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Participation (15%) Participation will be judged on the basis of the quality of your contributions to full class discussions and on your presence in class for small group discussions.
On days when we have full class discussions, we will almost always begin with you getting into small groups to determine what discussion questions you want to address. If you do NOT have other instructions come to class with two questions about the assigned readings. If students do not come to class regularly ready for discussion, I will start collecting your discussion questions.
Small group discussions will also count towards participation, plus they will periodically be the basis of a reflection paper. If you miss the small group discussion you will not be able to write a reflection paper about it, obviously. The format of small group discussions will vary, but here are examples:
- Topic or example groups – sometimes students will bring in examples or illustrations of something we have talked about in class and then divide up into smaller groups to share their examples. Not attending class will result in a 0. (This kind of group discussion is usually followed by a reflection paper, discussed below).
- Jigsaw discussions – students will be asked to focus on one reading or one concept in a reading. During the first part of class you will meet with other students who focused on the same thing and decide how to best explain or teach your subject area to others. During the second part of the class you will regroup with students who read other articles or focused on different parts of a reading and compare concepts. Not attending class will result in a 0.
- Affirm and Challenge discussions– students will bring two quotes to class, one they want to affirm and one they want to challenge. In small groups they will discuss why they chose those quotes – one that they thought was insightful or well-reasoned or well-supported by evidence or well articulated and one that they disagreed with or thought wasn’t well-reasoned or supported by evidence. The groups will decide which two quotes they want to present to the class. (This group discussion is usually followed by a reflection paper, discussed below).
Movie Viewing Notes: (5 total; 15% of final grade) We will watch and discuss several documentary movies in this class, some during class and some outside of class. You will need to submit viewing notes for each of the movies. If you do these well, they will help you write your final paper. The movies are Inside Job, about the economic crisis of 2008-2009, Fog of War, about former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara’s role in World War II and the Cold War and The Act of Killing, about Cold War violence in Indonesia, Control Room about media coverage during the early days of the Iraq War, and 5 Broken Cameras, about Palestinian resistance to Israel.
The Act of Killing, 5 Broken Cameras, and Control Room are all available on Netflix, so you should find someone with a subscription or get one yourself. Watching movies in groups is way better than watching them alone, so I encourage you to watch in groups.
Reflection Papers: (4 short papers; 20% of final grade) This part of your grade is based on assignments intended to increase your engagement with the texts and central issues of the class. These short papers, if you put effort into them, will also help you start thinking about the material before you write higher stakes/higher value assignments.
You cannot understand the course material without actively reading the assigned material, coming to class, and participating in full class discussions and smaller discussion groups. There are several short (2 pages, depending on the assignment) papers that encourage you to reflect on the material and group discussions about the material so that you understand it better. There are six short papers on the syllabus, but we might end up with more opportunities. You should complete at least four of them. If you complete five, I will drop the lowest grade. I will not grade more than six for each student, so please do not complete more than six (if we end up with more them).
The reflection paper due dates are determined by when we do small group discussions. The due dates will be announced in class and on Canvas. You must check Canvas and attend class.
World-Systems Analysis Paper (20% of final grade) This papers allows your to demonstrate your understanding of World-Systems Analysis. This paper is the equivalent of an exam. It will be about 5 pages or 1500 words.
Final paper (30% of final grade) For the final paper requires you to analyze at least three of the movies we watch in class through critical theory. Each paper is 1500-1800 words (5-6 pages) long.