In Class Essay

In 1906 Gandhi wrote: 

“The British have not taken India; we have given it to them. They are not in India because of their strength, but because we keep them.”

For your essay you will either reject of support Gandhi’s claim above using the research you have done and the texts you have studied in class. How was it that Indians “kept” the British in India by cooperating with their rule? In what ways did Indians collaborate with those who colonized them? Finally, how did Gandhi’s insight influence his civil disobedience campaign?

1. Assemble a packet out of the following sources:

a. Doctrine of the Sword, Gandhi

b. My Faith in Non-Violence, Gandhi

c. A Force More Powerful

e. Crown Rule

f. Indian Politics and Protest

2. Collect 15 pieces of evidence (including the source) to either support or reject the statement above.

3. Explain briefly how the evidence you selected supports or rejects the statement above.

4. Take a position and write a thesis statement

5. Based on the evidence you collected, write two claims/arguments to defend a position on the essay prompt.

6. Select your 4-5 best pieces of evidence to use in a two-paragraph response to the essay prompt.

7. You will have 1 class period to write out your thesis and to two paragraphs with a one-two sentence conclusion.

The Rubric: An Activity

We had a writing instructor come to our school and one of the activities he shared with us was creating a rubric with our students. So often we just throw rubrics at our students, if there is time we review it with them, otherwise they rarely look at it except to see the grade at the bottom. I decided that for this essay I would ask students what they thought they should be evaluated on. I began by asking a fairly general question about what make a good piece of writing? I took notes in the form of a web and then asked students to narrowed down the options into broader categories. Once we had 4 main criteria, I divided students in eight groups (2 groups for each category) and asked students to explain what each category meant. Below was the rubric that came out of that lesson. I also asked students to reassign names for each rating (our standard rubric uses outstanding, good, competent and needs revision. I thought it would be fun for students to take ownership of that portion of the rubric as well.) I highly recommend taking the time to do this in your own classroom. the process is valuable, not to mention you learn a lot from your students through this type of role reversal.

In Class Essay Rubric

Create By On Violence Class A period

Name: __________________________________________________________

Final Score: ____________________________________