By Ming-Lun Ho of Chabot College
Description #
An instruction template for assigning textbook reading in a math class. It asks students to tag their posts using Question, Elaboration, Connection, Take2, and Errata.
Assignment #
This annotation assignment is on the LibreTexts Mathematics textbook section for binary operations.
As you complete the assigned reading in the text before doing the homework, I want you to point out places that…
- …are not immediately obvious to you. After thinking about it, you can ask a question about it and tag with “Question,” or record what you did to make sense of it and tag with “Elaboration.” Hypothesis allows you to type math, so you can record the derivation of claims in the text you can’t simply work out mentally.
- …connect to ideas you learned in previous lectures or other classes. Feel free to link to images, URL to texts and blogs, videos, etc., to enhance your point. Tag with “Connection.”
- …could be presented or explained differently. Do you have an alternate solution than what the example provides? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the different solutions? Maybe you find that the solution presented could be annotated for clarity, or maybe even rewritten. You have the option of writing your response on a Google Doc and posting the link to it. Tag with “Take2.”
- …have errors. Tag with “Errata.”
You will not necessarily make an annotation for each tag type, or any at all for this particular reading. However, I expect something worth annotating for you must pop up during the semester sometime as I assign reading this way. You can also respond to other students’ annotations if you have something to add.
At the end of the day, annotations are for YOU to make sense of the text and to help you study, not for me to give you a grade. Nonetheless, to encourage you to be reading the text via Hypothesis so you can add your thoughts when the inspiration strikes, I have embedded among the annotation some questions for you to answer about the reading to check your understanding (CYU). You will be graded by Complete/Incomplete on these CYU questions, with bonus points at my discretion for thoughtful annotations.
