History H106, U.S. Survey, II, Civil War to the Present

School of Education Section: Fall 2005

Tuesday and Thursday, 2:30-3:45 , Cavanaugh Hall, Room 226; three credits

Professor: Philip Scarpino

Office: 503R Cavanaugh

Phone: 274-5983/5840 (Please send “regular” email rather than leave voice mail.)

Email: pscarpin@iupui.edu

Office Hours: Mon. 4:00-5:15 ; Tues.; 1:15 - 2;15; Th, 3:45 - 4:45 ; & by appt.

Looking Backward Discussion Questions

Grapes of Wrath Discussion Questions

Readings

True/False Practice

Field Trip Extra Credit

Study Questions for Exam #1

Study Questions for Exam #2

Discussion Questions for Silent Spring

Study Questions for Final Exam

History 106 is a survey of American history that covers the period from the end of the Civil War (1865) to the present. This course critically examines the transformation of a traditional American society into a modern American nation. In analyzing this broad theme, we will consider a variety of political, social, and economic topics that address the development of the U.S. as an urban, industrial nation and as a world power. We will focus our attention on ordinary people, as well as on prominent leaders. At the end of this class, you should be much better equipped to answer three basic questions for yourself: What is the meaning of America ? What does it mean to be an American? How and why have the answers to these questions changed from time to time, place to place, and group to group?

This section of H106 is a open only to students enrolled in the School of Education , either in Social Studies Education or Elementary Education. Indiana ’s Academic Standards (revised in August 2001) emphasize content-based training for teachers. This section of H106 will ground students in the content of the past. In addition, this class will meet on several Friday afternoons for visits to cultural resource institutions in the metropolitan area. In each case, the class will have an overview tour, meet with professionals who work with teachers, and engage in some type of group-based participatory exercise. (Schedule provided towards end of this syllabus.) Students should take away from the class a greatly enhanced understanding of post-Civil War U.S. history, along with more appreciation for, and confidence in, their ability to make that content come alive for by taking advantage of what cultural resource institutions have to offer to teachers and students. I have illustrated the class with historical images and sound, largely to demonstrate that it is possible to use resources mostly available on the Internet to add richness and interest to history classes. I will provide opportunities for students to engage the material and each other through occasional participatory exercises, and from time to time I will distribute information on resources that teachers can use to enrich their own teaching.

The following books are required for this class:

1. Mary Beth Norton, et al, A People and a Nation, Vol. Two, 6th edition (2001).

2. Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward (Originally published 1888).

3. John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (1939).

4. Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962).

The volumes by Edward Bellamy, John Steinbeck, and Rachel Carson (two novels and one non-fiction) provide first-person interpretations of key themes in modern U.S. history. Combined with the text and lectures, they should add depth to our examination of the content and interpretation of recent U.S. history.

Tentative Exam Schedule:

First Exam October 6 25 percent

Second Exam November 10 25 percent

Final December 15 (Th.) 25 percent

( 3:30-5:30 , CA-226)

Field trip participation and

Portfolio November 15 15 percent

(Portfolio due date)

Readings Quizzes* See reading assignments 10 percent

*I will count the two highest of three quiz scores.

THIS CLASS WILL HAVE SOME EXTRA-CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES; SEE, BELOW.

Students will earn field trip points in two ways: (1) [You can earn up to 50 points for participation in the required field trips.] You will earn participation points by attending 5 of the 8 Friday afternoon field trips listed later on this syllabus. I will deduct 10 participation points for each unexcused absence from a Friday afternoon field trip. For example, if you attend 4 trips you get 40 out of 50 points; if you attend 3 field trips, you receive 30 out of 50 points, and so on. I will not subtract points for excused absences, but because you are only required to attend 5 out of 8 scheduled field trips, I expect that you will make every effort to attend the field trips for which you sign up. The institutions that we will be visiting have agreed to provide considerable staff time to make your experiences there worthwhile. These visits are a key component of this class. They only work if you attend. If you miss a field trip, you should let me know and attempt to reschedule for another trip. Excused absences require documentation.

(2) [You can earn up to 50 points for your portfolio reflections on the field trips you attended .]

I will look for the following in grading your portfolio: (1) Your ability to clearly state your initial reflections and (2) your ability to explain the resources and programs that each institution you visited has that are likely to be useful to teachers of history and social studies. You are professionals in training. Grammar and spelling matter. Each of the host organizations for our field trips has a web site, which can be helpful. Many of them discuss how their resources can assist teachers meet the State Standards for History and Social Studies.

Portfolio Assignment: The purpose of this assignment is for you to reflect on your field trip experiences and demonstrate your ability to synthesize information from readings, class content, and the resources of the institutions you visited. To complete this cumulative assignment, you will need to do the following:

A. Keep a “typed” journal that includes your initial reflections of each museum visit. You should record your reflections immediately after your experience. Write down what interested you, any ideas that came to you for using this resource in a K-12 classroom, aspects of your experience you liked or did not like, and three to five things that you learned. Plan on one to one-and-one-half, double-spaced, typed pages per site. I will collect and return these initial reflections the class meeting follow each field trip.

B. Apply something you learned from each field experience and appropriate content from class to the teaching of Social Studies or history. Pick an artifact or exhibit or set of materials or something else that you saw at each location and explain why would you use this exhibit, artifact, or set of materials to teach the particular topic (or topics) represented, rather than using a textbook or lecture? Plan on two double-spaced, typed pages per site.

You will hand in all of the materials represented by A and B, above, typed and double-spaced, as your Portfolio, on November 15.

Testing procedures: About one week before each scheduled exam, I will place four or five essay questions on the history department’s home page http://www.iupui.edu/~history/ and on Oncourse, http://www.iupui.edu/ (click on Oncourse and follow prompts). On the day of the exam, you will be given two of these questions, and you will be required to answer one. I will schedule extra office hours before each test, and I invite you to take advantage of them.

Class Policies:

1. Attendance. The university and the School of Liberal Arts now require that instructors take attendance, and that they report the names of students who stop attending class but who have not officially withdrawn. My policy on attendance has two parts: (1) I will take attendance in class [field trips covered separately, above]; (2) I will subtract 2 points from your final grade average for every unexcused absence over four. Excused absences require that you talk to me and/or provide documentation. I believe strongly that learning is greatly diminished if a student fails to attend class.

2. Classroom Courtesy: Please arrive on time. If you need to be late or leave early, please come in quietly and sit at the back. Turn off cell phones and pagers prior to the beginning of class. If you need to maintain contact with children (or some other emergency contact), put your cell phone on vibrate. Absolutely no cell phones or pagers may be out in your view during tests or quizzes.

2. Grading. I will be very reluctant to give a grade of Incomplete (I). I will assign Incompletes only to students who have successfully completed most of the course work and who have been prevented by significant and unanticipated circumstances from finishing all of their assignments. I USE A GRADING SCALE THAT COUNTS HEAVILY FOR IMPROVEMENT.

3. Cheating and Plagiarism. My policy on cheating and plagiarism is to assign a zero to the work in question. Plagiarism is the act of stealing the ideas or writings of someone else and using them as your own. You plagiarize if you copy directly what someone else has written without quotations and proper citations. You also plagiarize if you paraphrase someone else's writings to avoid using quotations and citations, or if you use someone else's ideas or factual information without attribution. For further information, see: University Bulletin, 2004-2006, pp. 15, 36-37. For information on cheating and plagiarism and IUPUI’s policies on academic misconduct, please see: http://registrar.iupui.edu. (Click on “Students”; look under “Other”; and click on “Dealing with Student Academic Misconduct.”)

4. Use of Voice Mail and Email. I have twenty-four hour voice mail and email. I strongly urge you to contact me on “regular” email. Please note: If you leave a phone message, speak slowly, provide a number where you can be reached, state when you will be at that number, and I will try twice to return your call. Also note: If you miss an exam or a quiz or an appointment, it is your responsibility to contact me and reschedule. Simply leaving a message for me to get back to you does not absolve you of that responsibility.

Class field trips (All scheduled 1:00 - 3:30 pm – PLAN TO ARRIVE NLT 12:50)

Friday, September 9 Eiteljorg Museum

Friday, September 16 Indiana Medical History Museum

Friday, September 30 Indiana Historical Society

Friday, October 7 Indiana State Museum

Friday, October 14 Indianapolis Museum of Art

Friday, October 21 Benjamin Harrison House

Friday, October 28 Morris Butler House

Friday, November 4 Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana

You must sign up for five of the eight scheduled field trips. There are two sections of H106 that are for teachers in training. The other is taught by Dr. Anita Ashendel. Dr. Ashendel and I are scheduling the same field trips. The maximum capacity for each trip will be 12 from each class. I will provide detailed “sign up” instructions next week. Once we provide the sign up instructions, you need to make your choices and get them recorded. If you know you are not going to be able to make a trip for which you signed up, you should notify me to remove your name to “open up” your slot. If you are prevented from attending by unexpected and significant circumstances, please let me know and do your best to sign up for another trip. I will only consider granting an unexcused absence from field trips in cases where there is no other option but to attend fewer than the required five field trips.

Several of these places are within easy walking distance of campus: Indiana Historical Society, Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana, Eiteljorg Museum, Indiana State Museum.

Directions will follow as the dates approach. (Check OnCourse for announcements.)

Goals, Expectations, and Outcomes:

The “Principles of Undergraduate Learning” reflect the University’s commitment to key elements of a quality education. You can find these Principles posted on the Department of History’s Home Page: http://www.iupui.edu/~history/ . You will note that there are a number ways in which this class embodies the educational goals and expected outcomes articulated in the “IUPUI Principles of Undergraduate Learning”: I will emphasize the development of analytical ability and of reading and writing skills, rather than just the memorization of facts. Nonetheless, there is a body of factual material that we will expect students to master. Exams will have a significant essay component. Analysis of the range of choices that confronted people in the past and assessment of the consequences of acting on those choices invites consideration of ethics. The class will look at the interplay between various racial, ethnic, and cultural groups in the context of the historical development of a modern urban/industrial nation. Over the course of the twentieth century, Americans shaped and reshaped their surrounding environment. They did so using available energy and technology and acting upon attitudes and values embedded in their culture.

Skills routinely stressed and tested in H106 will include analytical thinking and interpretation, as opposed to memorization and regurgitation of information. I expect students to be able to process information from lectures, readings, and discussions, to reason clearly, and to think logically and critically.

Writing is the most common way that historians and students of history communicate the results of their work. Good writing is clear and focused; it uses examples to illustrate concepts; and it pays attention to content, as well as grammar, spelling, syntax, and other skills stressed in the basic English composition classes. Effective oral communication is also an important outcome of a liberal arts education. Discussion will provide students with an opportunity to sharpen their ability to speak clearly in front of others.

History is a study of changing human experiences over time, and historical writing is often concerned with process. Ask yourself: What did we start with? What happened? What did we end up with? Historical writing should convey an understanding of process and a sense of chronology. I will not insist on the memorization of large numbers of dates, but I will expect that you know key dates and the order in which things happened. You will need to be clear about who the actors were. For example, don't write "they" or "the people" when you mean factory workers in the late 19th century or civil rights activists in the 1960s.

One of the really exciting things about a class like H106 is that it can simultaneously help you to understand the past and the present. At the same time, because H106 covers modern American history, it is easy to fall into the trap of judging the past against your own values and experiences. While we are certainly not obliged to like or admire everything that our ancestors did, we should try to understand their actions in the context of their own time.

Extra Credit:

I will provide some opportunities to earn extra credit, which may, over the course of the semester, equal the equivalent of 5 points or half a letter grade. I will add the extra credit directly to your final average. For example, if your final average is 89 and you have 2 extra credit points, you will have a final score of 91. You must do the extra credit by the deadlines provided and not “stack” it all up at the end of the semester.

I will grade extra credit assignments as follows: check +, check, and check minus. Check + and check earn the extra credit; check minus does not. If you have any questions about the expectations, talk to me ahead of time. I will hold, absolutely, to the due dates.

Possible extra credit assignments:

1. In 2 to 3 double-spaced, typed pages write out an answer to either question 2 or 16 on the study questions for Looking Backward. Due at the beginning of class, September 20.

2. In 2 to 3 double-spaced, typed pages write out an answer to one of the following questions on the study questions for The Grapes of Wrath, 4 or 10 or 11 (part a, b, or c) or 18 or19. Due at the beginning of class on November 1.

3. Attend an extra field trip and write 2 to 3, double-spaced, typed pages in which you identify something that really stood out and explain how it could help a teacher meet State Standards for Social Studies and History. Pick a grade level, such as elementary, middle school, or high school and “pitch” your explanation at that level. See me for the web site for the State Standards. Due date will be the first Thursday following your extra credit field trip at the start of class, e.g., for September 9 field trip, extra credit due on September 15; for the November 4 field trip, extra credit due on November 10.

4. You may brief the class on an upcoming field trip, the Tuesday or Thursday before the trip. You must arrange this with me at least two weeks in advance. No written assignment, but your presentation must be about 10 minutes long. You may not directly use the web site of the host organization in your briefing, unless you clear it with me ahead of time. You will “prep” the class for one of the field trips -- just as you should prep your own students when you become a teacher yourself. I will provide more direction next week, but generally speaking, you will make an oral report about 10 minutes in length to the class, (you may distribute summary handouts), that explains where they will be going and what they will be seeing. Your report should also explain to the class what kinds of resources this institution has to meet the needs of teachers of history and social studies. If you want to use Power Point or over head slides, we have that equipment in the room.

5. Attend a lecture on campus or at an institution in the metro area that covers a subject related to the content of the class or one or more of the field trips. Write 2 to 3 double page summary. You must clear this with me in advance. Due no later than November 10.