ATTENDANCE AT LECTURES AND DISCUSSION SECTIONS (COVID RULES)

Zoom Lectures

Usually I give a very minimal attendance grade for lectures, but because some of you are in far distant places, I am waiving that this quarter. All the lectures will be zoomed live, recorded, and then uploaded to Yuja on Canvas. So you don't have to attend the live zoom, although there will be in-class discussions that may be helpful to you and it is one opportunity to ask questions (office hours and discussion sections are another).

Note, however, that if you miss the zoom, you should watch the lecture as soon as possible, because discussion questions are due BEFORE the discussion section. Because I've eliminated the take-home midterm, the discussion questions count for more of your grade. I present a good deal of material that is not in the readings, and so if you miss lecture, you do not have access to that material, and it will be harder for you to do well on the discussion questions.

Pre-recorded lectures

There are six prerecorded lectures (mostly done on Camtasia in 2014!) on the historical context for ghosts of a particular period (Kamakura, Muromachi, Edo etc). They are due before their assigned lecture. There are short graded canvas quizes to show you've watched them. These are particularly important if you have no familiarity with premodern Japanese history.

Discussion Sections

There is a minimal attendance/participation grade for discussion sections (10%).

Weeks 1 and 10: discussion section optional (participate in the discussion forum).

Weeks 3-9: you can miss two (2) of these eight sections without penalty.

If you have serious difficulties with this requirement, for whatever reason, please contact me or Kristina directly to arrange an alternative.

General Points

Overall, I use attendance to help track how you are doing in the class -- as noted above, numerous absences will explain bad performance on discusssion questions, for example. If you disappear from lectures and discussion sections entirely, it is likely that I will attempt to contact you directly to find out why. I *hate* failing students!