TSI satisfied in Reading and Writing, HIST
1301 recommended but not required.
·
Critical Thinking Skills (CT) - creative
thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of
information
·
Communication Skills (COM) - effective
development, interpretation and expression of ideas through written, oral and
visual communication
·
Social
Responsibility (SR) - intercultural competence, knowledge of civic
responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national,
and global communities
·
Personal
Responsibility (PR) - ability to connect choices, actions and
consequences to ethical decision-making
Upon successful
completion of this course, students will:
1.
Create an argument through the use of historical
evidence.
2.
Analyze and interpret primary and secondary
sources.
3.
Analyze the effects of historical, social,
political, economic, cultural, and global forces on this period of United
States history.
This textbook is required for all written assignments: David M. Kennedy,
Lizabeth Cohen, and Mel Piehl, The Brief American Pageant: A History of the Republic, 9th edition. It is the one-volume edition containing 41 chapters and is used for
both History 1301 and History 1302. The ISBN is 9781337124645; however, that
ISBN is a “bundle” and includes both the textbook and an online program called
Mindtap. In this course, we will not use Mindtap.
You must use your textbook and other resources provided in the
course (including primaries for your 2nd writing assignment) as
your only source for your written assignments. For all written assignments,
you must cite a specific page from
the textbook or a primary for your facts. (See Evidence Requirements at the
bottom of Lesson Units and on the Course Menu.)
You must use your
textbook and required primaries and other resources provided in the course as
your only source of facts for your written assignments. For all out-of-class
written assignments, you must cite a specific page from the textbook or primary
for your facts.
Under section
51.907 of the Texas Education Code, “an institution of higher education may not
permit a student to drop more than six courses, including any course a transfer
student has dropped at another institution of higher education.” This statute
was enacted by the State of Texas in spring 2007 and applies to students who
enroll in a public institution of higher education as a first-time freshman in
fall 2007 or later. There are many exceptions to this rule. Please refer to the
current WCJC catalog for information.
In the History Department, instructors may not drop students.
Students must drop their course. WCJC sets the last date for a student to drop
a course. That date is on the first page of this syllabus and also on the
Course Schedule at the end.
History is not only
a required course, but also helps you succeed in your future. Understanding
history:
·
Provides useful information that can help you in
all of the roles you will have in your life—family member, student, worker who
may have to retrain many times in a rapidly changing world, and decision maker
about your own life and about your own vote.
·
Develops useful skills in reading, analysis,
decision-making, and practical writing that are necessary for all of those roles.
United
States History II covers from 1877 to the 21st Century. The course is split into
three Units, or major time periods, that reveal shifts in our history. The
three time periods are:
·
Unit 1: Creating a New America from 1860 to
1913
·
Unit 2: Moving to the World Stage – America from 1890 to 1945
·
Unit 3: Transformations – America from 1945 to
the Present
In this course, you
need to use Blackboard for five things:
1.
Using resources including links, maps, and
primary sources (sources created during the period we are examining).
2.
Taking the 4 required Evidence Quizzes
3.
Taking required Learning Quizzes.
4.
Submitting written assignments to Turnitin within
Blackboard. Caution: You must be in Blackboard to submit.
5.
Using Blackboard’s My Grades to see your grades
throughout the course and, if needed, your instructor’s Comment to you about
that grade as guidance on what you need to do.
If you have limited Internet or computer access,
see me for ways to work with less time online.
The Getting Started activities are provided in the top of Lesson Units. If you come in after the due date, you must still do at least your Course Plan, but I will record—temporarily—a 1.11 for the grade. At the end of the term, you email me that you have not been late with other assignments and I will gladly change the grade to match what I have entered in the Comment for that grade.
Quizzes, whether about concepts or evidence, always consist of:
· A self-test so you can find out what you know and do not know—with no points lost for find that out!
· Once you submit the self-test, Blackboard automatically displays additional content (if needed) and a full-test that you may repeat. The highest score counts.
If you take the Self-Test by the recommended date in the Course Schedule, you earn 1 extra credit point. (You must also attempt the Full-Test, which is located in the same folder. Tip: Why not repeat until you have the highest score?)
These quizzes occur in Unit 1 and Unit 2. The content of the
Evidence Quizzes comes primarily from a tutorial on the 5 Good Habits for
Evidence, with some additional content provided with it. The grading of writing
assignments is on how you apply these basics of evidence. (See Evidence
Requirements, available on the Course Menu and in Lesson Units.)
Learning Quizzes let students focus on concepts, such as the meaning of words, the location and traits of places, and parts of essential documents. Understanding concepts helps you understand accurately the facts you encounter. Questions from these quizzes are also 8 (over 30%) of the 25 questions on each Unit exam.
In this class, questions do not
require that you show you know everything,
but that you show that you know something.
The questions focus on your recognizing significant traits of such things as
regions, time periods and their dominant beliefs or events, and historical
figures. The Course Plans
that you submit during Getting Started provide a link with examples of this
type of question. Use that
link.
The questions in the Unit Objective Exam are pulled from Learning
Quizzes (8 of the 25 questions), the instructor’s Lesson links, with these
requirements reinforced in the study guide. There are 25 questions in sets (so
questions vary from person to person).
There is a review for the Final Exam provided in
the course in a Learning Module at the bottom of Learning Units. The Final Exam
has 50 questions, at 2 points each. The questions in the Departmental Final
Exam were written directly or chosen by the History Department.
Caution: Departmental
policy is an F for the course if you
do not take the Final. In other words, if you have an A average for all of the
prior work in the course and if you do not take the Final Exam, I am required
to enter an F for your final Letter grade
for the course.
Writing assignments are freshman level, brief, and use only the textbook and resources in the course. You focus on a specific historical question as though you were teaching another student. You follow rules for citation provided in the course. Every part of the writing and all feedback, including your peer review of others’ work, is to be based on the 5 Good Habits for Evidence. It is not about style or opinion. It requires you practice skills essential to get and keep a good job. Points are entered only after you respond to feedback—whether that feedback was from your instructor or a student who peer reviewed your paper.
Your writing assignments are located in Required Writing, available on the Course Menu and in Lesson Units. Instructions and any materials you need and the Turnitin Assignment that you use are there.
A 3-Part
Writing Assignment – Paper, 2 Peer Reviews of Other Students’ Papers, and Your
Responses to Feedback
For your paper, you follow the instructions and answer one of the questions provided. You use primaries. You write a brief paper and a reflection. Since a word count can be hard to think about, the paper—if printed—is to be under 1 page double-spaced; the reflection, under ˝ page. For both, you provide citation as specified.
For your peer review, you follow the instructions on how to give specific feedback on the form and to mark the student’s page. You focus your feedback on whether the other student followed the 5 Good Habits for Evidence. For this, you are specific. If you refer to something in the textbook, you provide citation.
With Turnitin
assignments in this class, you:
· Submit your file to Turnitin in Blackboard. (We do not use Turnitin at a separate website.)
·
May resubmit your file many times until the Due
Date. For example, you may submit to Turnitin for feedback on grammar and plagiarism, then correct the file,
and resubmit it. Submit early so you can ask questions on such things as what
Turnitin has identified in its originality report.
With these Turnitin
assignments, you must do these 2 things for your work to be graded.
1.
Submit your file
before 11:59 PM on the Due Date (always a Sunday). Cautions: Do
not wait until the last minute. Be sure you see and print/scan the digital
receipt before you exit. You do not turn in the digital receipt, but save it in
case there is a problem. If it seems to be taking an unusually long time to
submit your file, it is usually safest to exit and resubmit.
2.
Bring a print
of the paper to your instructor before the seating chart is complete on
your next class day after the Due Date. Caution:
Do not wait until the last minute.
Dis
This is a 1000-point
course, with points added as you earn them. You can see your current total in
Blackboard. At the end of each Unit, I
post an Announcement in Blackboard to help you determine your current letter
grade. If the grade is lower than you want, please ask for help. The Final
Letter Grade is determined by this scale:
Point Range |
Final Letter Grade |
895
– 1000 |
A
(exceptional) |
795
– 894 |
B
(above average) |
695
– 794 |
C
(average) |
595
– 694 |
D
(below average) |
Below
595 |
F
(failing) |
The 1000-point
course consists of these points, with the first 2 being general assignments,
the middle 4 being objective assignments, and the last 2 being written
assignments:
· 30 – Getting Started activities (How you start frequently determines your success at the end)
· 90 – Participation and Self-Management to Help Both Objective and Written Work
· 40 – 4 Evidence Quizzes @ 10 points each
· 200 – Lesson Quizzes
· 300 – 3 Unit Objective Exams @ 100 points each
·
100 – Comprehensive Final Exam– Departmental policy is an F for the course if you do not take it.
·
60—4 in class short essays @ 20 points each,
with the lowest being dropped.
·
240 – 3-Part Writing with the paper @ 100
points, 2 Peer Reviews of Other Students’ Papers @ 50 points each, and Your
Response to Their Feedback @ 40 points
This course does not offer extra credit at the end of the class to
help a few people make a higher grade. It does offer extra credit to all students for doing things that will
make them better students. Because these
offers require that you do things at a specific time or way, what you do is
covered in the Course Plan that you do in Getting Started.
The History Department has student learner outcomes that require
writing based on evidence and that require that you use primaries as well as
secondaries. The Course Plan you submit during Getting Started provides a link
to explain those objectives and the meaning of the terms primary and secondary.
Use that link.
The written work must be over 25 percent of your final grade, a
requirement for all history instructors. That minimum means formal writing
assignments are essential to pass. The Course Plans that you submit during
Getting Started provide a link to show you math examples so you can see how
that 25% writing requirements makes success in writing essential. Use that
link. The Course Plan you submit during Getting Started provides a link to
explain those objectives and the meaning of the terms primary and secondary.
Use that link.
For many students, a United States history course is the first
time they have had to write about something that is real—not just opinion—and therefore requires verifiable evidence from a reliable
source. Some students never had United States history before. Some students
are very uncomfortable and inexperienced with writing.
Also, history is cognitively like biology: both disciplines are
real and both are also detailed, complex, and interconnected. That means you
have plenty of ways to be wrong about those realities. Many students seem to
have problems with both of these disciplines.
To try to help students with the issues above, this course does
three things. First, it provides information and quizzes on these basic rules
of evidence so you can find out what you do not know about evidence before you write. Second, it uses one
rubric for all writing assignments and your feedback on that rubric tells you
which of the 5 Good Habits for Evidence—which way of working—you may need to
change. Third, with permission of the History Department to do this experiment
to try to help students, it divides written grades in two parts:
The Course Plans that you submit during Getting Started provide a link to show
you how dividing written grades in those two parts can help your grade—and your
skills. Use that link.
Factual accuracy is
a key to success with assignments based on evidence, not opinion. Being able to
focus on factual accuracy in class requires self-management by the class. To
encourage self-management, the seating chart is a way to record distracted or
distracting behavior and—the ideal—focused behavior.
If you read
carefully before class, your focused participation can help the class dialog as
part of the lecture. Good participation is useful to others and means such behaviors as:
1) No guessing and no use of information other
than from the textbook or sources within the course
2) No answers that are off topic
3) Asking questions that are on topic (You can
always ask general questions at the beginning of class.)
4) No hogging or bullying (examples available)
5) No use of electronics,
including no attempts to hide them while using them
Each Unit has a Self-Management grade @ 30 points for a total of 90
points (9%) of your final grade. A mark on the seating chart in orange means no
points for the Unit; no marks at all, 23.9; and one or more marks in blue, the grades shown below.
Points |
Letter
Grade |
What
Do You Do to Earn It? |
How
Is It Measured? |
Quantity
Required |
23.9 |
C++ averaging as a B- |
In class, no distracted or distracting behaviors |
No orange dots
in your seating chart for the Unit. |
0 (Absolutely not 1 time during the Unit) |
25.5 |
Averages as a mid-B |
Does the above and also does focused
participation in class dialog within lecture |
1 blue
dot in your seating chart for the Unit |
At least 1 time |
27.0 |
Averages as an A- |
Does both things above |
2 blue
dots |
At least 2 times |
30 |
100% |
Does both things above |
3 or more blue dots |
At least 3 times |
Disruptive behavior
that is a consistent problem will result in the student’s dismissal from this
course. The term “classroom disruption” means behavior a reasonable person
would view as substantially or repeatedly interfering with the conduct,
instruction, and education of a class. Examples include resorting to physical
threats or personal insults, coming to class under the influence of alcohol or
a controlled substance other than prescriptions, or abusing students or
instructors with offensive remarks. They also include repeatedly leaving and
entering the classroom without authorization, making loud or distracting
noises, persisting in speaking without being recognized. (See WCJC’s Student
Handbook.)
WCJC’s Student Handbook explains responsibilities for attendance and when a student should withdraw from the course. I will consider active attendance throughout the course favorably when computing final grades that are borderline. (Details provided in class.) Active attendance means 3 things: 1) using the upcoming Lesson’s Learning Quizzes before class, 2) using that preparation to participate positively in problem solving in class, 3) taking notes, and 4) removing all distractions. Using a cell phone, smartwatch, computer, or other device during class makes active attendance improbable. Put up all of these devices before class starts. Your self-management in class during each of the 3 Units is measured for a grade. (Covered above.) If you cannot resist using your cell phone—for example—during class, then you will not only lose the points for the Unit, but also before the beginning of the next class you will need to place the device in a safe location provided by the instructor and then pick up your device at the end of class.
Exceptions: If you have a family emergency or equivalent event that requires your being able to respond to cell phone messages during a class, then see me before class. If counseling has confirmed that you need to use a computer during class and if you use it only for work going on in this class, then provide their form to me and talk with me privately.
Attendance will be taken once daily at the beginning of the class. If you come into class after it has begun (after the seating chart is complete), you are not marked as attending for the day. Students who frequently come to class after the class has begun tend to make very low grades for the course. For example, they miss announcements about topics for the day and they do not hear other students’ questions about upcoming assignments. With out-of-class assignments, work is due at the beginning of class. For example, if you arrive after the seating chart is complete, you cannot hand in your paper copy of a Turnitin Assignment. If you cannot come to class, have the printed copy timestamped at the reception area before the class starts.
On the date in the Course Schedule (at the end of this syllabus), you choose your preferred seat; however, students who chat after class starts will be moved to another seat on the next class day.
WCJC’s Student
Handbook explains student responsibilities and provides examples of misconduct.
It states “plagiarism and cheating refer to the use of unauthorized books,
notes, or otherwise securing help during a test; copying tests [or]
assignments….” The Handbook provides details on college-level policies. In this
course, copying any part of an assignment from the Internet or another source
is a zero (0) on the assignment.
It is your
responsibility:
1. To talk to me if you do not know what to do or need help. The earlier we talk, the better your chances of success.
2.
To use the
Course Schedule to determine:
·
What Lessons we are covering in the coming week and
therefore what Learning Quizzes you should start
·
What is
DUE—including preparation and what you print and bring to class before the
seating chart is completed.
3.
To
understand the Late Work Policy (below) so you can understand the consequences
of your decisions.
It is your
responsibility to talk to your instructor if you do not know what to do. The
earlier we communicate, the better are our chances for success.
With due dates for
any assignment, including exams and required writing, there are no extensions
unless it is appropriate to make an extension available to all of you. You have
these responsibilities:
Tip: Examine
the Course Schedule to determine if you have conflicts and immediately propose
an earlier date.
With a valid,
written excuse for something that no one could plan for, these rules apply.
·
If you miss an
exam, your make-up exam is taken on the date
of the Final Exam.
·
If you miss a
Required Writing (with the exception of Peer Reviews), you receive an
extension, set by me, with no penalty.
Without a valid,
written excuse for something that no one could plan for, you receive a 0. Tip: If you had an
event that does not meet the criteria of something that no one could plan for
and if you cannot prepare as much as you prefer, do the assignment as best you
can. A low grade is better than a 0.