Mr. Bellocchio’s Course and Homework Expectations
Welcome to United States History II! My goal this year is to get you as excited about History as I am, to see History not only as a study of the past but as a study of where we can go in the future, and to give you the tools you will need in college in order to explore the world around you. I have a PROCEDURE, not a RULE, for almost everything, and we will go over each of my procedures in class as the need arises. For example, I will encourage debate, sometimes all together, sometimes in small groups. However, when I say "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" and walk to the center of the room, it means I expect QUIET! We will all get along better with each other if we learn to work together through PROCEDURES!--something your college professors will remind you of constantly! Since this is an upper level History course, I will expect the following of you:
· To be ON TIME—I know how crowded the HHS hallways can be (I was a student here once!) but please do your best to be in the classroom once the bell rings.
· To be COURTEOUS—this is a History class, so of course we will have debate and disagreement. That said, I expect without a doubt that you do so in a courteous, polite, academic manner. Your college professors and superiors in the work place will accept no less—neither will I.
· To have your ASSIGNMENTS DONE—College professors and, as you know, bosses, will not accept things late without a penalty. Of course, there are valid excuses, but let’s try and get things done on time—it will allow us to get to some fun end of the year activities all that much sooner!
· To have the PROPER MATERIALS—my students do not need a 3-ring binder, but do need at least a 5 subject notebook with perforated paper and a pen—I give a lot of notes. Homework can be written out NEATLY and turned in this way, however, I prefer that it be typed if possible
· To be RESPECTFUL—this is not necessarily the same as being courteous. I respect and value each of you as individuals and will expect with no exception that you do the same of each other and of me!
· And lastly—TO HAVE FUN—my goal this year is to make History come alive for you and to provide you with sources online and through reading material. Remember, the great individuals of the past often started off as students of Classical History!
To be DEDICATED, DEDICATED, DEDICATED—not for me, but for YOU—your dedication will take you FAR!
Mr. Bellocchio’s Homework Format
My homework assignments are pretty well fair and balanced. For homework I do require that you outline each chapter in a very detailed manner. To complete each chapter outline, you will:
· Outline each chapter PARAGRAPH by PARAGRAPH—each paragraph in the book should translate to ONE sentence in your outline—this does not mean to simply shorten the paragraph into one sentence, it means to read the paragraph, understand it, and analyze it. Then put your analysis into the ONE sentence!
· You will either neatly handwrite or type the outline, and hand it to me on the due date. I will grade it on a scale of 0-100, and hand it back to you. You will then place it in a folder in the order we worked on the chapter. Don’t lose it—you never know how it can help you for the final exam!
· At the end of the year, you will hand me the folder with all the chapter outlines in it, and I will judge how you kept the folder and any additional notes you made to the outlines as the year progressed. I will then give you a portfolio grade for the entire folder—almost every one of your colleges professors will do this, so work hard at it!
For the “American Experience” links from my website, I will select certain ones to be studied carefully, after which you will do a “Reaction Paper.”
· A Reaction Paper is a very collegiate thing to ask of you—but I know you can handle it. You will type for me a 2-4 page paper, double spaced, on your feelings toward the “American Experience” unit. Feel free to include to this any links of history that you feel are missing, what the lesson made you feel, and any new information you may have learned from the multimedia lesson. We will do at LEAST SEVEN of these papers throughout the year, and probably more.
YOUR TERM PAPER—Your term paper will be your “magnum opus”—in other words, your best and signature piece of writing for me all year. This year we are going to study in great detail the fall of liberalism and the rise of the conservatism of the 1980s. I will provide resources to get you started on this, and will give you plenty of time to do your own research. When the time comes, I will provide details on the format, etc., and will work on the research with you, including details for footnotes, etc.
