DIY (Do It Yourself) Textbooks

There is no textbook for this class. Instead you will be creating your own textbook.

Every student will be expected to have a hardbound sketchbook without lines. Everything you do in this class will go into your sketchbook.

Each day's notes can be found on davidbirdscience.com under Zoology.

Grading and Guidelines:

You are expected to have all of the notes for each day in your DIY Textbook. All of the notes will appear in Black text. Anything written in Blue text does not need to go into your DIY Textbook.

Even though you must have all of the notes, they do not have to be word for word. Please feel free to put them in your own words. After all, it is your textbook. All notes must be hand written. You cannot type them.

You need to have an image for every concept. To help you with this, I have an image for every concept on the daily notes. Some times I use two or more different images for the same concept to provide different perspectives. You still only need one image for each concept. The images can be drawn or printed. Feel free to use a combination of printed and drawn images. You can print any image you find on the internet but you CANNOT use the image I used on the daily notes. You must find a different image. You may also use photographs that you have taken.

Creativity is appreciated. You may glue items in your book, make it a popup book, treat it like a scrapbook, or anything else you like. Grading is not based on skill but it is based on effort. Not all of us are artists but all of us can do better than stick figures.

The notes do not have to go in order as long as they are complete. If you miss a day you can add it later if you like. You can also add stuff to your book that is not part of the class. Feel free to add sketches anywhere you like. This is your book.

The DIY Textbook will be graded for completeness at the end of every month. It will be worth 25 points. It will be graded on completeness and effort. If you do not turn your book in for the monthly sketchbook check you can still turn it in for half credit up until the next sketchbook check.

All of your homework and labs will be written in your DIY Textbook. Labs will be worth 25 points. Most homework assignments will be worth 10 points.

On sketchbook check days, the class will watch a film while the books are being graded.

Almost every day the class meets there will be a quiz on the previous day's material. All quiz questions come from the day's notes.

There will be no final exam. Instead you will turn in your completed DIY Textbook for 125 points.