syllabus: g-en255 american lit ii

8/7/2019 Syllabus: G-EN255 American Lit II

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C ourse InformatIonG-EN255 American Literature IIand G-EN255L American Literature IIMohler 23188:50 MWF3 or 4 credit hoursInstruCtorDr. Bruce ClaryMohler 201Of ce Hrs: 23:30 MWFOf ce Ph: 242.0530Cell Ph: 620.755.2501

r equIrements m et1) General education credit for Humanities: Literature. 2) Language Intensive credit for those enrolled in G-EN255L.3) For the major or minor inEnglish.

4) 7-12 teaching certi cation inEnglish.

r equIred t exts

Belasco and Johnson. TheBedford Anthology of

American Literature . Vol 2:1865-Present. Beford/St.Martins, 2008.

Chopin. The Awakening and Selected Stories . Pocket,2004.

L iterature II C ourse D esCription

A study of late 19th-century to contemporary American writerswith emphasis upon the historical development of American lit-erature and the diverse social and ethnic contexts that producedAmerican writers. Class time is devoted to techniques of criticalreading, appreciation of aesthetic achievements, and mastery of

literary and critical terminology.C ourse G oals

The broadest goal of this course is to help you recognize therewards and joys of reading, thereby leading you to become alifelong reader of literary works. Another general goal is to helpyou learn to read challenging texts carefully and criticallyaskill that is central to any claim to be educated.

More speci cally, the course objectives are

1. To acquaint you with authors and works that represent move-

ments and developments in American literature2. To acquaint you with authors and works that offer diverse

perspectives on America and what it means to be Americanand

3. To provide you with historical, social, and cultural contextsthat will enrich your understanding of the works themselves.

G-EN255L gives students training and practice with languagethat enables them to develop as effective writers and speakers.

M ethoDs

It goes without saying that some lecture will be necessary, but Ihope discussion and student writing about the readings will an-chor the course. Class sessions will often involve a small-groupactivity intended to set the stage for class discussion. About oncea week, you will complete a short, informal writing assignment.As often as possible, I will use your informal writing as a stimulusfor further discussion. I not only welcome but invite and encouragequestions at any point during lecture or class discussion.

American

A Syllabus for G-EN255

McPherson CollegeSpring 2013


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2 G-EN255 American Literature II

r equireD l earninG a Ctivities

Weekly 3-2-1 Responses (35 percent). A 3-2-1 Response is amicro-paper concept devised to make it easier to respond to classreadings and to make your responses more useful as springboardsinto class discussion.

Your 3-2-1 papers should be about 300 words. They go as follows:

3. Write about three things you nd important or interesting about the text. These things might be speci c passages, im -ages or word choices, symbols, structural characteristics, sty-listic qualities, point of view, or details of setting or character.

2. Write about two things from the text that you nd puzzling ,confusing, or in need of further explanation.

1. Write one good question for class discussion to nish your response. A good question is one that has several (or perhapsmany) possible answers, not a yes-or-no question or a ques-

tion than can be answered by a dictionary or encyclopedia.I will divide the class into three groups and schedule the days

that each group is responsible for submitting responses. Responseswill be due to me by e-mail attachment at midnight prior to your assigned class meeting. (Im also checking in to using student

blogs or a course blog for this purpose.)

These 3-2-1 micro-papers will be evaluated on a 10-point scale:

9-10 Demonstrates adequate, thoughtful engagementwith the assigned reading(s)

8 Suggests adequate, thoughtful engagement with thereading(s)

6-7 Suggests less than adequate, thoughtful engagementwith the topic

1-5 Demonstrates less than adequate, thoughtful en-gagement with the topic

Late papers or posts will receive half-credit.

Reading checks (35 percent). The most important learning activ-ity in this course is the assigned reading. You will not have com-

pleted the course without reading the assigned works. Nearly every

class session will begin with a ve-minute, ve-point readingcheck so that you may demonstrate your completion and compre-hension of the assigned readings. The questions on these readingchecks will usually be of the complete-the-statement or ll-in-the-

blank variety, but they may also take the form of paragraph essays.Those who have adequately read the work(s) assigned will be ableto answer reading check questions readily; those who scan the

Samuel Clemensaka Mark Twain

A tale shall accomplish some-thing and arrive somewhere.

The episodes of a tale shallbe necessary parts of thetale, and shall help to de-velop it.

The personages in a taleshall be alive, except in thecase of corpses, and alwaysthe reader shall be able to tellthe corpses from the others.

The personages in a tal, bothdead and alive, shall exhibita suf cient excuse for beingthere.

When the personages of atale deal in conversation, thetalk shall sound like humantalk, and be talk such as hu -man beings would be likely totalk in the given circumstanc -es, and have a discoverablemeaning.

When a personage talks likean illustrated, gilt-edged,tree-calf, hand-tooled, seven-dollar Friendships Offering inthe beginning of a paragraph,he shall not talk like a negrominstrel in the end of it.

from Fenimore CoopersLiterary Offences


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G-EN255 American Literature II 3

assignment may enable you to answer some of the questions cor-rectly; those who have not cracked the book are unlikely to guessmore than one or two correct answers.

Reading checks may not be made upno exceptions . If you arriveto class a minute or two late, you will be allowed to complete asmuch of the check as you can in the remaining time. Students who

arrive in the last minute of the reading check period will not have acheck distributed to them.

Take-home exams (15 percent each). You will complete twotake-home exams, a midterm exam due on March 18 and a nalexam due May 18. These exams, along with guidelines for com-

pleting them, will be distributed one week in advance of the duedates.

Late take-home exams cannot receive a grade higher than a C .

G raDes

Final grades will be calculated as follows:35% Reading checks35% 3-2-1 micro-papers15% Midterm take-home exam15% Final take-home exam

I award grades on the traditional scale: 91-100 = A; 81-90 = B;71-80 = C; 61-70 = D; and 60 or below = F.

C ourse p oliCies

Policy governing revision of papers . You may revise and resubmitan essay to improve its grade as long as you slavishly adhere to thefollowing requirements:

Meet all deadlines and come fully prepared for all workshopsscheduled for the essay.

Submit revisions in a folder within one week from the date the paper was returned. All grades are permanent after one week.

Write a one-page cover memo that explains your revision pro -cess and the changes you made to improve the paper. If youcannot write 250-300 words about the changes you made, andhow and why you made them, the paper has not been adequatelyrevised.

Include in the folder all the previous versions of the paper thatI read and marked, including any rubric or comments that I re-turned with it.

Include an editing log documenting the rules you followed incorrecting errors of convention and style.

I am unyielding on all of these requirements and will immediatelyreturn revisions that fail to meet any one of them.

W. E. B. Du Bois

Between me and the other world there is ever an un-asked question: unasked

by some through feelings of delicacy; by others throughthe dif culty of rightly fram -ing it. All, nevertheless, utter round it. They approach mein a half hesitant sort of way,eye me curiously or compas-sionately, and then, insteadof saying directly, How doesit feel to be a problem? theysay, I know an excellentcolored man in my town; or,I fought at Mechanicsville;

or, Do not these Southernoutrages make your bloodboil? At these I smile, or aminterested, or reduce the boil-ing to a simmer, as the occa-sion may require. To the realquestion, How does it feelto be a problem? I answer seldom a word.

fromThe Souls of Black Folk


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Attendance and participation policy . I do not distinguish ex-cused from unexcused absences; making such a distinction putsme in a role I do not care to play. If you are not in class, then youare absentits that simple. You are allowed three absences with-out penalty. Beginning with the fourth absence, each additionalabsence deducts 5 percent from your nal grade. To be considered

present in class, you must be alert, paying attention, and cooperat-ing fully with whatever the class as a whole is doing.

In general, I do not accept for credit any work that is late due toabsence. When you know ahead of time that you must be absentfrom class for athletic events, eld trips, emergency trips home, or documented illnesses, you may make prior arrangements to makeup or receive credit for assignments. Prior arrangements must bein person. An email or voicemail notifying me you will be absentdoes not constitute prior arrangement.

l anGuaGe -i ntensive r equireMents

I am currently rethinking my LI requirements. General educa-tion standards require students enrolled for LI credit to completesubstantial formal writing and formal speaking projects. I will havemore information a week or two into the course.

Grades . Grades for LI students will be calculated as above. Regu-lar coursework will constitute 75 percent of the nal grade, with thelanguage intentsive projects accounting for the other 25 percent.

D isability s erviCe

If you have a disability that prevents you from fully expressing

your abilities, please contact me right away so we can discuss ac-commodations to ensure your full participation and success.

Kate Chopin

Chopin was among the rst American ction writers tocreate female characterswho questioned the sexual

double standard. BecauseEdna Pontellier, the mar -ried protagonist of her 1899masterpiece, The Awaken-ing, rejected her role as wifeand mother and exploredan extramarital relationship,the novel was condemnedand unknown until rediscov -ered by feminist readers andcritics in the late 1960s andearly 1970s.


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G-EN255 American Literature II 5

p reliMinary s CheDule of r eaDinGs

Readings are due on the day listed.

M, Feb. 4 Introduction to courseChopin, A Pair of Silk Stockings (218-24)

The Civil War and Its AftermathW, Feb. 6 Bedford, Introduction (213)

Bierce, Chickamauga (12229)F, Feb. 8 Harris, A Story of the War (on LMS)

Dunbar, poems (372-77)M, Feb. 11 Chesnutt, Passing of Grandison (228-42)W, Feb. 13 Washington, Atlanta Expo Address (439-50)

Du Bois, Souls of Black Folk (450-70)Realism, Regionalism, and Naturalism

F, Feb. 15 Realism, Regionalism, and Naturalism (31-39)Twain, Coopers Literary Offenses (on LMS)Spofford, Circumstance (on LMS)

M, Feb. 18 Twain, Smiley and His Jumping Frog (61-67)-----, A True Story (67-70)-----, A Campaign That Failed (94-106)-----, The War Prayer (106-09)

W, Feb. 20 Freeman, A New England Nun (202-13)-----, The Revolt of Mother (on LMS)

F, Feb. 22 Gilman, The Yellow Wall-Paper (251-65)M, Feb. 25 King, The Little Convent Girl (on LMS)

Dunbar Nelson, Sister Josepha (on LMS)W, Feb. 27 James, Daisy Miller (129-51)F, March 1 ----, Daisy Miller (151-73)

M, March 4 Wharton, The Other Two (279-95) -----, Roman Fever (on LMS)

W, March 6 NO CLASS Assessment DayF, March 8 NO CLASS iTRAC Conference

M, March 11 Chopin, Desires Baby (200-07)-----, A Respectable Woman (208-13)

W, March 13 -----, The Awakening , Chaps. 1-14 (1-61)F, March 15 -----, The Awakening , Chaps. 15-25 (61-119)

M, March 18 -----, The Awakening , Chaps. 26-39 (119-78)W, March 20 Crane, The Open Boat (334-53)F, March 22 London, The Law of Life (388-94)

-----, To Build a Fire (online) Midterm Take-home Exam Due 5 p.m.

Mar 23-Apr 1 SPRING BREAK

Robert Frost

The gure a poem makes. Itbegins in delight and endsin wisdom. The gure is thesame as for love. No one canreally hold that the ecstasyshould be static and standstill in one place. It beginsin delight, it inclines to theimpulse, it assumes directionwith the rst line laid down, itruns a course of lucky events,and ends in a clari cation of lifenot necessarily a greatclari cation, such as sectsand cults are founded on, butin a momentary stay against

confusion.from

The Figure a Poem Makes


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syllabus: g-en255 american lit ii

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