Syllabus
for English 335
Fall 2008
Peru State College's Teacher
Education Unit
Conceptual Framework
Creating Exemplary Educators:
Reflective Decision-makers
Class: Non-Western
Literature
Time: On-Line Course, Eight-Week Course
Professor: Bill
Clemente
Office: Fine Arts 201
Office
Telephone Number: (402-) 872-2233
Office Hours: By appointment. And I will check messages frequently
and get back to you as a rule within 24 hours.
E-Mail:
bclemente@oakmail.peru.edu
Homepage: Click here.
Home
Telephone Number: 872-3073
Required
Texts:
One World of Literature by Lim and Spencer
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Harp of Burma by Michimo Takeyama
Beka Lamb by Zee Edgell
Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
Please pay close attention to class announcements, for the information collected here is subject to change over the course of the term.
Turnitin: To promote academic integrity, Peru State College subscribes to an electronic service to review papers for the appropriate citations and originality. Key elements of submitted papers are stored electronically in a limited access database and thus become a permanent part of the material to which future submissions are compared.
Continued enrollment in a course signifies your permission for this use of your written work.
Should you not wish to agree to this procedure, you may drop the course during the add/drop period before any works are completed and submitted.
At the conclusion of this document, you will find links to download this syllabus as a Word or PDF file.
Course Description
and Objectives:
An eight-week, on-line course, English 335 introduces readers to what will be for many a
rather new world of literature, to material you might not otherwise
have either occasion to encounter or the inclination to read.
As you will discover this semester, common themes and human interests bind the drama,
fiction, and poetry of the entire world.
As you will come to appreciate, moreover, what looks familiar
often reveals significant differences; and these differences
in turn make the similarities all the more striking.
Non-Western Literature
will familiarize you with works
by African, Caribbean, Asian, Middle Eastern, Latin American,
Pacific, and Native American authors and help you broaden your appreciation
of all literature, my promise to you.
In addition to being sophisticated literature, the reading material
is additionally exciting and always challenging.
Know that sophisticated authors such as
Chinua Achebe (Nigeria), Zee Edgell (Belize), Michio Takeyama (Japan), and Witi Ihimaera (New Zealand) are not interested
in attacking Western Civilization; they have more important themes
to emphasize, such as the necessity for people of different backgrounds
and cultures to understand one another and to treat one another
with mutual respect.
None of the
conflicts the works address admits a simple solution.
And as a glance at either the evening newspaper
or CNN underscores, what you will read about over the next few
months remains very much in the news, from the frightening AIDS
epidemic in southern Africa to the equally horrifying fighting
in the Middle East; from our country's involvement in Afghanistan
and Iraq, to the potential for nuclear confrontation between
India and Pakistan.
In addition to the drama, poetry, and short
stories included in your anthology, you will read a novel by
one of the world's foremost authors, Chinua Achebe (Things Fall Apart), about
the confrontation of white colonists with Igbo culture in a section of modern Nigeria.
This class will also introduce
you to a challenging and at times hilarious narrative, Beka Lamb, by Zee Edgell, one of the Caribbean's great voices and a prize-winning novelist. This novel concerns
the struggles of a young girl's coming of age, torn between colonial
and ancestral values as she struggles to affirm her identity. In addition, you will read Michimo Takeyama's sympathetic account of Japanese soldiers in Burma at the end of WW II. Likewise, you will have the opportunity to experience the novel Whale Rider, a wonderful work made into an excellent film about a young Maori girl's coming of age in modern New Zealand.
Acquainting you with this literature, the
class grapples with complex issues concerning Art and Artifice,
Gender Roles, Racism, Colonialism, Religion, and other matters
involving human relations, often in the context of political
and economic oppression.
As you will
discover, however, this literature of conflict points always to a difficult and requisite
healing process.
To analyze and to appreciate cultural differences
without obvious prejudice requires both that you keep an open
mind and that you willingly question the social norms our society
nurtures in each of us. Bear
in mind that making the effort necessary to appreciate new perspectives
brings gratifying results.
In a traditional class setting, I strive through the use of multi-media
presentations--film, music, guest appearances, etc.--to reinforce
recurrent themes. While viewing an excellent film from Mali on-line
is not possible for us (at least not at this juncture), I will
make suggestions as the semester turns about films you can watch and supply video supplements to class material.
Our library offers an excellent selection
of literature from Africa and the Caribbean; and over the years,
we have increased our film holdings to approximately 50 examples
of excellent African cinema.
Other Goals
and Objectives:
Inasmuch as this course fills General Education
requirements for Global Studies, English 335 uses
literature and other media to instill in students a greater interest
in and understanding of the multi-cultural world that surrounds
and involves them.
Non-Western Literature also
takes an interdisciplinary approach central to the Literal Arts
Education on which Peru State College prides itself. Through
film and other narrative accounts, the class discussions and
material include, among other things, history, sociology, economics,
and politics.
The African, Caribbean, and Asian countries
become increasingly more central to the United States and certainly
to Nebraska, especially in areas of trade.
Thus the course seeks not only to talk
about the literature and culture of many Non-Western countries
to which the course gives attention but also to suggest ways
in which the conflicts affect and are otherwise tied to our nation's
concerns, from attempts to counter the terrible AIDS epidemic
in Africa, to the conflicts with which American Indians contend,
from the droughts that plague many areas to the terrorist attacks
that afflict and affect the United states.
The preceding areas of
emphasis contribute to the college's educational goals, especially
in that the class seeks to broaden students' perspectives about
the these important areas of the world.
And the various written assignments support
the college's goal of graduating students who possess the requisite
skills to communicate their ideas well and who therefore graduate
with the strong foundation required for continued intellectual
growth
Instruction
Method/Mode of Delivery:
This section of English 335, Non-Western
Literature, is an on-line class utilizing the Blackboard template.
Students will use the template for all aspects of the class,
from e-mail communication with the instructor to turning in assignments.
Students will also communicate on a regular basis with fellow
students through the Discussion Board element of the template
to which everyone will contribute. The class also features a class blog on which I will post weekly announcements, videos, and other information.
Assessment
Methods and Student Requirements:
Grades:
Weekly discussions in
this class replace attendance in the traditional classroom.
Each week, you will be responsible for
taking part in one or two discussion threads connected with class
reading material. You must complete the discussions during the week assigned; in general, the threads run from Monday-Sunday at midnight.
I will monitor the discussions and reply
to the class as a group and to individual writers. In general,
the discussions require that you write in paragraph form about
your ideas and in response to what your fellow readers/writers
have to say.
Each thread has a specific focus. Your
grade is determined by the enthusiasm you bring to the discussion,
your ability to articulate your ideas clearly, the degree to
which you deal honestly and critically with the reading material,
and your ability to fulfill the assignments.
Read weekly
thread description(s) carefully and take part regularly in the
class discussions--waiting until a couple hours before the deadline
will not work and your grade will reflect this lack of serious attention. To get minimum credit, you must write at least two responses to each prompt and begin your involvement early in the week.
Waiting until Saturday or Sunday will result in minimum credit or less, depending on the effort.
You can have a lot of fun
with the discussion threads; and inasmuch as they count for 16%
of your grade, your serious attention will help ensure class
success. In addition,
earnest involvement in the discussions will help you with the examinations over the course material.
Quizzes:
Each week, you will take
a short quiz based on the reading materials, including the class notes. Each week, I will post a video that will help you with the quiz material.
If you read the assigned
materials, take part in class discussions, ask questions, and
read your class notes, you should find these tests relatively
easy.
These tests seek to ensure
that you keep up with the course.
These quizzes are open book .
As with the discussions threads, this particular aspect of the
course gives you an excellent opportunity to improve your grade--just keep up with your reading
and take both the reading and course discussions seriously. In general, the quizzes will become available on Thursday mornings until midnight Sunday.
You must complete your quiz during the assigned period.
Short Written
Assignments:
Two short essays--2.5-3,
double spaced pages each--will be assigned over the course
of the semester, in addition to the essay examinations.
You will be given a variety
of choices from which to choose.
You will have
an opportunity to revise these short essays to elevate your grade.
You will have approximately
a week to complete these written assignments. And you will receive
instructions concerning how to improve the essay.
See the section on "revisions"
for further information.
Turn in all written work via the assignment template on Blackboard; your work will be returned in the same fashion.
Exams:
The examinations will require that you
write a 2.5-3 page essay on an assigned topic.
You will have choices
on writing topics for the essay component of the examination.
Each examination will ask you to write
an essay--2.5 + double-spaced pages--on a novel read in class and perhaps to respond
to a variety of prompts--1.5+ pages each--over
the assigned reading. Exact essay assignments will vary.
In general, the short-response essays ask
you to discuss the significance of a character, action, or quotation
for the narrative from which it is derived and in relation to issues raised in other and related class material.
You will have an opportunity
to revise material on the first two examinations.
Do not let the emphasis
on writing worry you--the hours spent on your examinations will
replace, in many respects, the intensity of face-to face exchanges
and in-class discussions.
Adapt and do
well!
Revisions:
As I often tell my composition
writers, the verb "to essay" means "to attempt,"
"to undertake," "to try," and even "to
struggle."
From this perspective,
an essay represents an ongoing project, a process of revision. So
that you can use the process as a sign of progress and elevate
your grade for an assignment, a revised grade replaces the original
grade.
Bear in mind,
however, that a revision does not
automatically result in a higher grade.
An effective rewrite requires
more than simply correcting spelling errors and clearing up awkward
sentence construction. Often, in fact, a good revision requires
that you make a fresh start. You will find that I provide many
comments and suggestions to help you improve your essays.
As a general rule, you
will have a week to complete revisions.
Due Dates
and Late Material:
To designate a student's work in a course
as incomplete at the end of a term, instructors record the incomplete
grade (I). Students may receive this grade only when serious
illness, hardship, death in the immediate family, or military
service during the semester in which they are registered prevents
them from completing course requirements. In addition, to receive
an incomplete, a student must have completed a majority of the
course's major requirements. Unless extenuating circumstances
dictate otherwise, students must initiate requests for an incomplete
by filing out an Incomplete Grade Completion Contract, which
requires the student and faculty signature.
The Incomplete Grade Completion Contract
cites the reason(s) for the incomplete and details the specific
obligations the student must meet to change the incomplete to
a letter grade. If students agree to complete required work prior
to the normal deadline for making up an incomplete the
end of the subsequent semester this date must appear in
the contract. The division chair, the instructor, and the student
receive signed copies of the incomplete Grade Completion Contract.
Even if the student does not attend Peru State College, all incomplete
course work must be finished by the end of the subsequent semester.
Unless Faculty Senate approves an extension, if the student does
not fulfill contract obligations in the allotted time, the incomplete
grade automatically becomes an F.
Students who have filed an application
for graduation are not eligible for a grade of Incomplete.
Accommodation Statement:
Academic integrity is a basic principle
that requires the student to take credit only for ideas and efforts
that are his/her own. Cheating is defined as the submission of
materials in assignments, exams, or other academic work that
is based on sources prohibited by the faculty member. Cheating
shall include, but is not limited to, situations in which a student:
1. Refers during an academic evaluation
to material sources not authorized by the faculty member.
2. Utilizes devices during an academic
evaluation that are not authorized by the faculty member.
3. Provides assistance to another student
or receives assistance from another student during an academic
evaluation in a manner not authorized by the faculty member.
4. Presents as his/her own the ideas or
words of another person without customary and proper acknowledgment
of sources.
5. Knowingly permits his/her words to be
submitted by another person without the faculty member's permission.
6. Acts as a substitute or utilizes a substitute
in any academic evaluation.
7. Fabricates data in support of laboratory
or field work.
8. Possesses, buys, sells, obtains, or
uses a copy of any materials intended to be used as an instrument
of academic evaluation in advance of its administration.
9. Alters grade records of his/her own
or another student work in a course or a component of a course.
Concluding
Thoughts:
Internet classes can be
both challenging and enjoyable. Take advantage of the opportunity
to communicate with me on a regular basis.
I will respond to all e-mail
messages within a day and generally much more quickly, as I check
my mail frequently.
If you utilize Microsoft Works, please save your documents in Rich Text Format (RTF), for this software does not work on Blackboard or on my computer.
The college requires that you send your documents in Word. And if you use the very latest version of Word, save your documents in an earlier version.
WARNING:
Internet classes
are not easier than traditional classes.
This class gives us a unique
opportunity to experiment and gives you a chance to help form
the class. If you have ideas, share them with me, as I am very
much open to any suggestion that makes the class more challenging
and more enjoyable.
Again, communicate with
me frequently and freely.
Take your work seriously
from the very beginning--do not fall into the trap of waiting
until Sunday to do your work. I look
forward to a gratifying experience and welcome all of you to
the exciting world to which Non-Western Literature will introduce
you.
Contact: Peru State College
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