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MARCIA CHATELAIN:
When I put together

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a syllabus for my
history classes,

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the first goal is to
make sure that I'm

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assigning the right
level of reading,

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so that students are actually
going to do the reading.

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And so I like to mix up a couple
of chapters in a monograph.

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Or one week, I'll just do a
really challenging article.

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So I know that they can really
do the reading that week.

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The second goal is to
help them understand

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that the study of
history, particularly,

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is grounded in a discipline.

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So I'll try to do one
theoretical article

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about the nature of
a topic in history.

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And then I think
the last school goal

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is to make sure that they could
translate the skills that we're

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doing in class to
the real world.

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So some of my
assignments will be

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think about this
historical period

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and use historical thinking
to solve a practical problem.

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So it might be reparations to a
group that has been victimized

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by the US government.

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It might be creating
an exhibit for a museum

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or memorializing an event.

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One of the best ones
was a media campaign

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to deal with a
problem in the past.

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And so I like to make sure that
students are understanding that

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what we're learning is going
to really help them make really

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good decisions,
whether it's being

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an employee in a
company or a citizen,

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who has to make a decision
about what's right.

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So the first tip I would say
for putting together a syllabus

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is to not think about graduate
education, unless you're

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teaching a graduate seminar.

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I think that for
newly minted PhDs, who

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are teaching for the first time,
our reference points are often

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graduate school and not our
undergraduate experience.

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And then part of that advice is
remember that you were probably

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the most talented undergraduate
in your undergraduate courses.

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That part of the
goal of what we're

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doing when we design a
syllabus is to make sure

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that their entry point
for many students,

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regardless of their
previous knowledge

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or regardless of their aptitude
for a particular subject,

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we really want to
diversify the offerings.

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So that people find
a place to connect.

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Ideally, everyone connects, but
if we can't have that happen,

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we want to change it up.

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The other thing, for
those of you out there

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who are teaching
difficult topics,

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I like to modulate the tone
of class, week by week.

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I was just talking to someone
about this very issue.

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So if I talk about a
particularly difficult moment

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in history.

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For instance, if I'm
teaching about the Selma

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to Montgomery March and violence
against peaceful protesters,

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then next week I
might dial it back

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and talk about the music in
the Civil Rights movement.

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I try to make sure that
I'm sensitive to the fact

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that students will be
challenged and pushed

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to talk about difficult things
and that we can modulate

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the tone, so that
students can appreciate

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the full spectrum of learning.

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The other thing about
putting together a syllabus

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is to keep in mind
your own timetable

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throughout the semester.

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I think that the way
that students sometimes

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can get too ambitious, in terms
of taking on too many things

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at different points
in the semester.

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So do we.

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So when you're planning
when assignments are due

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and when do you want
to get them back,

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think about that
major conference

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that you're presenting at.

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Think about the schedule
that your family has

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around certain times
in the school year

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and adjust for that, too.

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It gives you a break.

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And I think it
also takes students

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out of the pattern
of all the work

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happens only during one
time in the semester.

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I think that one of the things
you want to put on a syllabus,

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always, are your expectations
for the assignments.

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I think that students
may gloss over that.

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But I think they
really help when

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you communicate why
student got a grade

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or why they had points deducted.

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I think that, after you
draft your syllabus,

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you should give it to a student
who took one of your classes

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in the past or a student
who won't take the class.

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And ask them to find
the holes in it.

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Because students
are really litigious

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when it comes to finding
evidence about what

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wasn't in the syllabus.

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So sometimes, I like to
get a student to look at it

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and say, well what do
you think is not here?

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Because I think after you teach
a class over and over again,

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you think that
there are a series

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of things that are implied.

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I think that every
syllabus should

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have why we are doing this.

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Why the study of, x?

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Why the study of, y?

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And why the approach.

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I think that when
students come to college,

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one of the first things
that they kind of learn

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is that we are all taking
an approach to a topic.

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And I think that when we
tell them that upfront,

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they start to tune in to
how one body of research

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can be thought of
in different ways.

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So I think that can kind of
help them out, intellectually.

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Also, remember you to use the
right academic calendar, when

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you're planning, something
that I have done in the past.

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And it creates havoc.

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