Description of Course Goals and Curriculum
In terms of content, what did your professor and preceptor want you to learn from the course as a whole and what did they emphasize most?
In History 344, Professor Jordan has an emphasis on learning from the primary sources to learn the specific aspects of the High Middle Ages. As a guiding text in the course we use the book “Europe in the High Middle Ages” which was written by Professor William Jordan. This text gives us the basic background information for different events in History such as the age of the Vikings, the Crusades, and views of science, religion and the superstitions of the time. Professor Jordan wanted us to be able to analyze and make connections between these primary sources; we are expected to synthesize conclusions about the social contexts and tensions of the High Middle Ages.
There are no prerequisites for this course. However, having a basic knowledge of the High Middle ages will help make recalling information easier when reading and learning the material. There are “hidden” expectations for students to analyze the texts as if they were a part of a fuller novel or readings from Writing Seminar. The analysis used in writing seminar to write papers can be translated to the the analysis needs for this course. This analysis will be useful for the take home exams which have an essay format and the final paper.
Learning From Classroom Instruction
The “flow” of the course is divided into different themes which are covered on a weekly basis. Each week there will be new assigned readings which will be covered in lecture and in precept. The course can move pretty quickly based on how the topic changes from week to week. However, it can be helpful to reflect on what you have covered in lecture, precept and readings at the end of the week to keep track of the information.The weeks change based on readings and the theme or purpose for the readings are not listed in the syllabus. However, a student can find the theme for the week by reading the assigned textbook reading for the week.
● LectureIn lecture the professor expects you to take handwritten notes to allow you to learn the most from lecture. He will convey a lot of ideas for the lecture and it would be helpful to write down the majority of the points he mentions in the class. The lecture will sometimes tie into the assigned reading material from the week before or it may cover the reading for the present week.
● Assigned readings/textsThe assigned texts require annotations to allow students to make connections between the material.
● PreceptThe professor expects students to participate in class and answer questions he poses to the group. The questions he poses are primarily from primary texts. A student should study information based off of these questions. It can be challenging to predict which questions the professor will ask in class. However, if a student is able to skim the sources and give special attention to certain parts of the text, they should be able to participate in class.
Learning For and From Assignments
The material is fairly comparative and the students can make connections between the reading and the notes. However, the readings for a week may not always tie in directly. The readings for the primary sources textbook will be a bit disconnected in topic and the student has to recognize which ideas are connected throughout the week. Additionally, there is quite a bit of reading for the course. The expected amount of reading is 150 pages per week and this can be a lot with other courses on top of that. At the time, I did not understand that he would have a huge emphasis on the primary sources and not on the textbook itself. If I were to take this course again, I would give more time to reading the primary sources since it will be the topic of conversation in precept; I would also suggest skimming and spending less time on the textbook. The textbook material should supplement the primary sources and give the student more knowledge about an aspect of the Middle Ages.
Students need to write papers for the midterm and final. The professor allows students to choose the prompt that they would like to answer for these assessments. This is helpful because this will allow students to answer questions that they feel highlight their strengths in the course. Professor Jordan expects the student to answer the question with a thesis statement and the usual format for an essay. It should have an argument, an introduction, body paragraphs to support the argument and a conclusion. The essays are an analysis of the material you have annotated and picked up in notes in class. The essays will often push students to analyze multiple primary sources read in the course and make connections and conclusions concerning these connections. To organize my information for an exam I would look back at the syllabus to see all of the readings for the courses. From there I would highlight the readings that have a common connection between each other based on the prompt. This would help me synthesize an argument based on these topics.
External Resources
What Students Should Know About This Course For Purposes Of Course Selection
Students should expect to learn more about the specific battles, subgroups and way of life during the High Middle Ages. Students will learn how to analyze primary sources from this time period and come up with arguments and conclusions concerning the connections between them. This way of thinking will prove useful in future humanities classes where students will be expected to analyze sources critically, make connections, and state why these connections are important.
The midterm, final exam, and final paper are all written in an essay format. Students are given a week to answer the two questions on the midterm and on the final. However, it would be helpful to have a brainstorming and draft stage to allow yourself to gather your thoughts and connect sources together. Give yourself time to thoughtfully answer these questions throughout the week.
I learned more about the Middle Ages which gave me a deeper understanding than what I had from high school. I learned more about the details of the wars and social aspects of this time period and how the writings from that time reflected the people’s sentiments towards these historical events and ways of living.