Course Objectives

 

There are multiple, overlapping objectives of this course that we will try to hold equally in our minds during the semester. To pursue curiosities, generate questions that challenge you, and take risks. To improve your critical and analytical skills as readers, writers, and thinkers. To appreciate reading as a creative act – and a privilege. To approach writing as a process of intellectual inquiry, creative reflection, and social action. To develop a personal writing style characterized by coherency, clarity of expression, and confidence. To understand the consequences of ideas, and the rhetorical, creative, and effective power of words. To participate fully in and learn from a seminar—that is, to learn from one another. To leave your comfort zones and think/reach across borders. If you apply yourself, you can look forward to reading more intelligently, writing with more ease and pleasure, and speaking more comfortably in class and in public.

 

Course Requirements & Policies

 

1. RESPONSIBILITY (DISCUSSION / PARTICIPATION) 25%

• Attendance: Attendance is mandatory. Poor attendance and lack of participation will adversely affect your final grade. Class begins promptly. Lateness due to last-minute work (or printing issues) is unacceptable. Late arrivals accumulate as an absence. Please notify me prior to class with a legitimate explanation if you will not be present or will be late. In the case of absence, you are still responsible for turning in assigned work on time. If you are absent more than three times for any reasons other than religious holidays, documented medical problems, or events designated by official college policy, I will contact your Dean and you will receive a course warning.

• Participation: Because this course relies on the lively exchange of ideas, full participation is expected. Come to class ready to propose questions and share responses to readings. Feel free to initiate or join new directions in our discussion. Each student will give one 5-minute oral presentation on some aspect of our reading for that day of class, and may be asked to lead discussions. You will earn a daily participation grade between 0 (absent) – 10 (prepared, engaged) for each class meeting.
• Readings: You must do all assigned reading prior to the corresponding class and be prepared to discuss texts in depth. Always bring readings/book to class with you. No Book = Absence.
• Reading Responses: Frequent reading responses will allow you to focus on specific aspects of the work under discussion in exploratory ways, and to prepare for discussion. These include: explications (selecting a line/passage for close-reading and examining its significance to the whole text); unraveling a question that compels you; approaching the text from an angle of your choice; following a prompt that I provide. Please do not summarize – I’ve already read these texts, I’m interested in your ideas. Guidelines: 1 page single-spaced, typed, with upper left header (name, date, title), unless stated otherwise. These will be assessed along the “check +/-” scale. There will also be occasional creative writing and in-class writing exercises. Your written work will sometimes be shared with the whole class.
• Film Responses: For each film you are required to contribute a brief response on the class blog prior to our class discussion. I will create the post for these responses.
• Class Blog: You are required to post one discussion (or more) during the semester (600-word max), and to briefly (yet substantively) comment on every discussion posted by your peers on a weekly basis. This is an open and informal forum for exchanging ideas and questions about the texts and/or related issues. Posts are due Sunday by midnight; comments must occur before class meetings. Our class website will also host the syllabus, course materials, assignments, related links, news updates, etc.
• Conferences: You will meet with me regularly to discuss ideas and drafts, and anything else relevant along the way. These conferences can be extremely beneficial to your brainstorming and revision process, but only if you are prepared for them, and only if you take responsibility for directing them.

 

A Note about Respect: I expect you to listen carefully, respond thoughtfully, and challenge each other respectfully. I value honesty in our communications, timeliness to class, open-mindedness in moments of discomfort, attention to detail, and commitment to pushing your own boundaries.

 

A Note about Technology: Discussion is impossible to follow if you are digitally distracted. For this reason, I require that you leave laptops, Ipads, Apple watches, and all other devices at home, and keep cellphones silenced and out of sight from the moment you enter the classroom until the moment you exit. No exceptions.

 

2. PAPERS 75%

Paper 1 (5 pages): 20%

Paper 2 (5-7 pages): 20%

Paper 2 (7-10 pages): 20%

Portfolio of Revisions / Final Exam: 15%

 

• You will write three formal essays, plus revisions. Prompts may be provided in advance, though you may be free to create your own prompts with my approval. Paper 3 will require outside critical research beyond the primary text. Papers will be peer-edited and occasionally workshopped. Drafts should not be “rough”; they must represent serious effort if you are to benefit from conferences, peer review, and workshops.
• Guidelines: Papers must be: typed, double-spaced, 1-in margins (left-justified), 11or12-pt Times or Garamond, black ink, hard-copy, stapled, titled (center), numbered (upper right), header with name/date/draft # (upper left), and adherent to MLA format for citations. Block quotations should be single-spaced, indented on the left and right. Use the footnote feature of your word processing program to create/edit footnotes or endnotes. It is important that you proofread all work thoroughly; excessive errors in grammar, syntax, formatting, and spelling will negatively affect your grade. I may ask you to resubmit any piece that seems rushed or careless. Incomplete drafts will not be accepted. Accompanying each draft you MUST include a brief note regarding (1) what you are trying to accomplish in the essay; (2) what you think works well in the draft; (3) elements that, you believe, need work. This can only help us as we work out, in conference, what you need to do next. Revisions should be turned in with all previously submitted drafts attached by clip, and include a brief note regarding (1) what you have done to address the issues you raised in your letter to me regarding your draft, as well as any other considerations that have occurred to you since, and (2) what you have done to address my overall comments on your draft; if you wish, you may also discuss what you still think might need work in the paper and in your writing. Late papers will not be accepted without my prior approval, and will be marked down 1/3 of a grade per late day, including weekends. If you are having a problem, talk to me before the due date. Papers over 1 week late will receive an F. Extensions will rarely be granted, but if for some compelling reason you feel that you must request an extension, you should do so well in advance of the due date. A late paper may receive a low grade, but the absence of one of the three major papers means a failing grade for the course. No work will be accepted via email. Please submit a hard copy to my box in the English department office by required due date/time. Please note that grading will become more rigorous as the semester proceeds.

• Email Policy: I will respond to emails within 24 hours during the week. I will not respond to emails over the weekend. I will not respond to any questions about papers 24 hours before each paper is due or after each paper is returned with feedback, nor will I read multiple drafts of your paper in entirety. If you have complicated questions, please meet with me during office hours; this is often more productive than exchanging emails. Don’t wait until the last minute.
• Final Portfolio / Exam: Final revisions of major essays must be turned in with all drafts attached, along with 1-pg evaluations for each. In addition, you will complete a 2-3 pg. self-evaluation. Papers missing drafts or evaluations will be penalized. When turning in final papers, use a binder clip to attach drafts behind your final version in reverse chronological order. There will also be a brief take-home exam of essay questions covering various texts throughout the course.

 

A Note About Academic Integrity and the Honor Code

Your ideas matter – trust your own mind. Plagiarism, cheating, or dishonesty in any form will not be tolerated in this course, and will lead without exception to disciplinary action on the administrative level. Plagiarism is defined as using another person’s language, ideas, or thoughts and representing them as your own without proper citation. This includes dishonest duplication of your own work from previous courses. You may talk with one another (and with tutors) about course texts, assignments, and your writing, but all words in your written work must be your own unless they are included in quotation marks with sources cited. You must provide a source for ideas you have borrowed as well as for words. Lifting pieces of text from common internet suspects (Wikipedia, SparkNotes) will not be accepted – the skill of critical close-reading involves deciphering internet junk. You will consult secondary sources in preparing some essays for this course, and you must list everything you have read in a bibliography or “Works Cited” list, and give specific page references for quotations and ideas you have used. The accepted citation style guide in literary study is The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, which gives models of proper citation for both paper and electronic sources. It is available at the library, at the college store, and on-line via a link on the Middlebury Library and Information Services (LIS) web page. Purdue OWL is a helpful online site. You must write and sign the full Honor Code Statement on each essay you prepare for this course, indicating that you have followed these guidelines. Middlebury College Honor Code

 

Extra Assistance in Writing

If you need extra assistance from someone other than me (either because you would rather consult someone else or because my schedule doesn’t match yours, you may contact the Peer Writing Tutor for this class, who is on the Middlebury e-mail and phone system. If your tutor is not available, you may also consult Mary Ellen Bertolini at the Writing Center in the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Research (ground level, all the way at the back of the library). Do not be shy about asking for assistance. You can benefit from intelligent readings of your drafts and help with your thinking, whatever your writing level.

 

Reminders

Contacting Me: I encourage you to discuss your ideas and your writing with me during office hours. Please email me if you have questions or will miss class. I always prefer honesty and directness.

 

 

Required Texts

• Javier Zamora: Unaccompanied
• Alison Bechdel: Fun Home
• Junot Diaz: Drown
• Justin Torres: We the Animals
• James Baldwin: Giovanni’s Room
• Toni Morrison: Sula
• Jean Toomer: Cane
• Claudia Rankine: Citizen

*If you plan to purchase texts on Amazon, please check with me to confirm correct editions.

Recommended Texts

• Diane Hacker: Rules for Writers
• The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
• Gloria Anzaldua: Borderlands/La Frontera
• Sandra Cisneros: Woman Hollering Creek

 

Films: You will be required to independently view films on your own time unless I schedule an out-of-class screening.

 

Final Note: Expect change. I will freely adapt the syllabus and modify assignments as we proceed throughout the semester.