China's Fall and Rise (Spring 2018)
Course description
This course examines modern Chinese history, stretching from the years before the Opium War in the early nineteenth century to country’s dramatic reentry on the world stage from the 1980s. This journey will be marked by both skills and content themes:
Learning objectives
Successful completion of this course involves a project—part independent and part collaborative—in which you and your classmates:
In addition to the key elements above, you will also leave this course with an ability to:
Format
Learning in this course structured to follow Bloom’s Taxonomy (outside link) in the path toward developing higher-level thinking within a historical context. While we will speak often about “skills,” it is also important to remember that even in the age of near-instant reference resources, a certain command of “content” is still essential for rigorous application of historical tools. This course is designed to equip you with the knowledge about China’s past necessary to frame your understanding and ask good questions for further research.
On a day-to-day basis, much of our time will be dedicated to discussion of assigned texts, supplemented by interactive activities to practice analysis, research, and other advanced historical thinking skills. At the end of each unit, you will be assessed through an in-class assessment designed to track your comprehension and progress toward our course goals. One month-long course project will allow you to then apply some of the skills and knowledge we have developed in the course for both independent and collaborative exploration.
Assessment
Preparation and engagement (25%)
Why preparation and engagement is assessed. Our class is designed to operate often as a seminar and occasionally as a workshop. For this approach to work, it is vital that we all come to class having thoroughly and thoughtfully engaged in our readings. Specifically, each of us will be expected to read, take notes, and develop textually-driven questions and insights before coming together for each session together. It is equally important that we take turns around the table wrestling with ideas and relying on one another to deepen our understanding.
How preparation and engagement is assessed. Your preparation and engagement will be evaluated on the basis of:
How I can help you succeed. To make these goals attainable, I will start by attempting to provide readings that are both engaging and manageable in scope. Homework assignments should not exceed 60 minutes before each class session, even for double periods. I respect your time and will do my best to stay within that timeframe by providing you guiding questions and tips for how to work efficiently through the readings (link to Discovering History), ensuring unit assessments are largely conducted during class time, and allotting you significant in-class time to complete your course project. In addition, you can expect regular, qualitative feedback on your preparation and your engagement. We will also devote some time in class to expanding on the discussion skills you learned over the course of the Humanities program.
Coursework (75% of final grade)
The components below are designed to provide practical shape to our learning objectives. Collectively, that are estimated to be evaluated out of a set number of points:
Extra help and communication
Our time together is designed to be challenging. There may be times when you would like further clarification, need additional support, or are just generally feeling overloaded as you work to balance competing demands on your time. Please know that communicating any of these will be viewed on my part as a sign of intellectual and emotional maturity, not as a sign of falling short.
How do I ask good questions? The best questions are processed-based help (improvement in skills and understanding) and not reward-based help (“How do I get an A?”). You might ask these questions in relation to a historical concept, a specific skill, or performance on a graded assignment or assessment.
Can we meet? Of course! The preferred method for finding a time to meet is to send me an appointment request using Google Calendar, which I work to keep up to date. (Follow this link to see how to do that). Alternatively, you can send me an email with your complete availability for the day(s) that you wish to meet. In general, you should expect at least a 24-hour response time for emails sent during the week and longer on the weekends. I am often available for drop-in help during the school day in my office, MB418.
Further Course Policies and Comments
Academic honesty. Academic integrity is vital to the pursuit of knowledge. This class fully complies with the Humanities Program Statement on Academic Integrity (Google Doc). You are expected to submit your own work based on factual and clearly identified sources. You should understand that tests, papers, projects, and other types of assessment are designed primarily to track your progress toward our learning goals. Therefore, it is essential that you rely on your own efforts and do your best to ensure the integrity of all assessments. Any instance of academic dishonesty will be treated as a serious offense.
Citations. As historians, we will make extensive use of primary and secondary sources. Please be careful to always give credit to your sources. All written work should make consistent use of the Chicago Manual of Style systems of citation and should include a Works Cited page. For support, you can consult this helpful guide provided by the Ford Library (PDF), speak with a librarian, seek support from Study Skills, or ask me directly.
Late work. Unless stated otherwise, late work may be submitted at a penalty of one-third a letter grade per school day. This means a paper submitted three days late would have dropped from a B+ to a C+. If you are finding yourself under pressure, please speak to me as early as possible. Open, honest communication is always valued, and I will do my best to help find a fair solution. That said, please note that extension requests will not be granted less than 48 hours in advance of a deadline.
Technology. Computers, tablet devices, ebook readers, and even mobile phones are all welcome additions to our classroom. Indeed, for many of our lessons, your computer will be an important tool in the learning experience. Nonetheless, distracting or disruptive behavior makes it difficult to learn, both for yourself and for your classmates. As a courtesy to students around you, all sound notifications (especially on phones) should be muted. Please know I will be direct with you if I feel you are not adhering to the spirit of this policy. If necessary, I reserve the right to modify this policy for any individuals or course sections as needed.
Book for purchase
This course examines modern Chinese history, stretching from the years before the Opium War in the early nineteenth century to country’s dramatic reentry on the world stage from the 1980s. This journey will be marked by both skills and content themes:
- Our skills theme will be public history, meaning for our purposes how historical knowledge is created, interpreted, and shared with audiences beyond the classroom. This approach opens the door to some exciting opportunities to engage with visual scholarship (from paintings to propaganda posters to popular entertainment) and will nudge us to regularly reflect on the connections between the past and the present.
- We will also explore two content themes: For most of the semester, we will be asking, “What factors contributed to China’s fall and rise?” punctuated by a multi-week collaborative project “What has been Hotchkiss’s relationship with China?” These two content themes will contain multiple points of intersection, even as the points of dissonance help draw our attention to the existence of still other narrative possibilities—“revolution” or “modernization” to name two others.
Learning objectives
Successful completion of this course involves a project—part independent and part collaborative—in which you and your classmates:
- Work with new types of sources, including archival materials, to research the lives of select individuals;
- Engage in dialogue to identify an important theme—or set of themes—that tie together these narratives about school’s connection to China; and
- Collaborate with your classmates, the library staff, and your teacher to design a physical exhibit that engages an authentic audience.
In addition to the key elements above, you will also leave this course with an ability to:
- Understand major patterns of continuity and change in the last two centuries of Chinese history;
- Engage in conversations around a handful of notable figures and events in modern Chinese history that can serve as a foundation for future study or research;
- Analyze and critique written and visual sources; and
- Engage with historical scholarship through reading, discussion, and writing.
Format
Learning in this course structured to follow Bloom’s Taxonomy (outside link) in the path toward developing higher-level thinking within a historical context. While we will speak often about “skills,” it is also important to remember that even in the age of near-instant reference resources, a certain command of “content” is still essential for rigorous application of historical tools. This course is designed to equip you with the knowledge about China’s past necessary to frame your understanding and ask good questions for further research.
On a day-to-day basis, much of our time will be dedicated to discussion of assigned texts, supplemented by interactive activities to practice analysis, research, and other advanced historical thinking skills. At the end of each unit, you will be assessed through an in-class assessment designed to track your comprehension and progress toward our course goals. One month-long course project will allow you to then apply some of the skills and knowledge we have developed in the course for both independent and collaborative exploration.
Assessment
Preparation and engagement (25%)
Why preparation and engagement is assessed. Our class is designed to operate often as a seminar and occasionally as a workshop. For this approach to work, it is vital that we all come to class having thoroughly and thoughtfully engaged in our readings. Specifically, each of us will be expected to read, take notes, and develop textually-driven questions and insights before coming together for each session together. It is equally important that we take turns around the table wrestling with ideas and relying on one another to deepen our understanding.
How preparation and engagement is assessed. Your preparation and engagement will be evaluated on the basis of:
- Checks for understanding will be distributed at the beginning of most class periods and are designed to track reading comprehension and serve as a helpful way to highlight key components from our reading. No points are assigned for these checks; rather they are tracked as “green band” (4-5 correct responses) comprehension or “red band” (0-2 correct responses). This simple measure can facilitate individual, constructive conversations well before any grades are considered. See an example of a check for understanding (PDF).
- Individual discussion skills include being able to ask, listen, comment, and support your points with evidence. You can expect regular and constructively-focused feedback to support your individual development in these areas. You can also see a more detailed list of the discussion habits I will be looking for on this page on Discovering History (link).
How I can help you succeed. To make these goals attainable, I will start by attempting to provide readings that are both engaging and manageable in scope. Homework assignments should not exceed 60 minutes before each class session, even for double periods. I respect your time and will do my best to stay within that timeframe by providing you guiding questions and tips for how to work efficiently through the readings (link to Discovering History), ensuring unit assessments are largely conducted during class time, and allotting you significant in-class time to complete your course project. In addition, you can expect regular, qualitative feedback on your preparation and your engagement. We will also devote some time in class to expanding on the discussion skills you learned over the course of the Humanities program.
Coursework (75% of final grade)
The components below are designed to provide practical shape to our learning objectives. Collectively, that are estimated to be evaluated out of a set number of points:
- Unit assessments. The course will include assessments at the end of each unit that are designed to address the skills and particular issues explored during the unit. Most unit assessments will be conducted in-class during double periods; the date and scope of all assessments will be announced at least one week in advance. Assessments that demonstrate strong engagement with the materials may be revised and resubmitted within one week of receiving back your grade and feedback. In fairness to everyone, revision grades will be averaged with the original. Unit assessments will carry equal weight (100 points each).
- Presentations. Once during the semester, you will deliver a short (7-10 minute) presentation on the ways in which one of the people or events discussed in our class is represented to the broader public—within and beyond China. To get started, first read the assignment sheet (Google Doc). Then, schedule two individual meetings with me. The first meeting should be held at least 8 days before your presentation to clarify any questions you might have and get some practical guidance on how the steps relate to your chosen topic. Our second meeting should be held at least 2 days before your presentation to go over your work in progress (at least two-thirds of your work should be completed by this point). This task will be graded out of 100 points (equivalent to a unit assessment).
- Course project. As mentioned at the outset, a major course project that will require both independent and collaborative work to research and publicly exhibit the history of Hotchkiss’s relationship with China will serve as one of the foundations of our course. The course project will be weighed as two unit assessments (200 points).
Extra help and communication
Our time together is designed to be challenging. There may be times when you would like further clarification, need additional support, or are just generally feeling overloaded as you work to balance competing demands on your time. Please know that communicating any of these will be viewed on my part as a sign of intellectual and emotional maturity, not as a sign of falling short.
How do I ask good questions? The best questions are processed-based help (improvement in skills and understanding) and not reward-based help (“How do I get an A?”). You might ask these questions in relation to a historical concept, a specific skill, or performance on a graded assignment or assessment.
Can we meet? Of course! The preferred method for finding a time to meet is to send me an appointment request using Google Calendar, which I work to keep up to date. (Follow this link to see how to do that). Alternatively, you can send me an email with your complete availability for the day(s) that you wish to meet. In general, you should expect at least a 24-hour response time for emails sent during the week and longer on the weekends. I am often available for drop-in help during the school day in my office, MB418.
Further Course Policies and Comments
Academic honesty. Academic integrity is vital to the pursuit of knowledge. This class fully complies with the Humanities Program Statement on Academic Integrity (Google Doc). You are expected to submit your own work based on factual and clearly identified sources. You should understand that tests, papers, projects, and other types of assessment are designed primarily to track your progress toward our learning goals. Therefore, it is essential that you rely on your own efforts and do your best to ensure the integrity of all assessments. Any instance of academic dishonesty will be treated as a serious offense.
Citations. As historians, we will make extensive use of primary and secondary sources. Please be careful to always give credit to your sources. All written work should make consistent use of the Chicago Manual of Style systems of citation and should include a Works Cited page. For support, you can consult this helpful guide provided by the Ford Library (PDF), speak with a librarian, seek support from Study Skills, or ask me directly.
Late work. Unless stated otherwise, late work may be submitted at a penalty of one-third a letter grade per school day. This means a paper submitted three days late would have dropped from a B+ to a C+. If you are finding yourself under pressure, please speak to me as early as possible. Open, honest communication is always valued, and I will do my best to help find a fair solution. That said, please note that extension requests will not be granted less than 48 hours in advance of a deadline.
Technology. Computers, tablet devices, ebook readers, and even mobile phones are all welcome additions to our classroom. Indeed, for many of our lessons, your computer will be an important tool in the learning experience. Nonetheless, distracting or disruptive behavior makes it difficult to learn, both for yourself and for your classmates. As a courtesy to students around you, all sound notifications (especially on phones) should be muted. Please know I will be direct with you if I feel you are not adhering to the spirit of this policy. If necessary, I reserve the right to modify this policy for any individuals or course sections as needed.
Book for purchase
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The following text is available through MBS and Amazon:
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