Basics for Fall Semester 2016:
Location: B1900
Tuesdays & Thursdays
Section 30: 8:00 AM to 9:15 AM
Section 23: 9:30 AM to 10:45 AM
Required Text
James L. Roark, et al, Understanding The American Promise: A Brief History of the United States to 1877, Vol. 1, 2nd Edition (Boston: Bedford Books, 2014) ISBN: 9781457639807.
Other readings will be provided from online links below.
Alternate Text
James L. Roark, et al, Understanding The American Promise: A Brief History of the United States to 1877, Vol. 1, 1st Edition (Boston: Bedford Books, 2011) ISBN: 9781457608476. Available in Reserve Readings in GGC’s Library.
Grading Summary |
|
Task | Max Value |
Twitter Participation | 150 points |
Document Leader | 30 points |
Source Evaluation Paper | 150 points |
Online Quizzes | 120 points |
Test 1 |
150 points |
Test 2 |
150 points |
Test 3 |
150 points |
Total: | 900 points |
Grade Scale |
||
above 809 points | A |
(Excellent) |
720 – 809 points | B |
(Good) |
630 – 719 points | C |
(Fair) |
540 – 629 points | D |
(Poor) |
below 540 points | F |
(Failure) |
Important Dates
August 21 |
Drop/Add Ends |
August 23 |
Document Choice Due |
September 15 |
Test 1 |
October 5 |
Last Day to Drop with a W |
October 13 |
Test 2 |
October 20 |
Source Evaluation Paper Due |
November 22 & 24 |
Thanksgiving Break (No Class) |
December 1 |
Test 3 |
Class Participation: Class attendance and participation is expected of all students. Consistent tardiness is not only rude, it is disruptive of your classmates learning processes. If you know you need to leave class early, you should tell the instructor at the start of class, and position yourself near to the door so as to minimize the disruption of class when you leave. Roaming about class or leaving to the bathroom is also disruptive and will not be tolerated. Similarly, non-emergency uses of telecommunications are disruptive. Disrupting class in any fashion may result in deductions from a student’s course grade.
Twitter Participation: Students will be expected to sign-up for a twitter account under an alias for this class and then tweet class notes and questions under that alias every class using the class hash tag (#GGC16fHist2111). Each student will provide the alias to the instructor so that the tweets may be monitored. For each week of valid tweets of class materials, notes of class material, questions about readings, answers to other student questions, etc, the student will be awarded up to ten points for a total of 150 points over the course of the semester.
Online Quizzes: There will be an online quiz to be completed prior to coming to class as listed in the reading schedule. You have 20 minutes to answer 10 questions, and can take the quiz as many times as you like. Your recorded grade will be the highest score of all your attempts, and each attempt will be a different quiz from any other attempted. Once class begins, the quiz will be turned off so that nobody can take it during class. The next quiz will be turned on as soon as the time spent in class ends. There are 12 online quizzes, which is approximately once per week, but I reserve the right to give additional in-class pop quizzes to determine if you remember what you did online. You may not make up any missed quizzes; they will count as zeros. The quizzes can include multiple choice, sequence of events, map questions, essays, or short answer questions, at the instructor’s discretion. Each quiz counts 10 points for a total of 120 points.
Tests: There will be three tests in this course, which will count a total of 450 points.
Test 1 will be taken in class on September 15, and will count 150 points.
Test 2 will be taken in class on October 13, and will count 150 points.
Test 3 will be taken in class on December 1, and will count 150 points.
Make-up tests for any missed exam will take place at my discretion. If you know in advance that you must miss the midterm, you must contact me in advance to let me know. If you fail to contact me in a timely manner after missing an exam, I will not permit the make-up. Written documentation of any excuse is always required to allow a make-up.
Tests may include multiple choice questions, sequences of events timelines, map questions, and short answer listing questions. There will always be an essay question on the tests in this class. It will count approximately 50% of the grade for each test.
Primary Document Project: The primary document project consists of two parts: leading a classroom discussion of a primary document selected from a list provided by the instructor on the day assigned, and writing a source evaluation paper of the same primary source selected by the student. Rubrics will be provided for each step of the project.
Document Discussion Leader: 30 points of your course grade will come from leading a 10 minute discussion of a historical document in class. The sign-up sheet is located in the GROUPS tab of D2L, and you should self-enroll yourself to the document of your choice. The documents will be the ones embedded in the on-line syllabus located in D2L.Remember that the document you choose will affect your choices in your source evaluation project.
Source Evaluation Paper: Each student will write a 5 page paper that evaluates the primary source chosen by the student to lead a discussion. Your paper should briefly summarize the document, place it within the historical event to which it belongs, analyze the importance of the document and then explore audience and voice of the document. An outline of your paper will be provided by the instructor, along with a rubric for grading your final product. The Source Evaluation Paper will count 150 points, and is due October 20. A 20 point per day penalty will be applied for late submissions.
Reading Assignments
2e = Roark, et al, Understanding the American Promise, Second Edition
1e = Roark, et al, Understanding the American Promise, First EditionAll other assignments can be found using the embedded Web-Links.
All readings should be completed before coming to class for the date listed