Week 13 (Nov. 22 – Nov. 28)

Table of contents

To-do and Weekly Schedule

Good to know

All due dates/times remain “Muhlenberg time” (that is: US East Coast Time), even when I am in a different time zone 😀

Remote learning

We will definitely be on Zoom for two Tuesday sessions: Nov. 30, and Dec. 7, but in addition there will be asynchronous online assignments so you engage with course materials without having to sit for 75 mins staring at a screen. “Asynchronous” means you can complete tasks in your own time by a certain date, while still interacting with your peers. Commenting on each other’s posts with Hypothes.is is one example you’re already familiar with!

Overview

Timeline of assignments coming up still:

  • Nov. 29 – Dec. 3: Third mandatory meeting with Brianna, with the first draft of the second essay.
  • Dec. 5: second version of second essay
  • Dec. 6 – 10: small “un-essay” project: a chance to demonstrate what you learned about tea, using a different creative format. Details to follow, due on Dec. 11
  • Dec. 12: Third and final reflection
  • Dec. 13 – 14: Third and final check in via Zoom, when we agree on the final grade for the course.

Monday, 11:59PM

Peer feedback

Feedback on blogs returns! Many of you identified this as an area where you could grow more, and of course it is fun to see what everybody has been writing about! Remember to set the widget to the group teaglobalhistory, rather than “Public”!

REMEMBER: You can (should?) respond to questions on your blog, it’s polite to engage in conversation! That’s the reason there is a reply button in Hypothes.is.

This week posts for feedback are from the past couple of weeks, so there is some variety.

As usual: here you find links to four blog posts from your fellow students. If one of the websites is your own, or it is twice the same person’s, refresh the page, and you should get new sites.

  • Post 1: 
  • Post 2:
  • Post 3: 
  • Post 4: 

Leave feedback, questions, thoughts, insights about the contents of the posts of your fellow students using Hypothes.is group teaglobalhistory. You can ask for clarifications, point out similarities and differences with the material you covered, or with your interpretation. This should encourage you to return with different eyes to the original materials.

Use tags in Hypothes.is: question: If you have a question (obvious); answered: if you gave an answer to a question; info: if you provide more information, looking up additional facts, drawing on knowledge from other classes; and other tags you can think of. This will help us to navigate more quickly to the questions that still need answering.

Use the “Architect’s Model” of giving feedback, and engage with concrete issues. Go beyond “Yeah, I agree,” “I like” or “I think the same”, and instead explain why you have that reaction, or if you disagree, you can try to persuade the original poster of your idea or interpretation. Look through previous weeks’ posts for some good examples if you want to up your game!

Checklist

I commented on four fellow students’ posts, using the group teaglobalhistory in Hypothes.is.
I made sure to leave substantial comments that move the discussion forward and help to create better insights, and go beyond a “nice” or “great”. I was specific!
I left comments that I would like to receive myself: thoughtful, helpful, kind, but also pointing out errors so they can be fixed.

By Tuesday, 11:59PM

The Boston Tea Party is such an iconic event in American history that everyone who grows up in the US gets to hear about it at some point. But as we saw in class in week 12, there are discrepancies between the public memory, and what historians can reliable reconstruct as the events of that night.

In this exercise, you get a chance to look at how children’s literature presents this story, and you use your skills of analysis to understand how the Boston Tea Party is presented, and why the author and illustrator may have chosen to present it in this way. And because reading together is more fun, you have one or two partners assigned!

HOW

  • Look for your name in the list below the instructions, and find your book. Follow the link to the e-book in Trexler Library and read the assigned section.
  • Then discuss (via chat/email/zoom etc) with your group the book/section, and your possible answers to the questions.
  • Share your answers in the jamboard.
    • Each group has its own page, click through the pages with the little arrows at the very top.
  • Add any other observations you find noteworthy, for instance thoughts that struck you about how to write for, and teach history to children, etc.
  • Look through the notes from other groups, and use the Insert > Comment function to add comments, thoughts, questions, about their books.
    • Do you see connections? Differences? Solutions to problematic issues you found in your book?
    • Treat these comments as your classroom discussion, and you can keep going as long as you want and add extra pages! If you want to extend the discussion after Tuesday, please do so! (There is no expiration date on discussions 😀)

WHEN

  • Strive to have everything done by Tuesday, Nov. 23, 11:59PM so you can enjoy your Thanksgiving break in peace and quiet!
  • If you need more time, make sure everybody in the group agrees, and email me with all group members included in the email. Let me know what your new due date will be.

WHAT IF…

  • … one of your teammates is unresponsive? Let me know! I’ll poke them, and if I can’t make them move into action we’ll find a solution.
  • … you have technical trouble? Let me know! We’ll find a solution. Make sure your 2-factor authentication is set up properly so you can access the library and all services from your Onelogin portal, including your email, blogs, and Workday.
  • … you have other questions? Email me! I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Remember I’ll be 6 hours ahead of you and may be responding at “weird” non-work hours from your point of view, or seem unavailable in your afternoon (my evening)
Questions to play with:
  1. What does your book/section talk about (“three sentence summary”)
  2. How did the contents differ or conform with the information we read in The Shoemaker and the Tea Party’s account of the events?
  3. Who is the intended reader? Who might buy or borrow this book?
  4. What assumptions does your book make/what is implicit in the book?
  5. What is the author trying to accomplish with this book?
  6. Take a look at the Library of Congress public information. You can find this all the way at the start of the book. How is it catalogued? See for instance the red square in the image below. Do you find any of these interesting, remarkable, strange?
  7. Any other observations?
Colophon or copyright page of The Shoemaker and the Tea Party
Group 1: 
  • Chris, Noah, Simone
  • Read chapters 10-16:
    • Horender, Philip M, and Guy Wolek. 2013. Patriotic Mouse: Boston Tea Party Participant. Maximilian P. Mouse, Time Traveler, Bk. 1. Minneapolis, Minn.: Magic Wagon. 
  • Link to jamboard
Group 2
  • Holden, Gaby, Ethan
  • Read whole book (graphic novel):
    • Espinosa, Rod. The Boston Tea Party. Graphic History. Edina, Minn.: Magic Wagon, 2008.
  • Link to jamboard
Group 3
  • Hector, Anika, Joshua
  • Read chapters 1-5:
    • Malaspina, Ann. The Boston Tea Party. Foundations of Our Nation. Minneapolis, MN: ABDO Pub, 2013.
  • Link to jamboard
Group 4
  • Christian, Jack, Natasha
  • Read whole book:
    • Burgan, Michael. The Boston Tea Party. We the People. Minneapolis: Compass Point Books, 2000.
  • Link to jamboard
Group 5
  • Jake, Danny
  • Read chapters 1-9:
    • O’Neill, Laurie. The Boston Tea Party. Spotlight on American History. Brookfield, Conn.: Millbrook Press, 1996.
  • Link to jamboard

Where to get help