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Combat Memoirs
GEP 397.998 - Spring 2007
12:30-1:45
TTH; 201 Madison
(updated 12/28/07
)
Instructor:
J. A. Johnson
Office Hours: 8:00-9:00 382 Craig; 9-9:30 am, 201 Madison TTH
9:00-10:00 382 Craig MW
and by appointment
Office: 382 Craig
Telephone: 836-5122
Email: JulieJohnson@missouristate.edu
Texts: Colder Than Hell: A Marine Rifle Company at Chosin Reservoir, by
Joseph R. Owen (Ballantine) [paperback]
Remembering Korea 1950: A Boy Soldier’s Story, by H.K. Shin (U. of
Nevada Press) [paperback]
Korea: We Called It War!, by Denzil Batson (
A Death March And Nightmares, by Donald E. Donner (Trafford
Publishing) [available online www.trafford.com
or
Amazon.com]
The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell: An Accidental Soldier’s Account
of the War in Iraq, by John Crawford (Penguin Group)[paperback]
and assorted handouts
Films: Florida PB Chosin, Korean
War Stories, The Rack, Retreat, Hell!, Tae Guk Gi
Missouri
|
Library of Congress Releases and Forms (Required for Project) |
Quiz Study Guides |
Map Showing Lines of Forces 1950-1953 (courtesy of Rebecca) |
Map of Iraq |
Class
Reading Assignments
(Jan 16/18)
(Jan 23/25) 25th Mortars –
Sergeant First Class Clayton D. Finch, US Army
(Jan 30/Feb 1) Chosin
video; discussion
(Feb 6/8) 8th- Quiz 1
(Feb 13/15) 15th- Doyle Cox & Bob Brose, KW
veterans on Interviewing Techniques
VHP
iMovie Guide
Collect
Journals 1-3/4 (depending how you count)
(Feb 20/22) 22th- Quiz 2
(Feb 27/Mar 1) 1st- KW Veterans Harold
Reynolds, formerly USMC, and Bob Dimond, formerly US Army
(Mar 6/8)
(Mar 13/15) Collect Journals 5-8
(Mar 27/29)
(Apr 3)
Comedy Central, Jon Steward interview with Crawford (6-7 min.)
(Apr 10/12)
(Apr 17/19)
Wk 14 24th
– Quiz 5 ; Collect Journals 9-13
(Apr 24/26) 26th -
12:35-12:55 Hannah & Ayssa
1:00-1:20 Caleb & Johanna
1:00-1:20 Darci
1:25-1:45 Rachel & Courtney
(May 8/10)
1:25-1:45 Cody
10th- 12:35-12:55 Kim, Aaron
1:00-1:20 Joshua, Kyle
1:20-1:45 Monica, Emily
Final:
NB: Each student in GEP 397,
section 998, is presumed to be computer literate and to be a routine user of the
internet and email. If
not, see me immediately. Occasional updates to the schedule, exam
information, etc. will be posted on the course web page.
Students are responsible for taking note of such information.
Course
Description: GEP
397, the Capstone course of General Education, is designed as "an
integrative and interdisciplinary experience which addresses public affairs
issues and choices of broad importance from the perspectives and interaction of
multiple fields. Includes an examination of crucial decisions facing individuals
and communities." Sections of
GEP 397 under the rubric ‘Public and Private Identities in Biography and/or
Autobiography’ explore "how individuals’ private lives are affected by
public events...from any culture past or present."
We will deal with military memoirs, first person accounts of life in a
war zone, aiming to understand the impact of war on the lives of individuals,
both military and civilian. As
an Honors GEP section, this course will have intensified opportunities to learn
by reading, writing, reflecting, and speaking with veterans.
Students will comply with an honor code.
Course
Objectives:
The General
Education Program is designed to develop the capacity to seek, analyze and weigh
firsthand evidence, to evaluate source materials, to reflect upon evidence and
events, to develop personal judgments using reason, to evidentiate those
judgments with facts, and to articulate and defend them with competent writing
and speaking. These processes also involve assimilating new information
and reevaluating our judgments in light of it, correcting where we've been wrong
and refining where we're right. This course seeks to further all these
capabilities, and, in addition, I would like you to pay particular attention to
the following:
(1) The
experience of combat and its effects on individuals, both military and civilian.
(2) Basic military structures, organization, values; the dynamics of
unit cohesion; purposes and styles of military training; language of the
military.
(3)
The significance of weather and terrain to military strategy and tactics
and to the experience of individual combatants and civilians.
(4) The
relationship between military and civilian cultures, and citizens'
responsibilities with respect to the military.
(5) The impact of their war experiences on veterans’ lives post-combat, including effects on families and communities.
(6)
[Class selected objective.]
It is also hoped that we will develop materials of lasting significance for the
Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress and Meyer Library’s Harry
E. Appleby Veterans History Collection.
Class: This is not a lecture course; it is hands-on and
predominantly interactive. There
will be invited speakers, films, presentations, and term activities.
All students are expected to participate in all class conversations.
Always come prepared to respond to the week’s assigned reading.
Engagement with class activities will be weighed in your course
achievement as the “participation” grade.
Attendance
Policy:
It is policy that students should attend class.
Attendance is necessary, but not sufficient
for a grade of “C” or above in ‘Participation’.
In extraordinary circumstances (e.g., accident, or sickness) notify
Ms.
Cautionary:
Some of the assigned texts and the planned films contain language and images
that some may construe as offensive and disturbing. Psychic distance should be
applied. Should these matters become a difficulty for you, please discuss it
with me.
Weather
Advisory.
Let rationality and prudence be your guides: if the roads are
bad, stay home. Whenever a
question arises about whether class might be/has been cancelled due to hazardous
road conditions, you can check the course web page and/or call the MCL
department secretary at 836-5122 for
the latest information.
Graded
Assignments/Activities
I. Term Project - 125 points total (25 pts. presentation/100 points
product)
II.
Journal of Weekly Readings/Classes/Thoughts – 75 points
III. Quizzes – 100 points (5 @ 20 points each)
IV.
Final – 50 points
V. Participation – 25 points
Total: 375
Term Project: Veterans History Project
Students may organize into 2
or 3 member teams in order to undertake the term project.
If so organized, each member is expected to contribute to the team
effort, and presumptively each member of the team will receive the grade given
to the team project and text assessment (keeping in mind that your instructor
has authority over the final grade). Some
class time will be set aside each week during class for team conferences or
consultation with me on the project. (
Should there be problems within a team, it is first the team’s responsibility
to resolve them. If a group comes to
me with complaints about a slacker member, I will be interested not only in the
complaints but also in an account of the team’s efforts to handle the issue on
its own. If need arises for an
Article 27-A hearing, all sides will meet to for open evidence and rebuttal.)
Tasks:
(1) Undertake a Veterans
History Project interview with one area war veteran to be completed
and turned in during the last
three weeks of the semester and (2) prepare a presentation to the
class on your veteran’s experience
(including whatever is pertinent for the class to
understand his/her specific story) and (3) write up a two page reflection
on the process of interviewing a
veteran and what you learned from it.
[Items 1 and 2 can be undertaken by team; item 3 must be an individual
effort.]
VHP
Project
The Veterans
History Project was authorized by Congressional legislation on
Organization:
You will be responsible for contacting a war veteran, researching his or her
military background and context, arranging the interview, securing the proper
paperwork (releases, biography, etc.), checking out and returning equipment
(whether borrowed from your instructor, from ETC, or elsewhere), getting 3 VHS
or DVD copies made, and returning one
copy immediately to your veteran. Meyer Library’s
Order of
procedure:
1. Familiarize with VHP aims and requirements (www.loc.gov/vets).
2. Settle on a veteran and secure his/her agreement to be interviewed and
videotaped for the Library of Congress
and for the Meyer Library archive.
3. Get biographical details and begin research on his/her unit, job, area
of service, weapons used, etc., etc.
4. Settle on questions using the VHP ‘suggested questions’ as a
starting point and your own research for details.
5. Meet with veteran, fill out all other release forms, and discuss how
the interview will be conducted.
6. Videotape interview.
7. Dub interview onto 3 DVD or 3 VHS copies and fill out the tape
log form COMPLETELY.
8. Return one copy of the videotape on VHS or DVD to your veteran.
9. Organize presentation to teach the class about your veteran and
his/her combat experience.
Contacts
with veterans can be made through local veterans’ organizations or through
family, personal, or business contacts. In
addition, your instructor has a list of area veterans willing to be interviewed.
Product:
The following
must be turned in on the day of presentation:
1. VHP paperwork fully completed (veteran release, interviewer
release(s), biographical data sheet, tape log)
2. MSU paperwork fully completed (veteran, interviewer(s), and
cameraman releases available on course page)
2. Original master tape (whether mini-dv or VHS or other disk or tape
format)
3. VHS or DVD copy for Library
of Congress
4. VHS or DVD copy for
5. Any other materials a veteran wishes to donate with appropriate VHP
paperwork (photos or manuscripts)
The product will be graded on the basis of competence and consistency in
completing the work according to the VHP protocols, NOT on the basis of artful
editing or liveliness of the interview subject.
Please remember that this project is for collection of primary data via
an oral history. All information is
worth preservation. Your instructor
can supply MINI-DVs, blank DVDs, and VHS tapes as needed.
NB: I am
open to suggestions for improvements to this activity plan. Please keep me
apprised of any difficulties.
Presentation:
In the
last three weeks of class, you will make a 15 minute presentation to the rest of
the class on your veteran and his/her experience, including entry into the
service, training, where and when he/she participated, how he/she participated,
what part he/she played in the war as a whole, etc., providing whatever
background information that would be helpful to the rest of the class.
The presentation will be assessed on the basis of clarity, accuracy, and
interest.
Reflection:
At the
course final meeting (Tues, May 15,
Journal
of Weekly Readings/Classes/Thoughts
Weekly
one page journal: Because experience
shows that there is benefit from keeping a regular record of readings,
activities, and reactions, and because writing both clarifies ones own thinking
and creates a record for future reviews, each student will maintain a weekly
journal. Each page of the journal
will cover one week and should be organized into three parts: A. a short
synopsis of the week’s reading assignment, B. a short synopsis of class
activities for the week, and C. your own, thoughtful evaluation of the readings
and the classes (e.g. Did the writer deal with matters that are significant or
interesting to you? If so, what? If
not, why not? did you learn anything
from the classes? If so, what?
If not, why not?)
Grading
will be based on coherence, clarity, grammar, and punctuation, as well as
thoughtfulness. Incomplete jounrals
can receive no higher grade than ‘C’. In
order to receive an ‘A’ a journal must be complete, free of grammar or
spelling errors, and must display
original thinking as necessary elements.
N.B.:
Each weekly entry should be produced on a word processor or typewriter and
should be no more than one sheet of paper (2-sided printing is permissible).
Shrink the font or widen margins as you please.
These entries will be collected for grading at three times during the
semester. A fouled printer is NOT
AN EXCUSE for failure to turn in journal entries on time.
Have work ready in advance and avoid last minute SNAFUs.
I do not accept electronically transmitted assignments unless I have
agreed to it in advance.
Quizzes
There will be a 20 point quiz
covering each of the memoirs, using any of the following: essay, short answer,
identification, matching, ordering, and multiple choice questions.
Study guides for each book will be posted on the internet and linked to
the course page.
Final
This exam will be a combination of comprehensive short
answer and ID questions based on the five quiz study guides, the class VHP
presentations, along with the reflective project essay.
There
will be absolutely no fudging on the official date and time of the final exam. Do
not ask for accommodations unless you have the permission of your college dean
in writing.
Participation
Note well: Should you find it
necessary to miss a class, you are nonetheless responsible for the material
covered.
Grade
Calculation:
At the end of term all points from graded assignments will be totaled and a
course grade will be assigned based on the percentage achieved out of the total
possible points (375) based on the following scale: 100-90% = A; 89-80% = B;
79-70% = C; 69-60% = D; 59-0% = F.
Some
of you (e.g., athletes, pledges, scholarship recipients, etc.) may require
regular feedback on your grade. If
so, please let me know at the start of term.
‘Snapshot’ estimates of participation grades are available at any
time upon request.
If
you feel that I have misjudged your performance on any point, please arrange a
conference with me and make your case. (Note the Procedures below.)
Procedures
for Grade Inquiries:
To raise an
enquiry about course formalisms (grades, procedures, progress) you should
consult your instructor in the first instance. Should we be unable to resolve
the matter, I shall then refer you to Professor John Catau, Assistant Provost,
as the next step in the process. All inquiries about individual grading during
the term should be made within one week of the date on which the quiz/exam/paper
in question was returned to the class. Questions about final course grades
should be raised within one semester.
Courtesies:
Please attend to ordinary courtesies and show due respect to other members of
the class, to the instructor, and to all guests. (For example, it is dismaying
for a speaker to observe students doing homework, leafing through books or
notes, napping, etc.) Class
guests are veterans who served with honor and picked up the tab for all of us.
Treat them accordingly. Further,
as late arrivals to and early departures from class can be both rude and
disruptive to the entire group, do not
come late or leave prematurely except under extreme duress. If
special circumstances pertain (e.g., a 50-mile drive coming in), please let me
know at the start of term.
Integrity:
I presume at
the outset that everyone is of the highest moral character and probity. However,
in a case of suspected cheating or plagiarism (‘Plagiarism’ means the theft
of intellectual property, stealing the ideas or words of another and passing
them off as one’s own.), I shall return
the assignment without a grade, and the student must see me immediately. If
good faith has been restored, a grade will be given. In the case of unquestioned
dishonesty, the test or written material will be given an automatic zero; and
the student must still see me immediately. In the latter instance, the student
will be counseled to drop the course and the Academic Integrity Council may be
notified.
Accommodations: To request academic
accommodations for a disability, contact Katheryne Staeger-Wilson,
Director, Disability Services, Plaster
Student Union, Suite 405, (417) 836-4192 or (417) 836-6792 (TTY),
http://www.missouristate.edu/disability.
Students
are required to provide documentation of disability to Disability Services
prior to receiving accommodations. Disability Services refers some types of
accommodation requests to the
Nondiscrimination: