English 1302 Syllabus

Instructor:   Roberta Walden

Instructor Web Site: http://www.tvcc.edu/Faculty/rwalden/

How to Get Started:

As time for classes to begin nears, go to my web site at http://www.tvcc.edu/Faculty/rwalden/   for information about getting started in class.

If you just memorize "www.tvcc.edu," you will be in good shape to find my web site from anywhere you might be because from anywhere you might be, you can go to the TVCC main web site and click around until you find my web site. Many students create a page within an online class folder in their own computer to keep class materials and online class links. On that page, they include a link to my web site . Some students like to keep a flash disk for class information so that class materials are portable.

What to Expect When Getting Started:

Class Management Software The class will use a free “class management software.” Beginning the Fall 2007 semester, the class management software TVCC will use is “Blackboard.”  If you have taken an online course before and used WebCT,  you will find Blackboard to be somewhat similar to what you have used before.  Because of the change from WebCT to Blackboard, however, even if you have taken an online class before, it will be very important for you to consult my web site before going to class. Even though there are similarities to WebCT, there are some differences which will be uncomfortable unless you get good instructions to help you understand the differences. If you have never taken an online class before, or if you have never used a class management system, you will get good instructions which will help you learn to navigate it.  

First Communication with Me It's important to note that I do not receive a list of e-mails of Trinity Valley students who enroll in this class, so you will not receive an e-mail from me that it is time to start class. On your own, you will need to visit my web site for instructions which will tell you what you need to do to get started.

Logging into Class After you register for an online class at Trinity Valley, your name and class are forwarded to Karen McGrew (kmcgrew@tvcc.edu) . Karen and her assistant(s) enter you into the class(es) for which you sign up. The TVCC distance learning group has a password / ID system they use for getting you signed up. If, once class begins, you go to the web site I designate but you are not able to log in with the password and ID information specific to you, that means there is one of several (or a combination of several) problems. 1) you have not been entered by Mrs. McGrew or her group 2) the password / ID information they entered for you is wrong 3) the registration system has not made your name available yet 4) you’re typing in something different than what the group typed in for you 5) you’re going to the wrong website 6) you’re not signed up for the course for which you meant to sign up

TROUBLESHOOTING:

1. Go to my web site and check to see if there is a message there for you. Maybe nobody can get in class yet because there is something wrong with the system.

2. E-mail kmcgrew@tvcc.edu with a copy to rwalden@tvcc.edu with the subject line: fall student trouble and your last and first name. In the body of the message, place your first and last name, your social security number (sorry about this, but the college requires it for identification), where you registered for your class, your phone number, the class you are concerned about getting signed on for, a pasted copy of the website where you try to log in, the information you typed in when you tried to log in, and the specific problem you are having (“can’t log in” or “can log in but another class shows up instead of this one” or “can log in and one of my classes shows up but this one doesn’t” or “can log in but my class is not there” or “could log in before but can’t log in now”). If you changed your password and can’t remember it, mention that..

Please note that I do not enter you into the WebCT or Blackboard class management system myself. Trinity Valley employs two distance learning assistants who enter names into the class management software.  If you are not entered into the system by them, you will not be able to access the class. Still, I want a copy of what you send to them if you are having trouble.

4. If Mrs. McGrew says she does not show that you are enrolled in the class and you know that you are, call or go to the registrar’s office and make sure they have your correct information and ask them when Mrs. McGrew will be able to access it.

5. If, after giving Mrs. McGrew a day to respond to you, and if, after trying what she suggests, you still have trouble, forward a copy of the above e-mail to tspurlock@tvcc.edu He is the distance learning director and he is a web magician who has tricks none of the rest of us understand.

6. Call me at 830-591-3372 if the above process fails. You can call me beginning at 10 a.m. in the morning until 7 p.m. at night any day of the week.

DO NOT TRY TO “SELF-ENROLL.” DO NOT ASK THE SYSTEM TO TELL YOU YOUR PASSWORD. THESE FUNCTIONS DO NOT WORK!

Instructor Cell Phone: 830-591-3372

I keep this phone for my  students, so, clearly, I want you to call me if you want to.  You may call any day of the week, but please do not call me before 10 a.m. or after 7 p.m.  Please, please, please always speak slowly and clearly.   If you must leave me a message, say your name, the class you are in, and the problem you are having.  As well, please, please, please say your number twice.  I have often received frantic calls from students whom I could not call because their information was unclear.

Instructor e-mail:   rwalden@tvcc.edu

In the subject line of e-mails outside the class management system of Blackboard,  please include your name, your class, and a hint about your question.  The word "help" in a subject line is most UNhelpful.

Instructor Office Phone:

903-675-6369 (If you get my voice mail, please leave your name, your class and your message. Speak slowly, please, and say your name and phone number twice.)

Instructor Office:

Room 231 in the Gibbs Building on the Athens Campus (I sometimes walk across campus, so if you want to come by my office, you should call to confirm that I will be in my office at a certain time on a certain day.)

Catalog Course Description

A continuation of ENGL 1301 with emphasis on the study and critical evaluation of modern literature, primarily from American writers of fiction, poetry, and drama.  Oral and writtten communication, a research paper, and elementary original critical evaluation techniques are used.

Course Focus

In this class there is an analytical approach to the study of literature.

Text and References

Introduction to Literature by Michael Meyer, published by Bedford St Martin

You can call the TVCC bookstore to order the book  by phone. The bookstore number is 903-675-6223. In order to get quick service, you should have your credit card handy when you call.

Course Goals:

    1.  Students will develop an appreciation for diversity and become more aware of the world around them through reading and evaluating literature, its backgrounds, its themes, and its authors

    2.   Students will learn and practice research skills

    3.  Students will learn the art of analyzing and interpreting literature

    4.  Students will gain critical thinking skills as they examine literature

    5.  Students will learn  literary terms essential to talking about literature and will add to their vocabulary the terms in the departmental vocabulary list for English 1302

    6.  Students will learn and practice writing methods that, while specific to the art of writing about literature, transfer easily to any type of  academic or professional writing

Student Contributions

In a variety of asynchronous activities ("asynchronous" means a different place and time), the student will read and analyze texts, both criticisms of creative literature and creative literature itself. As well, students will read and contribute to online discussions, share research, and cooperate in group work to address literary questions relating to various texts.

Course Evaluation (Grades)

READING AND RESPONDING TO LITERATURE

1. Introduction to Course and Genre studies:

2. Literary Theory and Approaches to Literature:

3. Reader Response: “I think that . . .”

READING AND RESPONDING TO FICTION

1. Focus on Fiction: The basics, language, plot and plot summary

2. Focus on Fiction: Characters, Theme, Structure, Style

3. Focus on Fiction: Developing and illuminating a thesis idea

READING AND RESPONDING TO POETRY

1. Focus on Poetry: The language about , the types, and the styles

2. Focus on Poetry: What you see vs how you think and how you feel

3. Focus on Poetry: Developing and illuminating a thesis in the poem (language, style, structure, theme, issus)

READING AND RESPONDING TO DRAMA

1. Focus on Drama: The language about, the conventions of , the history of , how to read, how to write

2. Focus on Drama: What the audience sees vs what the characters know

3. Focus on Drama:

WORKING WITH COMPARISONS IN LITERATURE

1. Comparison : Find a point and compare two characters

2. Comparison : Find a point and compare two authors

3. Comparison : Find a point and compare two works.

GRADED WORK

Six Essays:                      30% Each essay will be in response to an assigned literary topic and each will use research techniques and be set up in the MLA style with a works cited page

Essay 1: Reader Response / Genre

Essay 2: Thematic Study / Fiction

Essay 3: Critical Approaches / Drama

Essay 4: Symbolism / Poetry

Essay 5: Comparison / Focus on Theme

Essay 6: Comparison / Focus on Character

Class Discussion and Quizzes:    10% (you post what you think about a topic to an online discussion board)

Attendance:                        10% (you just "click" in a form that you were "present" online that week)

Midterm Exam:                    20%  (proctored exam at a TVCC testing site)

Final Exam:                        30% (proctored exam at a TVCC testing site)

LEAP: Learning Enhancement Annual Plan

As part of its continuous improvement program, TVCC requires that all departments create Learning Enhancement Annual Plans, or “LEAPs.” The “LEAP” is a special focus on some aspect of a department’s activities. For the 2007-2008 school year, one component of the English Department LEAP is to require students to learn terms on a departmental vocabulary list. The terms, which are currently specific to the study of literature, are to be distributed to English 1302 students early in the semester. Here is the list. You may begin learning the terms when you are ready, but you will see them introduced to you throughout the semester:

Lexicon relating to glossary in Bedford text:

1. Genre - A French word meaning kind or type. In literature, major genres are poetry, fiction, drama, and essays.

2. Resolution - The conclusion of a plots conflicts and complications, also known as falling action.

3. Denouement - A French term meaning “unraveling” or “unknotting’ used to describe the resolution of the plot following the climax.

4. Irony - A literary device that uses contradictory statements or situations to reveal a reality different from what appears to be true.

5. Satire - The literary art of ridiculing a folly or vice in order to expose or correct it.

6. Narrator - The voice of the person telling the story, not to be confused with the author’s voice.

7. Omniscient Narrator - All knowing narrator, not a character in the story, who can move from place to place and time to time, slipping into and out of characters as no human possibly

could in real life.

8. Stream of Consciousness Technique - Most intense use of central consciousness in narration. It takes a reader inside a character’s mind to reveal perceptions, thoughts and feelings on a
conscious r unconscious level.

9. Thesis - The central idea of an essay, a complete sentence that establishes the topic of the essay in clear language.

10. Point of View - Refers to who tells us a story and how it is told. The point of view effects our understanding of the characters’ actions by filtering what is told through his or her own
perceptions.

11. Conflict - The struggle within the plot between opposing forces.

12. Foreshadowing – The introduction early in a story of verbal and dramatic hints that suggest what is to come later.

13. Climax - The moment of greatest emotional tension in a narrative, usually marking a turning point in the plot at which the rising action reverses to become the falling action.

14. Personification - A form of metaphor in which human characteristics are attributed to nonhuman things.

15 .Simile - A common figure of speech that makes an explicit comparison between two things by using words such as like, as, than, appears, and seems.

16. Reversal - The point in a story when the protagonist’s fortunes turn in an unexpected direction.

17. Symbol - A person, object, image, word, or event that evokes a range of additional meaning beyond and usually more abstract than

its literal significance.

18. Catharsis - Means “purgation,” describes the release of pity and fear by the audience at the end of a tragedy.

19. Theme - The central meaning or dominant idea in a literary work.

20. Connotation - Associations and implications that go beyond the literal meaning of a word, which derive from how the word has been commonly used and the associations people make with

it.

21. Tragedy - A story that presents courageous individuals who confront powerful forces within or outside themselves with a dignity that reveals the breadth and depth of the human spirit in

the face of failure, defeat, and even death.

22. Didactic - Poetry, fiction, or drama having as a primary purpose to teach or preach an ethical, oral, or religious lesson.

23. Hubris - Excessive pride or self-confidence that leads a protagonist to disregard a divine warning or to violate an important moral law.

24. Comedy - A work intended to interest, involve, and amuse the reader or audience, usually with a happy ending, and in which no terrible disaster occurs.

25. Soliloquy - A speech in which a character, alone on the stage , utters his or her thoughts aloud; a dramatic means to inform an audience about a character’s motivations and state of mind.

26. Sonnet - A fixed form of lyric poetry that consist of fourteen lines, usually written in iambic pentameter.

27. Hyperbole - A boldly exaggerated statement that adds emphasis without intending to be literally true.

28. Allusion - A brief reference to a person, place, thing event, or idea in history or literature (conjures up biblical authority, scenes from Shakespeare’s plays, historic figures, wars, great
love stories or anything else that might enrich an author’s work.)

29. Carpe Diem - Latin phrase meaning “seize the day.” (Life is short so make the most of present pleasures.)

30. Denotation - The dictionary meaning of a word.

31. Oxymoron - A condensed form of paradox in which two contradictory words are used together as in “sweet sorrows” or “original

copy.”

32. Quatrain - A four-line stanza, the most common stanzaic form in the English language.

33. Metaphor - A figure of speech that makes a comparison between two unlike things, without using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’.

asserts the identity of two dissimilar things, such as when Macbeth asserts that life is a “brief candle.”

34. Epic - A long narrative poem, told in a formal, elevated style that focuses on a serious subject and chronicles heroic

deeds and events important to a culture or nation.