History 476.080 History Texas PREP Fall 2012

History 476.080 History TExAS PREP Fall 2012

Name: Dr. Tom McKinney, Ph. D., MLS Email: [email protected] Phone: (936) 468-2434 Office: LAN 343 Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday, 1:00pm – 4:00pm; Tuesday and Thursday, 8:30am – 10:30am Department: History Class meeting time and place: F-472, 5:00 – 6:00 Tuesday

COURSE DESCRIPTION: History 476 is an independent study course designed to help you prepare for the Texas Examination of Educator Standards (TExES) in history. You must pass this course with a B or better before you will be eligible to take the History TExES. You earn a B (or A) by passing the history mastery exam with a 70% or better, which demonstrates you are ready to take the state exam. The vast majority of preparation for this exam is up to you. This course does not prepare you for the test; it simply makes you acquainted with the format of the exam. If you do not pass the mastery exam in September, you will take it again in December. If you do not pass the second time, you can take it again in February…. You can retake the exam every two months, but you must pass the mastery before you can take the TExES. Since you must pass the state exam to earn teacher certification, you should make sure to pass the departmental exam by the end of this semester. Otherwise, you may graduate without having passed the state exam, which leaves you unemployable. (Take this class seriously or you may end up trying to pass this exam six months after you graduate, having lost a year of your career.)

Good news: Once you pass the department mastery exam, you will have earned a B or A in the course and will be exempt from having to come to any more classes. (So, pass the exam September 8 & you will not have to see me again the rest of the semester.)

TEXTS AND MATERIALS: As a candidate for teacher certification in history, you probably have study materials of your own (old textbooks, course lecture notes, etc.) that you have found useful in the past. Since this is an independent study course, you may rely on those materials to help you prepare for the quizzes and the mastery exam you will be taking this term. You can also purchase general American and Western Civilization textbooks at any college bookstore or Amazon.com. I suggest the following two books on U.S. & European history: Tindall and Shi, America: A Narrative History, Brief Edition (6th, 7th or 8th edition) and Anthony Esler, The Western World: A Narrative (first edition). Read them both for an excellent review of American and European history (Cost: about $30, value: priceless.)

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COURSE GRADE Completion of this course with an appropriate grade will be based on the following criteria:

1. Attendance. You will not pass the course if you have more than one unexcused absence. 2. Quiz performance. You will not pass the course if you fail to take any of the 9 scheduled quizzes. 3. Performance on the History Mastery Exam to be administered at the start and end of the semester. You must receive a score of 70 percent or above on that exam in order to pass the course. (A score of 70 – 79 will earn you a B in the course. A score of 80 or above will earn you an A.) If you do not achieve a 70 or above on the Mastery Exam, you will receive a grade of WH in the course. You will then have one year to retake the exam and bring your score up to a 70. If you fail to achieve that score within a year, your grade will automatically change to an F and you will have to retake the course to get the F removed from your transcript.

QUIZZES In order to help you prepare for the mastery exam, you will be administered a series of nine history quizzes according to the course schedule. These quizzes will consist of questions similar to those you will encounter on both the mastery exam and the TexES in History. (In fact, most of the quiz questions were formulated by the company that produces the TexES itself.) In our class once a week, we will go over quiz questions you missed and discuss test-taking strategies that might have helped you come up with the correct answers.

WEBSITE For a review manual that might be helpful, with sample test questions, go to http :// www.texes.ets.org/texes/prepMaterials--in the column on the left, scroll down and click on 132 History 8 – 12. Course Calendar

Date Assignment Aug. 30 Introduction to course; distribution of the syllabus Sept. 6 Practice Mastery Exam Sept. 13 No class meeting Sept. 20 Quiz # 1: American History to 1800 Sept. 27 Quiz # 2: American History, 1800 – 1877 Oct. 4 Quiz # 3: American History, 1877 – 1918 Oct. 11 Quiz # 4: American History, 1918 – present Oct. 18 No class meeting Oct. 25 Quiz # 5: World History to the Fall of the Roman Empire Nov. 1 Quiz # 6: World History, Middle Ages and the Early Modern period to 1648 Nov. 8 Quiz # 7: World History, 1648 – 1815 Nov. 15 Quiz # 8: World History, 1815 – present Nov. 29 Quiz # 9: Foundations, Skills, Research, and Instruction Dec. 6 Mastery Exam in History

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ATTENDANCE POLICY: Attendance is mandatory. It is imperative that you attend class, as all of what we will discuss in class is not duplicated anywhere. Every student is allowed one non-excused absence. Any unexcused absence after the first one will result in failure and dismissal from class. If you were absent and have an excuse, please let me know as soon as possible. If you know you are going to be absent in advance, please notify me in advance if you are able to do so. It is your responsibility to ensure that you make up any missed work.

CELLULAR TELEPHONE POLICY: You are to turn off your cellular telephone at the beginning of class and keep it off during class time. If your phone creates any noise during class you will be told to leave the class. You may not return. Cellular phones create a distraction and interrupt the class. We do not have the class time to spare. Thank you for your understanding.

PROGRAM LEARNING OUTCOMES: The SFA History Department has identified the following Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) for all SFA students earning a B.A. degree in History:

1. The student will evaluate the role of the historian in society. 2. The student will assess the significance of historical events/phenomena and analyze their historical contexts. 3. The student will locate, identify and critically analyze primary and secondary sources appropriate for historical research. 4. The student will interpret evidence found within primary sources and place those sources within their appropriate historical context. 5. The student will effectively communicate historical arguments in support of a central thesis, including the proper citation of sources using the most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style.

This section of this course will focus on PLO 2.

Student Learning Outcomes The more specific outcomes for this particular course are as follows:

1. The student will be able to prepare for the TExES exam format in either history of social studies. 2. The student will be able to analyze the causes and consequences of important historical, social, economic, political and cultural events. 3. Students will pass the TExEs exam.

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ACADEMIC INTEGRITY (A-9.1) Academic integrity is a responsibility of all university faculty and students. Faculty members promote academic integrity in multiple ways including instruction on the components of academic honesty, as well as abiding by university policy on penalties for cheating and plagiarism.

Definition of Academic Dishonesty Academic dishonesty includes both cheating and plagiarism. Cheating includes but is not limited to (1) using or attempting to use unauthorized materials to aid in achieving a better grade on a component of a class; (2) the falsification or invention of any information, including citations, on an assigned exercise; and/or (3) helping or attempting to help another in an act of cheating or plagiarism. Plagiarism is presenting the words or ideas of another person as if they were your own. Examples of plagiarism are (1) submitting an assignment as if it were one's own work when, in fact, it is at least partly the work of another; (2) submitting a work that has been purchased or otherwise obtained from an Internet source or another source; and (3) incorporating the words or ideas of an author into one's paper without giving the author due credit.

Please read the complete policy at http://www.sfasu.edu/policies/academic_integrity.asp

DO NOT CHEAT. I HAVE A ZERO TOLERENCE POLICY AND WILL FAIL YOU IN THE CLASS IF YOU ARE CAUGHT CHEATING. PLAGERISM IN ANY FORM WILL NOT BE TOLERATED EITHER.

WITHHELD GRADES (Semester Grades Policy, A-54) Ordinarily, at the discretion of the instructor of record and with the approval of the academic chair/director, a grade of WH will be assigned only if the student cannot complete the course work because of unavoidable circumstances. Students must complete the work within one calendar year from the end of the semester in which they receive a WH, or the grade automatically becomes an F. If students register for the same course in future terms the WH will automatically become an F and will be counted as a repeated course for the purpose of computing the grade point average.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES To obtain disability related accommodations, alternate formats and/or auxiliary aids, students with disabilities must contact the Office of Disability Services (ODS), Human Services Building, and Room 325, 468-3004 / 468-1004 (TDD) as early as possible in the semester. Once verified, ODS will notify the course instructor and outline the accommodation and/or auxiliary aids to be provided. Failure to request services in a timely manner may delay your accommodations. For additional information, go to http://www.sfasu.edu/disabilityservices/.

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