History of the Middle East

Professor Jay Hargis   Porterville College   Fall 2011

Fridays 8:30-11:40 am    SM-120  

 Class Texts      

One of the keys to student success in this or other social science courses is keeping up with the reading schedule.  The mandatory assigned unit readings provide a foundation upon which the lectures, special readings, and videos are presented.  I cannot emphasize enough that you need time to complete (and think over) the readings.  You are expected to have each week’s reading assignments completed by  the class they are listed under.

Attendance

You are expected to attend all classes.  If you should experience a disaster, especially in regards to due dates for class assignments, you are expected to contact the instructor as indicated above before your absence.  Students missing two weeks or more of class sessions without good cause will be dropped.

You are responsible for all material presented in class, including announcements about course procedures and changes in assignments and schedules given in this syllabus.   Questions from lectures, readings, discussions, and films are included on the midterms or the final exam, so performance on these indirectly reflects your attendance.

Evaluation  

I believe in giving students a variety of ways to earn points, instead of just relying on a good test performance on one particular day.  This also makes it possible for a student to do poorly on one task and still have the chance for a good grade in the class.

Map Exam:  Students will recall the names of the 15 Middle Eastern countries and significant physical  geographical features on outline maps.  The exam is worth up to 30 points.

Reading Quizzes:  Each week there will be a brief reading/lecture quiz over the assigned readings from both texts during that week.  Each quiz will be worth up to 20 points.  There are 15 weeks of instruction so there will be up to 15 quizzes, but only your top 10 scores will be counted, thus you could earn up to 100 points for the quizzes.

Midterm:  There will be a midterm worth up to 50 points in which you can use your notes. 

Group Research Project:  A small group research project on one of the crises impacting the Middle East today (or a significant one from the past) which will either be a 15-20 minute PowerPoint presentation, a video, or a skit.  The project is worth 150 points.  Whether you do a skit, video, or produce  a slide show, students must include an annotated works cited page in the  MLA style of citation. 

Final Exam:  The final exam will include a review of short-answer topics and a choice of essays to write.  The final will be a comprehensive review of all material and discussion presented over the course with emphasis on the roots to current modern Middle Eastern conflicts and will be worth 100 points.

Participation: Class participation is required and will be evaluated by the instructor on both a subjective & objective basis of up to 70 points.  Participation demonstrates whether the reading has been done; if students are processing and understanding information from the books and/or lecture.  Participation is also demonstrated by completing mini assignments that may be given from time to time in class or on asking and answering questions, participating in discussion, all of which demonstrate whether you are prepared for class and are measures of whether learning is occurring. 

Extra Credit:   Extra credit assignments will be offered from time to time, including a possible Friday field trip to a mosque in Fresno.  Please note that students must complete every other assignment before extra credit points can be added to their total.

Course grades will be assigned as follows:

A:  450-500 Points    B:  400-449 Points    C:  350-399 Points    D:  300-349 Points    F:  Below 300 Points

Academic dishonesty will result in a course grade of F.

 How to Be Successful   

The formula for success in this course is simple and straightforward:

Don’t miss any classes.

A basic “given” is that you are keeping current with the assigned readings and assignments.    You will find out the hard way that the semester is much too short to procrastinate and unexcused late work and exam make ups will not be permitted. 

Check in on this website every few days, especially checking Class Announcements/Assignments.

Always (at least) try to do any extra-credit questions or assignments.

Additionally, being successful in history requires that you “do something” with the information you receive through lecture, reading,  video, or  discussion.   Simple (short-term) memorization of dates, facts, and figures may  not be enough to get you through an exam or this course and, in reality, is a poor substitute for learning.  The “something” you need to do is think about the information.   This means organizing it, analyzing it, and coming to some conclusion about it.  Try to understand what caused the events we discuss in class and their importance in influencing people and other events and movements.  This is what historians (and beginning history students need to) do.  From this process comes questions and comments in class, which are very welcome.  So open your mind and learn.

Check out Mr. Hargis's History Writing page.  It gives you approaches to successfully reading, writing, and understanding what it is we're doing here.

Finally, if you feel that you are having problems being successful, please seek out the instructor via phone, email, or in person during his office hours as soon as possible for help.   Don't wait until it is too late.

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