Paper Format
Unless otherwise noted, all assignments are to be typewritten, double-spaced, with one-inch margins, in twelve-point Times font. Your name, the date, the class, my name and the assignment are to be at the top of the first page. Do not forget to title your work. Any papers longer than one page must have page numbers and be stapled.
Quizzes
There will be ten, brief, ten-item unannounced quizzes. They will consist of short answer and identification questions. They will cover the reading for that day and any terms and concepts discussed in previous classes or presented during lectures. The quizzes will be handed out at the beginning of class and collected after fifteen minutes. Quizzes may not be made up.
Examinations
There will be an examination at the end of each of the three sections of the class. They will only cover the material in that section. The final examination will not be cumulative. The exams will consist of a take-home portion given out the class before the exam. The take-home will ask you to answer one or two questions in depth and following the format requirements described above. The in-class portion will include short answer, quote identification, vocabulary, and usually an essay question. Missed examinations may not be made up unless prior arrangements have been made.
Reading Journals
Your first journal has a specific task. You are to read the text “The Blue Bouquet,” which I will give you on the first day of class. BEFORE YOU READ answer the following questions: Who is the author? When, where, and in what form was the text first published? What is the genre/form? Write out the answers to these questions in four or five full sentences. After reading the text answer the following questions in full sentences: What is the setting? What is the plot/problem/conflict/tension and how is it resolved? Who are the characters? What literary elements does the text have? Finally, pose and answer three questions of your own about the text.
The other four journals may be on any text that we
read in class. These are to be no more than two pages long and must pose and
answer three questions about the text.
These questions will help define your particular reading strategies, your
horizons of expectations. They may
not be any of the questions I have provided in the paragraph above.
You may turn them in whenever you wish, but you may not turn in more than
one per week.
Discussion Leaders
In groups of about five, you will be in charge of leading
class discussion of a particular reading for forty-five minutes on a particular
day. You are expected to be
thoroughly familiar with the material and able to relate it to the themes of the
course and to other readings. On the
day you are to lead the discussion, you must give me a set of materials in paper
and electronic form (you may email the electronic version as an attachment).
These materials will include 1.) a brief (two hundred word) biography of
the writer, 2.) a bibliography (in
MLA style) of the writer’s works, 3.) a list of five open-ended discussion
questions that refer to specific parts of the text that you will use as a
foundation for your discussion.
These questions may compare/contrast the text to others we have read,
highlight important themes in the text, or link the text to ideas and themes we
have discussed. And 4.) two exam
questions about the reading. These
questions are to be open-ended essay-style, requiring an answer that
demonstrates knowledge of the text as well as the relevant themes and ideas.
They may be used for one of the examinations.
Your discussion will be graded on the materials you
give me, equal participation by all group members, level of preparation and
knowledge of the text, level of engagement with your classmates, and a
Group Member Evaluation Form
for each member and a
Peer Rating of Group Members.
These forms are available on the Blackboard Site and the course website.
You must print them out and complete them before your discussion.
Late forms will result in a loss of ten points.