Course
Requirements and Grading Criteria
Students will be required to (1) actively participate in class
discussions, (2) sit for 4 quizzes during the first half of the
term, (3) deliver (from an outline) one 5 - 7-minute oral
presentation with a visual component on a person from early western
civilization (see below) and (4) complete a final exam on Monday, May 8 whose questions will mainly cover the information from the second
half of the term. Each of these four requirements will contribute
25% to your term grade. Regular attendance is required; more than
three absences will negatively affect your grade. Each absence
beyond the three granted will lower your class participation grade
one partial letter grade (e.g., 4 absences will lower a B+ class
participation grade to a B) and any extreme lateness (15 minutes or more) will count as half an absence. Any student absent nine times or more will automatically fail the course. Make-ups
require a documented medical excuse.
Course Objectives
1.
Develop an appreciation of early western civilization with various
media.
2. Engage in critical thinking exercises directed at primary source
texts.
3. Improve writing skills through informal in-class writing
assignments.
4. Hone speaking skills through the preparation and delivery of
an oral presentation (supported by visuals) on a person from western
civilization.
Academic
Dishonesty
All
students should read Academic
Integrity and Plagiarism: A Student Guide.
Please familiarize yourself with
the policies of MSU regarding
plagiarism and other kinds of academic dishonesty under the heading
"I. Violations/A. Academic Dishonesty"
at:
http://www.montclair.edu/pages/deanstudents/regulations1.html.
I take plagiarism very seriously and reserve the right to report
any cases of academic dishonesty to the Dean of Students.
Communication
From time to
time I will send e-mails to the class regarding assignments and/or
announcements placed on the course’s
Blackboard site. If
you would like me to reach you at an e-mail address other than the
one assigned to you by MSU,
please give it to me as soon as possible. I will also use this
e-mail address to notify you in the event that I can’t make it to
class on a given day. Please be sure that I can contact you in case of an emergency.
Course
Outline
Week
One: Introduction
Thursday
We
will read the syllabus, discussing the course's scope, objectives
and requirements.
Week
Two: Life in Ancient
Greece
Monday
Lecture
Thursday
Lecture:
Read
in advance The West, chapter 3, pages 87-109.
Week Three: Life in Ancient Greece (cont'd) and Library Instruction Class
Monday
Library Instruction Class: We will meet in Sprague Library,
Room 110 today.
All
students must have chosen a topic for their oral presentation
by this date.
Thursday
Quiz:
Covers material from Thursday, January 26th's lecture.
Discussion: Read
and bring to class Sources
of the West, pages 35-69.
Week Four: The
Mediterranean World, 300-27 BC
Monday
Lecture: Read
and bring to class The West, chapter 4, pages 111-147.
Thursday
Quiz:
Covers material from Monday's lecture.
Discussion: Read
and bring to class Sources
of the West, pages 70-82.
Handouts:
(1) Oral Presentation Advice & (2) Oral Presentation Evaluation
Form
Week Five: Society,
State and Culture in Imperial Rome, 27 BC-500 AD
Monday
Lecture: Read
in advance The West, chapter 5, pages 149-184.
Video:
Rome: The Ultimate Empire (Sprague videotape
#3215, vol. 7)
Thursday
Quiz:
Covers material from Monday's video.
Discussion: Read
and bring to class Sources
of the West, pages 82-99.
Week
Six: The Rise of Christianity
Monday
Lecture: Read
in advance The West, chapter 6, pages 187-221.
Thursday
Quiz:
Covers material from Monday's lecture.
Video:
From Jesus to Christ: Part I (Sprague videotape #2863,
part 1)
Week Seven:
Oral Presentations
Monday
1. Alexander the Great (ancient Greek general and king; 356-323
BCE)
2. Julius Caesar (general and statesman;
100 - 44 BCE)
3. Cleopatra (queen; 69 - 30 BCE)
4. Augustus (emperor; 63 BC - 14 CE)
5. Constantine (emperor; ca. 280 - 337)
6. Augustine of Hippo (North African bishop and saint; 354-430)
7. Justinian (Byzantine emperor; 483 - 565)
8. Theodora (Byzantine empress; ca. 497 - 548)
Thursday
1. Charlemagne
(Franco-German king and emperor; ca. 742-814)
2. William the Conqueror (English king; ca. 1027 - 1087)
3. Peter Abelard (French scholar, teacher and monk; 1079 - 1142)
4. Hildegard of Bingen (German abbess and mystic; 1098 - 1179)
5. Thomas Becket (English archbishop and saint; ca. 1118 - 1170)
6. Henry II (English king; 1133-1189)
7. Eleanor of Aquitaine (French and English queen; ca. 1122 -
1204)
8.
Anna Comnena (Byzantine princess; ca. 1083 - 1148)
Week Eight: New
Peoples of Europe and Other Peoples of the World
Monday
Lecture: Read
in advance The West, chapter 7, pages 223-257.
Thursday
Discussion:
Read
and bring to class Sources
of the West, pages 103-154.
Week Nine: Workers,
Warriors & Kings, 750-1215 AD
Monday
Lecture:
Read
in advance The West, chapter 8, pages 259-289.
Thursday
Discussion:
Read
and bring to class Sources
of the West, pages 155-181.
Geoquest
Interactive and Presentation Maps on the Carolingian World
Week Ten: Religion
and Culture in the Middle Ages, 1000-1300 AD
Monday
Lecture: Read
in advance The West, chapter 9, pages 290-323.
Thursday
Video
and Discussion: Cathedral (Sprague
videotape #6087).
Read
Sources of
the West, pages 182-213.
Week Eleven:
Oral Presentations
Monday
1. Richard the Lionhearted (English king; 1157-1199)
2. Innocent III (pope; ca. 1160 - 1216)
3. St. Francis of Assisi (Italian friar and saint; ca. 1180 -
1226)
4. Albigensians (AKA Cathars) (French heretics destroyed ca. 1230)
5. Louis IX (French king and saint; 1214 - 1270)
6. Frederick II (Holy Roman Emperor; 1194 - 1250)
7. William Wallace (Scottish national hero; ca. 1270 - 1305)
8.
Alexander Nevsky (Russian prince; 1220-1263)
Thursday
1.
Moses ben Maimon (Maimonides) (Jewish scholar, physician and philosopher;
1135-1204)
2.
Ibn Rushd (Averroes) (Muslim philosopher; 1126-1198)
3. Thomas Aquinas (Italian philosopher and saint; 1225 - 1274)
4. Knights Templar (religious military order; ca. 1120 - 1312)
5. Dante Alighieri (Italian poet; 1265 - 1321)
6. Geoffrey Chaucer (English poet; ca. 1340 - 1400)
7. Catherine of Siena (Italian nun, mystic and saint; 1347 - 1380)
8. Joan of Arc (French saint; ca. 1412 - 1431)
Week Twelve:
The Late
Middle Ages, 1300-1450 AD
Monday
Lecture: Read
in advance The West, chapter 10, pages 325-358.
Thursday
Video: Secrets of the Lost Empires II: The Medieval Siege (Sprague videotape #6136, vol. 1)
Week Thirteen: City
Life and Cultural Rebirth, 1350-1550 AD
Monday
Discussion: Read and bring to class Sources of the West, pages 191-209.
Thursday
Lecture: Read in advance The West, chapter 11, pages 217-243.
Week Fourteen:
Video and Oral Presentations
Monday
Video: Renaissance: Part 6: The World Reborn (Sprague video #2722, part 6)
Thursday
1. Christine de Pizan (French writer; c. 1365-1430)
2. Johann Gutenberg (German inventor and printer; ca. 1397 - 1468)
3. Christopher Columbus (Italian explorer; 1451-1506)
4. Leonardo da Vinci (Italian Renaissance man; 1452 - 1519)
5. Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian painter and sculptor; 1475-1564)
6. Niccolo Machiavelli (Italian author and statesman; 1469 - 1527)
7. Nicolaus Copernicus (Polish astronomer; 1473-1543)
8. Martin Luther (German scholar and monk; 1483 - 1546)
Week
Fifteen: Review and Course Evaluations
Monday
Student-Led Review and Course Evaluations
Final Exams
Section 1: Monday, May 8, 8:00 - 10:00 AM, 272 Dickson Hall
Section 2: Monday, May 8, 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM, 3004 University Hall
Oral
Presentations
Each oral presentation should
be between 5 and 7 minutes long. Topics will be assigned on a
first-come, first-served basis. Each student needs to have
chosen a topic by January 30th . The
presentation needs to incorporate visuals (handouts, transparencies,
etc.). Please
be aware of the new Student
Technology Resource Room that is available to you at Sprague;
it can prove to be an invaluable resource for this assignment.
If you would like to use special equipment, please notify me two
weeks before the date of your presentation and I'll do my
best to accommodate you.
The time constraints imposed by these reports make it imperative
that you are ready to give the report on the day scheduled. If
you are absent on the day you are scheduled to make your presentation,
you will receive an F for the assignment. There are no exceptions.
©Copyright 2003-2006 Dawn Marie Hayes. Last updated
January 1, 2006.
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