American Carnival

Download these questions as a type-into Word file, or cut and paste them into a new document, and submit it in paper or electronic form by Friday, Dec 10th.

This assignment is not “graded” but do I expect everyone to complete it. Your input is very valuable as I think about how to teach this course again in the future. Your responses will only be seen by me. Reflect on some or all of the following questions. Length of the paper is up to you.

Over this semester, in what ways has this course affected your…

• Critical reading skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Information literacy skills
• Writing skills
• Active learning/ Participation skills
• Class discussion skills

What was most new/ surprising/ difficult for you in this class?

What scholarly tools (practices, techniques, strategies) did you develop this term to approach people, events and ideas of the past?

Which readings, class activities, or assignments contributed the most to your learning this term?

Which readings, class activities, or assignments did not contribute as much to your learning this term?

How successful was the fiction project? What suggestions do you have for how to structure it differently next time around?

In the course design, I built in flexibility and gave a greater-than-usual measure of student control over certain aspects of the course, including class session agendas, the number and scope of assignments, and the schedule of deadlines. Comment on that design, or how that design affected your learning.

Compared to your other classes, was taking an “honors course” different in some noticeable way? If so, how was it different?

Comment on the use of technology and/or web tools in this course. What worked well for you, what didn’t?

Sure enough, as Derek mentioned today in class, Erik Larson’s book Devil in the White City is being made into a movie, with Leonardo DiCaprio as Holmes. Some links about it:

A movie-blog post about the news (RopeOfSilicon.com)
Deadline New York news release (which mentions that Tom Cruise had optioned the book in 2003)
and a fantasy-casting post from Chicago Now speculating on who else would be good in the main roles

All this talk of Hollywood and films reminds me that your last History Lab #6 is how to critically read a film – due Tues 11/16 Tues 11/23. You have done some of this kind of detailed visual analysis in Professor Yang’s class also, and now you get to put those skills to use doing a critical “deep reading” of a film scene and reflect on how a film might be useful as a historical source. Which film is up to you, but it should (of course) relate to the theme of the course. I’ve put a list of suggestions on the Labs page, and have requested the one that our university owns to be put on reserve, but you will likely have better luck with getting the films from your own sources (Blockbuster, Netflix, public library loan) which means you need to plan ahead and allow time to view the film. Probably view it several times, actually. You can watch the film in groups, if you so choose, but if more than one person uses the same film you’ll need to choose different scenes to use in your paper.

“American Carnival: Meet Me At the Fair” will be an interdisciplinary honors seminar for first year students in the Fall of 2010, taught by Dr. Tona Hangen, Assistant Professor of 19th and 20th Century US History and Assistant Director of the Honors Program at Worcester State College.

The course will cover a wide range of American amusements, carnivals, and fairs past and present – looking at leisure, festivity and ritual with a scholarly eye. Students will develop their critical reading, thinking, and writing skills and will try their hand at writing for the web.

Course Meetings:
Tues & Thurs, 10:00 – 11:15 am in Sullivan 305
4th hour = 11:30 am on Thursdays in Sullivan 101

See you at the fair!