History Matters Seeking U.S. History Syllabi

CALLING ALL U.S. HISTORY SURVEY TEACHERS: History Matters: The U.S. Survey on the Web (http://historymatters.gmu.edu) serves as a gateway to Web resources and offers unique teaching materials, primary documents, and threaded discussions on teaching U.S. history. One of our goals is to make History Matters a space where teachers, too often isolated, can share strategies and resources. Toward that end, we are soliciting contributions from teachers of annotated syllabi for the Syllabus Central section of History Matters. Authors of selected syllabi will receive an honorarium of $100.

Syllabus Central contains annotated syllabi that demonstrate creative approaches to teaching U.S. History survey courses and are enhanced by teachers' written reflections. We are currently seeking syllabi for high school and college level U.S. History survey courses that include commentary on the specific experience of teaching the course, in the form of a brief introduction and several annotations. The syllabi should fit *at least one* of the following criteria:

* offer unusual approaches to teaching U.S. History courses (for example, courses organized around an interpretive theme, such as gender or race; or around a type of evidence, such as biography or visual sources)

* utilize active learning or student-centered techniques and assignments

* incorporate Internet or other new media resources

Questions to address in the introduction and annotations could include:

* What is the conceptual framework of the course? How does it differ from the traditional chronological approach?

* What are the rationale, goals, and outcomes of your assignments? * What worked well in the course? What was less effective? What was most exciting or challenging for you as the teacher? Why?

* Did you observe any new learning dynamics (between teachers and students or among students) that you attribute to your approach to the subject matter, use of student-centered pedagogy, and/or use of new media?

* (if applicable) What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating new media resources into U.S. history survey courses? Has the use of technology made any difference in the way you conceptualize your course?

Syllabi must be annotated to be considered for inclusion in Syllabus Central. The syllabus does not need to be online already--we will convert and post your syllabus for you. For an example of an annotated syllabus please see http://historymatters.gmu.edu/syllabi/jaffeeintro.html

Because we need to evaluate submissions in order to assemble a diverse collection of syllabi, we request a preliminary submission of a paragraph description of the course and the focus of your proposed annotations, and a resume or brief professional biography.

Please send submissions to Ellen Noonan, American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning, at enoonan@gc.cuny.edu

Contact information:

Ellen Noonan American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning
365 Fifth Avenue, Rm. 7301.10
New York, NY 10016
(212) 817-1969

Email: enoonan@gc.cuny.edu

(posted 5/08/01)