Courses:

  • FYSM1000: Immigrant Colorado
    • This was a freshman seminar where students analyze census data to understand immigration to Colorado. Over time, the idea is that the course in various iterations will create an online exhibit including data visualizations and essays on immigrants in Colorado in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I'm hoping to develop more undergraduate courses along similar project-based lines.
  • HIST1015: American history to 1865
  • HIST4726: Nation of Immigrants: Immigration in American History (also in online version in Winter 2020 and Summer 2020)
  • HIST6546: Text, Data, and Text as Data: Introduction to Digital History
  • HIST4435: From the Cold War Consensus to the Counterculture: U.S. History 1945–1973
  • HIST4166: HIST4166: The Vietnam War in Politics and Culture (also in online version Summer 2019)
  • HIST2166: The Vietnam Wars
  • New! HIST2566: Made in America: Work and Workers in American History (never yet taught, but recently approved!)
  • HIST3020: Thinking and Writing in History (Theme: The Vietnam War in the American Experience)
    • These days, all my (face-to-face) Vietnam War classes attempt to include some interaction with veterans; I'm very grateful to the folks at Warrior Storyfield for making that possible!

Miscellaneous teaching materials

I've basically stopped creating class webpages — students seem to want everything in the LMS, and it's too much hassle trying to make and update a separate site. However, I've benefited a lot from other people's assignments available out there on the Interwebs, so the interests of openness I'm adding some of my favorite assignments and materials here. Feel free to copy as you please, though attribution is of course appreciated (CC-BY-SA).

In addition, all assignments and materials for the Fall 2017 version of HIST4726, Nation of Immigrants: Immigration in American History are on the class website for that term (I've since changed the course quite a bit, though).

  • The Little Regular Expressionist: This little pamphlet, which is inspired by The Little Schemer by Daniel Friedman and Matthias Felleisen, aims to serve as a gentle introduction to regular expressions. (If you happen to find it useful and would like to modify for your own purposes, feel free to download and edit the .tex file.)
  • Life story of a 19th-century American person: My long-time favorite assignment from the American history survey course (to 1865). Students create an invented life story but they must show that it is historically plausible. These are so much fun to read!
  • Ticket tasks: This was one of my favorites for a while, and I still use them in modified forms. Originally, for selected classes, students must complete a "ticket task" ahead of time; it's called that because it's their "ticket" to class discussion. (I didn't invent the idea, but I've forgotten who I stole it from.) The tasks have a very detailed structure that tries to encourage close reading of documents and articles (if you like, check out the actual tasks). I found it was really helpful for me to see students engaging with the material, and I could easily point to common mistakes in thinking.