REQUIREMENTS

The requirements for the course are as follows: (1) 26 TypePad entries (50 pts. Each=1300 pts.); (2) a self-evaluation (1 page, typed, single-spaced) assessing your performance in the course (not graded but required.).

TYPEPAD ENTRY ASSIGNMENTS

There are 26 web exercises required for the course. They are due in class on the date stated on the syllabus schedule. Points or partial points will be awarded for the following:

Although the TypePad entries result in rather short writing pieces, a good deal of thinking and drafting are necessary to prepare a good entry.

TYPEPAD ENTRY #1: Movie Response

TYPEPAD ENTRY #2: Creation Stories

How do the creation stories change over time? What influences seem to affect the stories? Read the Ottawa, New Netherlands, and Lakota creation stories as a basis for the in-class discussion and entry.

TYPEPAD ENTRY #3: Movie Response

TYPEPAD ENTRY #4: Patriotic Ladies of Edenton

How did the British view the Patriots’ activism in the period leading up to the Revolutionary War? Carefully examine the Society of Patriotic Women, Edenton, North Carolina, Use the questions accompanying the online materials to help develop your thesis and organize your evidence.

TYPEPAD ENTRY #5: Movie Response

TYPEPAD ENTRY #6: George Catlin’s Indians

What is Catlin’s view of Native Americans and their culture? Pay close attention to the details of this image—both in the foreground and background.

TYPEPAD ENTRY #7: Movie Response

TYPEPAD ENTRY #8: SimUtopia

How do the spatial arrangements of your Utopia reflect Jacksonian democracy? What were your reasons for arranging your community as you did? Before you begin, make sure you have considered the following possibilities. Will your utopia be: A religious community, where all share the same beliefs? What will those beliefs be? A socialist community, with all property owned in common and all work shared equally? A combination of both? Will it be purely a commercial enterprise, designed to make money? Or a non profit experiment? Or an experiment in radical equality?   Your community must be able to support itself—will it be agricultural, industrial, or a mix of both? Will it be closed to the rest of the world, or open? Will it be rural in character, or urban? Will there be slavery? Remember, your community must address the concerns of the day—about the excesses of industrialization, about immorality in commercial life, about the changing relations of men and women, about the potential or danger of democratic politics. To design your own utopian community, go online to SimUtopia. Drag the icons at the top of the next page into the “map” space. When you are finished, take a screenshot of your image and include it in a photo album in your blog. On a Wintel machine, press the PRINT SCREEN or PRNT SCN key. On a Macintosh, press COMMAND + SHIFT + 3. You may have to reduce the size and dimensions of your image with an image editing program.

TYPEPAD ENTRY #9: Movie Response

TYPEPAD ENTRY #10: Civil War Exhibit

How do the images reflect a particular Civil War theme? Select 6–8 images around a particular theme from American Memory at the Library of Congress and download them. Once you have your images in hand, create a photo album and arrange the images to illustrate your theme. Choose a design that includes an introduction and a cover picture. Write an introduction for your album and captions for your images. The captions, although they can be short, should indicate how the image illustrates your theme and call attention to pertinent details.

TYPEPAD ENTRY #11: Movie Response

TYPEPAD ENTRY #12: Museum Exhibit, Pt 1

What are the reviewers criteria for a good history museum exhibit? What are your criteria for an effective history museum exhibit? Begin this exercise by using the electronic databases available online through the GMU library system. To do so, log on to the GMU site > Libraries & Research > University Libraries Databases > H > History Cooperative. If you are accessing the library databases from off-campus, be sure to click the “Click for EZ off-campus access.” You may also need to click on both the “Important Announcement” and “Test JAH” to gain access to the database. Go the Journal of American History > List of Available Journal Issues > June 2002 (Vol. 89, No. 1). Once inside the journal, scroll down to “Exhibition Reviews” and read the review of “1699: When Virginia Was the Wild West!” and “Within These Walls.” These will furnish you with examples of exhibition reviews. How do the reviewers judge an exhibit? What are their criteria? Develop your own criteria based on those of the reviewers.

TYPEPAD ENTRY #13: Movie Response

TYPEPAD ENTRY #14: Museum Exhibit, Part 2

How well does the exhibit that you chose meet the criteria that you developed? Time to get on the Metro. Go the National Museum of American History and, armed with your exhibition criteria, visit one of the following exhibits: “The Information Age,” “Field to Factory,” “From Parlor to Politics,” or “G.I.: World War II.” (You may also elect to visit an exhibit not on the list with the instructor’s permission.) Even if you have already visited these exhibits, go again because you will see the exhibit from a new perspective. Once you have gone through the exhibit and taken notes, write a review of the exhibit that answers the question posed at the beginning of this paragraph. Do not use secondary sources, especially Internet or web resources to answer the question. I want you to grapple with the question on your own.

TYPEPAD ENTRY #15: Movie Response

TYPEPAD ENTRY #16: We, the Jury

Based on the evidence available in State v. Rehberg, how would you have voted “guilty” or not “guilty?” Why? What verdict do you believe did the nineteenth-century jury reached? Why?

TYPEPAD ENTRY #17: Movie Response

TYPEPAD ENTRY #18: Comment

Select three entries from three different class participants and comment on their entries. The comments should be about a paragraph in length and may address any aspect of the entry. Once you’ve made your comments, write a line or two in your own entry with links to your comment. (If you have already been commenting, link to your earlier comments.)

TYPEPAD ENTRY #19: Movie Response

TYPEPAD ENTRY #20: Comment

Select three entries from three different class participants and comment on their entries. The comments should be about a paragraph in length and may address any aspect of the entry. Once you’ve made your comments, write a line or two in your own entry with links to your comment.

TYPEPAD ENTRY #21: Movie Response

TYPEPAD ENTRY #22: 50s Exhibit

How do the images reflect a particular theme or trope in the 1950s? Select 6–8 images around a particular theme from American Memory at the Library of Congress or any other public domain collection and download them. Once you have your images in hand, create a photo album and arrange the images to illustrate your theme. Choose a design that includes an introduction and a cover picture. Write an introduction for your album and captions for your images. The captions, although they can be short, should indicate how the image illustrates your theme and call attention to pertinent details.

TYPEPAD ENTRY #23: Movie Response

TYPEPAD ENTRY #24: Top Ten in the 1970s

What were the top ten movies in 1970? How would you categorize them by genre or type? Are there any differences between the “Top Ten Songs” from 1970? How would you account for those differences? You will need to use search engines on the Internet or the library to develop your list of top ten movies that were the most popular by some measure—box office receipts, highest gross, and so forth. Beware of using someone’s personal list. Alternatively, you can use the top ten bestsellers (fiction and non-fiction) from the New York Times bestseller lists. Lists will vary, so you should provide the source for your list.

TYPEPAD ENTRY #25: Movie Response

TYPEPAD ENTRY #26: Telling Your Story

Where were you when the planes hit the Twin Towers? Each generation has its historical moments. For one generation, it is the answer to the question: “Where were you when Kennedy was shot?” For another, it is: “Where were you when Challenger blew up?” For still another generation, it is 9/11. For this assignment, go to the September 11 Digital Archive and write your story. Once you’ve added your story to the archive, make a copy for your Typepad entry. You might want to read a few of the entries to get a sense of how people remember the events and their reactions. One of most interesting is Don Mercy’s, a former GMU student and Fedex driver.