End-of-Semester Changes

Due to illness, I must cancel class tonight. Therefore, some changes need to be made on the schedule. I have reproduced below what is reflected on the Schedule, Readings, and Rubrics page.

Stay tuned for a forthcoming study guide for the final exam on 5/21.

Best,
s.

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M 4/23
: CLASS CANCELED

M 4/30
: RL – Intro to Nonfiction (78-82)
: RL – Woolf, “The Death of the Moth” (895-898)
: e-jrnl#7

M 5/7
: Revised Short Paper #3 Due
: RL – Walker, “To Hell with Dying” (1180-1185)
: RL – Gould, "The Median Isn't the Message" (1131-1135)
: e-jrnl#8

M 5/14
: Final Paper Due

M 5/21
: Final Exam (6p in 2A05)

HW#7 -- Nonfictive Nature

Please answer the following prompt in response to Virginia Woolf's "The Death of the Moth" (895-897).

How do you see nature? As benign, hostile, indifferent, restorative, or wondrous? An inspiration or an obstacle? In a poem entitled "The Tables Turned," William Wordsworth writes, "Come forth into the light of things / Let nature be your teacher." To what extent has nature been a teacher in your own life? Include in your response your own experiences and compare and contrast them to the perspectives expressed in Woolf's text. (Due 4/30)

Updates to Schedule

Hello Everyone,

I noticed that I had mistakenly assigned Spring Break one week late... Therefore, changes in the schedule need to occur. Below you will see the modified schedule for the next few weeks of class. Please make note of the changes, namely when SP#3 and RV#2 are due. These changes are reflected on the Schedule, Readings, & Rubrics page as well.

Thank you,
s.

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Weeks Nine – Twelve ((Drama)) – Writing to Respond, Compare, Analyze, Explicate, and Evaluate

M 3/26
: RL – Intro to Drama (70-78)
: RL – Wasserstein, “The Man in a Case” (17-23)
: RL – Synge, "Riders to the Sea" (874-883)
: Revised Short Paper #1 Due 
: Rubric for Short Paper #3
: e-jrnl#5

M 4/2
: Sartre, No Exit
: e-jrnl#6

M 4/9
: No Classes (Spring Recess)


Weeks Thirteen – Sixteen ((Nonfiction)) – Argument, Critical Thinking, and Research

M 4/16
: Revised Short Paper #2 Due 
: Short Paper #3 Due – Bring two extra copies of your paper to class for a peer-edit

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HW#5 -- Hell, Marriage, & Death

Hello everyone.

I received word from the campus bookstore that Sartre's No Exit is now available. In case you plan on obtaining the text from an outside source, here is the publisher and ISBN of the edition I would like you to purchase.

Vintage: 0679725164

 
And, here is the prompt for e-journal #5.

In a well-developed paragraph, please focus your response on one of the two plays assigned for Monday; i.e., either Wendy Wasserstein's The Man in the Case or John Milington Synge's Riders to the Sea. You can write on one of the following options:

1. Provide a detailed analysis of one character.Why did you choose to focus on this character over others?
2. Offer commentary regarding the play's theme or moral or lesson.
3. Discuss how the structural elements of the play; for example, setting, stage directions, etc., inform your response.
4. Write a subsequent Act to your chosen play, in correct dramatic format. That is, imagine how the play would continue beyond its ending.

As always, providing textual references in correct MLA format in a necessity. Email if you have further questions.

Revision Update!

I am extending the revision of Paper #1 by one week, until 3/26; however, Paper #2 is still due on the 19th. Please visit the Schedule, Readings, and Rubrics page to see this update.

I encourage you to send me emails regarding your papers, #1 or #2, over the remainder of the week. I will be on campus Wednesday morning from 10:30 until 2:30pm (teaching from noon until 2pm). Should you wish to schedule a time to meet that day, shoot me an email to do so.

Remember: Bring three copies of Paper #2 to class on Monday for the peer-edit. To receive revision credit you must attach the marked-up draft of Paper #1 to the revision due on the 26th.

Short Paper #2 Rubric Posted!

The guidelines for Short Paper #2 have been posted on the Schedule, Readings, & Rubrics page. Please refer to this document when composing your second formal writing assignment, due Monday 3/19.

Short Paper #1 Rubric Posted!

The guidelines for Short Paper #1 have been posted on the Schedule, Readings, & Rubrics page. Please refer to this document when composing your first formal writing assignment, due Monday 3/5.

You will notice that I added a new page to the blog titled Formal Paper Descriptions. Seeing as you have a paper due soon, it would behoove you to read over this information so that you comprehend the various qualities of academic essays.

Also, I provided a link to an updated course syllabus to include changes in the required texts. Please view, download, and print the newest version (v.1.2) for your records. The old syllabus can be properly recycled.

HW#3 -- People in the Walls

For the next class meeting I would like everyone to have read the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Using this story, as well as your knowledge of character following our discussion tonight on People (Stanford 32-41), please answer the following prompt:

As a result of its eerie mood and setting, Gilman's text has often been labeled as a ghost story. Do you see the woman in the wallpaper as a supernatural element? What other possibilities can you suggest?  

On such suggestion is as follows... While it is clear that there are multiple characters in this short story, it may not be so clear that within the main female character exists more than one persona. In other words, the reader could make the argument that the woman in the room and the woman in the wallpaper are actually two "parts" of the same main character. If so, how are these "parts" similar? How are they different? 

Explain your response using direct evidence from the short story as support.

HW#2 -- Soldiers and the Spoils of War

For our next meeting, Tuesday 2/21, I would like for everyone to have read the short stories by O'Brien and Vonnegut. The Vonnegut text can be accessed via the Schedule, Readings, & Rubrics page by clicking the link embedded in the author's last name. Please print and annotate this text before bringing it to class Tuesday. Also before class meets, please submit your second e-journal response to the following prompt:

Draw a relationship between the two war stories written by O'Brien and Vonnegut. First, name one theme or element from each text that you found to be similar, thus making a comparison. Second, name one theme or element from each text that you found to be different, thus highlighting a contrast. 

Lastly, express in a few sentences which story you responded to "more," and explain why in detail. Here are some general questions to guide you... Explain why you found a certain character compelling or troublesome? How were the stories' settings (both physical and mental) made vivid in your mind's eye as you read? Is there some personal connection to either of these texts?

Direct references to the readings are required, so be sure to cite page numbers when offering quotations or paraphrases.  

HW #1 -- Personal Butterflies

Please respond to the following prompt by posting a reply below.

Recall the short story "Butterflies" by Patricia Grace. In class it was argued that when the little girl shares her butterfly story in school, she undergoes an anagnorisis, which is a moment of awakening as to one's true situation or the transition from innocence to experience. Given this argument, first identify what it is that the little girl is "awakened" to; and second, describe a time in your own life when you experienced what could be called an anagnorisis or epiphany, be it large or small. Provide sensory detail and, of course, draw connections between the text and your own life. (Due 2/13)