Class Participation—Because this course is a speaking intensive seminar, students are required to contribute to class discussions daily to receive a passing grade. Grades will be based on whether a student participated and the substance of comments.
Class Preparedness—Students must be prepared to participate in in-class activities, workshops, and peer review sessions throughout the semester. Grades will be based on consistent preparedness and thoughtful engagement. NOTE: The failure to participate in fieldtrips will lead to a markdown of a full letter grade of the final grade.
FOR Field Trip—At 3pm on Friday, September 27, our class will kayak the Rappahannock River with Friends of the Rappahannock (FOR) to learn about local environmental issues affecting Fredericksburg’s waterways. This fieldtrip is mandatory, and all students are to notify their other professors and work to avoid any conflicts. Medical and family emergencies are the only exceptions to participating, and these will require appropriate documentation.
Classroom Discussion Facilitation—Each student along with a partner(s) will lead class discussion of a reading assignment for two days during the semester. Students can lecture, do role-playing, analyze primary documents, or stage a debate. At least one day must be reserved for a general discussion of the assigned text(s). Finally, students must meet with me at the end of class on Friday prior to their facilitation to discuss their plans. Grades will be based on the following criteria:
- Meets with me to discuss their facilitation plans on Friday in class prior to their facilitation.
- Has a facilitation plan to present at Friday’s meeting.
- Responds to feedback and makes appropriate changes before facilitation.
- Lays out classroom activities for the week on the first day of facilitation.
- Writes questions that address larger themes within the reading(s). NOTE: Avoid questions that can be answered with a “yes” or a “no.”
- Writes questions that address details within the reading(s).
- Develops a classroom activity that creatively enhances information/knowledge from the text(s).
- Appropriately handles student participation/lack of participation.
- Speaks loudly and coherently.
- Uses suitable posture and gestures.
- Answers questions competently.
Introductory Presentation–During the second and third weeks of classes, students will give a five-minute presentation about themselves and how they relate to Virginia. As part of this assignment, students will need to incorporate multimedia into their presentation (e.g. Prezi, PowerPoint, Google Slides) to use during their presentation. This assignment counts towards your participation grade.
- Includes at least 5 images in their multimedia presentation.
- Gives an introduction and conclusion to presentation.
- Meets the 5-minute criteria.
- Speaks loudly and coherently.
- Uses suitable posture and gestures.
Virginia Digital Project—Over the course of the semester, students will conduct research on an issue facing Virginia since the Civil War and use their work to generate a digital project housed on Domains of One’s Own (DoOO). There will be a series of assignments over the course of the semester that will lead to the final product.
Project Proposal (2-3-pages): A short document that addresses the following:
- The subject that you plan to research.
- A working argument.
- A brief discussion of your primary sources and 2 book length secondary sources (3-4 articles are equal to one book).
- A discussion of the digital tools that you plan to incorporate into your DoOO.
- The significance of your proposed project.
- A bibliography separated into primary and secondary sources.
- Secondary Sources:
- Authors are experts in their field
- It is published with a reputable press/organization
- The author includes citations (not only a bibliography).
- Primary Sources:
- Primary sources must be from the periodization (or close to it) from which you are writing.
- Bibliographies need to follow the formatting guidelines of Chicago Manual of Style.
Students must have their project proposal approved by the instructor before proceeding to the next stage in their research. It is highly suggested that you make an appointment to discuss possible topics and tools before this assignment is due.
Informal Presentation: During the semester, students will give one informal presentation about their progress on their digital projects to the class. This presentation will be expected to meet the following criteria:
- Includes an introduction and conclusion.
- Discusses website style choices and content.
- Discusses what digital tool they have chosen to incorporate into their website and why.
- Discusses any technological issues. Are there any issues surrounding intellectual property and visual images, audio, and/or videos in your project? What are they?
- Meets the 5-minute criteria.
- Speaks loudly and coherently.
- Uses suitable posture and gestures.
- Answers questions competently.
Final Presentation: At the end of the semester, students will also give a formal, 7-to-10-minute presentation on their projects. They will be graded on the following criteria:
- Includes an introduction and conclusion.
- Gives an overview of the project with a statement of their thesis.
- Highlights specific aspects of their website’s content.
- Discusses the digital tool choices that they made.
- Discusses the style choices for the website that they made.
- Meets the 7-to-10-minute criteria.
- Speaks loudly and coherently.
- Uses suitable posture and gestures.
- Answers questions competently.
Final DoOO: At the end of the semester, students will be graded on their final website, which will incorporate feedback from workshops. Students are expected to include the following in their final project:
- Has developed a distinctive visual style to the website.
- Videos, images, and sound recordings are appropriately attributed.
- Uses at least one digital tool (Timeline JS or StoryMap JS).
- Website contains a minimum of 3,000 words, not including the text in the digital tool, citations, and bibliography.
- Includes an “About Me” statement as a separate page.
- Includes a research question/thesis statement with an explanation of the overall topic as a separate page.
- Provides a written, visual, and/or auditory narration of project as a separate page (or multiple pages). Cites primary and secondary sources to support narration.
- Includes a bibliography as a separate page.
Final Essay—Students will write a 7-to-10-page essay (NOTE: this page count does not include citations and a separate bibliography page) on the issues facing Virginia. The essay must incorporate at least five reading assignments to receive a passing grade. Topics discussed by our class can also be included. The depth of analysis, synthesis of reading assignments, development of a cogent thesis, and overall writing mechanics will impact the grade for this assignment. Footnotes/endnotes and a bibliography are also required. The final essay is due during our scheduled exam period. Late essays will be accepted only if there are extenuating circumstances and documentation.