A
M L 2 0 1 0-32
American Literature I
7:00-9:40 Tuesdays
Fall 2008
Walt Whitman
Gregory
Byrd
Office Hours:
M
9-9:35, 2-2:35 W 9-9:35, 2-2:35
T 10-11, 12:15-2, 3:15-4, 6-7
R 10-11, 12:15-2 Fridays: No office hours.
MW 12:30-1:50: Activity Period
Office: LA 161
Phone: 791-2695
Email:
byrd.greg@spcollege.edu
AML 2010 Calendar American Literature Websites
PAL: Perspectives in American Literature
Texts:
Lauter, The Heath Anthology of American Literature, volumes A & B.
5th edition 2006
Vol A. ISBN:
0-618-53297-8 Vol B. ISBN 0-618-53298-6
(also
available on reserve in library)
Griffith, Writing Essays About Literature, 7th edition 2006
ISBN:
0-15-506617-X
(also
available on reserve in the library)
Little, Brown
Handbook, 11th ed. (logon here!)
Various resources on the web or on
reserve in the library.
Suggested Further Reading: A People's History of the United States, by Howard Zinn (reserve), Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James Loewen (reserve) Native Americans and the Land (four online essays),
Approach:
This course will be divided into three major sections in attempt to help us understand how literature grapples with the questions "what is America?" and "what is American?" among others.
I. The
New
World: Those Who Call it Home, Those Who See Gold, and Those Who See God
In this section we will look at some of the earliest literature from some
of the Native
Americans who lived on this continent long before it was "New" as
well as literature of
Spanish, French, and English explorers (conquerers?) and colonists.
John Smith
II. Puritans, Colonials, Relations with
"others"
This section will focus around our reading
of selections by Wheatley, Bradstreet, Cooper, Franklin and Mary Rowlandson's
"Narrative of the Captivity of Mary Rowlandson." Some of these themes
reflected in these works include the place and depiction of Native Americans in American literature and culture,
the place and depiction of women, the relationship of the people to nature and wilderness,
the use of religion in America and the United States as a concept.
III. War, Slavery and Industrialism
In this final section we will discuss concepts that either emerged or came to a
head at some time after 1820. Some of
these issues include slavery and race, the Civil War and the Industrial Revolution.
These broad themes and sub-themes should give ample opportunity for
discussion and should suggest many paper topics.
Frederick Douglass
Assignments:
Reading Responses and bulletin board or journal entries. 10%
Each week, at the beginning of the class, you will turn in two pages, typed
and double-spaced, in which you summarize and discuss the literature we've read
for that week. Your response should show a general understanding of the
readings overall and some connection among several of them and/or some more
detailed discussion of one of them.
Grades for each response will be either 10 for a detailed, complete and
thoughtful response of two pages, 5 for a response that is too short, too vague
or does not show clear connection with the material, 0 for a response that is
very much too short or shows little evidence of having read the material.
Midterm exam (short answer, identification, etc)
10%
research essay Final
Revisions due 12-1-09
1200 word research essay on either author or concept presentation topic
20%
analytical essay 1,000 words
20%
Final exam (analytical essay #2
in class)
15%
Two presentations
One on an author
10%
One on a movement or concept
10%
(such as Romanticism, captivity narratives or women writers, for
example)
List of
presentation topics and authors here.
Final PortfolioClass participation. Includes being prepared for class, having readings done on time, responding to student and instructor questions and discussion in class. Quizzes gauge your preparation and will contribute to this grade. It is also important that you not disrupt class. 5%
----------------------------------------------------------------If you have already completed composition II, you may elect to write a combined research/analytical essay instead of doing the shorter assignments:
Analytical/Research Option 40%
(in lieu of research and analytical essay #1)
The last day of class you
should submit
1. Graded Analytical Essays and Research Essay plus any revisions of those essays. If you revise an essay,
please highlight (on the revision) any changes you made and attach a page explaining what changes
you made and explaining what grade the essay should not merit as a result of
those changes.
2. Copy and include all of the Reading Response and Journal entries
you made this semester.
3.
Include your Author and Concept presentation handouts and essays. If you revise
these essays, do the same as for the analytical essays.
4. Include your midterm exam.
5. Write a short essay in which you discuss your participation in class and your work outside of
class. You may also add up the grades you have from this class (see the
breakdown and percentages of grades at the end of this page) and suggest the
grade that your work merits for the semester.
6. You should place all of this material in a manila folder or a
three ring binder with your name, my name, and the course name and number on the
outside. You may retrieve them early in the spring semester. After spring
midterm they will be recycled.
Grading Scale :
A+ 98 and up, A 94, A- 91, B+ 88, B 84, B- 81, C+ 78, C 74, C- 71, D+ 68, D 64, D- 61, F 60 and below
Short Author Presentations
These are brief, informal but seriously approached presentations. You will provide a handout covering the main points of your presentation for each member of the class. The presentation itself should be between three and five minutes in length and will cover biographical information inasmuch as it bears on the writer’s work or approach, critical and popular acceptance of the writer’s work, and how the writer’s work connects to other works or themes in the course. This should be a fun assignment in which you have an opportunity to learn a little bit about an author and share your findings with the class. You will be graded on completeness. Preparing this presentation (on the same topic as your research essay) should help you to get some of your research done and to begin thinking about your topic critically before the research draft is due. Handout is due to the instructor the week before the class at which the presentation will be given.
Revision
Revising is an important part of the writing process. You may revise a graded paper once during the semester and once for the final portfolio, provided that you complete a self-evaluation of the revision and provided that you turn in your rough draft(s). I encourage everyone to see me often as they are working on papers. Please follow these revision guidelines. Due to the nature of the evening class, however, if you are unable to meet with me to discuss your revision, you may just hand it in following the other guidelines.
Late Papers
You may turn in one essay late during the semester. Use this option wisely.
Paper Format
Except for the research essay, follow these Guidelines for Writing College Papers.
Hurricane Policy
In the event that we are displaced by a hurricane, the class will continue as an online class via the Angel learning environment. In this way, we may finish the class even if we are widely dispersed. At your earliest convenience after the storm, logon to Angel and follow my instructions.
Your responsibilities as you come into this class:
*write an effectively structured
essay.
*write
and support a thesis as part of an essay.
*recognize illogical and ill-supported arguments.
*write
and revise essays on deadline.
*participate in class and conference with the instructor as needed.
*follow
instructions and abide by class policies and calendar.
See important information in the Syllabus Addendum under Lessons in Angel.