Everyone will do their best to do the assigned reading before coming to class.

Everyone will participate in each class and show respect and encouragement for the participation of others. How are you doing in each of the following categories

a)      listening attentively

b)      raising a question about the topic or issues at hand [this can often clarify a murky point or a misunderstanding

c)      summarizing the ideas of others to confirm understanding; OR

d)      providing reasoning or evidence to support an idea mentioned by you or someone else; OR

e)      suggesting connections between several contributions or previous class or group discussions.

Everyone agrees to collaborate in several ways:

a) As a member of a Team, to share the responsibility and work involved in producing several team presentations in class

b) As a member of the course, everyone agrees to cooperate with the Instructor, and the Speaking Mentor for the purpose of ironing-out problems and facilitating the intellectual and collective progress of the group.

Everyone will strive to achieve an improved understanding of history as a method of inquiry, analysis, and interpretation. How are you doing in the following three aspects.

·        an appreciation of historical change and continuity

·        a grasp of the differences in outlook and assumptions held by people in the past

·        an understanding of the insights to be gained by trying to understand the way the world looked to the people we’re studying.  empathetic understanding

More broadly, everyone will work to improve our writing, our oral communication, the precision, and clarity of our language, and the skills of reading and research. How are you doing in the following categories?

a)      Using pre-reading techniques of skimming and scanning to locate and understand main points and main arguments, together with examples of supporting evidence before returning to read the entire piece.

b)      Defining a topic for a presentation or a web component

c)      Identifying and collecting pertinent information for an abstract or web component;

d)      Breaking down a theme, a question, or information into smaller specific parts and identifying what seems important from the less important; (analysis)

e)      Pulling together the parts that reveal common features or a pattern; (synthesis)

f)        Distilling from a pile of information or a reading a meaningful summary of the essentials;

g)      Effectively and succinctly communicating the findings in 3-4 minute oral presentations, OR written work in an abstract or web component

Further, we agree to abide by the following ground rules to maximize our collaborative learning: How are you doing?  How is the class doing?

ME

CLASS

1. Without exception, all will be treated with courtesy and respect.

2. We shall try to stay focused on one topic before moving on to another.

3. We shall not “hog the microphone” or interrupt each other, except to ask for clarification.

4. We shall express respect and encouragement by listening attentively, building on others’ ideas, appreciating differences in our thinking, and explaining how our ideas—and not our personalities—conflict and differ.

5. We shall not distract others by making gestures or carrying on unrelated side conversations.

6. We shall try to make our interpretations of course materials and our personal judgments clear, specific, and supported with evidence and sound reasoning.

7. We shall do our best to be constructive; if we dislike the readings, we shall not shoot the instructor but explain our reservations or difficulties.