History 120: Handbooks and How-To Guides in the Ancient World

GRADING

Grading for the course will be based on the following breakdown:

• Attendance (10%): How often you come to class prepared for class. To get attendance credit for a given class, you need to show up (on time) AND pass the in-class attendance quiz, which tests to see if you have done the reading for that day. The quiz is not graded, but if you fail it, you will not be eligible to receive attendance or participation credit for the class in question. I know that absences are inevitable, so I will allow you to make up up to 2.5 hours (= 2 classes) of missed time. The only way to do this is a 1/1 time trade: i.e., you'll spend however many hours you missed—up to three—doing extra course-related work. If you would like to make up an absence for a given class, please let me know.

• Participation (30%): The quality and quantity of your participation in class discussions. I expect you to actively engage in class discussions. If you do not, your grade will suffer.

• Quizzes (30%): There is a brief (15 minute) D2L quiz to complete for each reading assignment, plus one additional quiz (on the syllabus) = a total of 30 in all. Each quiz will be available to be taken on D2L for 48 hours, from 12:01 a.m. on the first day of availability until 11:59 p.m. on the second day (with one exception: see the course schedule, below). If you do the readings you should have no trouble doing well on the quizzes. Your lowest five quiz grades will be dropped. ***The first quiz is over the syllabus. You MUST get 100% on this quiz, or I will not grade any of your work for the course. (You may retake it as many times as you need.) It will be open during the first two weeks of class.***

• Short Papers (30% [10% each]): Three 2–3-page papers based on course readings will be assigned. These are meant to be exercises in analytical thinking and should not require any additional research or reading (though you are certainly welcome to do additional work, if you like!). The topics for each paper will be posted on D2L (in the "Content" section, in the "Short Papers" folder). The papers are to be submitted online (on D2L, via the Dropbox feature) and are due on D2L at 5 p.m. on Thursday, September 24; Thursday, October 22; and Thursday, November 19. Late papers will lose one letter grade for each day late (Saturdays and Sundays included). You will have the option to revise one of your papers for a better grade if you choose. If you would like to do this, please email your TA to set up a meeting after you have received your grade for the paper in question to discuss ways in which you can improve it. Revised papers are due no later than two weeks after the original grades for the paper in question are posted. You should upload your revised paper to the appropriate folder on Dropbox. I/Your TA will then grade it and replace your original grade with that of the revised paper (assuming that the new grade is better).

TEACHING ASSISTANTS, OFFICE HOURS AND OTHER STUFF

TAs: There are two teaching assistants (TAs) for this course. The TAs will help with classroom management, do some instruction, answer your questions about course policies, readings and assignments, and be responsible for grading some of your written work over the course of the semester.

TAs for HIST 120, Fall 2015:

• Abram Delecki (asdeleck@email.arizona.edu), last names starting with A–J

office hours: Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 10:30–11:30 a.m.

• Brandon Hermann (bhermann@email.arizona.edu), last names starting with K–Z

office hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 3–4 p.m.

Unless otherwise specified by your TA, all TA office hours will be held in room 124A of the Social Sciences Building. My office hours for the fall semester are Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m.–12 noon. You are also welcome and encouraged to make an appointment to meet with me. Call, email or holler.

D2L: As mentioned above, students in HIST 120 will be expected to be familiar with D2L ("Desire2Learn"), the University's online course content management system. Our use of D2L in HIST 120 will be extensive: we will use D2L not only as a repository for course documents (additional readings, course handouts, etc.) and as a place to post grades, but also for quizzes and for email updates about the course. If you are unfamiliar with D2L, see the D2L help homepage.

Grades: Grades will be entered on D2L within two weeks of the assignment due date or test/quiz administration date. ***It is your responsibility to keep track of your grades over the course of the semester. You have one week from the date of a posted grade to appeal it. After that, the assumption is that you have seen the grade and are OK with it.***

Students with disabilities should contact the UA Disability Resource Center (520 621-3268) for any special needs or accommodations.

Surprise! Cheating is not allowed. If you cheat, and I find out, you will receive a grade of 0 for the assignment and other bad things will happen. (See the U of A's code of academic integrity.)

Final grades ending in .5 or higher will be rounded up; those ending in .49 or lower will be rounded down. ***There are NO exceptions to this policy.***

Cellphones: Cellphones are NOT allowed in class. Yours should be off and away all class long. Those who violate this policy will be warned and will also lose their attendance grade for the class in question. Multiple violations will lead to further penalties. The one exception to this rule is students who need access in class to electronic versions of the readings for class. If you intend to use your phone for this purpose in class, let me know before class and show me the reading you intend to access.

If you would like help with your writing, the University’s Writing Skills Improvement Program (http://wsip.arizona.edu) may be a valuable resource. The Program offers professional individual tutoring in writing for students, as well as biweekly writing workshops. These are free and open to UA students, but you do need to register with the program. This semester, the workshops will be held on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2–2:50 p.m. (location TBA). The first session is on Monday, September 14.

COURSE SCHEDULE

What follows is an outline of the fall semester. Reading assignments are due on the dates specified. For a typical class you'll read a chunk of an ancient handbook/how-to guide in translation, and we'll discuss it. I will often supply you in advance with a list of reading questions to keep in mind while you're doing the reading. These questions will help direct our class discussions.

Check this page often. Readings and assignments are subject to change. I'll try to give a heads-up in class if a major shake-up is imminent. I'll also try to provide you with the readings at least one week in advance.