Dear Students: Below you will find the entire syllabus. It has the advantage of being searchable with CTRL+F but the downloadable PDF version to the right is more aesthetically pleasing and probably clearer to read. I encourage you to download and read that one first, then use the copy-pasted one below as a quick reference throughout the rest of the semester.

LABOURÉ  COLLEGE

Summer 1 2016

ENG 2060 (D H and E H) American Literature

SYLLABUS

Liam Meyer

Liam_Meyer@laboure.edu

Skype: liammeyer1

II. COURSE OVERVIEW

American Literature introduces students to influential literary works from the American Revolution to the present. Students will consider the role of literature in shaping and responding to the history and ideology of the United States. The course also examines the relationship between American literature and other forms of cultural production in the United States. Students learn to use different types of literary theory to contextualize their interpretations of these literary and cultural texts. Students demonstrate their understanding of the aesthetic works and critical concepts of the course by composing thesis-driven essays that analyze specific works of literature from a theoretical perspective.

While this class is comparable in scope and structure to most other college level American Literature courses across the country, this one has been designed specifically for you, the students of Labouré College. The readings have been selected with an eye to the identity of the college and your future careers as health professionals. So while we study literary genres, forms, theories, and continually practice analyzing literature and crafting persuasive interpretations of readings, our conversation will center on literature that represents issues of health, illness, caregiving, physiology, medical research, ethics, and social equality.

For example, the semester will begin with 19^th century texts by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Edgar Allan Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne that ask powerful questions about patriarchy and gender by representing women undergoing treatment, experimentation, and even abuse at the hands of male doctors, scientists, and scholars. Radium Girls, a play that I’ve made optional for summer semesters, dramatizes the true story of working-class factory girls poisoned by Radium at exactly the same time that Radium was promoted as a miracle cure for cancer—and their struggle for media recognition, medical care, and legal vindication.

Gender will remain important, but the texts on the syllabus examine how these representations intersect with other diverse American identities. For example, the novella Monster uses the story of an African-American burn victim to expose the problems of segregation and discrimination lurking in an all-American town. Later in the semester, Ernest Gaines’ short story “Bloodline” explores competing visions of America by showing how racism attempts to separate genetic inheritances and family roots, or “bloodline,” from fair legal inheritances and political equality. And a poetry unit centered on Rafael Campo will reveal how his writing draws on his life as a Latino, a social advocate, and a practicing physician in Boston. We’ll also read poetry by Danielle Legros Georges, the Haitian born writer who became the poet laureate of Boston and recently spoke at Labouré college. Our final text, Angels in America, captures how the AIDS crisis helped redefine America by staging, among other characters, gay Mormons and Jews re-examining their faiths.

The centerpiece of the class is Leslie Marmon Silko’s Ceremony, the only full-length novel we’ll be reading together. We will spend three units with this text, and follow how Tayo (a returning Native American WWII veteran) fights to overcome his post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal grief. Silko’s experimental narrative weaves together realistic prose and Indian folk poetry to create a grand story about ethnicity, cultural hybridity, concepts of “Americanness,” socioeconomic adversity, family strife, mental health, western medicine, and spirituality. While our conversation will certainly expand beyond the set of issues I’ve outlined here, they will form the spine of our course, and I’m eager to hear what you make of the readings.

III. LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Analyze three genres of literature: poetry, drama, and prose (short stories and novels)
• Learn to read literature through the lenses of different literary theories

• Understand the relationship between American History, American Culture and the texts we read
• Write thesis-driven, college level essays that analyze literature and its relevant contexts
• Understand the relationship between literature, ideology, and language

The Educated Person

The College is committed to graduating an educated person. The educated graduate of Labouré College possesses the basis for life-long learning and civic engagement and is prepared to deliver patient-centered care as a member of an interdisciplinary team.

To this end, the General Education courses promote learning in broad areas of human knowledge leading to an understanding of historical, social, mathematical, philosophical, and scientific phenomena as well as ethical perspectives. The professionally oriented courses promote learning that emphasizes evidence-based practice, including the latest research and clinical expertise of practitioners, quality improvement approaches, and the use of information technology.

Liberal education concepts and theories found in General Education courses, along with professionally oriented courses in a student’s major, support and facilitate the development of skills necessary for student to function competently in life and work. These skills include information literacy, critical and creative thinking, oral, written, and interpersonal communication, and team building.

Information literacy skills are introduced and reinforced through:

• Familiarity with different genres and tropes of literature, as well as different forms of narrative
• Evaluating various interpretive approaches to literature
• Understanding the ways language, art, and literary representations shape the world we live in

Critical thinking skills are introduced and reinforced through:

• Critical and analytical reading of literary texts, as opposed to evaluative reading
• Close-Reading skills: attending to small details and individual words, as well as reading through plot and character to grasp the concepts and ideologies at work in the texts
• Ability to contextualize literary texts in their historical, social, and political contexts
• Engaging in thoughtful peer-discussion via weekly online forums
• Writing college level, thesis-driven essays that incorporate all of the above skills

1. TEXTS AND REQUIRED RESOURCES: three books are required, and other short readings will be available online:

• Crane, Stephen. The Monster and Other Stories (Dover, ISBN-10: 0486790258, ISBN-13: 978-0486790251)
• Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony (Penguin, ISBN-10: 0140086838, ISBN-13: 978-0140086836).
• Kushner, Tony. Angels in America, Part 1 (Theatre Communications Group, ISBN-10: 1559360615, ISBN-13: 978-1559360616)

OPTIONAL FOR SUMMER TERM (available as PDF in optional unit tab) Gregory, D. W. Radium Girls (Dramatic Publishing, ISBN-10: 1583421904, ISBN-13: 978-1583421901)

10. CLASS FORMAT: This class is a hybrid course that only meets in person three times: Saturday May 14th, Saturday June 4, and an optional meeting on Saturday June 18th. (Section D H meets from 9-12:10, and E H from 1-4:10. Attendance at the first two meetings is mandatory, and missing one of them will negatively affect your performance in the course. For the other units, “attendance” means participation in online forums, and the same rules apply. Excused absences may require a make-up assignment. Unexcused absences means you miss the opportunity to earn the credit for that week’s forum or quiz, plus they carry an additional grading penalty. Arriving late to an in-person course meeting will likely result in your inability to take a quiz.

VI. ACADEMIC HONESTY See the Labouré Catalog, p. 27

Academic integrity is the hallmark of Labouré College. Academic honesty is expected of all students, who have to complete their own work and submit or present their own original work unless specifically directed otherwise by the professor. Academic dishonesty constitutes academic misconduct, which includes the following:

• Acts of cheating, fabrication, plagiarism, or assisting another in the commission of such acts; and
• Any acts of misconduct occurring at a clinical facility during the clinical education component of any course.

Allegations of academic misconduct will be reported to the Vice President of Academic Affairs, who will review them.

We will review some of the forms of academic misconduct in our first meeting to clarify how and why problems arise – “plagiarism” means much more than just outright copying. It can mean uncited ideas, improper paraphrase or summary, borrowing even small snippets of language, and more. But, ultimately, it is your responsibility to understand the standards set by the college and observe them scrupulously. In this class, I will offer three simple rules to help you avoid plagiarism.

• 1) The first rule is to stay away from any websites about the literature, except in instances where I steer you directly to them. (You absolutely should, however, often use a good online dictionary, like dictionary.com). Do not “google” the texts we read! Your own response matters more, and online analyses are often very weak anyway. You may, however, wish to find out more about the authors, about the historical contexts of the literature, and/or about literary theories and terms. That’s terrific, but you must do so either after the term ends, or in consultation with me and take careful notes so that you can cite anything you find. That brings up rules 2 and 3
• 2) When in doubt, contact me before you turn in or post any work that may be problematic. I’m happy to help you protect yourself, but I can only help before work is submitted. After the work is submitted, a professor can no longer be your ally, but must be your prosecutor.

• 3) When in doubt, responsibly cite any outside source—including websites—you may have consulted in a way that clearly indicates exactly what terms, ideas, quotations, words, phrases, arguments, facts, or applications of theories or background information you got from another source, where they came from, and clearly mark when the writing returns to your This applies whether you quote, paraphrase, or summarize. Here are some examples:

VII. DROPPING THE COURSE

In order to drop a course, you have more to do than to stop attending class or to inform your professor.  In accordance with Labouré College policy, you have to drop a course, in person or in writing, during the published adjustment period.  If you are thinking of dropping this course, please discuss with me and your academic advisor. Please see the Academic Calendar in the College Catalog for the dates of the adjustment period so that you will know will know last day to drop a class.

VIII. IMPORTANT INFORMATION

1. Please refer to the College Catalog/Handbook for information on all academic policies.

1. Center for Student Success and Teaching Excellence (CSSTE)

The Center for Student Success and Teaching Excellence (CSSTE) is a comprehensive program designed to enrich the learning opportunities through resources available to all students at Labouré College.  Modeled on best practices for excellence in teaching and learning, the CSSTE provides students with opportunities to extend and to deepen their classroom learning experiences by participating in academic advising, academic coaching (focused on learning strategies), academic tutoring (focused on course content), basic skill strengthening (e.g., focused on Mathematics, Writing, or Critical Reading), career counseling, and/or short-term personal counseling.  The CSSTE also offers specialized assistance to students with learning differences, including advocacy, learning strategies, and, when appropriate, reasonable accommodations such as extended time on exams, note-taking assistance, enlarged print, preferential seating, and support in accessing digital audio texts, readers, scribes, and/or assistive technologies. Located adjacent to the student lounge, the CSSTE strives to be a warm and welcoming community of learners dedicated to fostering student growth and success.

1. Learning Differences 

Labouré College is committed to extending reasonable and appropriate accommodations to students whose learning differences are consistent with standards described in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. To be eligible, students seeking accommodations will provide documentation from a licensed medical or mental health professional that describes a legally recognized learning difference and that indicates the accommodations necessary to assure equal access to the College’s programs and services.  This documentation should be submitted to the Learning Differences Specialist at least two weeks prior to the implementation of accommodations.

1. Attendance

The classroom (virtual and face-to-face) is the heart of the educational experience at Labouré College because it provides a formal setting for the important exchanges among faculty members and students. Regular and punctual attendance at all classes (virtual and face-to-face), essential for maximum academic achievement, is a major responsibility of Labouré College students. Absence affects the contributions one can make to the classroom environment, and absence significantly and demonstrably reduces the quality of the educational experience for everyone in the classroom. As a result, absence almost always impacts the quality of performance. Punctual attendance at all classes, conferences, and clinical field experiences is expected of all students. Each professor provides guidelines on attendance, evaluation, and course requirements at the beginning of each semester or module. (For this class, see my note under “Class Format,” above).

The College will give special assistance with make-up work to students who have short periods (three class hours) of absenteeism because of illness and/or emergency situations. Extended periods of absenteeism may mean an adjustment of courses and/or entire program. Such absences may require withdrawal for the current semester and registration at a later date.

Students who have not attended three consecutive class meetings (unless excused by a professor due to an extenuating circumstance) are withdrawn administratively from the class.

1. GRADING AND COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Your grade will be determined by your thoughtful participation in 7 online forums, and by 2 argumentative and analytical thesis-driven essays, 1 short quiz, and the remaining points are earned by participating actively in our “in person” meetings and completing a few short minor assignments. Details are below.

1. Grading System, Quality Points, and GPA,

Grade   Quality             Grade

            Points               Equivalencies

A         4.0                   100-93

A-        3.7                   92-90

B+        3.3                   89-87

B          3.0                   86-83

B-        2.7                   82-80

C+        2.3                   79-77

C          2.0                   76-73

C-        1.7                   72-70

D+       1.3                  69-67

D         1.0                   66-63

D-        0.7                  62-60

F          0                      59 or below

W         Withdrawn: no grade

WP       Withdrawn: passing

WF       Withdrawn: failing

I           Incomplete

1. Course Assignments and Their Weight in the Final Grade

Assignments, readings, activities, discussions, exams, quizzes, papers, and presentations are also posted in the “Courseware” section in e-Learning.

Specific instructions about the Essays and Quizzes will be provided closer to the due dates

1. Discussion Posts and Their Weight in the Final Grade

Discussion Posts

*7 posts for 7 points each adds up to 42, not 49, because I will drop your lowest scoring Forum.

Specific Instructions and Rubrics about the Forum Posts and Replies will be provided at the first in-person class meeting. Students must complete all Forums, but I will drop the lowest scoring one. I will also, on occasion, give a bonus point or two for highly successful, uniquely creative, or brilliantly analytical posts.

You will notice that the assignments only add up to 88 points, but the gradebook will convert all that to standard percentage (i.e. out of 100%). So be aware that an assignment worth a certain number of “points” actually becomes slightly higher percentage of your grade (7 points = approx. 8 %)

1. Course Assignment Descriptions

Essays

You will write two essays, each responding to texts that we have read during the semester. These essays will involve close reading of the primary texts, critical thinking on their meaning, and clear exposition and presentation of your ideas in a written composition.  The first essay will ask you to analyze one text while the final essay will ask you to analyze two texts. Each essay must have a thesis: an argument that attempts to persuade the reader of an original, narrow, specific, conceptual interpretation of the texts that offers readers a new way to understand the philosophical import and ideological work of the literature. Detailed assignment sheets will be provided for each essay.

Forum Posts and Replies

You will also write seven Posts during the semester, and seven Replies to a post written by one of your peers on that week’s topic (each post is worth 5 points, and should be at least 500 words, and each reply is worth 2 points, and should be at least 200 words—use the “preview” button to check your word count). I will provide questions for each specific topic, and I will provide specific instructions about what I expect in a successful post and reply during our first in-person class meeting.

Quizzes: At the start of our second in-person class meetings, I will administer a short quiz. Each quiz may ask a few short answer questions about the readings and concepts we’ve been studying, but the majority of each quiz will ask students to analyze a short passage of a recent reading that I will present right there on the page. These close readings will then jump start our class discussion that day.

Additional Assignments and Participation:

There will be a handful of small assignments (for example, I will likely ask students to submit preliminary thesis statements, or rough draft outlines, before papers are due). And since we only meet in-person a few times during the semester, we need to maximize those opportunities for face to face dialogue. One of the significant goals of a university education is to initiate you into an intellectual community.  In this class, you will be required to be an active, responsible member of that community.  You will be asked to prepare for class in advance, arrive to class on time, and contribute to class discussion on those days.