The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
Letters and Reviews
To Mr. O’Brien, Carrickfergus,
(Per favour of Mr. Gustavus Vassa.)
Belfast, December 25, 1791.
Dear Sir,
The bearer of this, Mr. Gustavus Vassa, an enlightened African, of good sense, agreeable manners, and of an excellent character, and who comes wll recommended to this place, and noticed by the first people here, goes to-morrow for your town, for the purpose of vending some books, written by himself, which is a Narrative of his own Life and Sufferings, with some account of his native country and its inhabitants. He was torn from his relatives and country (by the more savage white men of England) at an early period in life; and during his residence in England, at which time I have seen him, during my agency for the American prisoners, with Sir William Dolben, Mr. Granville Sharp, Mr. Wilkes, and many other distinguished characters; he supported an irreproachable character, and was a principal instrument in bringing about the motion for a repeal of the Slave-Act. I beg leave to introduce him to your notice and civility; and if you can spare the time, your introduction of him personally to your neighbours may be of essential benefit to him.

(Per favour of Mr. Gustavus Vassa.)
Dear Sir,
I take the liberty to introduce to your knowledge Mr. Gustavus Vassa, an African of distinguished merit. He has recommendations to Stockton, and I am happy in adding to the number. To the principal supporters of the Bill for the Abolition of the Slave Trade he is well known; and he has, himself, been very instrumental in promoting a plan so truly conducive to the interests of religion and humanity. Mr. Vassa has published a Narrative which clearly delineates the iniquity of that unnatural and destructive commerce; and I am able to assert, from my own experience, that he has not exaggerated in a single particular. This work has been mention in very favourable terms by the Reviewers, and fully demonstrate that genius and worth are not limited to country or complexion.
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Durham, October 25, 1792.
Hull, November 12, 1972.
The bearer hereof, Mr. Gustavus Vassa, an African, is recommended to us by the Rev. Dr. Peckard, Dean of Peterborough, and by many other respectable characters, as an intelligent and upright man; and as we have no doubt but the accounts we have received are grounded on the best authority, we recommend him to the assistance of the friends of humanity in this town, in promoting subscriptions to an interesting Narrative of his Life.
John Sykes, Mayor,
Thomas Clarke, Vicar,
William Hornby, Esq. of Gainsborough.
R. A. Harrison, Esq.
Jos. R. Pease, Esq.
To William Hughes, Esq. Devizes.
Dear Sir,
Whether you will consider my introducing to your acquaintance the bearer of this letter, Olaudah Equiano, the enlightened African, (or Gustavus Vassa as a liberty or favour, I shall not anticipate.
He came recommended to me by men of distinguished talents and exemplary virtue, as an honest and benevolent man; and his conversation and manners as well as his book do more than justice to the recommendation.
The active part he took in bringing about the motion for the repeal of the Slave Act, has given him much celebrity as a public man; and, in all the varied scenes of chequered life, through which he has passed, his private character and conduct have been irreproachable.
His business in your part of the world is to promote the sale of his book, and is a part of my business, as a friend to the cause of humanity, to do all the little service that is in my poor power to a man who is engaged in so noble a cause as the freedom and salvation of his enslaved and unenlightened countrymen.
The simplicity that runs through his Narrative is singularly beautiful, and that beauty is heightened by the idea that it is true; this is all I shall say about this book, save only that I am sure those who buy it will not regret that they have laid out the price of it in the purchase.
Your notice, civility, and personal introduction of this fair minded black man, to your friends in Devizes, will be gratifying to your own feelings, and laying a considerable weight of obligation on,
Your most obedient and obliged servant,
William Langworthy.
Bath, October 10, 1793.
We entertain no doubt of the general authenticity of this very intelligent African’s story; though it is not impossible that some English writer has assisted him in the compilement, or, at least, the correction of his book. The Narrative wears an honest face; and we have conveived a good opinion of the man from the artless manner in which he has detailed the variety of adventures and vicissitudes which have fallen to his lot. His publication appears very seasonable, at a time when negro-slavery is the subject of public investigation; and it seems calculated to increase the odium that has been excited against the West-India planters, on account of the cruelties that some are said to have exercised on their slaves, many instances of which are here detailed.
The sable author of this volume appears to be a very sensible man; and he is, surely, not the less worthy of credit from being a convert to Christianity. He is a Methodist, and has filled many pages towards the end of his work, with the accounts of his dreams, visions, and divine influences; but all this, supposing him to have been under any delusive influence, only serves to convince us that he is guided by principle, and that he is not one of those poor converts, who, having undergone the ceremony of baptism, have remained content with that portion only of the christian religion; instances of which are said to be almost innumerable in America and the West Indies.
Gustavus Vassa appears to possess a very different character; and, therefore, we heartily wish success to his publication, which we are glad to see has been encouraged by a very respectable subscription.
‘This is “a round unvarnished tale” of the chequered adventures of an African, who early in life, was torn from his native country, by those savage dealers in a traffic disgraceful to humanity, and which has fixed a stain on the legislature of Britain. The Narrative appears to be written with much truth and simplicity. The Author’s account of the manners of the natives of his own province (Eboe) is interesting and pleasing; and the reader, unless, perchance he is either a West-India planter or Liverpool merchant, will find his humanity often severely wounded by the shameless barbarity practised towards the author’s hapless countrymen in all our colonies: if he feel, as he ought, the oppressed and the oppressors will equally excite his pity and indignation. That so unjust, so iniquitous a commerce may be abolished, is our ardent wish; and we heartily join in our author’s prayer, “That the God of Heaven may inspire the hearts of our Representatives in Parliament, with peculiar benevolence on that important day when so interesting a question is to be discussed; when thousands, in consequence of their determination, are to look for happiness or misery!”
N. B. These letters, and the Reviewers’ remarks would not have appeared in the Narrative, were it not on the account of the false assertions of my enemies to prevent its circulation.
The kind reception which this work has met with from many hundred persons, of all denominations, demand the Author’s most sincere thanks to his numerous friends; and he most respectfully solicits the favour and encouragement of the candid and unprejudiced friends of the Africans.


Ear Training Appendix
Examples for Sight-counting and Sight-singing: Level 2
Levi Langolf
Key Takeaways
- No new beat units, time signatures, or beat divisions are introduced in this chapter.
- This chapter includes dotted rhythmic values that have a duration smaller than a full measure. (To review this topic see Rhythmic and Rest Values.)
- A tie is a curved line that connects two or more notes with the same pitch. Tied-to notes are not rearticulated.
- Dynamics and articulations are covered in this chapter. (To review this topic see Other Aspects of Notation.)
- Melodies within this chapter include leaps of thirds, fourths, fifths, and octaves within the tonic triad.
- This chapter includes two-part rhythms and two-part melodies.
This chapter builds upon the prior gradated rhythms and melodies. Previously studied meters and key signatures are included. Knowledge of dynamics, articulations, and phrase markings is assumed from the beginning of this chapter. All exercises are author-composed.
Section 4
The following eight exercises contain dotted rhythmic values that do not have the duration of a full measure. Dynamic markings as well as crescendos and decrescendos are now included.
The following two exercises contain dotted rhythmic values that do not have the duration of a full measure.
The following four exercises are melodies in the major mode that contain adjacent leaps of thirds and fourths within the tonic triad.
The following four exercises are melodies in the minor mode that contain adjacent leaps of thirds and fourths within the tonic triad.
The following two exercises are two-part melodies that contain adjacent leaps of thirds and fourths within the tonic triad.
Section 5
The following eight exercises are rhythms that contain ties that are within measures. Articulations are now included.
The following two exercises are two-part rhythms that contain ties that are within measures.
The following four exercises are melodies in the major mode that contain more frequent adjacent leaps of thirds and fourths within the tonic triad.
The following four exercises are melodies in the minor mode that contain more frequent adjacent leaps of thirds and fourths within the tonic triad.
The following two exercises are two-part melodies that contain more frequent adjacent leaps of thirds and fourths within the tonic triad.
Section 6
The following eight exercises are rhythms that contain ties that extend across bar lines.
The following two exercises are two-part rhythms that contain ties that extend across bar lines.
The following four exercises are melodies in the major mode that contain larger leaps of fifths and octaves within the tonic triad.
The following four exercises are melodies in the minor mode that contain larger leaps of fifths and octaves within the tonic triad.
The following two exercises are two-part melodies that contain larger leaps of fifths and octaves within the tonic triad.
- Melodies for Sight Singing with Recordings (How to Sing Smarter)
- Melodies for Sight Singing (Chorale Tech)
- Melodies for Sight Singing (Ronnie Sanders)
- Rhythms for Sight Counting (Blue Sky Music)
- Sight Singing by Level (YouTube)
- Multimodal Musicianship: Rhythms, Melodies, Rhythmic/Melodic/Harmonic Dictations (Victoria Malawey)
Media Attributions
- Section 4 Rhythms © Levi Langolf is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
- Section 4 Two-part Rhythms © Levi Langolf is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
- Section 4 Major Melodies © Levi Langolf is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
- Section 4 Minor Melodies © Levi Langolf is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
- Section 4 Two-part Melodies © Levi Langolf is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
- Section 5 Rhythms © Levi Langolf is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
- Section 5 Two-part Rhythms © Levi Langolf is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
- Section 5 Major Melodies © Levi Langolf is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
- Section 5 Minor Melodies © Levi Langolf is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
- Section 5 Two-part Melodies © Levi Langolf is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
- Section 6 Rhythms © Levi Langolf is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
- Section 6 Two-part Rhythms © Levi Langolf is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
- Section 6 Major Melodies © Levi Langolf is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
- Section 6 Minor Melodies © Levi Langolf is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
- Section 6 Two-part Melodies © Levi Langolf is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license


Psychological Foundations
The History of Psychology—The Cognitive Revolution and Multicultural Psychology
Learning Objectives
- Describe the basics of cognitive psychology and how the cognitive revolution shifted psychology’s focus back to the mind
- Summarize the history of psychology, focusing on the major schools of thought
Behaviorism and the Cognitive Revolution
Behaviorism’s emphasis on objectivity and focus on external behavior had pulled psychologists’ attention away from the mind for a prolonged period of time. The early work of the humanistic psychologists redirected attention to the individual human as a whole, and as a conscious and self-aware being. By the 1950s, new disciplinary perspectives in linguistics, neuroscience, and computer science were emerging, and these areas revived interest in the mind as a focus of scientific inquiry. This particular perspective has come to be known as the cognitive revolution (Miller, 2003). By 1967, Ulric Neisser published the first textbook entitled Cognitive Psychology, which served as a core text in cognitive psychology courses around the country (Thorne & Henley, 2005).
Although no one person is entirely responsible for starting the cognitive revolution, Noam Chomsky was very influential in the early days of this movement. Chomsky (1928–), an American linguist, was dissatisfied with the influence that behaviorism had had on psychology. He believed that psychology’s focus on behavior was short-sighted and that the field had to re-incorporate mental functioning into its purview if it were to offer any meaningful contributions to understanding behavior (Miller, 2003).
European psychology had never really been as influenced by behaviorism as had American psychology; and thus, the cognitive revolution helped reestablish lines of communication between European psychologists and their American counterparts. Furthermore, psychologists began to cooperate with scientists in other fields, like anthropology, linguistics, computer science, and neuroscience, among others. This interdisciplinary approach often was referred to as the cognitive sciences, and the influence and prominence of this particular perspective resonates in modern-day psychology (Miller, 2003).
Cognitive Psychology
Cognitive psychology is radically different from previous psychological approaches in that it is characterized by both of the following:
- It accepts the use of the scientific method and generally rejects introspection as a valid method of investigation, unlike phenomenological methods such as Freudian psychoanalysis.
- It explicitly acknowledges the existence of internal mental states (such as belief, desire, and motivation), unlike behaviorist psychology.
Cognitive theory contends that solutions to problems take the form of algorithms, heuristics, or insights. Major areas of research in cognitive psychology include perception, memory, categorization, knowledge representation, numerical cognition, language, and thinking.
Multicultural Psychology
Culture has important impacts on individuals and social psychology, yet the effects of culture on psychology are under-studied. There is a risk that psychological theories and data derived from white, American settings could be assumed to apply to individuals and social groups from other cultures and this is unlikely to be true (Betancourt & López, 1993). One weakness in the field of cross-cultural psychology is that in looking for differences in psychological attributes across cultures, there remains a need to go beyond simple descriptive statistics (Betancourt & López, 1993). In this sense, it has remained a descriptive science, rather than one seeking to determine cause and effect. For example, a study of characteristics of individuals seeking treatment for a binge eating disorder in Hispanic American, African American, and Caucasian American individuals found significant differences between groups (Franko et al., 2012). The study concluded that results from studying any one of the groups could not be extended to the other groups, and yet potential causes of the differences were not measured.
This history of multicultural psychology in the United States is a long one. The role of African American psychologists in researching the cultural differences between African American individual and social psychology is but one example. In 1920, Cecil Sumner was the first African American to receive a PhD in psychology in the United States. Sumner established a psychology degree program at Howard University, leading to the education of a new generation of African American psychologists (Black, Spence, and Omari, 2004). Much of the work of early African American psychologists (and a general focus of much work in first half of the 20th century in psychology in the United States) was dedicated to testing and intelligence testing in particular (Black et al., 2004). That emphasis has continued, particularly because of the importance of testing in determining opportunities for children, but other areas of exploration in African-American psychology research include learning style, sense of community and belonging, and spiritualism (Black et al., 2004).
The American Psychological Association has several ethnically based organizations for professional psychologists that facilitate interactions among members. Since psychologists belonging to specific ethnic groups or cultures have the most interest in studying the psychology of their communities, these organizations provide an opportunity for the growth of research on the impact of culture on individual and social psychology.
Summary of the History of Psychology
Before the time of Wundt and James, questions about the mind were considered by philosophers. However, both Wundt and James helped create psychology as a distinct scientific discipline. Wundt was a structuralist, which meant he believed that our cognitive experience was best understood by breaking that experience into its component parts. He thought this was best accomplished by introspection.
William James was the first American psychologist, and he was a proponent of functionalism. This particular perspective focused on how mental activities served as adaptive responses to an organism’s environment. Like Wundt, James also relied on introspection; however, his research approach also incorporated more objective measures as well.
Sigmund Freud believed that understanding the unconscious mind was absolutely critical to understand conscious behavior. This was especially true for individuals that he saw who suffered from various hysterias and neuroses. Freud relied on dream analysis, slips of the tongue, and free association as means to access the unconscious. Psychoanalytic theory remained a dominant force in clinical psychology for several decades.
Gestalt psychology was very influential in Europe. Gestalt psychology takes a holistic view of an individual and his experiences. As the Nazis came to power in Germany, Wertheimer, Koffka, and Köhler immigrated to the United States. Although they left their laboratories and their research behind, they did introduce America to Gestalt ideas. Some of the principles of Gestalt psychology are still very influential in the study of sensation and perception.
One of the most influential schools of thought within psychology’s history was behaviorism. Behaviorism focused on making psychology an objective science by studying overt behavior and deemphasizing the importance of unobservable mental processes. John Watson is often considered the father of behaviorism, and B. F. Skinner’s contributions to our understanding of principles of operant conditioning cannot be underestimated.
As behaviorism and psychoanalytic theory took hold of so many aspects of psychology, some began to become dissatisfied with psychology’s picture of human nature. Thus, a humanistic movement within psychology began to take hold. Humanism focuses on the potential of all people for good. Both Maslow and Rogers were influential in shaping humanistic psychology.
During the 1950s, the landscape of psychology began to change. A science of behavior began to shift back to its roots of focus on mental processes. The emergence of neuroscience and computer science aided this transition. Ultimately, the cognitive revolution took hold, and people came to realize that cognition was crucial to a true appreciation and understanding of behavior.
| School of Psychology | Description | Earliest Period | Historically Important People |
|---|---|---|---|
| Psychodynamic Psychology | Focuses on the role of the unconscious and childhood experiences in affecting conscious behavior. | Very late 19th to Early 20th Century | Sigmund Freud, Erik Erikson |
| Behaviorism | Focuses on observing and controlling behavior through what is observable. Puts an emphasis on learning and conditioning. | Early 20th Century | Ivan Pavlov, John B. Watson, B. F. Skinner |
| Humanistic Psychology | Emphasizes the potential for good that is innate to all humans and rejects that psychology should focus on problems and disorders. | 1950s | Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers |
| Cognitive Psychology | Focuses not just on behavior, but on on mental processes and internal mental states. | 1960s[1] | Ulric Neisser, Noam Chomsky, Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky |
Licenses and Attributions (Click to expand)
CC licensed content, Original
- Addition of link to learning. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
CC licensed content, Shared previously
- History of Psychology. Authored by: OpenStax College. Located at: https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-2-history-of-psychology. License: CC BY: Attribution. License Terms: Download for free at https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction
- Cognitive Psychology. Provided by: Boundless. Located at: https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/introduction-to-psychology-1/theoretical-perspectives-in-modern-psychology-23/cognitive-psychology-115-12652/. License: CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
- Early Schools of Psychology: Still Active and Advanced Beyond Early Ideas Table. Provided by: Open Learning Initiative. Located at: https://oli.cmu.edu/jcourse/workbook/activity/page?context=4c39410080020ca60127b04635de0b80. Project: Introduction to Psychology. License: CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
- Although Piaget's research on cognition began in the 1920s, cognitive psychology did not become mainstream until the 1960s. ↵


10
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Download an OER from the UH OER Repository
- Assess the technical openness of an OER (ALMS framework)
Introduction
It is often said that OER are, “free like puppies,” implying that there may be no up front costs, but that OER require care and attention to be happy. We can safely assume that having some knowledge pet care would help us better care for our puppy. Analogies aside, your effectiveness working with OER and advising others in their work will depend on having basic knowledge of common instructional design practices and being able to work with digital media files.
This section will offer basic guidance in understanding the technical side and workflow processes for developing OER.
The ALMS framework
As David Wiley explains on the opencontent.org definition page, CC licenses give us permissions to exercise the 5 R’s (reuse, revise, remix, redistribute, retain), but poor technical choices can make open content less open (and thus, harder to work with).
The ALMS Framework provides a way of thinking about those technical choices and understanding the degree to which they enable or impede a user’s ability to engage in the 5R activities permitted by open licenses.
The framework includes four buckets (or whichever your preferred container is) that questions about the technical openness of an OER likely fit into. Here are the descriptions of each bucket.
(This material is based on original writing by David Wiley, which was published freely under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license at http://opencontent.org/definition/)
Access to Editing Tools
Is the open content published in a format that can only be revised or remixed using tools that are extremely expensive (e.g., 3DS MAX)? Is the open content published in an exotic format that can only be revised or remixed using tools that run on an obscure or discontinued platform (e.g., OS/2)? Is the open content published in a format that can be revised or remixed using tools that are freely available and run on all major platforms (e.g., OpenOffice)?
Takeaway: Can you edit the OER without the need for specialized or expensive tools?
Level of Expertise Required
Is the open content published in a format that requires a significant amount technical expertise to revise or remix (e.g., Blender)? Is the open content published in a format that requires a minimum level of technical expertise to revise or remix (e.g., Word)?
Takeaway: Would most faculty be able to edit the OER at their current skill level?
Meaningfully Editable
Is the open content published in a manner that makes its content essentially impossible to revise or remix (e.g., a scanned image of a handwritten document)? Is the open content published in a manner making its content easy to revise or remix (e.g., a text file)?
Takeaway: Can all parts of the OER be edited?
Self-Sourced
It the format preferred for consuming the open content the same format preferred for revising or remixing the open content (e.g., HTML)? Is the format preferred for consuming the open content different from the format preferred for revising or remixing the open content (e.g. Flash FLA vs SWF)?
Takeaway: Can you edit the OER directly or is a separate editable file needed?
Using the ALMS framework
Like with any framework or set of guidelines, the usefulness of the ALMS framework vary. At the very least it is important to understand the kind of technical aspects to be aware of when considering which OER can be easily incorporated into your work. Here is an example of a simple application of the ALMS framework on an OER in the UH OER repository:
Writing for Success https://dspace.lib.hawaii.edu/handle/10790/3180
Go ahead and take a look at the item record. You’ll see the persistent identifier (for citation purposes), the license on the content, ownership metadata, and more. If the content has been uploaded in multiple formats, each of these will be presented to you here.
But how technically open is it? Which file format do we want to download?
The ALMS framework applied to this work in a way that helps us understand the technical openness of this OER might look somethings like this:
Access to editing tools: The content is available in PDF, which isn’t usually editable without Adobe Acrobat Pro. But there is an ePub version that can be ingested by Pressbooks as well as edited with open source tools like Calibre. The PDF could also be scraped (copied from the screen) and pasted into a simpler format such as a Word document, which could be very time consuming. So, we can say that the basic editing tools are available at no or low cost.
Level of expertise required: Editing this OER in Pressbooks or Calibre would require some knowledge of HTML, the markup formatting used for content on the Web. Additionally, editing this book may require file management as the chapters exist as separate files in the ePub or HTML version. If the content were placed in a Word file (as mentioned above), editing could be simplified further.
Meaningfully editable: The OER content is fairly flat (primarily text, no embedded media) and all content appears to be editable. There aren’t any features I would be concerned about being able to edit.
Self-sourced: The ePub file is self-sourced, so at minimum we have one read-and-edit file available to us.
When in doubt about the effort required to edit an OER you find, it may be worth searching the Web for other copies or instances of the OER that have been converted to a friendlier file format. For instance, many of the OpenStax OER textbooks have been ported into Pressbooks so that they can be easily edited and then exported to a variety of formats.


1-Research Questions
It’s wise to do some more reading about that narrower topic once you have it. For one reason, you probably don’t know much about it yet. For another, such reading will help you learn the terms used by professionals and scholars who have studied your narrower topic. Those terms are certain to be helpful when you’re looking for sources later, so jot them down or otherwise remember them.
For instance, if you were going to do research about the treatment for humans with bird flu, this background reading would teach you that professionals and scholars usually use the term avian influenza instead of bird flu when they write about it. (Often, they also use H1N1 or H1N9 to identify the strain.) If you didn’t learn that, you would miss the kinds of sources you’ll eventually need for your assignment.
Most sources other than journal articles are good sources for this initial reading, including the New York Times or other mainline American news outlets, Wikipedia, encyclopedias for the discipline your topic is in (horticulture for the crabapple bud development topic, for instance), dictionaries for the discipline, and manuals, handbooks, blogs, and web pages that could be relevant.
This initial reading could cause you to narrow your topic further, which is fine because narrower topics lead to greater specificity for what you have to find out. After this upfront work, you’re ready to start developing the research question(s) you will try to answer for your assignment.
Tip: Keeping Track of Your Information
While you are in the background reading phase of your research you will come across a lot of sources and won’t know yet if they will prove useful in the long run. A handy type of software to help you keep track of all your findings is called citation management software. It will also be extremely valuable when it comes to using the resources you end up needing. Here are three examples that you might be familiar with and already use.
Fuel Your Inspiration
It’s worth remembering that reading, scanning, looking at, and listening to information resources is very useful during any step of the process to develop research questions. Doing so can jog our memories, give us details that will help us focus, and help us connect disparate information–all of which will help us come up with research questions that we find interesting.


6
In this section we’ll focus on designing assessments that are appropriately aligned with the learning objectives and instructional activities we reviewed in the previous section.
Quality Matters Assessment and Measurement
In Module 1, we introduced the Quality Matters Standards for online course design. These standards emphasize alignment between course and module learning objectives, assessments, and the learning objectives. The third General Standard in the Quality Matters Rubric focuses on Assessment and Measurement. There are five specific standards in this category.
QM General Standard 3 – Assessment and Measurement
3.1 The assessments measure the stated learning objectives or competencies.
3.2 The course grading policy is stated clearly.
3.3 Specific and descriptive criteria are provided for the evaluation of learners’ work and are tied to the course grading policy.
3.4 The assessment instruments selected are sequenced, varied, and suited to the learner work being assessed.
3.5 The course provides learners with multiple opportunities to track their learning progress.
You should keep these standards in mind as you make decisions about the general types of assessments you will use.
Purposes of Assessment
An assessment will typically fulfill one of two general purposes.
- Formative assessments are designed to help you receive and give feedback that will promote further student learning (e.g., a low-stakes reading quiz that gives students practice in recalling key concepts).
- Summative assessments allow students to demonstrate their achievement of the learning objectives at the end of the learning process (e.g., a high-stakes cumulative final exam overall course content). The following table further highlights the differences between formative and summative assessment:
INSERT TABLE
| Factors for Comparison | Formative Assessment | Summative Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | To gauge and improve quality of student learning | To provide evidence for evaluating or grading students |
| Characteristics |
|
|
| Emphasis | Giving students useful feedback for improvement | Grading |
| Examples |
|
|
A Note about Time
Please note that with formative assessments, instructors typically seek to maximize the amount of immediate feedback to students while minimizing the effort involved in grading the assessments. For example, self-checks and selected response quizzes can be automatically graded, and students receive immediate feedback. Also, in the case of peer reviews, students can provide one another with immediate feedback during the instructional activity. However, with summative assessments, instructors will often spend more time grading the assessment and writing delayed feedback that students will receive several days after completing the assessment.
To calculate the amount of time you might spend grading, think about the average number of students you will have in your class. Then think about the average amount of time you want to spend per week (a) reviewing and grading these assessments and (b) providing written or verbal feedback to all of your students. The total amount of time instructors spend per week teaching a course depends upon the instructor’s role within the department and the expectations of the department for the percentage of time the instructor is expected to devote to teaching. However, a general rule of thumb is that for a three-credit, fifteen-week course, an instructor would spend no more than eight hours per week teaching a course.
It is important for you to think about your time constraints now because you may not want to use a particular assessment option if it will take you too much time to effectively carry out the assessment. For example, if you have a class of 25 students, it may be possible for you to use 5-minute oral exams to test the depth of student understanding of course content, as it would take a little over two hours to conduct the assessment. However, if you’ve got 150 students in your course, a 5-minute oral exam for each student would take more than 12 hours. Consequently, the oral exam would not be a regular, weekly form of assessment in your course, as it takes too much time to administer it.
From the students’ perspective, think about the average amount of time per week that you would like students to spend working on both formative assessments (e.g., reading quizzes, homework assignments, etc.) and summative assessments (e.g., cumulative exams, essays, etc.). While the amount of time students spend working on the course is defined by your institution’s policy, it is still up to you to determine how much of that time students will spend working on assessments.
In addition, it should be noted that sometimes a formative assessment may be considered to be a type of learning activity. For example, if you ask students to submit their answers to homework questions, that might be considered to be both an assessment and a learning activity. Likewise, if you grade student participation in group discussion, this could be considered to be both an assessment and a learning activity. For practical purposes, it is often necessary to attach points or some other consequence to a learning activity to increase student motivation to do the work. In such cases, the line between assessment and learning activity becomes blurred. But don’t worry about that. For now, just think about the assessments you want to use to measure student progress.
Types of Assessments
After you determine the purpose of the assessment (formative or summative), you will next want to decide which type of assessment will provide you with the information you want about student achievement. Richard Stiggins (2013) offers a simple framework for thinking about four main assessment options, as outlined in the table below.
INSERT TABLE
We encourage you to think about all of the above options as you design assessments for your learning objectives. As you will see throughout this module, incorporating a variety of assessment methods into your course is a “best practice” for several reasons. First, coming at assessment from multiple perspectives helps to ensure a more accurate, fair sampling of student performance. Second, multiple assessment methods can provide a good mix of immediate and delayed feedback to students every week. Finally, students have the opportunity to repeatedly recall and apply what they have learned in different ways, which promotes long-term retention of knowledge and skills. If you have any questions about which types of assessment will work best for you and your students, feel free to talk with your instructional design consultant.
Tools to Deliver Your Assessments
A wide variety of tools may be used to assess student learning in an online course. The following tools are available as part of the Blackboard learning management system. Other learning management systems such as Canvas and Moodle will have a similar set of tools:
Tests: Question types include multiple-choice, multiple-answer, true-false, matching, short-answer, essay, etc.
Surveys: All question types, including Likert-scale items.
Assignments: Work may be submitted directly in the text box or as an attached document.
Discussion Board: Posts to threads may be graded by the instructor or rated by other students.
Blogs: Blog entries may be graded by the instructor.
Journals: Journal entries may be graded by the instructor.
Wikis: Wiki entries (also known as “saves”) may be graded by the instructor.
Blackboard Collaborate Ultra (a web conferencing tool): Instructors may use this to conduct oral exams or watch students perform particular tasks.
Other tools are readily available outside of the learning management system, and they may be used in whatever way works best for you and the students. These tools include the following:
Google Meet (formerly Google Hangouts): Instructors may use this web conferencing tool to conduct oral exams or watch students perform particular tasks.
Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides: Instructors can see which students have edited a document or submitted comments.
Email: Still one of the easiest ways to have students send you assessment results that you want to check and return.
Audio/Video Recordings: Students may use various audio/video recording programs to record their performance of a task or their response to a test question (Jing, YouTube, etc.).
Publisher-Based Assessments: Many textbook publishers provide online assessments that students may access on the publisher’s own learning management system.
There are other tools that you may employ in your course, but this sampling gives you a good idea of the many options available to you. Your instructional design consultant can work with you to find any additional tools you need.
Issues and Problems With Online Assessments
As you design your assessments, a number of potential issues or problems may arise. Most of these problems exist with face-to-face courses as well, so they are inherent in the assessment process and do not arise solely from the use of online instructional technologies. However, online assessment tools may introduce new aspects of these problems that you have not encountered before. Here are a few of the challenges you may face.
Authentication of Student Identity: It can be difficult to verify that online students are who they say they are.
Cheating: Students can use a variety of technologies to capture and share questions and answers before, during, and after an assessment.
Technical Difficulties: Due to the delivery mode of online learning, occasional technical difficulties can occur for both students and instructors.
Plagiarism: Because it is so easy to copy and paste text, it may be tempting for students to copy the work of others and try to pass it off as their own. Also, there are web services that will write papers for students–for a hefty fee.
Use of Proctoring: Many faculty would like to have students take proctored exams. The Associate Coordinator of Remote/Online Testing at Boise State University offers online proctoring services for all online courses. You can contact the Associate Coordinator of Remote/Online Testing at Testing Center.
Effective Solutions for Online Assessments
The problems listed above are solvable, but they may require you to use new assessment strategies or tools. The following solutions can reduce or eliminate a variety of assessment problems. These solutions are gleaned from the resources listed at the bottom of this page. If you would like to explore these solutions in more detail, feel free to read the original articles. Also, you may talk with your instructional design consultant about any assessment problems related to your course.
Use a Variety of Assessment Types
By using a variety of assessments, you not only get a more holistic picture of student performance, you also discourage cheating and plagiarism. Strategies that students might use to cheat or plagiarize on one type of assessment may not work on other types of assessments.
Use Low-Stakes Assessments to Track Progress Over Time
Require students to complete a number of low-stakes quizzes or assignments before they take a major exam or paper. For example, you may have students complete a series of short practice tests in preparation for a major exam. You may then be able to identify possible instances of cheating and plagiarism by comparing their performance on the low-stakes assessments with their performance on the major exam or paper. For example, if a student bombed all of the practice tests but aced the exam, this may signal a possible cheating problem. For essays, you may require the students to turn in multiple, ungraded drafts of their paper. This not only helps reduce plagiarism, it also helps the students learn to use multiple revisions to improve their writing.
Regularly Change Assessment Questions and Assignment Topics
One common strategy for reducing cheating on multiple-choice tests is to set up the tests so that a small number of questions (e.g., 15-20 questions) are drawn at random from a large question pool (e.g., 100+ questions). This makes it much harder for students to share answers. Also, students will be less likely to plagiarize if you assign new paper topics each semester, or even assign different topics to different students for the same essay assignment.
Give Timed, Open-Book Tests
By assuming that students will have access to the textbook and other information sources during the test, you will design the assessments differently. They will become assessments FOR learning, rather than assessments OF learning. If students have a limited amount of time to take the test, they will be more motivated to do the assigned coursework prior to the test. This is because they simply won’t have enough time to look up all the answers. They’ll need to already know the content well in order to finish the test on time.
Give Proctored Exams
There are several online proctoring services that you may use to have students take a test online. These web-based services use technologies that authenticate student identity and ensure the students don’t have other programs or browser windows open as they take the test. In addition, you may require students to take a test in a local proctored testing center. TheTesting Center at Boise State provides detailed information about proctored exams on the following web site:
You may also talk with your instructional design consultant about the proctoring options that would best serve you and your students.
Use Technologies to Detect Plagiarism
There are a number of technologies that you may use to detect plagiarism. One simple way is to copy a sentence or two from the essay and paste them into a Google search. If the results show web pages with the same sentences word-for-word, you may have a problem with plagiarism. (Of course, if the student wrote these other pages–such as a Wikipedia article–citations are required just as they are with any other source material.) Other technologies have been created to detect possible instances of plagiarism. For example, the Blackboard learning management system used by Boise State allows students to submit a “SafeAssignment” that automatically checks the paper to see if there are any indications of plagiarism. The program compares the student’s paper with the contents of papers that have been submitted by other students. If there are any duplications in the text, the student’s paper will be flagged as a possible instance of plagiarism.
Anticipate Technical Problems in Your Assessment Directions
If you think that technical problems might occur for a particular assessment, let the students know about them ahead of time. Identify possible problems in the assessment directions, and tell the students what steps they may take to deal with them. One helpful tip is to allow students more than one opportunity to complete the assessment, but explain to students they should only take it a second time if they have a technical problem. Require these students to contact the Boise State Help Desk to troubleshoot the problem first before they email you with a description of what the problem was and how they tried to solve it before taking the test the second time. It is also a good idea to set the due date and time of the assessment one hour before the Help Desk closes. That way, the Help Desk can actually be of help to the students, and you won’t get as many emails from panicked, sleep-deprived students at 12:01 AM Sunday morning.
Provide Clear Expectations of Academic Integrity
Boise State Office of the Dean of Students recommends that an academic integrity statement be included on all syllabi, although one is not required. A recommended statement is included in the syllabus template shared with you in this seminar. In addition, we recommend that you provide clear, complete, concise and easy to read directions that outline specific expectations for exams, projects, discussions and writing assignments within the individual activity directions:
- Allotted time frame
- Approved materials students are allowed to use (calculators, books, notes, web sources, formulas, dictionary, etc.) and/or
- Unapproved materials (closed book, no notes, no web sources, four-function calculator only, no cell phones or electronic devices, etc.)
- Academic integrity guidelines for group work, collaboration, or assistance from others
- Assignment-specific citation requirements
- Reusing work previously created for any class
We suggest you write expectations in positive terms, e.g.: “Should you find inspiration in others ideas or writing on this subject, be sure to cite them so I can understand which ideas and writing are your original work and what sources you used.” not, “Failure to cite your sources is considered academic misconduct.”
We also suggest that you write expectations that tell students what they should do and why these are your expectations, rather than what they should not do.
Designing Effective Individual or Group Assessments
A complete listing of all the steps involved in creating every type of assessment is beyond the scope of this seminar. Your instructional design consultant will be able to provide any information or assistance you need to design and develop the different assessments for your course. As you work together on the design of those assessments, you will learn more about how to build effective assessments. However, before you begin building any assessments, there are some general questions that should be considered if you want to ensure that your assessments are effective–that they promote learning and accurately measure student achievement. Rick Stiggins (2013) has identified five keys to the creation of productive assessments in college courses. As you read about these keys and their accompanying questions, think about how you would apply these keys to all of your assessments.
Key #1: Clear Purpose
Both you and your students should know who will use the results and how. The following questions can help clarify the purpose of the assessment.
- Why is this assessment being given?
- Who will use the results?
- How will the results be used?
- How will students use the results?
Key #2: Clear Learning Targets
As previously stated in this module, clearly stated learning objectives are essential to the design of appropriate testing procedures and assessment items. The following questions help to ensure that you have clear learning objectives for the assessment.
- What are the learning objectives?
- Are they clearly stated?
- Are the learning objectives appropriate for this type of assessment?
- Do students understand the learning objectives?
Key #3: Quality Assessment
Once you know why the assessment is being given (Key #1) and what will be tested (Key #2), you can turn to questions about your methods of assessment–the general types of assessments you will use, the tools used to administer the assessment, and the solutions you have chosen to address possible assessment problems. It is also important that you have an adequate sampling of the students learning. You need to have a sufficient number of clearly written and relevant questions to accurately measure the depth and breadth of student knowledge and skill. In addition, the methods should reduce or eliminate possible sources of bias that would decrease confidence in the validity and reliability of the assessment results. Bias can be avoided by building student confidence in test taking and the knowledge being tested (through sufficient practice and feedback), providing clearly worded directions and questions, allowing adequate time for reading, evaluating appropriate criteria, providing one correct or best response, and avoiding grammatical and cultural cues in the question stem or answers.
- What method will be used?
- Are the questions of high quality?
- Is sampling of the students’ knowledge and skills adequate?
- Are sources of bias avoided?
- Will students self-assess?
Key #4: Effective Communication of the Results
In order to fulfill the assessment’s purpose, it is imperative that the results are communicated in a timely manner to the users. Your answers to the following questions will help you form a solid communication plan.
- How will grading take place?
- How will feedback be provided to students?
- How will you use the information to plan the next steps for the students, or to plan revisions to your instructional strategies and materials?
- How will students let you know the results have been successfully communicated?
Key #5: Student-Involved Assessment During Learning
If you want the assessments to impact student learning, you must involve them in assessing their own progress.
- How will you make the learning targets (learning objectives) clear to students?
- How will you involve students in assessment development (as appropriate)?
- How will students set goals for learning and then assess and track their progress?
- How will students communicate with you and with each other about their learning?
If you can answer these questions for each type of assessment in your course, you can be confident that your assessments will be effective. The key in all of this is to make sure you know how both you and your students will use the feedback from the assessments. The feedback should be designed to help the students to know (a) where they are now, (b) where they need to be, and (b) how to close the gap (Hattie and Yates, 2014). After receiving feedback from these assessments, students should have a better idea of the next steps they need to take and how to take them.
Revise the grading schema so that it contains the letter grades and percentages you prefer to use for assigning grades. If you like the grading schema example, feel free to adopt it as is.
- Anything else on point structure?
Next Steps
If you would like to further explore issues related to online assessment, you may select from the resources listed below for more in-depth information.


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Student Clinical Handbook Introduction
RISP Faculty Contact List
Clinical Preceptor Contact List
1. RISP Clinical Philosophy
2. RISP Honor Code
3. RISP Technical Standards
4. RISP Requirement to Disclose
5. RISP Academic Misconduct
6. RISP Online Testing Rules
7. American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT)
8. Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) Student Licensure
9. Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology (JRCERT)
10. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
11. RISP Clinical Compliance
12. Student Health Services
13. Universal Precautions / Standard Precautions
14. Hand Hygiene
15. Communicable Diseases
16. Fit Testing Policy
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18. Clinical Course Schedules
19. RISP Observed Holidays
20. The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) Clinical Competency Requirements
21. The American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT) Exam List
22. Professional Behavior Policy
23. Incident Reporting Policy
24. Communication Policy
25. Clinical Supervision Policy
26. Clinic Productivity Policy
27. Student Clinical Evaluation Policy
28. Evalue Documenting Standards
29. Evalue Reports
30. Electronic Device Policy
31. Dress Code Policy
32. Lead Marker Policy
33. Clinical Attendance Policy
34. Personal Day Policy
35. Temporary Leave of Absence Policy
36. Inclement Weather Policy
37. Jury Duty Policy
38. Military Leave Policy
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40. Pregnancy Policy
41. Related Outside Work Activities Policy
42. Professional Development Policy
43. MRI Student Safety Policy
44. Radiation Safety Expectations
45. Radiation Safety Policy
46. RISP Repeated Pattern of Poor Behavior
47. RISP Clinical Probation
48. Increases in Clinic Grades
49. Clinic Cash and Pride Nominations
50. Clinical Course Policy Chart
51. Clinic Modality Observations
52. Clinical Knowledge Quiz (CKQ)
53. Clinical Course Requirements Checklist
54. IUH University Hospital
55. IUH Saxony Hospital
56. IUH Riley Children’s Hospital
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58. IUH West Hospital
59. Eskenazi Health Hospital
60. Community Hospital North
61. Community Hospital South
62. Community Hospital East
63. Franciscan Health
64. Riverview Health Hospital
65. Veteran’s Administration (VA) Medical Center
66. OrthoIndy
67. Community Hospital Imaging Centers (South, North, East, Noblesville)
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1 Origin Myth of the Acoma
Patricia Bostian
Introduction
For more than a millennium, the Acoma have lived in pueblo settlements on a mesa outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico. However, like many Indian people, they suffered at the hands of Spanish conquerors, enslaved and succumbing to smallpox, among other infectious diseases. They also periodically fought with Apache, Comanche, and Ute who raided their community. Forced to adopt Roman Catholicism by the Spanish, they combined elements of their beliefs with those of Christianity.
The creator god of the Acoma is associated with the sun, which along with the earth and the surrounding mountains, serve to provide balance in the world. Common to creation myths of the American Southwest, the emergence motif provides the structure for the Acoma story. In emergence myths, creatures emerge through several levels under the earth into the current world above. The reasons for the move upward are various: lack of food, crowding, or even a maturation process from “seed” to “plant.” The creatures are usually animals of various sorts and become totems when they emerge. The earth itself is seen as a womb, and the opening into this world is considered sacred.
Other motifs exhibited in the Acoma story are that of two creators, this time two females named Iatiku and Nautsiti’, and the introduction of death as part of the life cycle into the world. Once the women have emerged, they create food, animals, mountains, and even directions. The establishment of claims is also completed, so that the two female deities are considered culture heroes as well. Culture heroes are deities that bring civilization to their people (foods, rituals, societal rules and structures, farming, fire, etc.).
Our selection is taken from Matthew W. Stirling’s Origin Myth Of Acoma And Other Records, 1942.
Acoma Creation Myth
In the beginning two female human beings were born. These two children were born underground at a place called Shipapu. As they grew up, they began to be aware of each other. There was no light and they could only feel each other. Being in the dark they grew slowly.
After they had grown considerably, a Spirit whom they afterward called Tsichtinako spoke to them, and they found that it would give them nourishment. After they had grown large enough to think for themselves, they spoke to the Spirit when it had come to them one day and asked it to make itself known to them and to say whether it was male or female, but it replied only that it was not allowed to meet with them. They then asked why they were living in the dark without knowing each other by name, but the Spirit answered that they were under the earth; but they were to be patient in waiting until everything was ready for them to go up into the light. So they waited a long time, and as they grew they learned their language from Tsichtinako.
When all was ready, they found a present from Tsichtinako, two baskets of seeds and little images of all the different animals there were to be in the world. The Spirit said they were sent by their father. They asked who was meant by their father, and Tsichtinako replied that his name was Ūch’tsiti and that he wished them to take their baskets out into the light, when the time came. Tsichtinako instructed them, “You will find the seeds of four kinds of pine trees in your baskets. You are to plant these seeds and will use the trees to get up into the light.” They could not see the things in their baskets but feeling each object in turn they asked, “Is this it?” until the seeds were found. They then planted the seeds as Tsichtinako instructed. All of the four seeds sprouted, but in the darkness the trees grew very slowly and the two sisters became very anxious to reach the light as they waited this long time. They slept for many years as they had no use for eyes. Each time they awoke they would feel the trees to see how they were growing. The tree lanye grew faster than the others and after a very long time pushed a hole through the earth for them and let in a very little light. The others stopped growing, at various heights, when this happened.
The hole that the tree lanye made was not large enough for them to pass through, so Tsichtinako advised them to look again in their baskets where they would find the image of an animal called Badger and tell it to become alive. They told it to live, and it did so as they spoke, exclaiming, “A’uha! Why have you given me life?” They told it not to be afraid nor to worry about coming to life. “We have brought you to life because you are to be useful.”  Badger climbed the tree and after he had dug a hole large enough, returned saying that he had done his work. They thanked him and said, “As a reward you will come up with us to the light and thereafter you will live happily. You will always know how to dig and your home will be in the ground where you will be neither too hot nor too cold.”
Tsichtinako now spoke again, telling them to look in the basket for Locust, giving it life and asking it to smooth the hole by plastering. It, too was to be cautioned to return. This they did and Locust smoothed the hole but, having finished, went out into the light. When it returned reporting that it had done its work, they asked it if it had gone out. Locust said no, and every time he was asked he replied no, until the fourth time when he admitted that he had gone out. They asked Locust what it was like outside. Locust replied that it was just laid out flat. They said, “From now on you will be known as Tsi·k’ă. You will also come up with us, but you will be punished for disobedience by being allowed out only a short time. Your home will be in the ground and you will have to return when the weather is bad.
The hole now let light into the place where the two sisters were, and Tsichtinako spoke to them, “Now is the time you are to go out. You are able to take your baskets with you. In them you will find pollen and sacred corn meal. When you reach the top, you will Wait for the sun to come up and that direction will be called East. With the pollen and the sacred corn meal you will pray to the Sun. You will thank the Sun for bringing you to light, ask for a long life and happiness, and for success in the purpose for which you were created.” Tsichtinako then taught them the prayers and the creation song, which they were to sing. This took a long while, but finally the sisters followed by Badger and Locust, went out into the light, climbing the pine tree. Badger was very strong and skillful and helped them. On reaching the earth, they set down their baskets and saw for the first time what they had. The earth was soft and spongy under their feet as they walked, and they said, “This is not ripe.” They stood waiting for the sun, not knowing where it would appear.  Before they began to pray, Tsichtinako told them they were facing east and that their right side, the side their best aim was on, would be known as South and the left North while behind at their backs was the direction West where the sun would go down. They had already learned while underground the direction down and later, when they asked where their father was, they were told four skies above.
And as they waited to pray to the Sun, the girl on the right moved her best hand and was named Iatiku which meant “bringing to life.” Tsichtinako then told her to name her sister, but it took a long time. Finally Tsichtinako noticed that the other had more in her basket, so Tsichtinako told Iatiku to name her thus, and Iatiku called her Nautsiti which meant “more of everything in the basket.”
They now prayed to the Sun as they had been taught by Tsichtinako, and sang the creation song. Their eyes hurt for they were not accustomed to the strong light. For the first time they asked Tsichtinako why they were on earth and why they were created. Tsichtinako replied, “I did not make you. Your father, Uchtsiti made you, and it is he who has made the world, the sun which you have seen, the sky, and many other things which you will see. But Uchtsiti says the world is not yet completed, not yet satisfactory, as he wants it. This is the reason he has made you. You will rule and bring to life the rest of the things he has given you in the baskets.” The sisters then asked how they themselves had come into being. Tsichtinako answered saying, “Uchtsiti first made the world. He threw a clot of his own blood into space and by his power it grew and grew until it became the earth. Then Uchtsiti planted you in this and by it you were nourished as you developed. Now that you have emerged from within the earth, you will have to provide nourishment for yourselves. I will instruct you in this.” They then asked where their father lived and Tsichtinako replied, “You will never see your father, he lives four skies above, and has made you to live in this world. He has made you in the image of himself.” So they asked why Tsichtinako did not become visible to them, but Tsichtinako replied, “I don’t know how to live like a human being. I have been asked by Uchtsiti to look after you and to teach you. I will always guide you.” And they asked again how they were to live, whether they could go down once more under the ground, for they were afraid of the winds and rains and their eyes were hurt by the light. Tsichtinako replied that Uchtsiti would take care of that and would furnish them means to keep warm and change the atmosphere so that they would get used to it.
At the end of the first day, when it became dark they were much frightened, for they had not understood that the sun would set and thought that Tsichtinako had betrayed them. “Tsichtinako! Tsichtinako! You told us we were to come into the light,” they cried, “why, then, is it dark?” So Tsichtinako explained, “This is the way it will always be. The sun will go down and the next day come up anew in the east. When it is dark you are to rest and sleep as you slept when all was dark.” So they were satisfied and slept. They rose to meet the sun, praying to it as they had been told, and were happy when it came up again, for they were warm and their faith in Tsichtinako was restored.
Tsichtinako next said to them, “Now that you have your names, you will pray with your names and your clan names so that the Sun will know you and recognize you.” Tsichtinako asked Nautsiti which clan she wished to belong to. Nautsiti answered, “I wish to see the sun, that is the clan I will be.” The spirit told Nautsiti to ask Iatiku what clan she wanted. Iatiku thought for a long time but finally she noticed that she had the seed from which sacred meal was made in her basket and no other kind of seeds. She thought, “With this name I shall be very proud, for it has been chosen for nourishment and it is sacred.” So she said, “I will be Corn clan.” They then waited for the sun to come up. When it appeared, Tsichtinako once more advised them to sing the first song and to pray, not forgetting their name and their clan name in starting their prayer. After the prayer they were to sing the second song.
When the sun appeared it was too bright for Iatiku and it hurt her eyes.  By doing this the light did not strike her squarely in the face and her hair cast a shade. Tsichtinako said, “Iatiku, the sun has not appeared for you. Look at Nautsiti, see how strongly the light is striking her. Notice how white she looks.” And although Iatiku turned to the sun, it did not make her as white as Nautsiti, and Iatiku’s mind was slowed up while Nautsiti’s mind was made fast. But both of them remembered everything and did everything as they were taught.
When they had completed their prayers to the sun, Tsichtinako said, “You have done everything well and now you are both to take up your baskets and you must look to the north, west, south, and east, for you are now to pray to the Earth to accept the things in the basket and to give them life. First you must pray to the north, at the same time lift up your baskets in that direction. You will then do the same to the west, then to the south and east.” They did as they were told and did it well. And Tsichtinako, said to them, “From now on you will rule in every direction, north, west, south, and east.”
They now questioned Tsichtinako again so that they would understand more clearly why they were given the baskets and their contents, and Tsichtinako, replied, “Everything in the baskets is to be created by your word, for you are made in the image of Uchtsiti and your word will be as powerful as his word.  You are to plant the seeds of the different plants to be used when anything is needed. I shall always be ready to point out to you the various plants and animals.”
The sisters did not realize that they were not taking food and did not understand when Tsichtinako told them they were to plant seeds to give them nourishment. But they were always ready to do as Tsichtinako, asked, and she told them to plant first that which would maintain life, grains of corp. “When this plant grows,” said Tsichtinako, “it will produce a part which I will point out to you. This will be taken as food.” Everything in the basket was in pairs and the sisters planted two of each kind of corn.
The corn grew very slowly so Tsichtinako told them to plant ĭsthĕ (the earliest plant to come up in the spring; gray with a small white flower; dies quickly) and to transmit its power of early ripening to the corn.
They were very interested in the corn and watched it every day as it grew. Tsichtinako showed them where the pollen came out. “That you will call kū’ăch’tīmu,” she said, “there the pollen win appear. When the pollen is plentiful, you will gather it, and with it and corn meal you will pray to the rising sun each morning.” This they did always, but Nautsiti was sometimes a little lazy.
After some time the corn ripened. Tsichtinako told them to look at it and to gather some. They saw that the corn was hard and they picked four ears. Iatiku took two ears carefully without hurting the plant, but Nautsiti jerked hers off roughly. Iatiku noticed this and cautioned her sister not to ruin the plants. They took the ears of corn to Tsichtinako saying, “We have brought the corn, it is ripe.” Tsichtinako agreed and explained that the corn ears when cooked would be their food. They did not understand this and asked what they would cook with. Tsichtinako then told them that Uchtsiti would give them fire. That night as they sat around they saw a red light drop from the sky. After they had seen it, Tsichtinako told them it was fire, and that they were to go over and get some of it. They asked with what, and she told them to get it with a flat rock because it was very hot and they could not take it in their hands. After getting it with a rock, they asked what they were to do with it, and were told they were to make a fire, to go to the pine tree they had planted, to break off some of the branches and put them in the fire. They went to the tree and broke some of the twigs from it. When they got back to the fire, they were told to throw the twigs down. They did so and a large pile of wood appeared there. Tsichtinako told them this wood would last many years till there was time for trees to grow, and showed them how to build a fire.
Tsichtinako next taught them how to roast the corn. “When it is cooked,” she explained, “you are to eat it. This will be the first time you have eaten, for you have been fasting for a long time and Uchtsiti has been nourishing you. You will find salt in your baskets; with this you will season the corn.” They began to look for this and Tsichtinako pointed it out to them. As soon as they were told this, Nautsiti grabbed some corn and salt. She was the first to taste them and exclaimed that they were very good, but Iatiku was slower. After Nautsiti had eaten part, she gave it to Iatiku to taste. When both had eaten, Tsichtinako told them that this was the way they were going to live, and be nourished. They were very thankful, saying, “You have treated us well,” They asked if this would be their only food. Tsichtinako said, “No, you have many other things in your baskets; many seeds and images of animals, all in pairs. Some will be eaten and taken for nourishment by you.” After they had used the salt, they were asked by Tsichtinako to give life to this salt by praying to the Earth, first in the North direction, then in the West, then in the South, and then in the. East. And when they did so, salt appeared in each of these directions. Tsichtinako then instructed them to take always the husks from the corn carefully and to dry them. They were then instructed to plant tobacco. When the plant matured, they were taught how to roll the leaves in corn husks and to smoke it. (Even now in ceremonies the corn husks must be torn with the fingers and tied in the center with a little strip of corn husk. It may not be cut by artificial means. You smoke in order to make your prayers merge into the minds of the gods to whom prayer is addressed. This will also compel obedience. If a man smokes when a request is made of him, he must obey that request.) They were then told to place the tobacco with the pollen and the corn meal and to remember that these three were always to be together, and to be used in making prayers.
Now they were told that they were to give life to an animal whose flesh they were going to use for food. Tsichtinako named this animal as Ba’shya (kangaroo mouse) and also taught them the first song to be sung to animals. She told them to sing this song in order to make the images alive, and pointed out the images to them in the basket.
They did everything as they were taught. They sang the song to the image and with the word, “Come to life, Bashya.” It came to life. As it did so it asked, “Why have I come to life?” Tsichtinako told it not to ask any questions because, “It is you that is going to give life to other life.” After this was done, Nautsiti and Iatiku, told this animal that it was going to live on the ground and said to it, “Go now and increase.” After the animal increased, Tsichtinako told the sisters to kill one of the animals. “Now eat the two together, the corn and the field mouse, and also the salt to see how it tastes.” She had already told them never to let out the fire which had been given to them. They acted according to Tsichtinako’s instructions. They roasted their corn and roasted the flesh of the field mouse with some salt on it. After it was cooked, Tsichtinako told them to pray with the food, not with all of it, but with little pieces from each–corn, flesh, and salt. Each sister did this and prayed to Uchtsiti, the creator of the world, who lives up in the fourth sky. Tsichtinako told them they were to do this always before eating. After this they ate the food. There was not very much of the meat, but it was good. They did not know that there were to be bones but these were not hard and they broke them with their teeth. They liked the flesh so well that they asked Tsichtinako if they might have something larger that would yield more flesh. Tsichtinako answered that they would find other things in their baskets. They went back to them, and Tsichtinako said they would find Rat and another animal Mole and also Prairie dog. “Go, make these images alive,” said Tsichtinako, pointing them out according to their names. They were to do this in the same way as with Bashya. Tsichtinako also told them that these animals were to be used as food and that they must tell each of these animals to live in the ground because as yet there was no shade on earth to live in. “But before you give life to them,” said Tsichtinako, “it is necessary that you plant seeds of grass which will be the food for them.” Tsichtinako pointed out the seeds they were to plant, and they took the seeds of the grasses and scattered them first to the North, next to the West, then some to the South, and then to the East. And immediately grass covered the ground. They then took the images and prayed to the cardinal points, and, according to the instructions of Tsichtinako, gave life to all of these animals, giving them names as they came to life. Each one as it came to life asked why it had come to life but Tsichtinako told them not to ask questions, that they would give life to other life. As before, the sisters told the animals to increase. After all of this was done, they proceeded to eat the new animals after praying with them, doing just as they did before. The two sisters were now very happy, they had plenty and some to spare. “It is not yet time for the larger animals to ‘be given life,” said Tsichtinako, “first the world must have sufficient plants and small animals to feed them.”
After a long time, Tsichtinako spoke to them, “What we are going to do now concerns the earth. We are going to make the mountains.” She told them to remember the words she was going to say. They were to say, North Mountain, appear in the north, and we will always know you to be in that direction.” Tsichtinako also pointed out an article in the basket that she named stone and instructed them to throw the stone to the North direction as they spoke the words. When they did so, a big mountain appeared in the North. After they had done this, Tsichtinako instructed them to do the same thing in the West, but to name this mountain Tsipīna koti, and in the South, naming it Da’ōtyuma koti, and in the East, naming it G’ūchana koti.
After all this was done, Tsichtinako spoke again and told them, “Now that you have all the mountains around you with plains, mesas, and canyons, you must make the growing things of these places.” Tsichtinako told them to go back to the trees which they had planted underground, lakhok, geietsu, wanuka, and lanye. She told them to take the seeds from these trees, and they did so. Following her instructions they spread some to each of the four directions, naming the mountains in each direction, and saying, “Grow in North Mountain, grow in West Mountain, etc.” Tsichtinako said to them, “These are going to be tall trees; from them you will get logs. Later you will build houses and will use these.” They asked if that was all that was going to grow on the mountains, and Tsichtinako said, “No, there are many other seeds left in your baskets. You have seeds of trees which are going to yield food. You will find piñon tree, cedar, oak acorn, and walnut.” She again instructed them what to do and taught them the prayer to use, which was: “From now on, grow in this mountain and yield fruit which will be used as food. Your places are to be in the mountains. You will grow and be useful.” When everything had been done well, Tsichtinako told them that there were many smaller seeds left in the baskets and she gave a name to each, telling them to fill the rest of the land. These seeds were planted on every one of the four mountains and in the rest of the world. Tsichtinako spoke to the sisters again and told them, “You still have seeds in your baskets which you will know as wild fruits.  But they mistook the instructions and instead of instructing them to grow nearby, they named the mountains, and that is where they grew. But there were also some that grew close around. It is not known how long they had to wait for these things to happen, but it was a very long time. They noticed that the wild plants grew very fast and produced much fruit, but Tsichtinako had not told them whether or not to eat these, so they left them alone.
They saw that there were still seeds and images in their baskets, and asked Tsichtinako how many more kinds there were. Tsichtinako, said there were yet many other seeds which would also be important food. They would grow quickly and easily and she named them squash and beans. They were instructed to act with them as with the other seeds, and these also grew into plants. After a time, when they were ripe, Tsichtinako pointed out the parts of the plants which they, were to use as food.
Iatiku later asked Tsichtinako, “What remains in my basket?” and she was answered, “You have still many animals; these will be multiplied to populate the mountains.” And as the two grew larger, they required more food. Tsichtinako saw this and told them that they were now to bring to life larger animals. She said they would find in their baskets cottontails, jack rabbits, antelope, and water deer. They were told to give life to these animals and to send them into the open plains. Everything was done as before, and when they killed the animals for food they were always careful to pray to their father as before. As they again asked Tsichtinako what remained in their baskets, Tsichtinako said, “You have images of the still bigger game. You will find deer, elk, mountain sheep, and bison.” Iatiku asked where these animals were to be told to live and Tsichtinako told them that the elk and deer were to live in the lower mountains and the mountain sheep higher and in the rougher places. The bison, however, were to live on the plains. They followed the instructions and gave life to these animals and told them to go to these places to live and multiply. They again tried all these different animals for food. Their flesh was very good and always they prayed to Uchtsiti before tasting them.
In Nautsiti’s basket there were many more things left than in Iatiku’s. Nautsiti was selfish and hoarded her images, but Iatiku was ready to let her seeds and images be used. She was more interested in seeing things grow. They again asked what remained, and Tsichtinako replied, “You will find lion, wolf, wildcat and bear. These are strong beasts; they are going to use as food the same game that you also use. There is now game enough for them.” When all these had been selected they were brought to life in the same manner as before.
The sisters again asked what was in their baskets, and they were told, “You will find birds which will fly in the air. These birds also use small game for their food. You will find in the basket the eagles and the hawks.” Tsichtinako pointed these out to them and they brought them to life. The birds flew up into the high mountains and over the plains. The sisters told the birds to use small game for food, and again Iatiku asked what was in the basket. Tsichtinako pointed out smaller birds which would populate the country, each living in a different kind of region. They were then given life, as the animals before them. The birds were of many and bright colors, some were blue. The wild turkey was among them and they were instructed to tell it not to fly easily like the others. They were told to tell these birds that their food was to be the different seeds on the mountains and the plains. And all these, animals were sampled for food after they had been given life. Again Iatiku asked what remained in the baskets, because she found things there that were thorny. Tsichtinako told them their names. They were the various cacti and were said to be very good for food. But Tsichtinako explained that most were intended for animals to eat. All these were planted as before and tried for food, and they found that some tasted good. After they asked again what was left, Tsichtinako pointed out to them that there were still fish, water snakes, and turtles, of which there were many kinds of each. They gave life to them as before and told them all to live in the water as instructed. Tsichtinako pointed out several that were to be used for food. They tried them all for food, and they found that some were good, and others poor, but offered prayers to all and gave thanks to Uchtsiti. So it happened that many animals came alive in the world and they all increased.
References
Matthew W. Stirling, Origin Myth Of Acoma And Other Records, 1942 http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/sw/oma/index.htm


Chapter 3-Thesis Statements
A thesis statement is one sentence that tells your reader the gist (general idea) of your essay and MUST be present in each essay you write. Your thesis will not only contain your topic but also your controlling idea. The controlling idea lets the reader know your point of view (without necessarily saying it’s your point of view).
Example: Cell phones should be forbidden in the college classroom because they create distractions, allow for cheating, and encourage bullying.
Just by reading this one sentence, the reader can clearly ascertain the topic (cell phone usage in the classroom) and point of view (I don’t like them!). Notice–I did not specifically say that I disapprove of cell phones, but the reader can tell because of my negative point of view.
Keep in mind, the thesis statement is always included in the introduction and is usually at the end of this section, although it doesn’t have to be.
Reminders for thesis statements:
- Should be a complete sentence
- Aren’t usually questions
- Can be directly stated (explicit) or implied (implicit)
- Can have an essay map that directly lists the points you will write about in your body paragraphs
- Considered poor form to mention the essay (i.e. In the paper, I am going to discuss….)
Student Activity 1: Identify the topic and POV (point of view) of each thesis statement.
- Although most people believe the opposite, bats are harmless and highly beneficial.
- Cigarette smoking is bad for people’s health because it increases blood pressures, can cause cancer, and often leads to emphysema.
- University Education is more beneficial than technical training.
- Technology has decreased our level of connectedness because because it allows us to disconnect from our physical environment and does not encourage social skills for connecting with those around us.
Chapter Questions:
- Where is a thesis statement found?
- T/F: A thesis statement is usually multiple sentences.
- T/F: A thesis statement has to have an essay map.
- What is the purpose of a thesis statement?
Visit University of Arizona’s website for a thesis statement tutorial. Make sure to watch the video at the end.