II. COURSE REQUIREMENTS

H580 is taught on a pass/fail basis. To pass, a student must complete all the work listed below to my satisfaction and must take part in the exploration of teaching strategies and problems during class discussions. The date when these are due are indicated on the schedule of readings. All of the written work should be uploaded to the drop box in the OnCourse site for our class by 9:00 A.M. on the day that the assignment is listed on the syllabus. Here are the types of work required

1) Eight Essays Written in Response to Specific Questions on the Syllabus

I have organized the work for the course around eight essays. This work is designed to help you capture and apply the ideas from the readings to your own developing strategies for teaching so that they will be readily available to you in the future. You will also be producing materials that you can use in future job searches. The essays should be 2-3 pages long, not counting end notes, and they should make specific reference to materials in the readings.

2) The Plan for a Course that You are Prepared to Teach

As part of the course you will develop a course description and a syllabus, which will be suitable for submission as part of a teaching dossier or as part of an application to teach a course on our campus. The syllabus should provide your future students with a clear over view of what they can expect in your course, weekly reading assignments (you need not give specific page numbers), and a clear indication of what kinds of exams or papers will be used.

3) Other Assignments

There will be a few other small assignments mentioned in the syllabus, including “Medusa” questions, feedback to your classmates on their course plans, etc.

4) Classroom Observations

By the times indicated on the schedule of readings you should have completed the observation of two classes in other courses: a small discussion (under 30 students ) and a large class (more than fifty students). You will write a two-page description and evaluation of the class you attend, discussing the positive and negative aspects of the methods being used, and relating what you have observed to material read in class. There should be no indication of the identity of the lecturer, either directly through the use of his or her name or indirectly through specific references to the subject matter of the class.

5) Teaching a Section of the Course

Each member of the class will be responsible for planning and teaching about an hour's worth of material from one day's class. In most cases this will involve identifying extra readings for the rest of us, preparing a lesson plan, and conducting the class. I have listed below some of the topics to be covered, but you have a special interest in some other issue, please let me know.

1) Reading history

2) Writing history

3) Preconceptions about history that students bring into the class

4) The use of technology in teaching history

5) History teaching as a vocation

6) Institutional and historical dimensions of contemporary history teaching