Category Archives: Courses

The end of the first week…

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The first week of this semester seemed to drag on forever.  My classes are spread further apart, but I really only have to be on campus Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Four-day weekends sound nice in theory, but they are far from reality.  Those days will be spent reading, writing, and researching (the real three R’s!).   This weekend I have several things to read plus a five-page paper and that is a light load!

This semester is going to be much more involved than I had anticipated.  For HIST 696, we will write several papers, have a semester long project, as well as attend lectures by guest speakers and take field trips.  For HIST 593, we will spend the semester reading about the techniques of historic preservation while spending the semester working to get a local property on the National Register of Historic Places.  And there is HIST 673.  It is called Graduate Research and Writing Seminar.  The name makes me sick to my stomach.  This course consists of writing two twenty-page papers and submitting them to the other students for review.  Meaning, not only do we have to research and write two twenty-page papers, but we have to read everyone else’s as well.  (I will describe each course in a later blog entry)

And that brings me to the topic I have been trying to avoid….History Day.  Unlike Missouri, each region has to handle its own forms, money, and entry information.  JMU still uses a paper system and it is my job to get a more efficient online system in place.  Working with Dr. Dillard and the department secretary, I hope to have a new website in place by the end of this week!  I spent this morning designing a webpage for our secretary to implement.

Despite all the work required, I DO NOT regret graduate school nor my decision on coming to JMU.  It is going to be a long semester, but there are key strategies to making this semester doable.  Remember those twenty-page papers?  If I write those as two thesis chapters, then I am half way home before my second year of grad school begins!  And the experience I will gain from HIST 593 will look great on a resume!  HIST 696 is about Public History, my concentration, and will be a great learning experience.

Remember, as Ralph Ransom once said, “Before the reward there must be labor.”

-Eric

Year in Review: 2010

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As we look forward to 2011, I thought I would take a look back at 2010.  This year has proven to be one of the most important years in my life.  It began by starting my final semester at MSSU.  After receiving acceptance letters and graduating with my Bachelors degree, I wound up in Virginia.

Driving in 2010: August trip to Virginia (Red) and December Trip home (Yellow)

JANUARY

-January 11 – Began my internship at George Washington Carver National Monument

-January 18 – Began my final semester at Missouri Southern State University

FEBRUARY

-February 24 – Senior Assessment Day at MSSU

MARCH

-March 6 – Co-coordinated History Day competition for Missouri’s 6th Region

APRIL

-April – Received acceptance letters from James Madison University and Washington State University.  After speaking with both, it is clear that I will only receive funding from JMU unless someone leaves the program at WSU.

-Accepted the offer from JMU

-Began looking for apartments in Harrisonburg, Virginia

-April 24 – Completed my internship at GWCNM

MAY

-May 22 – Graduated with my BA in History from MSSU

-Found an apartment in Harrisonburg and paid the security deposit

JUNE & JULY

-Packed

-House sat for two friends

-Made final preparations for moving to Virginia

-July 21 – Started this blog!

AUGUST

-August 2 – ABF U-Pack took my stuff to Virgina

-August 10 – Leave for Virginia.  Stayed overnight in Lebanon, Tennessee

-August 11 – Stopped in Bristol, Tennessee and toured Bristol Motor Speedway . Stayed overnight in Lexington, Virginia

-August 12 – Arrived in Harrisonburg, Virginia (my first time seeing Harrisonburg, and my apartment, in person)

-August 14 – My parents left Virginia for Missouri

-August 23 – Orientation for the Graduate School in the morning – A seminar for TA and GA students in the afternoon

-August 27 – Orientation for the Department of History

-August 30 – Beginning of first semester at JMU

SEPTEMBER

-September 18 – Made a trip to James Madison’s Montpelier, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, and James Monroe’s Ashlawn-Highland

OCTOBER

-October 17 – Attended the Kevin Harvick Fan Club Gathering in Kernersville, North Carolina

NOVEMBER

-November 10 – Presented my lecture to my TA class

-November 22 – Registered for Spring 2011 courses

DECEMBER

-December 10 – Final day of classes

-December 11 – Final exam for TA course

-December 14 – Left Virginia for Georgia, had to avoid the winter storm in the Midwest.  Stayed with my Aunt and Uncle.

-December 15 – Drove the rest of the way to Missouri.  My first time being home since August 10.

Courses: Spring 2011

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I registered or classes back in November, but now I have my books and can give a brief descrption of each course.

HIST 593 - Historic Preservation…Mr. Darryl Nash

From the Graduate Catalog: “An introduction to the philosophy and technique of historic preservation. Course examines the Secretary of the Interior’s guidelines for restoration, state and national register forms and procedures, historic architecture, structural analysis, restoration techniques as well as the business aspects of historic preservation projects. Students undertake leadership assignments for architectural field assessments and national register nominations.”

Books: Everyday Architecture of Mid-Atlantic (By Dr. Lanier) and Twenty Buildings Every Architect Should Understand

HIST 673 - Graduate Research and Writing Seminar…Dr. Gabrielle Lanier

From the Graduate Catalog: “An intensive research and writing seminar focused on the process of conceptualizing, researching, writing and refining historical research papers grounded in primary sources. Emphasis will be on evaluation of sources, interpretation of evidence, refinement of presentation and development of professional standards of criticism. Required of all first year graduate students.”

Books: A Manual for Writers (We all know this book!!)

HIST 696 - Introduction to Public History…Dr. Gabrielle Lanier

From the Graduate Catalog: “An introduction to the varied and interdisciplinary “field” of public history – such as community/local history, historic preservation, archives, historical archaeology, museum studies, business and policy history, documentary editing and publishing, and documentary films – through readings, class discussions, occasional guest speakers, occasional field trips and an extended public history research project.”

Books: On Doing Local History, New History in an Old Museum, The Unfinished Bombing: Oklahoma City in American Memory, Domesticating History: The Political Origins of America’s House Museums, Public History: Essays from the Field, and Mickey Mouse History and Other Essays on American Memory

That is a total of nine books for the semester!  Not too bad.  I have also been given a different TA position for the semester and I will explain that in a post after I get back into the routine.  There is still some information I need to get about that.

Later this week, I will post a outline of my 2010.  It has been a life changing year!  Until then…

Eric

Wrapping up the First Semester of Grad School

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It has been awhile since I have posted, but I wanted to wrap up my first semester of grad school in a single post.  So many things have happened to me this past year, but the highlight has been moving to Virginia.

First off, I finished my first semester of grad school on December 13.  I returned my graded portion of the finals for my GHIST 102 course to Dr. Davis and, at that point, my semester was over.  This semester has been incredible.  Grad school has brought many opportunities.  Having a Teaching Assistantship has been the most beneficial to me.  Despite a few bumps in the road, I was able to create and deliver a lecture to a class of 40 students and my TA class of 110.  Of all the things I did this past semester, this is the most important.  The first real teaching experience and I look forward to more as grad school pushes on.

My assistantship was only a fraction of my semester, however.  The bulk of my time was devoted to reading, writing, and researching (the real “3 R’s”!) for my three courses.  The courses I took this semester have prepared me for the next three semesters.  The first semester is always the most difficult when moving to a new institution.  The process of getting to know the professors and the expectations of the department really takes most of the first semester.  That is not to say the courses I have enrolled in for next semester are going to be easy, but this semester was really a test.  I had to feel out grad school.  I had to learn to manage my time between reading, writing, researching, grading, and office hours.  I also learned, very early, it is VERY important to include relaxation and fun to that list!  I can honestly say that I did have fun this past semester.

My readings from the semester – articles and books!

Perhaps the most important part of grad school has been the people I have come in contact with.  First, the professors at JMU have been willing to assist me when I ask for help or advise.  That includes professors within the department I have never had any form of contact with.  The three I had this semester, Dr. Lanier, Dr. Owusu-Ansah, and Dr. Seth, have all been helpful and contributed greatly to my understanding of grad school and history as a discipline.  There is so much to be learned from each of them and I look forward to having more courses with them if the opportunity presents itself.

The most important people I have met at JMU are my fellow graduate students.  There are….well….I guess around 30 of us, and we are all serious about what we are doing.  The great thing about students at this level is that we all come from different backgrounds and it is possible to bounce ideas off each other.  Whether we are discussing thesis topics, grading methods, or debating the merits of various NFL teams, we have a good time doing it!  There is never a dull moment in the graduate office.  It is hard to believe that only seventeen shorts weeks ago, we had never met.  You would not think that now!

Overall, the Fall 2010 semester was successful, and I am looking forward to Spring 2011 and beyond.  I am back in Missouri (first time since August 10) for Christmas break, but look forward to returning to Harrisonburg after the new year.  In the coming weeks, I will wrap up 2010 with a year in review post and introduce my courses for Spring 2011.

Until then….

Eric

HIST 653 Patterns of World History…Final Class

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Finally have a few minutes to outline my third, and final, course of the semester, History 653 – Patterns of World History.  The course is taught by Dr. Michael Seth and meets on Wednesday evenings.  The title of the course is pretty self explanatory, but the course outlines new ideas about the teaching and study of world history.  World history is a General education course taught at JMU and is replacing Western Civilization courses at other institutions.

In the course we read books and discuss them during class.  The whole class has read six books and they are:

Before European Hegemony, Importing the European Army, Old World Encounters, Plagues & Peoples (with New Preface), Why Europe?, World & Very Small Place in Africa

In addition to these books, each student had to choose two additional books to read, review and report to the class.  The two books I read were:

Tools of Empire: Technology and European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century and Colonizer’s Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History

We have read a few additional articles, but each class meeting has followed the same outline: 1. students report on their book reviews 2. discuss readings for the day 3. BREAK! 4. map activities.  Dr. Seth has been giving us map “quizzes” because he really wants us to learn the countries of the world.  Not sure how that is working out!

For the course there was only one major paper and that is due this week.  We had to write a bibliographical essay about a particular topic in history.  I chose “What is Civilization?”  After the writing the paper, I can report there is no clear definition of the term and its use has fallen out of favor.

We will have a final exam in the class, but we have been provided with the question in advance and it is a take home exam.

Finally, I have described all my courses and can report that I successfully registered for Spring 2011 classes.  I will be taking: HIST 698 Introduction to Public History, HIST 673 Graduate Research and Writing Seminar, and HIST 593 Historic Preservation.  Should be a great semester!!  I will give more information about those classes as the semester progresses.

I am looking forward to having a week off.  Plan to go through my books and thin them out and write my final paper of the semester!

HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

-Eric

History 592, Material Culture…

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

History 592, Material Culture, was the only class that I was able to choose this semester.  I chose it because it seemed as though it would be a great introduction to the Public History (despite the fact a class I will be taking next semester is call, Introduction to Public History).  I have not been disappointed by this course.  The professor, Dr. Gabrielle Lanier, is an architectural historian who has documented many sites.  In fact, all the examples and photos she has used in our class (and she typically has over 100 per lecture) have been from her collection.  Dr. Lanier is a favorite of most the grad students in our department.  Incidentally, I will have her for two of my three courses next semester.

The course is a combination of grad students and undergrads.  We all meet from 9:30 – 10:45 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but the three grad students meet for a fourth hour on Tuesday afternoons.  We complete all the same assignments as the undergrads, just on a graduate level.  In addition, the book list I provided earlier for the course is for the graduate section.  There are three different books the undergrads use.  I did purchase one of the three because it is a classic of Material Culture and that is James Deetz’s In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life.  The other books for the course include: Waste & Want, Refinement of America, New Urban Landscape, Material Christianity, and Chesapeake Family & Their Slaves.

The course is fairly straight forward.  We get a broad overview of the various aspects of Material Culture after which we can take classes which focus more on individual matters.  The subjects covered by the course include: methods of material studies, archaeology of American life, material culture of death (particularly headstones), architectural landscape, artifacts vs. documentary evidence, domestic environments, museum exhibits, cultural landscape, clothing, urban landscapes, industrial landscapes, foodways, garbage, and technology.  A full course!  With every topic, Dr. Lanier has carefully selected journal articles which describe the study of the particular field and issues associated with it.  Her lectures add to our understanding of the topics.  This class will prepare me for two of the classes I will be taking next semester, but you will have to wait to find out what those are!!  Registration begins tomorrow!

In addition to daily readings, the course consists of several papers.  1. An object analysis in which and object is physically describes but also put into historical context.  2. An evolution of a 18th or 19th century probate inventory.  This assignment was very enjoyable.  I was assigned the probate inventory of Joshua Pusey of Chester County, Pennsylvania.  My task was to pull as much information as I could about his life, property, family, and occupation from the inventory. 3. A review and critique f a history museum exhibit.  This paper is due this coming Thursday and I have yet to start it.  Still trying to decide what I would like to write about for this one!  4. The final paper is over a topic of our choosing related to material culture.  I have decided to do an in depth study of fall-out shelters from the Cold War Era.  In addition to the papers we also had a out of class midterm and will have an out of class final.

The afore mention papers are required of both undergrads and graduate students.  For our fourth hour meeting, we have to write and review/reaction paper of what we read for that week.  This week I read a book that I chose from a preselected list and I will report on it during our meeting on Tuesday.  We have read a wide variety of things, but the readings generally correspond with the subjects from the undergrad portion of the class, but just a more in critical or complete view.

The course requires a lot of work, but I have really enjoyed the readings and feel like I am prepared for my classes in the Spring.

As I mentioned earlier, registration for Spring classes begins tomorrow and I met with my advisor on Friday.  I will be taking three classes, two of which are required.  I will write briefly about those three classes later in the week because I am really excited about all of them, but one in particular!  Until then…

-Eric

History 671

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Finally, I have some time to dow what I had planned all along.  Share information on the three courses I am taking this semester.  If you plan to go to grad school for history, you will likely take a variation of these courses, so this will be a good guide!

History 671: Graduate Seminar in Historical Research Methods is taught by Dr. David Owusu-Ansah and has been for the last 18 years.  He has told us that this is is last semester teaching it because it is someone else’s turn, but no one wants it!  The reason most of the professors do not want to teach the course is due do its difficulty.  The course is primarily the theory and philosophy of history.  Unlike undergraduate courses, lecture is not a feature of graduate courses.  We read a book or assigned articles and discuss it as a class.

All first year grad students are required to take this course in the fall semester.  There are three texts for the course:

-The Idea of History – R.G. Collingwood

-The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism – Max Weber

-The New Cultural History – Lynn Hunt

However, the primary text is The Idea of History.  Collingwood wrote in the 1930s and discusses many issues surrounding the discipline including historical truth and objectivity.  The book is incredibly difficult to read and was the first book we discussed in class.  It is the basis of the class and everything we read is compared to Collingwood.  In addition to Collingwood, we have read works by Max Weber, Karl Marx, Gertrude Himmelfarb, and Richard Ashcraft.

In addition to seminar discussions, we have several papers due throughout the semester.  The first three papers were book reviews.  The first two were to review a book of our choice with the third reviewing five separate sources with a theme.  In a few weeks I will write a theoretical paper comparing and contrasting Weber and Marx.  The final paper in the class, the Methods paper, will discuss the writing of history and the issues faced by historians.  All papers for this class are due by Thanksgiving and our final two weeks will be used to wrap up the class.  Our final meeting will be held at a local restaurant and will be informal.

I have been assured by the second year Master’s students that HIST 671 is the most difficult class in the program.  We have struggled through this class as a group and will continue to for the next seven weeks!

Tomorrow I am heading to North Carolina for the Kevin Harvick Fan Club Gathering.  This is their tenth year and my seventh as a member.  I will post pictures from the event tomorrow or Monday.

Next week I will introduce History 592, which is a combination of undergrad and grad students.  Until then…

-Eric

World History Since 1500 & Me

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Most graduate students have a Graduate Assistantship (GA) (working in an office, computer lab, Chemistry lab, ect.) or a Teaching Assistantship (TA).  Some TAs (like myself) have little control over the class and are simply assisting the professor while others have their own section of a course to instruct.  I should have that opportunity in the future, but this semester is simply a chance to gain experience.

I have met with Dr. Chris Davis three times to discuss the course in which I will be assisting and I got a copy of the syllabus yesterday.  One of the most surprising things I have learned is that classes at JMU only run fourteen weeks plus a finals week.  Therefore, there is little time to waste.

The course in which I am TA is GHIST 102 World History Since 1500.  It meets MWF from 12:20 – 1:10 PM.  There are 110 students in the course and my primary duty will be to police the class from the back of the room.  In addition, the students will 12 quizzes that I will grade (that is 12 X 110!).  Students will also be assigned three papers (2-4 pages) and two exams (mid-term and final).  Students will be graded on their attendance and participation in the six discussions spread throughout the semester.  Dr. Davis has assured me that I will get to grade some papers and exams based on his guidelines.  This will be great experience for when I teach my own section of a history course and into the future.  Most of my tasks with the course will be grading, but I was given the option to give a lecture of my choice.  I jumped at the opportunity!  After looking over the outline of the course, I have decided to lecture over “Culture and Society in the Cold War Era.”  I feel comfortable teaching this topic because of the Cold War course I took at MSSU.  I will pull out the books and my notes from that course to improve the quality of my lecture.  I may even contact Dr. Wagner for a refresher on the movie clips he used in class!  I will be in front of 110 students discussing the culture of the Cold War on November 10.

One requirement for TAs is having one office hour per week for student access, but I suspect most students will contact Dr. Davis. Most likely students will only contact me if they have questions with the content of the readings.  The students have been assigned five books (I will read them as well, and was given free copies by the department).  The books assigned for the course include (I will talk about all my books in greater detail as the semester progresses):

-Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources: Volume 2, Death of the King’s Horseman, Robinson Crusoe, A Discourse by Three Drunkards on Government, The Complete Persepolis

Well, now you have the complete picture of my semester.  Coming up…  I have History Orientation on Friday and I will write about that this weekend, and I will update again after my first week of courses (next weekend).  Until then…

-Eric

Courses

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Today I finally found out which class I will be TA for.  The course will be GHIST 102 World History Since 1500.  After doing some research, I know the course has six books assigned for it and that the department will provide these books (meaning I will save a few $$).  These six books, however, bring my total up to 20 for the semester!  This is what I expected from grad school, however!  There is one unresolved problem…I do not recognize the name of the professor and he/she (I was only given the last name) is not listed on the History Department‘s website.  I guess I will find out in due course.

Knowing which course I am TA for is a relief, but I thought I would share the other courses I am taking this semester.  They are:

1. HIST 592 – American Material Culture

2. HIST 653 – Patterns of World History (Historiography)

3. HIST 671 – Seminar in Historical Research Methods

I know they sound incredible and I plan to describe each course and give the book lists in later posts (once I find out exactly what they are!!).

I am looking forward to taking three courses and being a TA.  Grad school is going to be a completely different experience from undergraduate, but I think it will be more enjoyable.  I will be taking only history courses and surrounded by fellow history students!  I have been told by several of my professors at MSSU that graduate school was the best part of their education.

Also, I have ordered my books and they should be arriving soon!

Eric