All Courses
All Years
Syllabus and FAQ
Currently used for English 12, with an FAQ updated in 2020.
SYLLABUS: http://sisypheanhigh.com/malachite/?p=3247
FAQ (2020): http://tinyurl.com/2020-course-faq
Read Me, EULA, Etc.
Universal terms and conditions, updated in 2020. Includes direct links to a guide to the course for all stakeholders.
TERMS: http://sisypheanhigh.com/malachite/?p=4374
GUIDE: https://tinyurl.com/sisyphean-stakeholders
Letter Home: How Instruction Works
Letter from 2020 that effectively summarizes how flipped instruction works, how to navigate the course, etc., while inviting non-student stakeholders into the learning process.
URL: https://tinyurl.com/student-letter-090920
About Me
Includes a history of the makerspace and answers to an opening-day questionnaire (also embedded after).
URL: http://sisypheanhigh.com/malachite/?page_id=3343
What Is a Humanities Makerspace?
With many other resources included.
URL: http://sisypheanhigh.com/malachite/?p=2878
Makerspace Building Blocks
Overview of major innovations in the space.
URL: http://sisypheanhigh.com/malachite/?p=2915
First FAQ
First iteration of 2020 FAQ. Designed to ward off misinformation.
URL: http://sisypheanhigh.com/malachite/?p=2810
Ongoing Discussions
Ongoing discussion posts for students and other stakeholders. Also included in current course essentials.
- Ongoing Discussion: Delayed Gratification
- Ongoing Discussion: Grain through the Body of a Bird
- Ongoing Discussion: Grade Abatement Profiles
- Ongoing Discussion: Herd Immunity
- Ongoing Discussion: Dunning-Kruger Effects and Imposter Syndromes
URL: http://sisypheanhigh.com/malachite/?p=2197
Inclusion Co-Teaching in the Makerspace
Overview of the ICT model in the space. Includes student work and other artifacts.
URL: http://sisypheanhigh.com/malachite/?p=2350
Sisyphean High and the SCP: An Explainer
Breakdown of the BSCD SCP and the makerspace’s innovations. 11″x14″ pages. See also the SCP testimonials here.
URL: https://tinyurl.com/poster-scp-gap
Sample Instruction: “Level Design: In-Class Focus”
Example of tiered or leveled instruction through the flipped model. Explicitly identifies each level and provides context for each.
Cross-posted to the assessment/feedback page here.
URL: http://sisypheanhigh.com/malachite/?p=4560
Sample Instruction: “The Half-Percent Problem”
Example of flipped instruction that grapples with the structure of the course. Included in order to quote this section:
I think this is why so much prescribed instruction is content-driven, and why grades are the transactional currency of it all. It’s also why not every 0.56% chunk is meaningful. Some periods are worth devoting more time and energy to — the period that has a test, the one with a presentation, the one with an essay due. The formative build-up doesn’t invite the same focus. The Skinner box does its job.
In here, you can’t have a half-percent mindset. Your learning is embedded in everything you do. You can’t use the same regurgitation skill you might rely on elsewhere, for instance, and missing or missed work requires your attention. In the past, I was guilty of converting missing work into a zero — at the beginning of this essay is a screenshot of my old gradebook — which does a strange thing: It tells you, the student, that the work isn’t necessary. You don’t need to do it; you can take a zero and move on, which is very much like saying that the assignment was non-essential.