Midterm Instructor Assessment

Does this course match your expectations
I wrote the syllabus and course description, so not too many surprises here. But you never really know what you’re going to get in a college class. Honestly, I am pleased about your interest in the subjects from class. And you’ve all brought some great material for discussion. I don't expect everyone to love history, but it will prove to be useful as we move into more current topics.

What are the most valuable things you gained thus far?

• Cornish students are engaged with the world. 
• No one seems to feel the blog posts are “busy work.”
• You're enjoying the mode of class

Supported learning

Based upon your comments, I could more effectively support your reading of the text. Several of you made this comment. Did the reading questions help? This is always a tough line to walk. Granted, it is a lot of pages. And there are not a lot of spaces in your course work at Cornish to refine your skills with long, social science reading. I’m prepared to meet you half way here. I will devote more time to discussing, explaining, preparing you for the reading. However, reading comes with the territory. 

What challenges?

The agenda in this class is ambitious. We’re working on subjects in the past and present. Encouraging you to read things that are outside your normal zone is difficult, but important. Otherwise, we go sliding across the surface and never dive into the subjects in more detail. I could tell you that America’s relationship to the rest of the world was guided by a missionary zeal for civilization. But what does that mean? To really unpack that difficult concept requires a lot of context and work. 

What would you change?

For the second half of the semester, we’re going to spend more time in discussion. There will be more time for you to explore topics of your own interest. As we march stridently towards the present, our topics will become more and more relevant to the present day. The trick will be to convert the historical foundation you have into useful knowledge about the present.  There are two long documentaries.

How to be successful

Keep up with the reading. There's only one "big" assignment. Thus far, most of class has been passive learning – I talk, you learn. The second half is going to require you to be more active learners. The relaxed atmosphere in class has to be balanced with utter professionalism and a sense of perfection in your written work. 

Additional comments

• Some of your classmates have expressed frustration with the amount of talking and side conversation. That will have to change.
• We’re gonna have to strike a balance between lecture and discussion. I’m going to do less talking for the remainder of our time. That’s perilous, because it means you are responsible for the success of class. But ultimately, the pay-off is greater. 
• I want to work on adding depth to our current events discussions. How can we make them more than personal interest stories? We are turning into a society that reads headlines, captions, and twitter posts. What happened to the substance and meat?
• I’m really enjoying this class. It’s a joy to interact with ya’ll and I wish we had more time in class. This class is a lot of work. But when it’s working, it can be very rewarding.