syllabus


 * [[image:gauguin23.jpg]]

Where do we come from?** **What are we?** **Where are we going?**

These are timeless questions humans have asked for a long, long time. This year, in World History I, we will build a learning community that will consider these questions. Our focus in World History I will be the world from pre-history through approximately the Italian Renaissance. You will continue this study next year in World History II, when you focus on the past 500 years or so.

//By the way, what IS history? If there is a pre-history, what came before history? Who records history? Does unrecorded history count?//

Habits we will aim to foster over the course of the year include the following:


 * Developing a healthy sense of curiosity and learning by inquiry
 * Improving our communication skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing)
 * Forming a coherent thesis and critiquing others’ theses in a constructive way
 * Analyzing and evaluating evidence -- are some sources more reliable than others?
 * Conducting sophisticated and organized research about the past and the present
 * Gaining a sense of geography (we will make extensive use of Google Earth)
 * Gaining a sense of chronology, so that you know, for instance, which civilization had its “golden age” first: Rome, Islam or Greece?
 * Working with and learning from others
 * Developing a sense of empathy for people in other places and other times -- //How would it feel to live in the Age of Perilces?//
 * Viewing the past from multiple perspectives -- How would it feel //for a slave// to live in the Age of Pericles? How would it feel //for a wealthy woman// to live in the Age of Pericles?


 * Class participation** matters a great deal in this class. In order to create a genuine learning community, we must learn from each other. In the digital age, “class participation” is no longer confined to class meetings. However, class meetings are a wonderful place to share ideas, particularly if you are more of a verbal person. However, if you make a thoughtful observation in an email, or pose a poignant question on a threaded discussion, or even share a useful resource via the class website, all of those things count for class participation. Basically, anything that you do that leads others in our learning community to a deeper understanding of the material counts for “class participation” – and out-of-class participation counts just as much as a comment made or a question posed in class. No matter your level of verbal participation in class, you are expected to be an active and engaged listener.