This is a lower division literature course that is taught in the computer-assisted environment. This literature class will emphasize two major threads. The first thread is the use of personal narrative and experience. What is so powerful about an individual's personal story? Personal experience is also a factor. We will be reading Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God in the context of her own background (her life in Eatonville, FL) and experiences. The other thread will address the "conversations" that take place within literature. Not the singular experience of one author responding to another's work (though that will be noted), but rather the collaborative atmosphere and influences of other artists, authors and voices. The modernist poets and the members of the Harlem Renaissance are two examples. Such collaborations resonate throughout the readings, through Alice Walker writing about searching for the grave of Zora Neale Hurston and poet Phillis Wheatley writing a poem about painter Scipio Moorhead. Students will have an opportunity to discover that authors like T.S. Eliot, HD, William Carlos Williams and Ezra Pound all knew each other and actively engaged each other in their writings. One example of multiple voices and styles will be Jean Toomer's Cane, a text that contains poetry, prose and a play.
Although these threads may appear to be oppositional, they are complementary in important ways. In both fiction and nonfiction, students will be able to assess the writer's own sense of voice and how his or her voice formed part of a larger collective. Students will participate in a semester-long project to build a hypertext that engages a particular "voice" in American literature. This hypertext will be a collaborative effort that students will "publish" via the web and on CD-ROM. A short WWW page will articulate their approach and eventually serve as the link to the Shockwave version of the project. The CDs are burned and the Shockwave clips are being uploaded Friday, May 7.
This course requires participation by class members, and your participation will factor in your portfolio. It is important that you are here in order to contribute to class discussion, so attendance is required and will be recorded. Five unexcused absences will be reported in writing to the student¼s dean and six unexcused absences are grounds for failure. Accepted excused absences are those due to religious holiday observances (notify me in advance that you will be absent) and illness (provide me with a note from a doctor). Tardiness can also disrupt class proceedings, and if you are not there when the roll is taken, you are counted as absent.
Assignments All assigned work is mandatory. Homework is due according to the times and days specified on the syllabus. Any work handed in late will automatically penalized. If you are unable to hand in an assignment in class, you may deliver it to my box in the FAC 8 or turn it in to the network if possible. Do not ask staff in the English or DRC office to take your work. Computer problems will NOT excuse turning in work late. NOTE: I do realize that sometimes issues arise over which you have no control ć if you are not able to complete an assignment by a scheduled date, know that I can be reasonable with students who have evidenced an honest and attentive effort in class.
The grade will be determined through portfolio assessment. I will comment on homework assignments in a general way to help guide you but you will not receive a letter grade until you turn in a portfolio midsemester (3/7). You will write a self-evaluation and argue for the grade you feel you deserve based on your assessment of your progress across the following five dimensions: confidence and independence, specific skills and strategies, content knowledge, use of prior and emerging experience and reflectiveness. Your final grade will be calculated according to the the strength of your portfolio and self-evaluation. All reasonable and well-supported grade claims will be honored.