SEQUENCE   |   ASSIGNMENTS   | YOUR GRADE |  READINGS+  |   MEMOS   |  PURPOSE  |   LEGAL   |   OTHER   |   EXERCISES  |    PLAGIARISM  MAIN MENU   DATE OF LAST UPDATE: 4/2/07 RECENT ANNOUNCEMENTS: 4/2/07 - memo posted - more MOVE discussion 3/28 - readings updated for 4/2

Basics

Disability statement
This course is open to all students who meet the academic requirements for participation. Any student who has a need for accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact the instructor privately as soon as possible. Contact Disability Resources and Services at 215.204.1280 in 100 Ritter Annex to coordinate reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities. You may require special services if you are sight or hearing impaired, or if you wish to register for gaining extra time for taking exams or completing assignments.

 Statement on Student and Faculty Academic Rights and Responsibilities and Academic Freedom.
"Freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inescapable facets of academic freedom. Temple University has adopted a policy on student and faculty academic rights and responsibilities." Temple University students who believe that instructors are introducing extraneous material into class discussions or that their grades are being affected by their opinions or views that are unrelated to a course’s subject matter can file a complaint under the University’s policy on academic rights and responsibilities.  The full policy can be found at:

http://policies.temple.edu/getdoc.asp?policy_no=03.70.02

The policy encourages students to first discuss their concerns with their instructor.  If a student is uncomfortable doing so, or if discussions with the instructor do not resolve the student’s concerns, an informal complaint can be made to the Student Ombudsperson for the student’s school or college.  Unresolved complaints may be referred to the dean for handling in accordance with the school or college’s established grievance procedure. Final appeals will be determined by the Provost.

Snow Cancellation
Yes, it is winter. This is a day class and the emergency closing number is 101. If there IS a closing I will post an announcement on Blackboard (if it's working) and on the main course page.

Religious Holidays
"If you will be observing any religious holidays this semester which will prevent you from attending a regularly scheduled class or interfere with fulfilling any course requirement, your instructor will offer you an opportunity to make up the class or course requirement if you make arrangement by informing your instructor of the dates of your religious holidays within two weeks of the beginning of the semester, or three days before the holidays if the occur in the first two weeks of class."

Policy on Cell Phones, PDAs, iPods, and Newspapers
Turn these off before you come to class. These are enormously disturbing to your colleagues. If by chance you forget to turn it off, and your phone or pager rings, I expect you to turn it off immediately. I do not expect you to answer it.

If I see that you are on the phone -- this includes doing text messaging -- for any reason whatsoever, I will probably ask you to leave the classroom and not return for the rest of the semester. When you are in class I expect you to be paying attention to what is happening.

Reading newspapers is similarly extremely rude.

I do not want people to be on their palm pilots in class. If you must use your palm pilot to take notes, then you should speak to me individually before you start doing this so you can explain your situation.

If, during an in-class examination or quiz, I see you consulting with or using any of these devices, I will ask you for your test or quiz, which will be assigned a failing grade, and you and I will speak further about how to proceed from that point.

If you need to have your phone on for some vital reason, please obtain permission from the instructor. Although the instructor will seek to remind students to turn phones off with each class, students whose phones or beepers or pagers go off repeatedly will be viewed as a class disturbance, and may be asked to leave the class.
 

Handing in Papers
There are three relatively short pieces you will write up during the course of the semester.

• To hand the paper in you want to give it directly to either the instructor or the TA at the beginning of class.
• Do not ask another student to hand in your paper for you. 
• Do not leave your paper for me to collect in my mailbox.
• If you cannot get the paper submitted by the day it is due please notify me (see late policies) and arrange to give me or the TA the paper personally as soon as you can. (See lateness.) You are losing points for the assignment the later it is.

Food
Please try to avoid bringing food to class; it is oftentimes disturbing to others. A soda or a cup of coffee is fine if you REALLY NEED IT - but please DO NOT BRING FOOD. We will be taking at least one and usually two breaks during class and you will have time to refuel then.

Controversial Subject Matter
"In this course we will be discussing subject matter that some students may consider controversial. Some students may find some of the readings, and/or the comments in class or in discussion conducted through a Blackboard forum to challenge some assumptions or views they value highly. The purpose is not to challenge individuals, but rather to explore material, sometimes from multiple perspectives, to make connections between different areas and time periods and topics, and to argue about the relative merits of different ideas."

We will develop specific in-class norms that class members wish to be observed for these in-class discussions, and students participating in discussions will be expected to adhere to these norms to the best of their ability.

CLICK HERE for in-class discussion and listening norms (under construction).

Attendance and Lateness Policies
This class meets only once a week, so if you miss a class you are way behind. Please let me and Ms. Henderson know beforehand if you must miss a class due to a higher priority commitment than your education or some unexpected event. 

Missing class hurts your grade in addition to your learning. It hurts your grade in two ways.

First, near the beginning of every class we start with a short quiz on the reading for that week. Nothing demanding or intricate, just a few short true-false questions. If you get to class after the quiz has been collected, you have missed that quiz. See "What your grade is based on."

A portion of your grade is based on participation. Although I will take into account many factors of your performance in gauging your overall participation contribution in this course, one of the main things I will rely on for the record will be your card turnins. Almost every class - sometimes right at the beginning, sometimes in the middle, sometimes near the end, maybe sometimes more than once -- I will ask you to write something -- sometimes on on a 3 x 5 card, sometimes on some paper -- and sometimes I will ask you to put your name on it and hand it in. (Sometimes I ask you not to put your name on it, but that's for a different purpose.) I then keep a record of how many of these you handed in, and whether or not you wrote something thoughtful.  If we already have collected the cards after you come to class, please do not ask for a card. If you start disappearing after you turn your card in, I will notice.

If you are someone who is usually late to class, try this: imagine the class starts ten minutes earlier, and shoot for that time. We are going to have some guest speakers and sometimes they are going to start when class starts. It is discourteous to both your classmates and the instructor and our guest speakers if you are coming to class late. If you are regularly late to class please expect that I will want to touch base with you to see if there is something that can be resolved. 

Makeup Policy
There will be no makeup for the missed final exam or for a missed quiz unless
* you notify me before the missed event (leave me a voice mail or an email) -- it is crucial that you give me some kind of notice beforehand.
* and you have a reason for missing the quiz or exam that I find valid (e.g., car accident) (I no longer accept excuses like your friend's grandmother dying.)
* and I have something in writing, for my records, verifying the nature of the problem, that you provide me with later on (repair bill from Bob's Towing and Repair)

All these matters should be taken up with the instructor, not the TA.

 Late Assignments
Assignments are due on the date indicated at the beginning of class -- beginning means by 2:50 pm. I reserve the right to lower the grade for assignments that are handed in late. The amount the grade is lowered increases the longer the delay before turning in the assignment. You can lose a letter grade a day.

If you have an excuse for a late assignment I will take this in to account only if you notify me beforehand about the problem and I find your excuse for the delay to be a valid one and I have something in writing. Again, a friend's grandfather's death may be questionable.

 Regrading policy
You have the right to submit any assignment for regrading. I do not pretend to be a perfect grader. If you wish to submit an assignment for regrading proceed as follows:

1. Prepare a written statement explaining why the assignment should be regraded. This applies to written assignments, essay exams, and multiple choice exam questions where you think there was more than one correct answer. Be specific about why what I thought was the wrong answer you thought was right, or explain how I missed an important point you were making.

2. On a cover sheet print your name, your full TUID, name of the assignment or test, date of the assignment or test, and the date you submitted the assignment for regrading.

3. Staple the cover sheet to your written rationale and to the original assignment; return all of this to me.

I will review your request for regrading. I will consult with other faculty if I deem that appropriate. As a result of your request for regrading the grade on your original assignment may stay the same, or it may go up, or it may go down.

Special Note About Assigned Readings and In-class coverage

Class time is time to:

* ask questions about the readings;
* discuss different points about the readings;
* apply the materials and learn skills through exercises.
* expand on related and new topics.

It is not time to go over the basic points of the reading for you! It is not possible to cover all the important points of an assigned reading during classroom time. It is vital that you come to class having read the readings.

Pre-requisites for this course
This course is intended for first and second year undergraduates at Temple University. There are no specific pre-requisites either in terms of specific content knowledge or specific skills.

There are, however, some temperament and life space requirements for this course. More specifically, in terms of temperament, to do well in this course you need to have or be willing to cultivate an enthusiasm for, interest in and questioning attitude toward the material covered. If you are someone who already has the answers to everything, you do not want to take this course. In terms of temperament, you also need to be open to social science data, and willing to learn some basic social science interpretive skills. Some of these data include numbers. It will help if you see numbers and related ideas like averages and percentages as your friend. If you are totally phobic toward all things quantitative you do not want to take this course.

Finally in terms of temperament, you need to be willing to share your ideas about the material and be willing to listen to others. We will run some class sessions or portions of class sessions as a seminar, which means a small group of students talking together, and responding to each other. One definition of seminar is:

any meeting for an exchange of ideas

In terms of life space, you need to be able on a weekly basis to make enough room in your life so that you can read the assigned material before class, come to class prepared, and participate in the in-class discussions.

Note: material above in quotes is included at the request of the Powers That Be.