Another semester begins...

After the first week of classes, all I have to say is, I know I had a good class when I had more energy at the end of class than at the beginning of a 2.5-hour class. I think the students had a good class, too.

All three of my classes are full now.

As of today, all three of my spring semester classes are full.
History 353 is the seminar that is going to Budapest during spring break.
History 354 is History of the Holocaust (which filled a long time ago).
History 391 is History of the Crusades.

Dehumanization, part one of three

I don't think I have enough time this semester to devote to blogging. But I promised to post about the theme of dehumanization appearing in all three of my classes last, so here goes part one in what looks to be a three-part post.

In my Tuesday class the history of the crusades, we started talking about the different perspectives of the participants (willing or not) in the crusades. One of the assigned readings, "The Crusaders' Perceptions of Their Opponents," by Margaret Jubb, discusses the labels used by (Latin) Christian chroniclers. She asserts, "It is significant that the term 'Muslim' is absent from medieval sources. Instead, the crusaders' opponents are variously described by the chroniclers as 'infidels', 'Gentiles', 'enemies of Christ/God', and above all, 'pagans'." [This is on page 228 of the book, Palgrave Advances in the Crusades, edited by Helen Nicholson. Someday blogging will advance enough to allow a respectable footnote.] This is an interesting observation, but it would have been more interesting had her article discussed more than just the crusaders' Muslim opponents. How did chroniclers label other opponents? Did they also insist on ignoring evidence that contradicted their views of their other opponents the same way that they ignored evidence about Muslims' religious practices? (Jubb points out how the chroniclers ignored evidence of Muslims' monotheistic and aniconic religion. - p. 229) By comparing the use of labels, I think her argument regarding the use of the "other" to define themselves would have been broadened, strengthened, and enabled to ask more probing questions about medieval perceptions of the "other."

A theme across all my classes this week (will post more later)

The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human. -Aldous Huxley, novelist (1894-1963)

Medieval Jedis

A very brief post for a very brief comment from class.

In class some students wondered whether the Dominicans, formed in time to root out Cathar heresy, or the Knights Templar would be the better analogue to the Jedis in Star Wars. (I have yet to find anyone on the internet who makes an argument for the Dominicans.)

"History Help" Session

The History Help session - I had to give it a title in order to reserve the room and this is the best I could come up with - was a success from my point of view. A dozen students from all three of my spring classes attended. They came with questions and we covered the two topics that earned the most votes on the questionnaire I had circulated in the classes last week. We talked about how to write a proper Chicago style full citation in a footnote. We even talked about other uses of footnotes. Finally we spent a little time in the library databases looking for articles. This last part surprised me a little because I thought it was going to be more productive than the footnoting part, but I couldn't tell if students were actually finding articles for their papers or if they were learning anything new about databases.

In order to find out if the session was a success from the students' points of view, I sent out a link to a very quick survey (from surveymonkey.com) to all those who attended. If they respond, it'll help me determine if holding such a session again - as in, next semester - would be worthwhile.

The Dove Phone

Sometimes something silly becomes part of a class.

Here is an image of Pope Gregory VII, of Investiture Controversy fame, that has inspired some students to new heights of silliness: the dove phone.

Impressed with the discussions

Only brief notations for this week: no time for blogging and impressive discussions in all classes (as the whiteboards demonstrate), despite a few grumblings about "dry" or "too detailed" reading assignments.
Students underestimate themselves.

First Week Reflections

Two things stick out for me this week: 1.) the variety of questions and skill sets students bring to a class; and 2.) the amount of time it takes to take care of the administrative side of courses.

The variety of questions and skill sets led me to decide to offer an "extra help" session to those who need or really want some extra help with what I tend to think of as the "technical" parts to studying history, writing history, and participating in class. There were questions (or just questioning looks) about how to find scholarly articles and how to cite sources properly using the Chicago style. There were also questions about D2L. Even though D2L truly is a supplement to these courses, I would like students to feel comfortable enough at least to click around D2L to see not only the announcement/news and materials and links I'm putting up there, but also what other students are writing on the discussion boards. There were also questions about how to write an history essay or paper. My first step in responding to this particular need was to make available a paper a former student of mine wrote; we'll see what other steps become necessary. Finally, students seemed confident about knowing what plagiarism is and how to avoid it, but this may be just the most vocal students in class--those who are actually unsure may be a bit shy about asking about plagiarism, so I also included plagiarism as a possible topic for the "extra help" session.

Every semester I am amazed and a little frustrated by how much time is needed to take care of the administrative tasks: making enough photocopies, setting up attendance records and gradebooks (Excel), figuring out if students have added or dropped, and emailing newly added students. I estimate I spent about 2 hours per class just this week on administrative tasks, and I bet that's a low estimate. Administrative tasks always take up less time in weeks subsequent to the add/drop deadline.

First night of the crusades course

The first class of the crusades course met last night and I am very surprised no one has dropped the class yet (it's been about 14 hours).