As of December 31, 2014, I retired from full-time teaching in Humboldt State University's Department of History. While this website will remain online, it is no longer maintained.
History 383 - Fall 2015 - Dr. Gayle Olson-Raymer
Founders Hall 147
Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11-12 and 3-4 and by appointment
go1@humboldt.edu
The course syllabus - available online at http://gorhistory.com/hist383/383Syllabus2015.html - is divided into three parts:
Please consult this course syllabus online for all questions regarding course requirements and assignment due dates - as well as for any changes in the syllabus and/or assignments. Please note, even though the discussion guides are included for each class meeting, they are not the equivalent of the lecture notes. In most cases, the guides will not make sense without attending class. In other words, you must attend class!!! Please also note that I have the right to revise the syllabus at any time during the semester. Please note that this syllabus was revised on November 9, 2015.
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Course Description
This course analyzes the historical factors that have produced the very complex and diverse state of California. We will explore California's ethnic, economic, and geographical diversity, we will examine the efforts of those Californians who built the political, economic, and social infrastructure of the state and helped shape what people around the world continue to call the "California Dream," and we will learn about the courageous efforts of many Californians to change the reality of their limited and unequal access to that dream. My goals for teaching History 383 are to help you:
Attendance: Class attendance is mandatory. If you miss 3 classes, your final grade in the class will drop a full grade. If you miss 5 classes, your final grade will drop two full grades. If you miss 7 classes, your final grade will drop three full grades. More than 8 absences will result in failure.
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Course Requirements
For each class meeting, you will have various reading and Internet-based assignments. Prior to coming to class, please complete all reading and assignments explained in detail on the Course Outline below. Your prior thought and preparation about the assignments will enable us to have a more intellectual conversation during each class meeting. PLEASE NOTE - If you are a History Major or a History Major - Social Science Education Track student, keep all your work for this class with my comments on them for inclusion in your final portfolio for the History Department.
Following are the course requirements:
Book: Elaine Elinson and Stan Yogi, Wherever There's a Fight: How ruanaway slaves, suffragists, immigrants, strikers, and poets shaped civil liberties in California. Berkeley: Heyday Books, 2009. Chapters will be assigned as noted in the Course Outline below. Please note that several copies of this book are available on Reserve in the Library.
Primary and secondary documents: Various online primary and secondary documents as noted in the Course Outline below will be required and can be accessed directly online.
Assessments: The following will be completed throughout the semester: cold call reading reviews, three essay assignments, and four unit examinations. All assignments are listed in red on the course syllabus. Please note: You will only get credit for all of the following assignments IF you attend the entire class on the day the assignments are due.
- Cold Call Reading Reviews (50 total points or 10 points each for 5 cold calls). You will be assigned a total of 21 primary and secondary readings throughout the semester - each of which is available online or from Wherever There's A Fight. On the 20 days that you have required reading, I will pose questions directly related to the reading to 1/3 or more of all students who are present. Questions will be broad-based and will require analytical thinking. Additionally, at least one question will always address new academic language that you learned in the reading. To prepare you for the class "cold call," you should think about the following for each of the required readings:
- What are the 3-5 ideas/themes/topics that you believe are most important to understand in the reading.
- What are 1-5 new academic language words or phrases you encountered in the reading. You must be able to define them and explain how and why they are important to understand the article's content.
- What questions remain after you completed the reading.
Because I will be cold calling - not asking for volunteers - you must be ready to engage in a collegial discussion about the required reading. You may use any of your notes about the reading to help you formulate your answers. You will be called upon A MINIMUM OF 10 TIMES THROUGHOUT THE SEMESTER. If you are called upon more than 10 times, you will earn extra credit points for your answers. The following point system will be used to determine the score for the answers:
- 10 points if you engage intellectually in the conversation by addressing the specifics of the question and if your response indicates a deep understanding of the reading assignment;
- 8 points if you engage intellectually in the conversation by addressing most of the specifics of the question and if your response indicates a solid understanding of the reading assignment.
- 6 points if you engage in the conversation by addressing some of the specifics of the question and if your response indicates an average understanding of the reading assignment.
- 4 points if you can engage in the conversation but cannot address any of the specifics and if your response indicates a poor understanding of the reading assignment.
- 0 points if you cannot engage in the conversation, are unable to address the specifics of the question and you have little to no understanding of the reading assignment.
- Assignments (90 total points): You will complete 3 required assignments during the semester: one written assignment and two other written assignments that will result in Teach-Ins.
- Reading about and viewing films on Japanese Relocation on 10/22 - Click here to access the assignment - 30 possible points
- Viewing and Teach-In on Chicano! History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement and The Zoot Suit Riots on 12/3 - Click here to access the assignment - 30 possible points
- Reading and Teach-In about "Californians and Civil Liberties" on 12/10 - Click here to access the assignment - 30 possible points
- Three Exams (190 points). You will have three exams - a written exam for Unit I (40 points), an oral exam for Unit II (50 points), and an oral exam for Units III and IV (100 points).
- Written Exam for Unit I - due September 15th. You will be given four essay questions a 10 days before the exam. You must turn in your typewritten answers in essay format on September 15th. (40 points). The Unit I Key that provides information about the grade breakdown as well as key to understanding my comments on your exams, can be accessed by clicking here.
- Oral Exams - Unit II exam on October 13th (50 points) and the combined Units III and IV exam (100 points) on November 19th. These exams have the following components:
- Written component. Ten days before the exam, you will receive 4 essay questions. Each will address one or more of the course discussions for each unit of study and will require the use of specific examples from classroom discussion notes and required reading materials. You must take notes on each question and turn in your typewritten notes - in any format that helps you study - on the day of the exam.
- Oral component. For the oral component, the class will be divided into eight groups which will work together for 15 minutes to produce a collective answer to a one of the four questions. Each group will then take 5-7 minutes to present their answer to the class. The remainder of the class will engage in a dialog with the oral presenters about each of the questions and will complete a required evaluation form for the oral presentations.
- Each exam will be assessed as follows:
- 80 percent - will be based upon your written notes and the quality of examples used from the classroom and reading materials.
- 10 percent - will be based upon the dialog in which you engage during the presentations of the other groups.
- 10 percent - will be based on the evaluation form you complete during and after the oral presentations.
- There will be no make-ups for these exams. You must be present on the days they are given to receive your grade.
It is possible to accumulate 330 points for this semester's class. Points and grades will be earned as follows:
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Course Outline
This course is divided into four units of academic study. Under each of the four units, you will find the topic and a link to the discussion guides for each day's discussion, as well as the required reading/viewing and any required assignments that are due.
8/25 - Introduction: California - Land of Mythology and Geographical Diversity. The discussion guides can be found at http://gorhistory.com/hist383/Calif-LandofDiversity.html
Unit I: Colonizing California
Please note that we will not spend a class on the discussion of Brown, Reagan, and Brown: California Governors. (The discussion guides can be found at http://gorhistory.com/hist383/Brown-Reagan-Brown.html.) HOWEVER, you will have a question from the discussion guides on your final exam so you will have to go through the discussion guides on your own AND/OR in a study group.
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This course meets the five major skills that the History Department believes historians need and that history majors should develop as they progress through the major: writing, research, critical thinking, historiography and methodology, and oral presentation.