Course Objectives
Welcome to Early World History! In this
class, we will explore the development of world societies from the dawn of
agriculture in 10,000 BCE to roughly 1000 CE with the rise and spread of Islam
from Arabia to Islamic Spain. This class is intended to examine how history
functions as an academic discipline, learn to work with a wide range of
historical sources, engage in student-directed learning, and enhance research
and analytical writing skills. This class has a blog, available to both
students and parents at http://earlyworld15-16.blogspot.com/
Assignments, news-worthy items, and other resources are posted there.
You will find that I seek to inspire
curiosity about the world and enthusiasm for historical texts. I push myself to work diligently and
creatively and to provide meaningful and engaging lessons of value to you now
and beyond. We will examine and
challenge the work of eminent scholars, and you will encounter a variety of
perspectives and interpretations, and not a singular or definitive narrative
about the world’s history. Our
best-case scenario is to develop a dynamic, and trusting, classroom
environment. To that end, we must strive to encourage and respect one another.
We will engage in discussion and debate frequently, and our success depends on
the free and respectful exchange of ideas. You will be asked to act as an historian yourself, which is
not unlike the role of detective or attorney, making your own interpretations
based on available evidence and marshaling your own arguments. You will find your evidence within the
assigned readings and the scholarly books and articles from our remarkable
library, and typically NOT on Google.
This course introduces all the skills necessary for the higher-level
history courses at U-High, and the feedback I provide on essays and other
activities will be targeted at those skills that will be demanded of you in those
courses, in college, and during internships.
Expectations
The Laboratory Schools encourages
students beginning in middle school to develop the skill of self-advocacy,
meaning they correspond professionally and respectfully with teachers in-person
or via email. I am an easy teacher with which to meet and correspond. I am
available outside of class often in the History Office during Open Time on
Tuesdays and Thursdays, at lunch, and by appointment. I also respond to email during the school day
and until 9 pm; you should not hold any expectation that I will respond after 9
pm until the next day.
We
also will use state-of-the-art technology as a tool for academic purposes:
students are expected to limit their laptop and tablet use to note-taking and
assigned activities. Frequently, I will
ask you NOT to use your technology in order to encourage an interactive,
physical community, so you might take notes by hand.
All
of us need to bring necessary materials, including assigned texts, to
class. Likewise, all assignments should be completed and
turned in on time; in the interest of fairness, exceptions will only be made
for absences or extenuating circumstances of which I am notified in
advance. It is your responsibility to
talk to me about making arrangements for missed work. The handbook provides that if you find
yourself in a situation where you have three (3) tests/papers/final projects
assigned for the same day and you are concerned about the workload, you may
approach the teacher of the last assigned
item to ask professionally and respectfully for a reasonable
extension.
Assigned
Work
The
assigned work "page" of the blog, http://earlyworld15-16.blogspot.com/,
should be read as follows: the assignment identified with the class should be
completed in advance of that day's class period. In other words, this
assignment is necessary to the in-class activity, and you will be at a
disadvantage, even loss, to understand it without completion of the assignment. The most common form of assigned work is
reading: the most useful way to take notes is by developing a list of textual
quotes that address the assigned question.
Grading
This
class uses the grading scale adopted by the High School (see below and page 11
of the Handbook). Grades with decimals will be rounded up
at the half-point mark. Each letter
grade also has a numerical value associated with it (in parentheses in the
above scale). The final grade for the year will be determined by adding the
numerical values from each quarter and dividing by three. For example, a raw
score of 3.68 or above would be an A for the year.
A 93-100% (4.00) C+ 77-79 (2.33) D- 60-62 (0.67)
A- 90-92 (3.67) C 73-76
(2.00) F 0-59 (0.00)
B+ 87-89 (3.33) C- 70-72
(1.67)
B 83-86 (3.00) D+ 67-69
(1.33)
B- 80-82 (2.67) D 63-66
(1.00)
Grading Breakdown
25%
Quarterly Research Paper e.g., all assignments related to the
quarterly research paper including the smaller checkpoint items
25%
Verbal and Written Class e.g., daily verbal participation in Harkness
Participation
discussions
as well as group projects and debates as well as written work such as maps and
worksheets
50%
Exams and Quizzes e.g., major unit essay exams and unit
map quizzes
Grading in this class will be weighted by
category as well as within each category by point value to reflect the varying
importance, difficulty, and time involved in different assignments. Categories also provide valuable data on your
strengths and areas of improvements, such as the quality of your analytical
writing.
- Exams and Quizzes will take the form of in-class essay prompts and maps quizzes. The essay prompt(s) will be analytical in nature, asking you to respond to a question or analyze an artifact/text using both the relevant materials and skills we focused on in that unit. The map portion(s) will include major countries, cities, and the most significant bodies of water and mountain ranges.
- A Quarterly
Research Paper will
be assigned quarterly of at least 3-5 pages, with independent primary and
secondary source research. Students will develop their research
question, a debatable thesis, an annotated bibliography, and the final
paper. These will be submitted to http://www.turnitin.com.
- Participation in
class is a major part of the course. For verbal participation, I will
track the quantity and quality of participation and assign a grade based
on average amounts of participation from the class, with the general
expectation that 75% of the class participates daily. In other words, I
maintain a log in which I keep notes of your verbal participation during class
discussions and other activities. For written participation, you can expect
source analyses, thesis/evidence exercises, reflections, and other written
work. I will do my
best to provide a variety of opportunities for participation with the goal
of making everyone feel comfortable being involved in the class. Nonetheless, you must develop a VOICE
within the classroom, sharing your ideas and interpretations with the
whole class. Some participation may be weighted over the course of a
multi-day project, such as that involving a presentation, debate, or
Harkness discussion of an epic such as Gilgamesh, the Iliad, and Beowolf.
In April or May, students will take the world geography exam,
which is a departmental requirement of Early World History students. This
pass/fail exam covers nations, capitals, and major bodies of water and mountain
ranges from across the globe. Students will prepare in and out of class
for this exam and must receive a minimum score of 60% of it. Extra credit
will be awarded in the "Assessment" category for scores above 90%.
The best online "tutorial" resource for this exam is http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/Geography.htm
Academic Honesty
Respect others’ work! It’s not yours! In other words,
give due credit to the creative, the original, and the inventive.
The Laboratory Schools are part of the University of Chicago, an esteemed
institution where individuals are prized and credited for their ideas and hard
work, and Lab students are asked to infuse their efforts with their own
creativity, originality, and inventiveness. You are also asked to
"show your work," meaning you work hard, show it off! Make sure
you earn brownie points by showing me all the books and websites you looked at:
it's not hard to keep track.
Academic dishonesty “includes – but is not limited to – any type
of cheating, such as plagiarizing, copying another’s work, letting someone copy
your work, or using resources like calculators, notebooks, websites, and cell
phones when not allowed.” (High School Handbook, p. 40 and 41). All
suspected cases of academic dishonesty must be reported to the Dean of Students
to determine what consequences are appropriate. In history courses,
two forms of academic dishonesty are often misunderstood. First, students
should not discuss the actual test content or the substance of the test content
in casual conversation, paper, text, etc. Second, students should not cut
and paste and/or copy ideas/phrases/words from books/articles/Internet/other
students etc. without proper citation. I will let you know when
assignments are individual or collaborative in nature.
Student Name (please print): ______________________________
Student: I have
read the above guidelines and I understand them.
(Signature)
(Date)
Parent/Guardian: I have
read the above guidelines and approve of them.
(Signature)
(Date)
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