What the Student Was Educated to Do

The student’s words are shaded.

Traits

Distance learning student

Adult—worked really hard all the time

Initial Submission of a term in an exam

Underlining shows what she did:

The Dawes Severalyt Act was passed in 1887. This law was to authoriz the president to survy Native American reservations and divid them into 160 acre farms.This act stripped Native Americans of their rights.  After recieving this land, Native Americans could not sell or lease the land for 25 years. For reformers this law pushed Indians towaerd white civilazation, but for for the western settlers it made Indian land more available.The Dawes Act undermined the trible structure and culture of the Native americans.

Compared To the Source

     Congress passed the Dawes Severalty Act in 1887. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, the law authorized the president to survey Native American reservations and divide them into 160-acre farms.  After receiving their allotment, Native Americans could not lease or sell the land for 25 years. Any Indian who adopted “habits of civilized life” became a U.S. citizen, but most Indians did not achieve Citizenship. Any surplus land after this process was finished could be sold to white settlers. For the reformers, this law pushed Indians toward white civilization; for the western settlers it made Indian land available. During the next 50 years, the total land holdings of Native Americans declined from 138 million to 47 million acres. By dividing up tribal land holdings and putting Indians at the mercy of white speculators, the Dawes Act undermined the tribal structure and culture of the Native Americans. These tactics also helped allow whites to start mining and cattle ranching. (p. 509)

The Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 completed the process of stripping Indians of their rights. (p. 525)

Our Initial Call And Resolution

We talked through a prevention of closing the book before she started to write (Before Compose, Close).

Things seemed OK.

Transcript Of The Call—Very Typical Of These Students

…I am having so much trouble. I have not taken the Exam 2 Writing simply because I’m afraid I’ll fail again because I’m afraid I will plagiarize.

I don’t know how not to plagiarize. I just don’t know what I’m doing.

I read what’s in the book and I uh…that’s just the way that I learn it. I tried to put that in my own words and for some reason it comes out just like in the book. I got a 1 last time.

I’m just trying not to get a 1 this time. You can call me back at…

Our Second Talk

She was taught to copy words exactly into her notebook—and copying her own notes wasn’t plagiarism to her. She then typed those words exactly into Blackboard textbox.

Finally got through to her by asking if anyone would pay for the skill of typing stuff from one place to another. Then we tried again on prevention.

What She Wrote In An Email About Her School Before And Where She Works

in high school, maybe even jr hi, we were to find an answer in the book and write just what the book said. I now work at a private school and that is pretty much the same thing. Even on papers the students have to write what the encyclopedia, or wiki says. I didn’t learn about how easy and harsh plagerism is until 2007 when I seriously took my first english 1301 class.

FYI: Although she had learned something about plagiarism in that class, she still did not realize that what she was doing was plagiarism.

What seemed to get through to her was my asking if any business would pay her for what she was doing? Could a business make money from this kind of skill to be able to pay her enough that she could have food and shelter?

Then we talked about whether what she was doing was really learning or just busy work. Doing this used up all of her time—and made sure she was acting in ways that meant she’d never learn.

Final Email

She broke some of the old habits and she recognized it:

This class has taught me more than just history and I just feel that My entire college career will be better because of you and this class. Thanks A million.

 

WCJC Department:

History – Dr. Bibus

Contact Information:

281.239.1577 or cjb_classes@yahoo.com

Last Updated:

2010

WCJC Home:

http://www.wcjc.edu/