Texts:
The
Norton Reader: Eleventh Edition,
by Peterson, Brereton;
The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver
All in the
Timing, by David Ives
THE COURSE:
As the title
"Exploring Language" implies, our purpose is to explore. As such,
the journey itself is to be its own reward--a pleasure cruise if you
will. The course, or direction in which we will embark may see to
veer a bit into strange waters, and we have permission, indeed, an
imperative to linger or spontaneously decide to stop over along the
way--to wander up a stream of thought or two to the source of an
idea/feeling. Navigation will be by metaphor, symbol, design,
pattern, various linguistic devices, inventions, and, of course, lots
of imagination.
The journeying of our exploration will
be as important as our goal and objectives, i.e., our
destination. First and last, since we will be using (among other
tools) language, with all of its conventions, devices, peculiarities
and subtitles to explore language itself, our subject matter becomes
both the ship, the journey, and the destination in which we are
interested, and the primary vehicle by which humans have explored and
recorded the journey of consciousness.
COURSE GOALS:
-
To develop an
increasingly complicated, nuanced understanding and appreciation of
fine writing and its elements:
techniques,
devices, inventions, designs, etc.
-
To develop and
sharpen your own writing and verbal skills by asking you to engage in
intellectual discussion and
literary
analysis, and by attempting to integrate a few of the ideas, devices,
and insights of the class into one's own
writing.
-
To expand your
horizons by expanding your consciousness, and to help the rest of us
expand ours.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Each class member
will:
(1) Read and keep
notes on the assigned reading.
(2) Participate in
scheduled, (a-synchronous) forums where discussion of the thematic
content and design of the readings will be held.
(3) Write four
essays outlined and described in the assignments folder, and one
(un-graded) bio-information paper.
(4) Take the final
exam.
(5) Participate in
possible forum discussion regarding student writings.
Each of these
requirements is generally explained in the ensuing sections.
ESSAYS
(A brief, un-graded
paper)
FOUR essays
of three and one half to four page minimum (no font larger than 12pt.,
double-spaced, indented paragraphs, one-inch margins on all sides) will
be electronically submitted on the date for each assigned. This paper
must be of the type assigned, and submitted no latter than 11:59 p.m.
on the due date. It will be graded with a combined grade for
content and mechanics, and each paper will account for 20% of your
final grade.
A brief paper
(un-graded) that tells me a little about you, your interests, hobbies,
professional goals, background, some of the things you have enjoyed
reading, or participating in, and some of your expectations (perhaps
anxieties) about this course.
READING ANALYSIS RESPONSES FORUM:
Each class member
will prepare " Reading Responses" for the weekly reading
assignments. "(Required Reading Response)" highlights these
readings on the calendar.
Suggestions and
possible directions for reading responses may be suggested by the
instructor, another student's questions or comments about the piece, or
perhaps through an internet site comment or insight.
Please respond to
the questions posed or provide the information requested by topic.
Forum reading responses must be submitted by 11:59pm on the due dates.
DUE DATES:
Web CT courses: All
assignments are due by 11:59pm on their assigned dates (usually a
Sunday.)
Failure to
comply with this policy will result in a zero for the particular
assignment.
WRITING COMPETENCY:
All written work
must be appropriate senior level college work. As this is primarily a
writing class, please pay very close attention to eliminating typos,
spelling, grammatical and other mechanical errors from your writing. A
part of your grade is at stake here.
PARTICIPATION:
It is expected that
students will actively participate during each class section. The
participation grade as noted in the
DISTRIBUTION OF
COURSE GRADES section is based on an electronic attendance, timeliness,
and participation in forum discussions. As a rule of thumb, thoughtful,
and critical analysis in forum responses will result in100% of your
participation grade.
Note: The un-graded
paper at the beginning of the course is evaluated as a portion of
student participation for this course.
*Note: Threaded
discussion in the forum is still a new format for most of us, so don't
panic; just give what you read some serious thought and a considered
response.
DISTRIBUTION OF GRADES
Component Percentage
| Participation |
10% |
| Four Essays |
20% each |
| Final Exam |
10% |
| Total |
100% |
ACADEMIC HONESTY
Please review the
Linfield policy regarding academic honesty. It can be found in the
college catalog. Note that any
incidence of
academic dishonesty may result in a final grade "F."
Students with
documented disabilities, who may need accommodations, and/or who have
any emergency medical information
the instructor
should know of, or who need special arrangements should make an
appointment with the instructor as early as possible, and no later than
the first week of the term.
Weekly Schedule
| *
Orientation Week: Feb. 6-11 |
Background/Interest
paper (un-graded). * Please submit this paper by March
10th via Web CT e-mail as an attachment. |
| Students to familiarize themselves
with the course requirements, the online software, begin readings and
notes, and to work on a page and a half to two page background/interest
paper. |
| Week 1: Feb. 12-19
Reading Responses & Analysis Reader's Notes
|
|
The Norton Reader :
Hurston —“How It feels to Be Colored Me”
(41)
Stegner—“The Town Dump” (18)
Eighner -- "On Dumpster Diving” (22)
Mairs -- “On Being a Cripple” (58)
Didion -- “On Going Home” (9)
Eiseley -- “The Brown Wasps” (74)
Soto -- “The Guardian Angel” (80)
White -- “Once More to the Lake” (82)
Saunders -- “Under the Influence” (140)
Dillard -- “Terwilliger Bunts One” (151)
Cofer -- “More Room” (167)
File to (a-synchronous) forum. * * Although you
may wish to make some cross-references and/or connections between one
reading and another, please file your responses and analysis for each
reading as a separate piece by title.
|
| Week 2: Feb 20 - 26
Reading Responses &
Analysis |
|
The Norton Reader :
Atwood -- “True North” (171)
Abby -- “The Serpents Of Paradise” (589)
Shah -- “Tight Jeans and Chania Chorris” (304)
Douglas -- “Learning to Read” (408)
Williams -- “The Clan of One-Breasted Women” (636)
Hughes -- “Salvation” (1125)
Rivera -- “First Communion” (1127)
Barry -- "I Remember Mike" (Audio)
Gallagher -- "Essay 3A" (Audio)
Kling -- "Lightning" (Audio)
White -- "Dead on the Road" (Audio)
Matthiessen --"In Nepal" (Audio)
Morrow -- "Bill For Short" (Audio)
File to (a-synchronous) forum.
|
| Week 4: March 6-12 |
|
Reading Responses & Analysis The
Norton Reader:
Golding -- “Thinking as a Hobby” (217)
Asimov -- “The Eureka Phenomenon’ (223)
Bronowski -- “The Reach of Imagination” (210)
Twain -- “The War Prayer” (1122)
Saunders -- “Looking at Women” (244)
Quindlen -- “Between the Sexes, a Great Divide” (254)
McMurtry -- “Kill ’Em! Crush ‘Em! Eat “Em Raw!” (309)
Ivins -- “Get a Knife…” (389)
Goodheart -- “9.11.01: The Skyscraper and the Airplane” (289)
Dickerson -- “Who Shot Johnny?"” (383)
Swift -- “A Modest Proposal” (857)
Arendt -- “Denmark and the Jews” (807)
Carson -- “Tides” (568)
Codrescue -- “The Difference” (Audio)
Winik -- "Women Who Love Men Who Don't Pay Their Parking Tickets"
(Audio)
File to (a-synchronous) forum.
|
| *Week 5: March
13-19 |
*Expository essay (#2) Due. |
|
Reading Responses & Analysis The
Norton Reader:
Leopold-- “Marshland Elegy” (807)
Sagan -- “The Abstractions of Beasts” (604)
Levin -- “The Case for Torture” (675)
Gould -- “Our Allotted Lifetimes” (280
King -- “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (889)
Highet -- “The Mystery of Zen” (1191)
Toth -- “Going to the Movies” (1097)
Bodett -- “Crying” (Audio)
File to (a-synchronous) forum.
|
| Week 6: March 20
-26 |
Reading responses & discussion
Chapters 1-8
The Bean Trees
|
| Week 7: March27 -
April 2 |
Reading responses & discussion Final
Chapters
The Bean Trees |
| *Week 8: April 3 -
9 |
| Continued Reading responses &
discussion for The Bean Trees. |
| Week
10: April 17 - 23 |
Contined Reading responses &
discussion: All in the Timing. (Next five plays.) |
| |
| Week 11: April 24 -
30 |
Reviewing for the Final |
| Contined Reading responses &
discussion: All in the Timing. |
| Words, Words, Words: Yours,
Mine, Theirs. Reading and writing for each other. |
| Finals Week: May
14-21 |
Final
Exam |
Final Exam *(Due
by May 21st) |
|