Class Engagement

The goal of this class is historical awareness and thinking, not knowledge acquisition. Classes are not places where I just repeat the readings. The readings raise questions that don’t have settled answers, and working them out together is most of the point — so showing up and participating is an essential part of the course.

But “participation” makes a lot of people picture the same narrow thing: the student who talks first, talks most, and always seems to have the “right” answer. That is not what I’m after. I want to see you are engaged with the course and our discussions.

What engagement actually looks like

All of these count. None is better than the others.

• Asking a question. Including — especially — “I didn’t follow this part.” If you were confused, others were too, and naming it moves the whole room forward. A good question is worth more to a discussion than a safe comment that anyone could have made even before reading.
• Saying something half-formed. “I’m not sure I can defend this, but…” is a completely legitimate way to start. You are allowed to think out loud here. Ideas get better by being said and pushed on.
• Disagreeing. With a reading, with me, with a classmate. Do it with the argument, not the person, and you’re doing exactly what the course is about.
• Building on someone else. “Adding to what they said” or “I read that differently” is real intellectual work, and it’s often what turns a set of comments into an actual discussion.
• Bringing something to share. A news story, a monument you drove past, a scene from a show, something a relative said about the past. The course argues history is everywhere; noticing it in your own week is the argument working.
• Listening visibly. Being present, following along, reacting, taking the small-group work seriously. Some of the best contributors in a class do most of their talking in groups of three.

If speaking up is hard

Plenty of people find talking in class genuinely difficult — because of anxiety, because English is a second language, because the room feels like everyone else already knows more, or because you’d rather think a while before committing to an opinion. None of that means you can’t do well here. You don’t need to have the best comment. You need to be in the conversation.

What doesn’t count

Being physically present itself counts for very little. It’s obvious when a screen is being used for something other than notetaking. Being on your phone is worse than not coming at all.

Missing class occasionally is life and won’t affect your grade. Missing repeatedly will.

How this gets graded

There’s no tally of classroom comments or points. At the end of the semester I make a holistic judgment about whether you were genuinely in the course: present, prepared, and contributing in some form.

The opening history-frustration response and the Early Course Reflection also count here — they’re both ways of telling me where you are, which is its own kind of participation.

• A — reliably present and engaged; contributes in some form most sessions, whether in full class, small groups, or student hours; takes others’ ideas seriously
• B — present and contributes regularly, but less often or less consistently
• C — present but rarely engaged; contributes only when directly asked
• D — frequently absent, unprepared, or disengaged when here
• F — rarely present

If you’re wondering how you’re doing, please ask! But you probably already know if you’re showing me that you’re engaged or not.

Questions

If any of this feels impossible for reasons you’d rather explain in person, come talk to me. I would much rather adjust than have you quietly write off 15% of your grade.