: texas government
Orientation Activity
The first thing you will do in the course is to prepare your Orientation Activity. This activity is based on the syllabus and is meant to ensure that you have a clear understanding of the course and its requirements and are prepared to succeed in the course.
Your orientation assignment is to submit a Personal Course Plan to me. This assignment is worth 55 points. A Personal Course Plan is a simple but important way of organizing yourself and planning out your success in a course.
While we must anticipate “life happening”, it is best to come into a course with a strong foundational plan. Please answer the following questions in a clear and concise way, be detailed in your answers, and take time to think about how your plan can help you succeed in this course. Note, that your approval of an IDEA for a topic on your Final project, does NOT constitute an approved formal proposal.
The components of this assignment are:
Directions: DO NOT SKIP ANY QUESTIONS.
Create a weekly calendar for you to follow. When will you read the Unit’s chapters? When will you work on Unit activities? When will you take Unit quizzes? What are your “course work hours”? While this question is more for you than for me, please know that students who pre-plan are far likely to end the semester with a better score and have less stress due to time management. (10pts)
Which topic will you choose for your MidTerm Essay? You may choose ANY essay topic in any of the four units for your midterm essay. Preview the schedule, and plan accordingly. Remember, you must complete all of the quizzes, but you only need to do one essay and two discussion assignments in this course, therefore be sure to put your absolute best work forward in your MidTerm essay. Preview the essay prompts and decide which essay you plan to write for this assignment. (5pts)
What will your TX Governor’s Memo be on? What issues are important to you? Select a topic from the specified list, or you may request approval of a different topic. You will make your intentions and sources clear when you submit your proposal, but here I want you to begin thinking about the topics you are passionate about that relate to the TX government. (5pts)
What are scholarly sources? Please explain why you think they would be important to use in a college course. Please find one scholarly source-an an academic journal article from the TWU Databases (as an example) and practice citing it correctly using The Owl At Purdue resource and current MLA guidelines. Show me you can find an article and cite it correctly! **See the page titled: How to Cite Correctly in this Course in the first Getting Started module. Save this page for future use. (15pts)
Let me know, after reading the syllabus, what you anticipate being the best and also the most challenging aspects of the course. Provide me with any other details about yourself that you would like. (5pts)
Choose one aspect of the Professor introduction section to respond to. Do we have anything in common? (10pts)
AFTER carefully reviewing the entire syllabus, do you have any initial questions or concerns? Leave them for me here and I will try to answer them when I grade, leaving the answers for your review in your grade feedback. (5pts)
ANSWER
Personal Course Plan
| Date | Time | Activity |
| Aug 28th | 8.00am – 12 noon | Complete the orientation task |
| September 1st -4th | 9am- 2pm | Study time |
| September 7th-11th | 8am -11noon | Study course material |
| September 13th -17th | 8am -10am, 11am -2pm | Study course materials, do the news discussion |
| Sept 20th -24th | 8am- 12noon, 1pm-3pm | Study |
| October 1st, 4th -7th | 9am -2pm | Study and prepare for the news discussion and midterm essay |
| October 11th -15th | 8.00 am -12noon | Study course material |
| October 18th-21st | 9 am -12noon | Study course material |
| November 1st -4th | 10 am -12noon | Prepare for discussion and study |
| November 8th -12th | 1pm-4pm | Study as I Prepare for project proposal |
| Dec 1st -5th | 8 am – 1 pm | Study, prepare for the memo and news discussion |
| Dec 7th | 8 am -12noon | Extra credit essay and the memo |
For the midterm essay, I will be discussing the issue of Texas not having any gun laws. I think it would be appropriate if there are some laws regulating gun ownership in our State. It is essential for the State to have some regulations on the age at which one should possess a gun. My memo to the TX governor will be about the gun laws in Texas. I am passionate about curbing gun violence in our country, and I think it would be a good start to talk to the governor about creating some restrictions on gun ownership in Texas. It would also help shield young people from being exposed to guns and violence early in their lives. I think they should learn other ways of solving conflict without involving guns.
Scholarly sources are study materials written by academics and other experts. They contribute to the knowledge in a particular area of study by sharing new research findings and insights on different topics. They are essential in college writing because they help verify the information and help provide credible insight on various topics. An example of a scholarly source: civil rights protests can shift attitudes and political climates and can therefore engender significant institutional change (Mazumder, 923).
After reading the syllabus, I anticipate having some good times especially responding to different student’s perspectives on various topics affecting Texas. It will be a delight to hear different views and also to learn more about our State. So far, I do not anticipate any challenges because I have absolute trust in your guidance.
The one thing you and I have in common is the need to be on time. I also like to be prepared, and although we cannot plan for everything, the least one can do is be prepared. So far, I do not have any questions concerning the syllabus.
Work Cited
Mazumder, Soumyajit. “The persistent effect of US civil rights protests on political attitudes.” American Journal of Political Science 62.4 (2018): 922-935.
