Spring 2016

Angelina College

Liberal Arts Division

History 1302:United States History 1877 to Present

Instructional Syllabus

Instructor: Brian King

Phone: 362-2132 (school)

615-8120 (cell)

Email:

I. Basic Course Description:

A. Course Description:

This three-hour course surveys the development of American characteristics and nationality from the earlyEuropean exploration through the Reconstruction Period by studying the social, political, economic, cultural, and intellectual history of an evolving United States of America. It also includes studies of pre-Columbian, colonial, revolutionary, early national, slavery, sectionalism, as well as the eras of the Civil War and Reconstruction. We will discover how our country’s federal government was created as well as analyze the prevailing factors of religion, civil and human rights, immigration and migration, changes in economics and technology had on the core values of our country’s foundations.

B. Intended Audience:

History 1302 is intended for registered students of Angelina College and is a requirement of all who seek an Associate of Arts or Science degree or who plan to transfer to a four- year university.

II. Intended Student Outcomes:

  1. Required Course Objectives for History 1302:
  1. Critical Thinking Skills: to include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, as well as analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of information
  2. Communication: to include effective development, interpretation and expression of ideas through written, oral, and visual communication
  3. Social Responsibility: to include intercultural competence, knowledge of civil responsibility, and the ability to engage in regional, national, and global communities
  4. Personal Responsibility: to include the ability to connect choices, actions and consequences to ethical decision-making

B. Course Learning Outcomes

The goals for student-learning objectives for History 1302 are as follows:

  1. Create a well-informed argument through the proper 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

III. Assessment Measures:

  1. Assessment Measures for Core Intellectual Competencies:

1. Critical Thinking: All students will be expected to write well-planned and concise short essays while demonstrating the ability to draw upon factual evidence as well as informed opinion in order to construct formal arguments and positions of historical events.

2. Communication: All students will be expected to communicate with the instructor as well as each other through verbal, written, and electronic means. All communications pertaining to in-class and out-of-class assignments are expected to be professional and courteous in nature. All communication deadlines are to be adhered to and documented so that there are no misunderstandings.

3. Social Responsibility:All students will research an assigned topic exploring Social Responsibility. Each will write a paper on the assigned topic that will be assessed using a rubric that incorporates the Angelina College Institutional Rubric for Social Responsibility.

4. Personal Responsibility: All students will be responsible for keeping up with dates of upcoming quizzes, exams, project deadlines, and discussion roundtables that will be incorporated into this course. Any assignments expected to be submitted to me should be done so on or before the deadline. The Angelina College Institutional Rubric for Personal Responsibility will be used to help students maintain their course responsibilities. I expect students to be in class on time and to be prepared to work during the entire class period. In class students are expected to conduct themselves in a mature and scholarly manner. Any student acting in a manner deemed to be immature or disruptive will be asked to leave class. Distractions will not be tolerated. Failure to abide by these standards could result in the student being dropped from the course.

  1. Assessments for Course Learning Outcomes:
  1. Students will demonstrate the ability to discuss, with fidelity, the importance, similarities, and differences in historic, economic, and cultural parallels between selected time periods in U.S. History.
  2. Students will learn to form and express their own opinions through careful analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of selected events and influential people throughout U.S. History.
  3. Students will be able to effectively communicate their positions on historical events through the writing process.
  4. Students will learn the importance of meeting previously set deadlines for due assignments and discussions. They will also learn the importance of being well prepared for class discussion by spending time with previously assigned reading material and short research topics that parallel our current unit.

IV. Instructional Procedures:

Lecture: The major portion of this course will proceed by a series of lectures, which are

paralleled by assignments in the form of periodic quizzes, which I may assign

on occasion. Students will generally know ahead of time about upcoming

quizzes, but not always. I strongly urge students to read over and study all

notes taken or discussed before the following week. The lectures will introduce

new material, stress important themes, and deal with matters of interpretation.

Discussion: Students are encouraged to actively participate in class by seeking

clarification of material discussed in the notes or lectures or by offering

their own insights.

Audio-Visual Aids: Audio and visual aids, which enhance the presentation of the course

will be utilized.

V. Course Requirements and Policies:

  1. Required Textbooks and Course Materials:
  1. Tindall, George Brown. America: A Narrative History. W.W. Norton and Company.

New York, 2013.

  1. I will also supply selected articles with historical significance that should be read

before the next class period.

  1. Students should always bring a pen and a spiral notebook for note-taking purposes and short review topics. Students are also encouraged to bring a laptop computer or

tablet with a keyboard to help with note-taking. This can also serve to help with

proper electronic organization of course material.

  1. Course Policies:

(This course conforms to the policies of Angelina College as stated in the Angelina

College Handbook)

  1. Academic Assistance:

If you have a disability (as cited in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

or Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990) that may affect your

participation in this class, you should contact Sellestine Hunt, Associate Dean of

student Services, located in the Student Center, Room 200. At a post-secondary

institution, you must self-identify as a person with a disability. Ms. Hunt can

assist with the necessary information to do so. To report any complaints of

discrimination related to disability, please contact Mr. Steve Hudman, Dean of

Student Affairs, located in the Student Center, Room 101. He may also be

reached at (936) 633-5292, or by email at .

  1. Attendance:

Attendance is required, per Angelina College policy, and will be recorded every

class day. Any student with three (3) consecutive absences or four (4)

cumulative absences may be dropped from the class. Records will be turned into

the academic dean at the end of the semester. Do not assume the non-attendance

in class will always result in a drop from the instructor. You must officially drop

the course or risk receiving an F. This is official Angelina College policy.

  1. Additional Policies Established by the Instructor:
  1. All students are expected to be respectful of classmates and the instructor.

failure to do so may result in the instructor dropping the disrespectful

student from the class.

  1. All students are expected to be on time for the beginning of class time.

Three (3) tardies will be considered one absence.

  1. All students are expected to turn in assignments by the due date. Extenuating

circumstances are rare but do happen but there should be evidence of

effective and timely communication with the instructor should a student

need to turn in an assignment late.

  1. All students are expected to turn off cell phones at the beginning of class and

should remain off until dismissed by the instructor.

  1. Any student caught cheating on an assignment, quiz, or exam, will result in a zero being assigned as the grade. The student will also be eligible for possible failure of the course. This included plagiarism, which includes copying the work of others without quotation marks and proper citations.
  2. It is the student’s responsibility to see the instructor if they missed a class to get caught up with appropriate material missed during the absence.
  3. Academic integrity is a must for this course and all other courses for any student. This includes providing the best possible academic effort one can give to their current studies and assignments.

VI: Assignment Evaluations:

  1. Major Exams
  2. There will be three major exams.
  3. The student will have the entire class period to complete each exam.
  4. Each major exam will have a possible value of 100 points.
  1. Exam #1
  2. Exam #2
  3. Exam #3
  4. Final Exam
  1. Outside Assignments
  2. Each student will be required to write a critical book review of a work that

encompasses a time period in U.S. History that begins in 1877.

The critical review will be equivalent to a major exam and will have

a value of 100 points. Requirements for the review will be discussed in class.

  1. Students will also be required to complete a personal responsibility contract assignment. Specifics of the assignment will be discussed at the outset of the semester. I will provide you an outline of how this project should be completed as well as the topics from which you may choose to study.
  1. Other Assignments
  2. Other educational evaluation techniques will be used during the course of the

semester.

  1. These techniques will be determined by me and will include both

announced and unannounced quizzes.

Each of these quizzes will have a value of 50 points toward the

calculation of semester grade.

  1. Final Exam
  2. The final exam will be comprehensive and will have a value of 100 points.
  3. Make-Up Exams
  4. If possible, notify me prior to missing a class or an exam.
  5. Make-up exams will be given only by permission for legitimate reasons and

must be taken within three days of the student’s return.

  1. It is the responsibility of the student to contact me concerning make-up

exams.

VII: Final Grade Evaluation:

A. Percentage Value for Grades:

1. 90-100% = A

  1. 80-89% = B
  2. 70-79% = C
  3. 60-69% = D
  4. 59-below = F

B. This grading system is used for individual grades and is used to determine the

semester grade. If there are any questions relating to grades, contact me.

C. Extra-Credit Work: There will be no extra credit work accepted in this course.

Academic Conduct:

Angelina College expects all students to engage in all academic pursuits in a manner that

is beyond reproach. Students will be expected to maintain complete honesty and

integrity in the academic experiences both in and out of the classroom. Any student

found guilty of dishonesty in any phase of academic work is subject to disciplinary

action. The college and its official representatives may initiate disciplinary proceedings

against a student accused of any form of academic dishonesty including, but not limited

to, cheating, plagiarism and collusion. Additional specific information relating to

academic conduct is included in the Angelina College Student Handbook.

History 1302 Course Timeline

Spring 2016

Jan. 13:Course Overview (including personal responsibility contract assignment);

Class discussion 1: Reconstruction Era & the Early Rise of Big Business

Jan. 20:Review discussions from last week;

Class discussion 2: The New South & Western Development

Jan. 27:Quiz 1;

Class discussion 3: The Rise of the Urban Order

Feb. 3:Quiz 2;

Class discussion 4: The Political System Under Strain;

United Streaming short documentary

Feb. 10:continued discussion from last week (book topic discussions)

Feb. 17:Quiz 3: Class discussion 5: The Progressive Era Emerges

Short presentations of personal responsibility contract assignment

Feb. 24:Exam 1;

Class discussion 6: continued from last week; American Empire?

Short presentations of personal responsibility contract assignment

Mar. 2:Class discussion 7: “The War to End All Wars”

Mar 9:Overview and discussion of book topics for critical review assignment

Mar 16:No class (Spring Break)

Mar. 23:Quiz 4: Class discussion 8: America After WWI

Prosperous Twenties & the Dirty Thirties

Mar. 30:Class discussion 9: The Great Depression; Introducing:

The New Deal

Apr. 6:Quiz 5;

Class discussion 10: World War II

Apr. 13:Exam 2

Apr. 20:Class discussion 11: The Atomic Age; The Cold War

Apr. 27:Quiz 6

The Conservative Realignment; Into the new Millenium

May 4:Exam 3

May 11:Final Exam (Comprehensive)