The New Nation, 1800-1850
Queens College, Hist. 260
I taught this course as the instructor of record in fall 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the course was offered fully online to 30 students.
Students read three books over the course of the semester: Solomon Northup's Twelve Years a Slave, Claudio Saunt's Unworthy Republic, and Amy Greenberg's A Wicked War. Each week the class convened once for a synchronous, student-led, seminar style discussion of the reading. Before each weekly meeting, students watched two 10-15 minute topical "mini-lectures" that I recorded and posted. These lectures introduced students to historical topics and scholarly debates relevant to that week's reading. Each "mini-lecture" included a discussion question, which students engaged in a discussion thread.
Students wrote three papers over the course of the semester. At the beginning of the semester they were given a variety of prompts that encouraged them to explore different disciplines of historical writing: primary source analyses, historiographical essays, book and film reviews, etc. They were then encouraged to apply these formats to subjects that had piqued their interest during the semester.
Students read three books over the course of the semester: Solomon Northup's Twelve Years a Slave, Claudio Saunt's Unworthy Republic, and Amy Greenberg's A Wicked War. Each week the class convened once for a synchronous, student-led, seminar style discussion of the reading. Before each weekly meeting, students watched two 10-15 minute topical "mini-lectures" that I recorded and posted. These lectures introduced students to historical topics and scholarly debates relevant to that week's reading. Each "mini-lecture" included a discussion question, which students engaged in a discussion thread.
Students wrote three papers over the course of the semester. At the beginning of the semester they were given a variety of prompts that encouraged them to explore different disciplines of historical writing: primary source analyses, historiographical essays, book and film reviews, etc. They were then encouraged to apply these formats to subjects that had piqued their interest during the semester.