The colonial foundations; political, economic, social and cultural developments in the emerging United States; the early agrarian republic; the Civil War.
1. Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (BUY THIS NOW!)
2. Frederick Douglass, Narrative of Frederick Douglass (BUY THIS NOW!)
3. Thomas Paine, “Common Sense”(BUY THIS NOW!)
4. Tony Horwitz, Midnight Rising(BUY THIS NOW!)
GRADED ASSIGNMENTS:
1. Weekly response to reading: 10%
Each week there will be a reading, either on the blog or in one of our books. I will assign the reading and a question to accompany the reading. You will respond on the blog. Your response must be at least 250 words, which is basically a long paragraph. This writing is credit-no credit…if you write the response by Saturday evening of the week, you get full credit. If you do not, you get no credit.
DO NOT DO THIS AT THE LAST MINUTE. OTHER STUDENTS NEED A CHANCE TO RESPOND TO YOURWRITING, AND AS SUCH, YOU SHOULD RESPOND DURINGTHE WEEK AND NOT AT THE LAST MINUTE!
Weekly response to your classmates:
Each week, you need to respond to at least two of the comments made by your classmates. The length of your response does not matter, but you must be thoughtful. Ask questions, answer questions posed by others. Do not be combative here, as this is not that type of course or blog. But you can certainly ask probing questions and push the author to think more about the issue at hand. This writing is credit-no credit…if you do the response by Saturday evening of the week in question, you get full credit.
DONOT DO THIS AT THE LAST MINUTE. THIS PART OF THE COURSE IS SUPPOSED TO BEINTERACTIVE, AND AS SUCH, YOU SHOULD RESPOND DURING THE WEEK AND NOT AT THELAST MINUTE!
2. Slavery Research Project: (30%)
We will discuss this in much greater depth later in the quarter. For now, just know that I will give you the resources for this project. You will complete the project on your own and upload it to turnitin.com.
3. Mid-term Assessment: (30%)
This will be completed online and will be a mid-quarter assessment of your historical thinking.
4. Final Exam: (30%)
This will be our only face-to-face experience this quarter. We will take the final during the proscribed final exam date and time, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 11-1:30.
Reading:
How many of you love reading? I did not read a book until I was 18, so if you have not yet started your journey on this ever widening path, it’s never too late. In any course, there’s no substitute for reading. Theorist Jim Moffett says that “all real writing happens from plentitude,” meaning that you can only really write well about someone once you know about it. Reading is one way to know—not the only, by any means! I want you to have experiences with great texts. I can show you voluminous research proving why you need to read more, but then if I assign a stupid, long, expensive textbook you probably will end up not reading, or only reading to have the reading done, something we have all done, right? The economy now requires much higher literacy rates (see The World is Flat), and even though reading levels have not gone down in the last 40 years, it is crucial that you start to push your own reading so that your own literacy level goes up. For these ten weeks, diving wholeheartedly into the course reading is vital. Remember to read in a particular way. As reading expert and UCSB professor Sheridan Blau has argued, “reading is as much a process of text production as writing is.” Reading involves revision? Does that sound silly? As you read, think about the different ways that you understand what you read. Most importantly, when you read, think about the words of E.D. Hirsch, who says that we look at what a text says (reading), what it means (interpretation), and why it matters (criticism). Hey, but if you are in a history course, aren’t you supposed to be reading for exactly the number of miles of trenches that were dug in World War One, how many railroad workers died from 1890 to 1917, or what the causes of the Great Depression were? Anyway, the answer is yes and no. There are two types of reading that you’ll do in college. As the literary goddess theorist Louise Rosenblatt explains, there is aesthetic reading, where you are reading to have an experience with the text, and there is efferent reading, where you are reading to take away information from the text. You do both types all the time. Think about a phone book. You have probably never heard someone say of a phone book, “don’t tell me about it, I want to read it for myself.” Reading a phone book is purely efferent. In this course you will practice both types of reading. I have chosen texts that you can enjoy (aesthetic) and that you can learn from(efferent). I want to see and appreciate the detail in our reading, but in this course I’ll give you that detail in class lectures. In the reading, it’s much more important that you read texts that will live with you forever and to inspire you to think more thoroughly about your world. As you read, you should be working hard to create meaning for yourself. As Rosenblatt asserts, “taking someone else’s interpretation as your own is like having someone else eat your dinner for you.” Please, don’t let the numbskulls at wikipedia or sparknotes eat your dinner for you. Furthermore, there are some studies that say that Bakersfield is the least literate city in the country. Reading the fabulous, vibrant, fascinating, and difficult books that I have assigned you will fight against that trend!
Participation: You do not need to be the person who speaks out the most, asks the most questions, or comes up with the most brilliant historical arguments to receive full credit in participation. If you are in class and on time, discuss the issues that we raise, avoid the temptation to nod off, to leave early, or to text people during class (the three easiest ways to lose credit), and in general act like you care, then you will receive a good participation grade! Just being here does not guarantee a 100% participation grade, since you must be regularly actively involved for that to be possible.
In fact, to get a 90% participation grade or higher, you must attend all classes, contribute thoughtful comments to the larger class discussion every day, participate actively with those around you, and avoid the obvious: no sleeping, no texting, no using this course to study for other courses, no being late.
To get an 85%, you can miss one class and must contribute at least one comment per week to the large class discussion, participate actively with those around you, and avoid the obvious: no sleeping, no texting, no using this course to study for other courses, no being late.
To get an 80%, you can miss one class and must participate actively with those around you, and avoid the obvious: no sleeping, no texting, no using this course to study for other courses, no being late.
To get a 75%, you can miss two classes and must participate actively with those around you, and avoid the obvious: no sleeping, no texting, no using this course to study for other courses, no being late.
Show up tardy more than once or fail to participate in the dialogue and the participation grade will begin to diminish quickly.
In fact, to get a 90% participation grade or higher, you must attend all classes, contribute thoughtful comments to the larger class discussion every day, participate actively with those around you, and avoid the obvious: no sleeping, no texting, no using this course to study for other courses, no being late.
To get an 85%, you can miss one class and must contribute at least one comment per week to the large class discussion, participate actively with those around you, and avoid the obvious: no sleeping, no texting, no using this course to study for other courses, no being late.
To get an 80%, you can miss one class and must participate actively with those around you, and avoid the obvious: no sleeping, no texting, no using this course to study for other courses, no being late.
To get a 75%, you can miss two classes and must participate actively with those around you, and avoid the obvious: no sleeping, no texting, no using this course to study for other courses, no being late.
Show up tardy more than once or fail to participate in the dialogue and the participation grade will begin to diminish quickly.
Academic Honesty
You are responsible for knowing all college policies about academic honesty. Any student who plagiarizes any part of his or her papers may receive an “F” in the course and a letter to the Dean. Here’s the opening paragraph of CSUB’s Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities:
Academic Integrity
The principles of truth and integrity are recognized as fundamental to a community of teachers and scholars. The University expects that both faculty and students will honor these principles and in so doing will protect the integrity of all academic work and student grades. Students are expected to do all work assigned to them without unauthorized assistance and without giving unauthorized assistance. Faculty have the responsibility of exercising care in the planning and supervision of academic work so that honest effort will be encouraged and positively reinforced.
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