as partial, state what was missing and provide suggestions for how it could be completed.  If you mark the assignment as complete, describe how the author was successful.  Also, when providing feedback, include at least one question for the author, and note at least one thing that was of interest to you (maybe something that was surprising or that you had not thought about before).

Your assessments and feedback will typically be due two class days after the assignment due date.  All students are required to respond to all feedback provided by their peers (usually due within 48 hours of the feedback due date).  Make sure that you answer any questions posed by your peer reviewer, and generally reply to any ideas that were raised by the feedback.  If the assessment was partial or incomplete, now is a final chance to make corrections for full credit.

If you do not provide feedback and/or do not respond to peer feedback, you will receive a grade of zero for that week’s assignment.

Late posts will not be accepted (will be marked as zeros), so you must adhere to all deadlines outlined in the HW schedule.

You cannot assess a classmate’s post if it has already been assessed by two other peers (first come, first served).

Important:  sarcasm and/or negative/inappropriate comments will not be tolerated in these blogs, and will result in a zero for the week’s assignment.  DO NOT REFER TO ANY CLASSMATES BY NAME IN ANY POST, FEEDBACK, COMMENT, OR REPLY.  The peer feedback system will work best (and personal grudges will be avoided) if you are anonymous to one and other.  Please do not try to guess who each other are.  Consider the peer feedback system as a serious way to engage with your classmates on the range of issues that we will be investigating this year.