Engl 20923, Literature and Civilization II, sec. 674

Fall 2014, MW, 3:30-4:50 PM, Beasley 323

Water Flows

Literature and Civilization II is a course intended to explore the role of literary, rhetorical, and dramatic expression in the development of cultural ideas, institutions, and roles.  As it is vetted for global awareness credit (GA), the course is intended to help students develop a critical awareness of global perspectives.  As it is also vetted for Humanities credit (Hum), the course is intended to help students analyze texts, examine the nature and value of human life, and construct relevant arguments.

08/25, M

introduction

08/27, W

What is literature?  What is civilization?

09/01, M

Labor Day

09/03, W

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

09/08, M

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

09/10, W

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

09/15, M

Trinity River Canoe Trip

09/17, W

Trinity River Canoe Trip

09/22, M

Selections from The Big Thirst

09/24, W

Selections from The Big Thirst

09/29, M

Selections from The Big Thirst

10/01, W

A River Runs Through It (film)

10/06, M

A River Runs Through It (film)

10/08, W

in-class midterm

10/13, M

Fall Break

10/15, W

Bike Trip Along the Trinity River
(mid-term reports due!)

10/20, M

The River Why (film)

10/22, W

The River Why (film)

10/27, M

“Self-Reliance” and other Emerson Selections

10/29, W

Halloween!

11/03, M

Selections from Walden

11/05 W

Selections from Walden

11/10, M

Selections from Walden

11/12, W

Hemingway Short Stories

11/17, M

Hemingway Short Stories

11/19, W

The Old Man and the Sea

11/24, M

The Old Man and the Sea

11/26, W

Thanksgiving

12/01, M

Final Presentations

12/03, W

Final Presentations

12/08, M

Final Presentations

12/10, W

Final Discussion

Requirements:

1) Community Engagement/Global Awareness: Community Engagement is one of the primary course components and is required of all students. The basic assumption behind community engagement is that, by becoming involved in some type of community-engaged activity, students can gain significant insight into their local surroundings—and into their own lives. Our community engagement project has a global aspect.  For our project you will be paired with an international student studying in TCU’s Intensive English Program (IEP) at the beginning of the semester as a conversation partner. You will be required to meet with you conversation partner a minimum of 6 times during the semester.  

2) Blogging: To document your conversations, and as well to comment on your learning, you are required to keep an online journal or weblog. With the help of technology at Blogger (http://www.blogger.com; or http://wordpress.org), you will build your own web log, or “blog,” and keep an electronic journal of your experiences as a conversation partner, as a learner, and more generally as an individual living in a complex world. You will be expected to write 6 two-page reflections of your meetings with your conversation partner. These reflections should not only describe what you did but also your thoughts and reactions. Since conversation is always a two-way street, you will learn a lot about your partners as they learn from you, and you are asked to write about this learning and sharing process in your blogs. Also, since one of the best ways to learn about a subject is to have to teach it, you will—hopefully—gain insight and sensitivity into English rhetorical practices, and you will be expected to comment on these insights. English is not an easy language to learn!

You are also asked to write 4 two-page reflections commenting on your learning experiences. Obviously, you are constantly learning—in this class, in all your classes, and outside of class.  Every three weeks or so you are expected to blog about what you have learned in our class, or possibly in your other classes, that you found interesting, useful, and/or relevant. What you write is up to you. What I ask is that you reflect on your learning experiences and assess the value of these experiences in terms of your own life.

Finally, you are required to write 2 two-page river reflections.  You will need to find a bench (or comfortable place) along the Trinity River and observe the river and everything else that passes by (people, birds, clouds . . .) and then write about what you observed.  When you post your blog entries, please upload a photo of your specific scene.

You are also welcome to use your blog to reflect on all of your life experiences throughout the semester, commenting on whatever moves you to write.  Twelve entries is the minimum I expect.  Please have six blog posts uploaded by 10/08.

Blogging is a less formal form of writing than an essay, and thus blogs are a good forum to reflect, analyze, vent, explore, and consider. But blogs are also a more public form of writing and, because of the technology, an excellent way of sharing, collaborating, and responding. In addition to posting your own blog entries, you will also be required to post a minimum of 8 one or two paragraph responses to a minimum of 8 other course blogs throughout the semester. You are welcome to comment on any of the other course blogs, but please vary the blogs you respond to. Please do not respond to the same blog (and person).  We will use our course blogs as an open online dialogue to reflect on our experiences in Literature and Civilization II.

Please keep in mind that a blog is not a personal—and private—diary.  Blogs are a public forum, accessible to anyone who has internet access, so please do not post anything that you would not share with your classmates and random internet readers.

3) Midterm and Final Exams: There will be both midterm and final exams, and both exams will have two parts, a take-home essay and an in-class short answer exam. These exams will not simply test for familiarity with course content, but will also be used to reflect on your experiences in Literature and Civilization II. My intention is not simply to quiz your specific knowledge of texts and authors, but to encourage your critical thinking and self-evaluation.

4) In-Class Writing. In most classes there will be short writing exercises. The exercises will serve as a reading check, but they will also be used to generate discussion. They will be graded on a point scale, with 3 for excellent, 2 for good, and 1 for acceptable. At the end of the semester you will receive a cumulative score for your in-class work. These exercises will be collected and returned.

5) Lead Respondent Assignment: The class will roughly be divided into five (possibly six) groups.  Each group will be assigned a text or group of texts and will be expected to make a presentation to the class on the assigned text[s].  These presentations may include biographical or historical information about author, the text’s composition, summaries of the text’s print history and reception, and analysis of themes and issues.  More importantly, these presentations should also include a brief discussion of what the group believes is significant or relevant in the text[s] and a list of questions for discussion.  Thus the presentations should be informative and provocative.  Yet at the same time they should also be enjoyable!  I am open to all creative suggestions for stimulating interest and engaging attention.  Dramatizations may be videotaped, parts of texts acted out, and character roles performed.  Multimedia presentations are always welcome.  I encourage you to find ways to make these presentations provocative and informative.  A brief handout summarizing key points and pertinent information and listing the questions for discussion is required.

6) Active Learning: Twice during the semester you will be required to closely interact with the Trinity River. 

On the evenings of September 16 (a Tuesday) and 18 (a Thursday) I have scheduled two Trinity River canoe trips.  Please check your schedules and make sure that you are available one of these evenings from 5 PM to 9 PM.  The canoe trips are limited to 14, so half the class will go on Tuesday, and the other half on Thursday.  If you would prefer to paddle a one-person kayak, please let me know asap!  Since our normal class days are Monday and Wednesday, the canoe trips will be our classes for this week.       We will hold class floating on the Trinity River.

On Wednesday, October 15 (directly after Fall Break), we will ride bikes along the Trinity River.  There are two Fort Worth municipal bike rental stations close to campus (one on Cantey by Landreth Hall and the other on Berry near the University intersection). There are also a couple of bike rental stations along the Trinity River. The Trinity Trails Bike Path is paved and generally flat.  We will not be racing but enjoying a leisurely ride along a scenic route.

Please note: both Trinity River excursions are required course assignments.  However, I will never force students to do anything they are not able to do.  If you have a particularly strong aversion to water, canoeing, or biking, please see me asap.

7) Final Presentations: For your final assignment, I would like you to create a short video that presents a reflection of your thoughts, observations, and experiences throughout the semester. Consider what you have experienced as a learner that was interesting, striking, memorable, and/or relevant, and then consider how best to capture these experiences in a short video (under 5 minutes).  Please be as creative as you like.  As with the lead respondent assignments, please consider how to engage your audience’s attention. Along with your presentation, you must submit a 2- to 4- page justification of your presentation. These projects may be done individually or in small groups (maximum of 3 to 5). If done as a group project, each person's individual contributions must be apparent.

What you do in your final presentations is up to you, and part of the assignment is figuring out what to do. You can focus on a specific text, or on a combination of texts, or even on an entire series or theme that you found informative and interesting.  My only requirement is that you must include footage of Frog Fountain, the Greek Village pond, and the Trinity River.  This should be an enjoyable opportunity to assess what you have learned.

9) Participation and Attendance: I am not formally setting an attendance policy, and you are responsible for your own attendance. I caution you, however, to keep in mind that the blog entries and in-class writings cannot be made up or turned in late. Also, please keep in mind that active participation is a course requirement and weak participation will lower your final grade. Both written and verbal contributions will count towards participation.

10) Sense of Humor and An Appreciation of Irony: A willingness to laugh is essential.  I also ask for your patience, understanding, and good humor. I sincerely wish that all of us enjoy our work together this semester, and I ask for your help in making this course a success.

Grading Scale:

Midterm and Final Exams: 30% (15% each; 10% for the take-home essay; 5% for the in-class exercise)

Community Engagement Project: 10%

Blogging: 20%

Lead Respondent Assignments: 5%

Active Learning/Trinity River Excursions: 10%

Final Presentations 20%

In-Class Writing 5%

Required Texts:

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Norton Critical Edition)

Walden (Norton Critical Edition)

The Old Man and the Sea

The Big Thirst

“Self-Reliance”

Selected Hemingway Short Stories

Dan Williams

Scharbauer 3018D and TCU Press (3000 Sandage)

817-257-5907 (TCU Press), 817-257-4382 (Honors)

Office Hours: Friday, 10 to 12 AM, and by appointment (Since I work out of two offices, please check in advance where I’ll be holding my office hours).

d.e.williams@tcu.edu

Course Outcomes:

--Students will analyze representative texts of significance and practice critical analysis of these texts

--Students will explore texts in terms of multiple cultural heritages, aesthetic approaches, and ideological perspectives

--Students will demonstrate critical awareness that problem solving in the global community requires the integration of a variety of perspectives

--Students will learn how to evaluate sources from a variety of perspectives and to use those sources

--Students will demonstrate through reading responses, informal writing, and class discussion a critical engagement with intellectually challenging texts

--Students will incorporate additional media into the composing products produced

--Students will demonstrate strategies of literary analysis through writing about the assigned texts in class

--Students will identify representative authors and works in a particular literary tradition

--Students will gain an appreciation of the development of the short story in a global perspective

--Students will gain pedagogical experience, and develop greater sensitivity to significant cultural issues, by working closely with an IEP student.

Academic Conduct:

An academic community requires the highest standards of honor and integrity in all of its participants if it is to fulfill its missions. In such a community faculty, students, and staff are expected to maintain high standards of academic conduct. The purpose of this policy is to make all aware of these expectations. Additionally, the policy outlines some, but not all, of the situations which can arise that violate these standards. Further, the policy sets forth a set of procedures, characterized by a "sense of fair play," which will be used when these standards are violated. In this spirit, definitions of academic misconduct are listed below. These are not meant to be exhaustive.

I. ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT

Any act that violates the spirit of the academic conduct policy is considered academic misconduct. Specific examples include, but are not limited to:

A. Cheating. Includes, but is not limited to:

1. Copying from another student's test paper, laboratory report, other report, or computer files and listings.

2. Using in any academic exercise or academic setting, material and/or devices not authorized by the person in charge of the test.

3. Collaborating with or seeking aid from another student during an academic exercise without the permission of the person in charge of the exercise.

4. Knowingly using, buying, selling, stealing, transporting, or soliciting in its entirety or in part, the contents of a test or other assignment unauthorized for release.

5. Substituting for another student, or permitting another student to substitute for oneself, in a manner that leads to misrepresentation of either or both students work.

B. Plagiarism. The appropriation, theft, purchase, or obtaining by any means another's work, and the unacknowledged submission or incorporation of that work as one's own offered for credit. Appropriation includes the quoting or paraphrasing of another's work without giving credit therefore.

C. Collusion. The unauthorized collaboration with another in preparing work offered for credit.

D. Abuse of resource materials. Mutilating, destroying, concealing, or stealing such materials.

E. Computer misuse. Unauthorized or illegal use of computer software or hardware through the TCU Computer Center or through any programs, terminals, or freestanding computers owned, leased, or operated by TCU or any of its academic units for the purpose of affecting the academic standing of a student.

F. Fabrication and falsification. Unauthorized alteration or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise. Falsification involves altering information for use in any academic exercise. Fabrication involves inventing or counterfeiting information for use in any academic exercise.

G. Multiple submission. The submission by the same individual of substantial portions of the same academic work (including oral reports) for credit more than once in the same or another class without authorization.

H. Complicity in academic misconduct. Helping another to commit an act of academic misconduct.

I. Bearing false witness. Knowingly and falsely accusing another student of academic misconduct.

Disabilities Statement:

Texas Christian University complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 regarding students with disabilities.  Eligible students seeking accommodations should contact the Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities in the Center for Academic Services located in Sadler Hall, 11.  Accommodations are not retroactive, therefore, students should contact the Coordinator as soon as possible in the term for which they are seeking accommodations. Further information can be obtained from the Center for Academic Services, TCU Box 297710, Fort Worth, TX 76129, or at (817) 257-7486.

Adequate time must be allowed to arrange accommodations and accommodations are not retroactive; therefore, students should contact the Coordinator as soon as possible in the academic term for which they are seeking accommodations.  Each eligible student is responsible for presenting relevant, verifiable, professional documentation and/or assessment reports to the Coordinator.  Guidelines for documentation may be found at http://www.acs.tcu.edu/DISABILITY.HTM.

Students with emergency medical information or needing special arrangements in case a building must be evacuated should discuss this information with their instructor/professor as soon as possible.