Syllabus

Literature for Life


Spring 2014
English 240-01
Location: Ayres 201
Meeting Time: TR 200pm-315pm
Instructor: Athena Murphy
Email: amurphy21@mail.csuchico.edu
Office: Siskiyou 109
Office Hours: Wednesdays from 11:00am to 12:15pm and by appointment

Catalogue Course Description:

Readings of literary masterpieces as springboards for personal reflection on students' social, psychological, and physiological being. 3 hours lecture (3.0 units). This is an approved General Education course.
Fulfils requirements in two General Education Pathways:


Course Readings:

  • David Foster Wallace, “This is Water”
  • Marilyn Robinson, “On ‘Beauty’”
  • Stephen Fry, “Language”
  • McWhorter, “Txtng is Killing Language. JK!”
  • George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion
  • Whoopi Goldberg, Whoopi Goldberg Direct from Broadway
  • Charles Chesnutt, Conjure Woman and other Conjure Tales
  • Seth Fried, “Animalcula: A Young Scientist’s Guide to New Creatures”
  • Steve Martin, Picasso at the Lapin Agile
  • Peter Carey, “Do You Love Me?”
  • Kurt Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle
  • Stella Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm

(Bold indicates one of our main texts.)


University Policy and Resources

Student Judicial Affairs: http://www.csuchico.edu/sjd/index.shtml

Mission Statement: Student Judicial Affairs supports the mission of the university by promoting a fair and positive learning environment for all students, faculty, and staff. The program advances student development by adjudicating reports in a timely, consistent, and fair manner regarding student behavior and complaints of alleged unfair treatment of students.
In general, it is a good idea to be familiar with the guidelines set down by Student Judicial Affairs regarding both your rights and responsibilities as a student—especially as regards academic dishonesty: http://www.csuchico.edu/sjd/integrity.shtml.  As a student it is your responsibility to be familiar with the University’s policy regarding academic integrity.   Plagiarism will result in disciplinary action.  If you are unsure how to cite a source, please do not hesitate to ask.  Other helpful sources include the most current MLA handbook or Purdue University’s handy Online Writing Lab (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/).  When in doubt please ask!

Student Learning Center/Writing Center: http://www.csuchico.edu/slc/

Mission Statement: The mission of the Student Learning Center (SLC) is to provide services that will assist CSU, Chico students to become independent learners. The SLC prepares and supports students in their college course work by offering a variety of programs and resources to meet student needs. The SLC facilitates the academic transition and retention of students from high schools and community colleges by providing study strategy information, content subject tutoring, and supplemental instruction.
The Student Learning Center offers free tutoring by appointment.  It is an excellent resource for students seeking help with study strategies and writing skills.  It is located in SSC 340.

Accessibility Resource Center: http://www.csuchico.edu/arc/

Mission Statement: Chico State believes in providing access to its diverse student, employee, and community populations. The Accessibility Resource Center works with staff, faculty, students, administrators, and community members to ensure that all aspects of campus life— learning, working, and living— are universally accessible. We promote and facilitate awareness and access through accommodations, training, and partnerships.
If you have a condition that may interfere with your ability to learn, campus policy requires you to register with Disability Support Services AND to inform me.  If you need adaptations or accommodations I am more than happy to work with you.  Please let me know as soon as possible so we can work out the details.  I want to ensure you get the most out of this class.

Contract Grading

In this class, I will be utilizing contract grading. This means that by the end of the first week you will choose what grade you will be working towards and commit yourself to the workload required to receive that grade. This is an attempt to make the grading process more transparent and to give you more control over your experience this semester. At midterm I will ask you to do a status update in which you review your work and assess your own progress. At the end of the term I will ask you to do this again, paying particular attention to your progress since midterm. In this way, you will have an opportunity to look back on your body of work to make a case for the grade you feel you deserve. The contracts are as follows:

You are guaranteed a B if you:

Attendance: miss no more than 2 classes (one week)
Participation:
  • Remain engaged during class and contribute regularly to class discussion (either in class or on the blog)
  • Actively participate in group work

Assignments:
  • Meet all deadlines
  • Strive for creativity and complexity in assignments
  • Complete at least 4 of the 5 Reading Reflections
  • Complete Content Reflection to class-negotiated standard for purpose and quality
  • Complete Unessay to class-negotiated standard for purpose and quality


You are guaranteed an A if you:

Meet all requirements for a B
Participation:
  • Substantially contribute to class discussion (post supplementary material, give a presentation, lead a class discussion, etc)

Assignments:
  • Take risks in your writing, pushing yourself to the edge of your comfort zone and abilities
  • Show progress in the complexity and clarity of your arguments/interpretations
  • Show progress in eloquence and nuance of your writing
  • Take time to discuss and revise work


You are guaranteed a C if you:

Attendance: miss no more than 4 classes (two weeks)
Participation:
  • Remain engaged during class and contribute occasionally to class discussion (either in class or on the blog)
  • Actively participate in group work

Assignments:
  • Meet all deadlines
  • Complete at least 3 of the 5 Reading Reflections
  • Complete Content Reflection to class-negotiated standard for purpose and quality
  • Complete Unessay to class-negotiated standard for purpose and quality


MINOR BREACHES are things like late assignments, a drop in participation, or habitually showing up late. Two minor breaches will lower your contract grade by one half step. Lowered grades can be improved by substantial participation and evident improvement in assignments (we will negotiate what this looks like).
MAJOR BREECHES are things like missing assignments, skipping out on group work, sleeping or not participating actively in class, and every absence over your allotment. One major breach will lower your contract grade by one half step. Lowered grades can be improved by substantial participation and evident improvement in assignments (we will negotiate what this looks like).
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Attendance and Participation Policy

There is more to attending class than just showing up—though that is an important first step; I also expect you to prepare yourself by carefully reading the material before class and to remain engaged during class.  If you are not prepared or are not paying attention you are not fully present and I will not give you credit for being so.  I will not waste your time with purposeless assignments. That said, don’t waste my time by showing up unprepared.

Your contract will determine how many absences you have allotted and what level of participation you should demonstrate on a regular basis.

Absences:

Refer back to “Contract Grading” to note how many absences you may accrue without breaching your contract. Use your absences wisely. Barring catastrophes and outbreaks of the plague, I’m standing firm on the policy. Accruing more than the allotted absences will be considered a major breech.
When possible, please notify when you are going to miss a class. It is your responsibility to get missed notes from a classmate.  Missing class is not an excuse for missing a submission deadline.  If you miss an in-class assignment I may be open to assigning make-up work, but it will probably be more extensive than the work missed.  Don’t miss class.

Also, I reserve the right to mark you absent for the day if you are not fully present, prepared and participating.  Some reason I may mark you absent include, but are not limited to:
  • coming to class unprepared (e.g. no homework, haven’t read)
  • failing an in-class quick-write
  • not participating in group activities
  • showing up exceedingly late
  • texting, sleeping, or other non-class-related activities           


Participation:

The participation element of your grade will be determined primarily by participation in group work, the completion of quick-write, and by your overall in-class engagement:
Group Work: This is going to be a very hands-on class. I will often ask you to break into groups to work through things before we come together as a class. Please pull your weight! Your group-mates are there to work with you, not for you.

Quick-Writes: I will administer sporadic in-class quick-writes to gauge your level of preparation.  You will not get advance warning—consider these “pop” quick-writes.  The quick-writes will look for a deeper understanding of the reading so a “correct” answer will really depend on your demonstrated understanding of the text (in other words, how well you support your interpretation with evidence from the text). 

*Note: Quick-Writes will be graded credit/no credit.  If you do not receive credit, you will have the option to revise for credit. (This does not extend to people who were present and didn’t hand something in.) Revisions are due by the next class period after the assignment is returned/graded.

In-Class Engagement: I understand that not everyone is comfortable speaking in class.  There are many ways to participate in this class, such as:
  • responding (substantially) to your classmates’ blog posts in a way that advances the discussion (e.g. adding support to a claim, adding a counter-point, bringing attention to a related resource, etc.)
  • sharing relevant supplementary material (in class or online)
  • Tweeting out quotes that grab you, questions for the class, links to resources, etc. (#Lit4LifeS14)
  • actively participating in class discussion
  • volunteering as class scribe and posting discussion notes online
  • volunteering to give a short presentation or lead a class discussion
  • Presenting at WriteOn!
  • Live Tweeting the HFA Symposium
  • Attending campus event relevant to class content and either blogging or presenting on it
  • Have an idea? Talk to me. We’ll add it.


“Information Overload” Days: (I’m stealing this policy from Ryan Cordell at Northeastern because I think it’s humane.) I do understand that the semester can get hectic. The reading load for this class is significant and often challenging, and you must balance it with the work in your other classes. Most likely you will have days when you simply cannot—for whatever reason—complete the assigned reading. To that end, you may take one “information overload” (IO) day during the semester. On that day you will not be expected to contribute to class discussion and you will receive a pass on any in-class work (the work will be ungraded and not factored into your final “In-Class Work” grade). In order to take an IO day, you must follow these rules:
1. You must attend class, listen attentively to any lectures or class discussions, and take part in any activities or group work not dependent on the day’s reading. Your IO day cannot be used as an additional excused absence.
2. You must inform me before the beginning of class that you are taking your IO day. You may not wait until I call on you or you see day’s the in-class assignment. I will deny any IO requests made during class. To that end: take special care to be on time if you plan to request an IO day, as you won’t be allowed to request one if you arrive late.
3. You may not extend an IO day into another class session. If, for instance, you take an IO day during our first class on Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle, you will not then be excused from discussing the book during our second class on Cat’s Cradle.
4. You may not take an IO day if you have a major assignment due. You cannot avoid giving a required presentation, for instance, by taking an IO day.
IO days are intended to help you manage the inevitable stresses of your unique semester. Use them wisely.

Recurring Assignments

Reading Reflections

For each of the five main texts reflect upon a moment that piques your interest.  This can be anything from a recurring theme, to the impact of a political/cultural movement, to the influence of technology, to the dynamic between characters—anything that inspires you provided it: 1) engages the text; 2) includes an element of analysis. This means, where ever your interests lead you I want you to be able to tie it back into the text and explain its significance to our understanding of the text. These reflections are to serve as brainstorms for class discussions so they should be posted no later than the beginning of class and be relevant to that day’s reading. (These can be posted any day during our time with that specific text — meaning, it can be posted the first day we discuss a text, the last day or any day in between.) These should be at least 300 words (which is roughly a page). 

Note: Reading Reflections will be graded credit/no credit.  If you do not receive credit BUT turned the assignment in by the deadline, you will have the option to revise for credit. Revisions are due by the next class period after the assignment is graded.

Context Groups

For each of the five main texts we will break into four Context Groups: Arts and Culture; Science and Technology; Place and Time (Historical Context); and Major Players (Biographical Context).  Each group will be responsible for preliminary contextual research on the text as well as on-going research on items mentioned in the texts. For example, when we read Picasso at the Lapin Agile, it would be a good idea for the Major Players group to know a thing or two about Picasso. It would also be a good idea for the Arts and Culture group to know something about art movements during that time period. (And it would be a really good idea for both groups to collaborate so they aren’t doing redundant work.) Each group is also responsible for adding its findings to the class Prezi and explaining them during class discussion. On the class blog there are links to Google Docs for each text so you can collaborate remotely. I will also give you the first few minutes of class to meet with your group. This will be ongoing work that you keep up with during our time with the text.

Note: Context Group work will be graded credit/no credit. Either your group holds up its end, or it doesn’t. As this work is specific to what we are discussing that day, there really isn’t a way to make this up. Your group will be responsible for creating norms that communicate how you will distribute the work load, how you will hold each other accountable for following through—including under what circumstances someone will be asked to leave the group.

Major Group Project

Content Groups

You will be contributing to the content of this class! For Units Two, Three, and Four there will be one group responsible for sharing a supplementary source that the entire class will read. As a group, you will explore themes of your particular unit and find a short supplementary source that compliments one of those theme. This can be anything from a short-story, a selection of poetry, a personal essay, a short video, an art piece, a scientific/historic/etc essay (meant for a popular audience), a selection of songs, etc. (Keep in mind this needs to be something that you can share with the entire class easily.)

Before Class:
Individual Reflection*: each member of the group is responsible for submitting an individual reflection no later than the penultimate class period dedicated to that unit. This reflection should include:
  • A link to the source.
  • An overview of information about the source (e.g. genre, author/artist, where and when it’s from, any notable cultural considerations, etc.)
  • An explanation of why your group feels the piece is relevant to what we have been discussing.
  • These should be around 300 words and be submitted to me via email: amurphy21@mail.csuchico.edu.
Group Post: one member of your group** needs to submit a post to the class blog that includes a (functional! Test it!) link to the source as well as 1) a brief overview of the information you gathered about the source, and 2) a brief explanation of why your group chose this source. This is also due no later than the penultimate class period dedicated to that unit. 
*Note: you can work together this, but your reflection should be your own and reflect your contribution to the group. 
**Note: It is your responsibility to coordinate who is going to post to the class site on behalf of the group. If no one posts, no one gets credit.
In Class:
In-Class Activity: Your group will come up with a short (15 minutes or so) activity for the class that encourages exploration of the source. And yes, it’s allowed to be fun: make up a game, have the class generate memes for the different characters, have us write haikus about Einstein’s Theory of Relativity — this is your opportunity to be as creative as you want and to challenge us to engage the issue from a different perspective. 
Note: Content Group work will be graded credit/no credit. Either your group holds up its end, or it doesn’t. Given the nature of the task, it would be difficult to negotiate making it up without throwing the rest of the class off—though I might consider it under dire circumstances. Again, your group will be responsible for creating norms that communicate how you will distribute the work load, how you will hold each other accountable for following through—including under what circumstances someone will be asked to leave the group.

Major Project

The Unessay

I’m coopting this assignment from Ryan Cordell at Northeaster who in turn got it from Daniel Paul O’Donnell — though I’ve slightly modified it for our class. Still, I think it’s a good fit:
The Essay
The essay is a wonderful and flexible tool for engaging with a topic intellectually. It is a very free format that can be turned to discuss any topic—works of literature, of course, but also autobiography, science, entertainment, history, and government, politics, and so on. There is often something provisional about the essay (its name comes from French essai, meaning a trial), and almost always something personal.
Unfortunately, however, as  Wikipedia notes,
In some countries (e.g., the United States and Canada), essays have become a major part of formal education. Secondary students are taught structured essay formats to improve their writing skills, and admission essays are often used by universities in selecting applicants and, in the humanities and social sciences, as a way of assessing the performance of students during final exams.
One result of this is that the essay form, which should be extremely free and flexible, is instead often presented as a static and rule-bound monster that students must master in order not to lose marks (for a vigorous defense of the flexible essay, see software developer Paul Graham’s blog). Far from an opportunity to explore intellectual passions and interests in a personal style, the essay is transformed into a formulaic method for discussing set topics in five paragraphs: the compulsory figures of academia. 
The Unessay
By contrast, the unessay is an assignment that attempts to undo the damage done by this approach to teaching writing. It works by throwing out all the rules you have learned about essay writing in the course of your primary, secondary, and post secondary education and asks you to focus instead solely on your intellectual interests and passions. In an unessay you choose your own topic, present it any way you please, and are evaluated on how compelling and effective you are. Here are the basic guidelines: 
You choose your own topic 
The unessay allows you to write about anything you want provided you are able to associate your topic with the subject matter of the course and unit we are working on. (Note: this cannot take the place of a Reading Reflection, but it can be an elaboration of ideas you explore in a Reading Reflection.) You can take any approach; you can use as few or as many resources as you wish; you can even cite Wikipedia. The only requirements are that your treatment of the topic be compelling: that is to say presented in a way that leaves the reader thinking that you are being accurate, interesting, and as complete and/or convincing as your subject allows. 
You can present it any way you please 
There are also no formal requirements. Your essay can be written in five paragraphs, or three, or twenty-six. If you decide you need to cite something, you can do that anyway you want. If you want to use lists, use lists. If you want to write in the first person, write in the first person. If you prefer to present the whole thing as a video, present it as a video. Use slang. Or don’t. Write in sentence fragments if you think that would be effective. In other words, in an unessay you have complete freedom of form: you can use whatever style of writing, presentation, citation,… even media you want. What is important is that the format and presentation you do use helps rather than hinders your explanation of the topic. 
Be evaluated on how compelling and effective you are 
If unessays can be about anything and there are no restrictions on format and presentation, how are they graded? The main criteria is how well it all fits together. That is to say, how compelling and effective your work is. 
An unessay is compelling when it shows some combination of the following:
  • it is as interesting as its topic and approach allows
  • it is as complete as its topic and approach allows (it doesn’t leave the audience thinking that important points are being skipped over or ignored)
  • it is truthful (any questions, evidence, conclusions, or arguments you raise are honestly and accurately presented)
In terms of presentation, an unessay is effective when it shows some combination of these attributes:
  • it is readable/watchable/listenable (i.e. the production values are appropriately high and the audience is not distracted by avoidable lapses in presentation)
  • it is appropriate (i.e. it uses a format and medium that suits its topic and approach)
  • it is attractive (i.e. it is presented in a way that leads the audience to trust the author and his or her arguments, examples, and conclusions).
Why unessays are not a waste of your time 
The unessay may be quite different from what you are used to doing in English class. If so, a reasonable question might be whether I am wasting your time by assigning them. If you can write whatever you want and present it any way you wish, is this not going to be a lot easier to do than an actual essay? And is it not leaving you unprepared for subsequent instructors who want you to right the real kind of essays? 
The answer to both these questions is no. Unessays are not going to be easier than “real” essays. There have fewer rules to remember and worry about violating (actually there are none). But unessays are more challenging in that you need to make your own decisions about what you are going to discuss and how you are going to discuss it. 
And you are not going to be left unprepared for instructors who assign “real” essays. Questions like how to format your page or prepare a works-cited list are actually quite trivial and easily learned. You can look them up when you need to know them and, increasingly, can get your software to handle these things for you anyway. 
But even more importantly, the things you will be doing in an unessay will help improve your “real” ones: excellent “real” essays also match form to topic and are about things you are interested in; if you learn how to write compelling and effective unessays, you’ll find it a lot easier to do well in your “real” essays as well.

I strongly encourage creative takes on this assignment! You may complete your unessay on your own schedule; however, I would strongly advise you not to put this assignment off. To motivate you to work earlier, I am happy to review, comment on, and allow revisions for any unessays turned in no later than one week before the end of that unit.


Course Calendar:

(Readings, activities, and deadlines are subject to change.)


Week 1
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due
T: Jan 21st
Wallace – “This is Water”

R: Jan 23rd

Robinson, “On ‘Beauty’”

Week 2
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due
T: Jan 28th
Begin Unit 1: Language and Cultural Capital
Fry – “Language”
McWhorter – “Txtng is Killing Language. JK!”
R: Jan 30th

Shaw, Pygmalion

Week 3
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due
T: Feb 4th

Shaw, Pygmalion
R: Feb 6th
Wrap Up Unit 1
Shaw, Pygmalion
Reading Reflection Due

Week 4
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due
T: Feb 11th
Begin Unit 2: Voices of Everyday People
Whoopi Goldberg Direct from Broadway
R: Feb 13th

Chesnutt, Conjure Woman

Week 5
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due
T: Feb 18th

Chesnutt, Conjure Woman
R: Feb 20th

Chesnutt, Conjure Woman

Week 6
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due
T: Feb 25th

Chesnutt, Conjure Woman
(Content Group 1 Only: Reflections and Blog Post Due)
R: Feb 27th
Content Group 1 Activity
Wrap Up Unit 2
Content Group 1 Reading

Week 7
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due
T: Mar 4th
Begin Unit 3: Finding Common Ground in Art and Science
Fried, “Animalcula”
R: Mar 6th

Martin, Picasso at the Lapin Agile

Week 8
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due
T: Mar 11th

Martin, Picasso at the Lapin Agile
R: Mar 13th

Martin, Picasso at the Lapin Agile

March 17th–21st: Spring Break

Week 9
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due
T: Mar 25th

Martin, Picasso at the Lapin Agile
(Content Group 2 Only: Reflections and Blog Post Due)
R: Mar 27th
Content Group 2 Activity
Wrap Up Unit 3
Content Group 2 Reading

Week 10
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due
T: Apr 1st
Begin Unit 4: Science in Fiction
Carey, “Do You Love Me?”
R: Apr 3rd

Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle

Week 11
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due
T: Apr 8th

Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle
R: Apr 10th

Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle


Week 12
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due
T: Apr 15th

Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle
R: Apr 17th

Vonnegut, Cat’s Cradle
(Content Group 3 Only: Reflections and Blog Post Due)


Week 13
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due
T: Apr 22nd
Content Group 3 Activity
Wrap Up Unit 4
Content Group 3 Reading
R: Apr 24th
Begin Unit 5
Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm

Week 14
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due
T: Apr 29th

Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm
R: May 1st

Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm

Week 15
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due
T: May 6th
WriteOn!
Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm
R: May 8th
Wrap Up Unit 5
Gibbons, Cold Comfort Farm

May 12th–16th: Finals Week

Week 16
In Class
Reading/Assignment Due

TBA

1 comment:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 5, 2014 at 2:49 PM

    Where do we post the reading reflections?

    ReplyDelete

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