Project Critiques

TO ARVIND (MESOAMERICA)

Hey Arvind,

Nice job on your project as a whole!!! One thing that especially stood out to me about your project was your explanations.  They were thorough and completely answered why and how each of the pictures within the head represented the life of an average Mesoamerican citizen.  However, I thought that it may have beneficial for you to have included the description of the actual picture in your explanations.  Because you did not include the description of the pictures in your overall write up, it was hard to read the description without looking back at the picture.  Another area on which you could have improved was creativity.  Though you accurately answered the questions and included relevant pictures, the poster was a bit bland.  Sparkles would have helped.  What I  liked about the poster was the size and boldness of the pictures.  The pictures were large enough to be seen without problem, but were small enough to fit on the head.  The numbers were in bold Sharpie, making them easily discernible.  I looking at your project, one similarity that I noticed was the social hierarchy.  As depicted in your project, slaves were the lowest class, as they were in China also.  A difference I noticed was that Mesoamericans constructed pyramid-shaped altars and temples, whereas the Chinese did not.  Did the Mesoamericans make use of slave labor to construct these Ziggurats an other large monuments?  All in all, I think you did a wonderful job. Next time please use sparkles. 

Sincerely,

Shivesh 

TO ASHSAY (INDIA)

Hey Ashay!

Nice job on your project overall! The one part of your project that stood out to me was your descriptions.  Your descriptions looked at the way Indian society reflected the Five Themes of AP World History in a different way.  For example, instead of talking about how Indians settled in India based on their surroundings and environment, you related, conversely, to how the Indians affected the environment.  In your case, it was deforestation.  However, I would have changed one thing about your writing.  Though you thoroughly explained how the pictures reflected and were relevant to the Five Themes of AP World History, you didn't explain as much how the individuals of Indian society were impacted by the pictures.  Another area on which you possibly could have slightly improved is the layout of the poster.  The poster, though it was constructed very well, could have been fine-tuned a little bit (ex. gluing the pictures to the paper instead of using tape).  Besides that, I thought you did a great Jon on your project.  One more thing that I forgot to point out - I liked your creativity with the title, written in Hindhi (I believe?).  One similarity that I observed between Chinese society and Indian society is that both societies consisted of city-states at one point.  Both Chinese and Indian city-states warred with each other and fought for control over each other.   In China, the Period of the Warring states was representative of the wars among city states.  One difference between Indian and Chinese society was the religious differences.  There was a concept of Karma in India, in which people believed in the afterlife and reincarnation, whereas there was no afterlife in Chinese culture that was stressed.  What I found most interesting sour your project was the mixing of Dravidian and Aryan values, and how that influenced the social hierarchy of India, the caste system.  I have just one more question...what actually led to the Aryans being the higher varnas and the dravidians being the lower varnas? All in all, I think you did an awesome job on your project!

Sincerely,

Shivesh