Final Exam Grades and Office Hours

By now, most of your are probably aware that I have posted your grades for exam 3 as well as your cumulative semester average to BlackBoard.I have included columns indicating the grade for each exam you took before any extra credit was added as well as columns showing adjusted grades. You should also be able to see you semester average and the final letter grade for the course.

In assigning letter grades, I used the rubric indicated in the syllabus:

Letter grades for the course will be assigned on the following scale:
90-100 A
80-89 B
70-79 C
60-69 D
59 ↓ F

I also allowed for rounding, assigning As to students whose averages were at least 89.5, Bs to those with averages of at least 79.5, and so on.

After adding the extra credit, including the five points added to everyone's grade for the shared attendance opportunity on the last day of class, and the rounding of final grades (which is the equivalent of adding another 1.25 points to everyone's third exam grade) roughly 15% of students earned an A, 38% earned a B, 27% earned a C, 10% earned a D, and 2% failed. This grade distribution is substantially similar to those you will find for most other sections of POLS 206.

I very much appreciate the effort many of you have put into the course this semester. I especially appreciate those of you who have come to see me personally over the semester to discuss how to get the most out of the course and to prepare most effectively for exams. Ultimately, though, your grades must be based on your performance on the exams rather than on the volume of your efforts. So, I cannot make any further adjustments to grades. In particular, I cannot offer additional extra credit opportunities or opportunities to perform additional graded work to individual students that were not offered to the class as a whole during the semester.

For those of you who would like to review your exams, talk about the course, or discuss any other final matters with me, I will be holding one last set of office hours. I will be available on Thursday from 10:00AM-12:00PM and from 2:00PM to 3:30PM. I will also be available on Friday from 1:30PM until 3:00PM. All of these office hours will be held in my office in the political science department,( room 2117 in the Allen Building).

Thanks for a great semester everyone.

Final Extra Credit Opportunity

I will hold class on Monday, December 5, at which time I will distribute evaluations for the course. If at least half of the students enrolled in a section of the course attend class and submit evaluations (approximately 150 students), I will add five points of extra credit to the grade for the third exam to all students in that section. This opportunity is available to both sections.

Office Hours for November 30

Morning and afternoon office hours will be held in the group study area on the second floor of Evans Library, outside the University Writing Center.

Yahoo E-Mail Problems at TAMU

The TAMU e-mail system is apparently having a lot of trouble interacting with e-mail sent from Yahoo e-mail. If you use Yahoo, you may want to at least temporarily make use of an alternative e-mail provider if you need to be in touch with someone with a TAMU e-mail address.

Office hours, Wednesday November 16

I will be holding both my morning and afternoon office hours today in the group study area on the second floor of Evans Library (outside of the Writing Center). I am usually in the back of the room, behind the microfilm cabinets.

Afternoon Office Hours

I am holding office hours on the second floor of Evans Library, in the group study area near the Writing Center.

Extra Credit Opportunity

It has been my experience that students have a great deal of trouble learning (and retaining) which rights and freedoms are associated with particular amendments in  the Bill of Rights, e.g. that the Eight Amendment provides protection against excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment.

This semester, a couple of students have described creative ways they have come up with for remembering which amendment does what in the Bill of Rights.

In the hope of inspiring you all to commit this important information to your long-term memory and to try to harness your creativity to help me come up with a better way to teach this stuff, students who produce a video demonstrating an original and useful way to remember the content of the Bill of Rights (that is, which particular rights are protected by which particular amendments) can win extra credit that may be applied to your third exam.

Here are the rules:

1. An entry may be no longer than 5 minutes.
2. Each entry must provide instruction on the contents of all ten amendments in the Bill of Rights.
3. Entries may be the work of individual students or teams. (Students may collaborate across sections.)
4. Teams may be no larger than 4 students.
4. No student may be involved in more than one entry.
5. Entries must be burned onto a CD-ROM in a common video file format (e.g. .mpg, .mov, etc.).
6. All entries are must be physically turned in to me no later than the start of the entrant or entrants' class on Monday, November 21. Be sure to write the names of all students' responsible for the video on the physical disc.

I will select up to five finalist entries on the basis of three criteria: the usefulness of the video for helping future students learn the Bill of Rights (60%), creativity (25%), and production values (15%). I will them put together a small panel of judges to choose one winning video and one runner-up from among the finalists.

• Individuals or teams who produce the three finalist videos will receive 5 points of extra credit (per person). 
• The person or team who produces the runner-up video will receive 10 points of extra credit (per person). 
• The person or team who produces the winning video will receive 15 points of extra credit (per person).

All extra credit will be applied to grades for the third exam prior to any curves or other adjustments I may make. By submitting a video, entrants agree to assign to me the nonexclusive right to publish and distribute their video (including posting it online, making it available for others to download, and showing it in present and future classes). Lastly, and as always, I am the dictator of the extra credit assignment. My interpretation of the rules is final, and I reserve the right to alter or amend its terms at any time with reasonable notice.

Please let me know if you have any questions about this opportunity. Good luck.

Morning office hours

Howdy. This morning I will be in Evans Library room 110C for office hours.

Exam 2 Grades Are Posted

Grades for the second exam are available in elearning. I have also posted students' weighted averages through the first two exams so you can have a sense of your current grade and how you need to perform on the third exam in order to earn a particular grade.

Office Hours for Wednesday, November 2

Today, I will be holding my morning office hours in room 110A of Evans Library from 10:00-11:30. Afternoon office hours will be held in the group study area on the 2nd floor of Evans Library, near the microfilm cabinets, from 3:00-4:00.

Exam 2 Study Guide

The study guide for our second exam is posted under the course information tab in the top right corner of the website.

Afternoon Office Hours

Afternoon office hours (3-4:00PM) are in the group study area on the second floor of Evans Library. I will be outside of room 210T, along the back wall of the 2nd floor by the mircofilm filing cabinets.

The Endogeneity of Judicial Power

This story from The New York Times reports on the handful of Republican presidential candidates who have made judicial power a campaign issue and have advanced proposals to limit the power of federal courts.

Exam 2 Coverage

For those of you who were not in class yesterday, please note that the second exam, which is a week from Friday, will cover chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 in the textbook along with lectures covering Congress, the Presidency, and the federal courts. The syllabus mistakenly directs you to read Chapter 3 again rather than Chapter 4, so please note the change and adjust your reading plans accordingly.

Morning office hours reminder

As a reminder, this morning my office hours are on the main campus in Evans Library, room 422, from 10-11:30.

An Example of "Going Public"

President Obama's speech to Congress about his jobs bill and his subsequent bus tour around battleground states are evidence that the president has eschewed a strategy of bargaining with congressional leaders to find compromise legislation in favor of a strategy of going public to pressure congressional leaders into accepting his version of the legislation.

Class and office hours cancelled today

I apologize for the late notice, but I have to cancel class and office hours for today, October 19. I will try to schedule extra office hours on Friday or Monday to makeup for that missed time. I will announce those here once that has been arranged.

Obama and Presidential Style

Richard Neustadt's account of presidential influence emphasizes the role of the president's relationships with congressional leaders and other influential members of the Washington community. In this recent profile of President Obama, Scott Wilson, a reporter for the Washington Post, describes our current president's style of personal interactions, often in comparison to that of former-President Bill Clinton. As you read the article, think about the model of leadership described by Neustadt and consider to what extent President Obama seems to be pursuing influence along those lines, or is he doing something else?

More Grades

Grades for students who took exams in the Disability Services Office are now posted, also.

Exam 1 Grades Are Up

I have uploaded grades for Exam 1 for all students who took the test in class at the normal exam time. Grades for students who took the exam at the disability services office are not yet up. I will hopefully have those included before class tomorrow. I will be in touch via e-mail with students who missed the first exam about scheduling makeups very soon.

Elizabeth Warren's Living Room Campaign Event

For the purposes of studying congressional campaigns (and thinking about how electoral imperatives shape the behavior of members of Congress and institutions created by members of Congress, like parties and committees), the important thing about this video is the setting. Elizabeth Warren is giving this speech to maybe a couple of dozen people packed into someone's living room, and she is an unusually high-profile and well-funded candidate seeking a United States Senate seat. Congressional campaigns are dominated by these kinds of small-scale events.

As for the substance of here remarks, you can read favorable commentary here and some criticism here and here. These are not required for class, though.

October 5 office hours

POLS206 office hours are in Evans Library 424 this morning.

Exam 1 Study Guide

The study guide for our first exam is posted under the course information tab in the top right corner of this website.

Real-Life Implications of the Collective Action Problem

SI Facebook Group

Marisa, your friendly neighborhood SI for both sections of POLS206, has created a Facebook group for my sections of Introduction to American Government this semester. She has promised me all sorts of political science shenanigans will be coordinated through the group's page. I think you have to be a member of Facebook to see the page, but, of course, you need not be on Facebook to go to SI sessions or talk with Marisa. The group page is here.

Morning Office Hours, Wednesday September 28

This morning's office hours will be held in room 422 on the 4th Floor of Evans Library.

Lecture Slides

I have just posted slides for lectures from this past Monday and Wednesday.

Also, for those of you who are interested, the data I presented in class on the relationship between public opinion and congressional support for the judiciary are from an article I published in the Journal of Politics in 2010. You can download it here.

Office Hours Today, Wednesday, September 21

I apologize for the late notice, but my office hours are canceled for today and tomorrow morning. I will hold extra office hours tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon from 2:00PM-4:00PM in my office on West Campus (2117 Allen Building) and again on Friday morning from 10:00AM-12:00PM in Evans Library in the groups study area on the 4th Floor (outside room 1.422). If these alternative times are inconvenient, please e-mail me or see me before or after class to make an appointment at another time.

I am very sorry for the scheduling problem.

How will you get that extra credit?

Consider this a clue.

Afternoon Office Hours Are Cancelled Today, September 14

Extra Credit Opportunity

In the early month's of President Obama's term, the House of Representatives considered an economic stimulus legislation. The bill originally contained provisions providing funding for family planning, including birth control programs, in addition to spending on infrastructure projects and tax cuts. In pairwise competition with the status quo of no stimulus bill, it is likely that this proposal, including the controversial birth control provisions, would have passed the House with majority support. However, Republicans successfully pressured the Democratic leadership to consider an alternative proposal that stripped the family planning funds from the bill. It was clear that this amended proposal was preferred to original bill by a majority of the House, and the final legislation that passed the House did not include the birth control provisions.

News coverage of these developments are here and here.

Though a formal vote was not take on the floor to amend the stimulus bill by dropping the family planning funding, the outlines of a majority cycle are clear. Indeed, we might conceptualize this as a story about majority rule in two dimensions: stimulus spending on infrastructure and spending on family planning. Imagine three voters, a liberal Democrat (who wants high stimulus spending on infrastructure and family planning), a moderate Democrat (who wants high stimulus spending on infrastructure and some moderate level of funding for family planning), and a Republican (who wants low infrastructure spending and no funding for family planning). We could easily draw our policy space with infrastructure spending on one dimension and family planning spending on the other. We could place our voters in the space based on their preferences, draw indifference curves with respect to the status quo of no stimulus, and find a win set of alternatives including one with spending for both infrastructure and family planning. Then, we could repeat the process, drawing indifference curves with respect to the first bill to defeat the staus quo and identify a winning alternative that includes no spending on family planning.

I will award 5 points of extra credit on our first exam to all students in each of my two sections entire class if any 60 students in a respective section (about 20% of each class) turn in two hand-drawn diagrams showing (1) the original bill (infrastructure plus family planning) defeating the original status quo (no stimulus at all) and (2) the revised bill (only infrastructure spending) defeating the original bill.

Rules:

1. Both diagrams should include two dimensions of spending and the three voters described above along with the relevant indifference curves and win sets. Diagrams without these features or that do not show the correct sequence of events will not count toward the 60 student total.

2. Hard copies of diagrams must be turned in to me by the start of each class this Monday, September 19. Late diagrams will not count toward the total. E-mailed diagrams do not count toward the total.

3. Diagrams must be hand-drawn. Photocopies, etc., will not count.


4. Students who turn in drawings will not receive extra credit unless the required number of drawings are turned in.

5. Students who turn in diagrams will not receive additional credit above points awarded to the class.



6. Diagrams from each section of the class count separately.

7. I am the sole judge of the acceptability of diagrams and all other aspects of the administration of this extra credit opportunity. My decisions are final.

Good luck.

What do presidential speeches accomplish?

A dialogue, featuring TAMU's own George Edwards.

SI Information

Here are the times and locations for SI sessions for both sections 504 and 505:

Monday 8:00-9:00 HECC200
Tuesday 8:00-9:00 HECC202
Thursday 8:00-9:00 HECC202

Main Campus Office Hours Location

Today, I will be in the group study area on the 4th floor of Evans Library, outside of room 1.422.

The "Hidden Primary" for the GOP Nomination in 2012

This article from Politico.com describes the competition between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry for endorsements and contributions from Republican elites across the country. The process of courting the relatively small number of wealthy and influential activists within each major party is part of a process that is sometimes called a "hidden primary." Most of the delegates who will ultimately select a party's nominee for president are chosen through competitive primaries and caucuses, which any qualifying candidate could theoretically win. Yet, the ability to raise sufficient funds to run a professional campaign and to attract the free publicity that comes from being taken as a serious contender by traditional media outlets is closely related to the support candidates gather from elected official, party leaders, and wealthy donors. As such, competition for the support of party elites among candidates vying for high office can be intense.

Candidates who fail to attract the support of these elites often experience difficulty raising sufficient funding for an extended election campaign or receiving positive attention from the news media. The presidential campaign of Rep. Ron Paul is, perhaps, indicative of the importance of elite support. Despite Rep. Paul's enthusiastic base of political support among libertarian-leaning Republicans within a large and competitive field for the Republican presidential nomination, his alienation from most Republican Party elites undermines his campaign's ability raise the large contributions and attract the positive media attention that would help him attract enough support among Republican voters to win the nomination. The Daily Show makes light of Rep. Paul's nearly complete absence from media discussions of the results of the Ames Straw Poll, in which he finished second, but the reality of the situation is quite serious. Despite the opening the presidential election process that accompanied the development of the primary system in the second half of the twentieth century, party insiders continue to play a pivotal role in the nomination of major party candidates for the presidency.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Indecision 2012 - Corn Polled Edition - Ron Paul & the Top Tier
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Georgetown University political science professor Hans Noel discusses the hidden or invisible primary in an interview here.

Reminder: No class today, Friday, September 2

Have a good weekend.

Office Hours

Starting this afternoon, I will conduct office hours each Wednesday on the main campus as I indicated on the syllabus. Today, and in general, I will be in the open study area on the 4th floor of Evans Library. However, I will make an announcement on this website each week about the location of main campus office hours.

Textbook Update

The publisher of our textbook informs me that the books will arrive at the university bookstore tomorrow. I don't know how long it will take them to stock their shelves, but you all should be able to purchase copies before the week is out.

Syllabus Date Corrections

I have posted a very lightly revised version of the syllabus correcting a couple of problems with exam dates. If you downloaded your syllabus before 5:30 this afternoon, you should get the update.

Join Twitter

What do Texas A&M University, Rick Perry, The New York Times, Barack Obama, and Joe Ura all have in common? We are all on Twitter.

Twitter is a social networking website. Users may post updates or "tweets" of up to 140 characters, which are delivered to followers and included in a web-searchable index of all tweets. As a user, you can, of course, follow your friends and use the website to deliver messages to one another. More importantly, though, you can follow publications, public figures, and other interesting people and institutions, which will allow you to connect to a world of interesting ideas and information that is customized to your interests.

You can create an account here.

I should caution you, though, that anything you post on Twitter may be made available to others online. As with all other social networking websites, including Facebook, you should take some time to adjust your account's privacy settings to meet your own needs and exercise careful judgment about what you post online.

Additional Opportunities

One of the goals of this course is to help you all become more thoughtful and engaged citizens. As such, I will periodically provide links to opportunities and materials that will help you connect with information and ideas that are not necessarily tied directly to class. These additional opportunities are in no way required for class and, unless I explicitly note otherwise, will not earn extra credit. I will label these posts "additional opportunities." So, you may skip over these without missing any required course materials.

Welcome

Welcome to POLS 206, Introduction to American Politics.

Most everything you need for this course will be available through this blog. An electronic version of the course syllabus is available under the course documents tab in the top right corner of this website. I will add other documents, including lecture slides and exam review sheets, as the semester continues.

Try to make a habit of checking in with this website on a regular basis. It is required reading, and I use it to make important announcements about class (including extra credit opportunities, changes in assignments, etc.).

Good luck this semester.