• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
 
C
ourse
I
nformatIon
G-EN255 American Literature II
and 
G-EN255L American Literature IIMohler 2048:30 - 9:20 MWF3 or 4 credit hourswwwi.mcpherson.edu/~claryb/en255
I
nstruCtor
Dr. Bruce ClaryMohler 201
Ofce Hrs: 9-10 M-FOfce Ph: 242.0530Home Ph: 241.0426
C
ourse
W
eb
s
Ite
http://wwwi.mcpherson.edu/~claryb/en255
r
equIrements
m
et
1) General education credit for 
Humanities: Literature.
 2) Language Intensive credit for those enrolled in G-EN255L.3) For the major or minor inEnglish.
4) 7-12 teaching certication in
English.
r
equIred
t
exts
Belasco and Johnson.
TheBedford Anthology of  American Literature
. Vol 2:
1865-Present. Beford/St.
Martin’s, 2008.Chopin.
The Awakening and Selected Stories
. Pocket,
2004.
Steinbeck.
The Long Valley 
.
Penguin, 2000.
L 
iterature 
 
II 
C
ourse
D
esCription
A study of late 19th-century to contemporary American writerswith emphasis upon the historical development of American lit-erature and the diverse social and ethnic contexts that producedAmerican writers. Class time is devoted to techniques of criticalreading, appreciation of aesthetic achievements, and mastery of literary and critical terminology.
C
ourse
G
oals
The broadest goal of this course is to help you recognize therewards and joys of reading, thereby leading you to become alifelong reader of literary works. Another general goal is to helpyou learn to read challenging texts carefully and critically—askill that is central to any claim to be educated.
More specically, the course objectives are to acquaint you with
authors and works that 1) represent movements and develop-ments in American literature and 2) offer diverse perspectiveson America and what it means to be American and 3) to provideyou with historical, social, and cultural contexts that will enrichyour understanding of the works themselves.As a Language-Intensive course, G-EN255L also strives to givestudents training and practice with language as a learning tooland to produce more effective writers and speakers.
M
ethoDs
It goes without saying that some lecture will be necessary, but Ihope discussion and student writing about the readings will an-chor the course. Class sessions will often involve a small-groupactivity intended to set the stage for class discussion. About oncea week, you will complete a short, informal writing assignment.As often as possible, I will use your informal writing as a stimulusfor further discussion. I not only welcome but invite and encouragequestions at any point during lecture or class discussion.
American 
A Syllabus for G-EN255McPherson College–Spring 2009
 
2 G-EN255 American Literature II
r
equireD
l
earninG
a
Ctivities
 Reading checks
 
(40 percent). The most important learning activ-ity in this course is the assigned reading. You will not have com- pleted the course without reading the assigned works. Nearly every
class session will begin with a ve-minute, ve-point reading
check so that you may demonstrate your completion and compre-hension of the assigned readings. The questions on these reading
checks will usually be of the complete-the-statement or ll-in-the-
 blank variety. Those who have adequately read the work(s) as-signed will be able to answer the questions readily; those who scanthe assignment may enable you to answer some of the questionscorrectly; but those who have not cracked the book are unlikely toguess any correct answers.
 Reading checks may not be made up–no exceptions
. If you arriveto class a minute or two late, you will be allowed to complete asmuch of the check as you can in the remaining time. Students whoarrive in the last minute of the reading check period will not have acheck distributed to them.
 Informal writing 
 
(20 percent). About once a week, I will so-licit short pieces of writing (usually a well-developed paragraph)during class. These will ask you to comment upon some topic of discussion during class, to compare a character or scene from onework with those in another, to react to what you learned or foundinteresting in the class session, or to explain what you still do notadequately understand. Most often I will ask for these at the end of 
a class meeting so that you may leave as you are nished and may
take more time as needed without keeping others waiting.These in-class writing will be evaluated on a 10-point scale:9-10 Demonstrates adequate, thoughtful engagementwith the assigned topic8 Suggests an adequate, thoughtful engagement withthe topic6-7 Suggests less than adequate, thoughtful engagementwith the topic1-5 Demonstrates less than adequate, thoughtful en-gagement with the topic
 Informal writing assignments may be made up for half credit only
.
Take-home exams
 
(20 percent each). You will complete two
take-home exams, a midterm exam due on March 20 and a nal
exam due May. These exams, along with guidelines for completingthem, will be distributed one week in advance of the due dates.
 Late take-home exams cannot receive a grade higher than a C 
.
Samuel Clemensaka Mark Twain
“O Lord our God, help us totear their soldiers to bloodyshreds with our shells; help
us to cover their smiling elds
with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drownthe thunder of the guns with
the shrieks of their wounded,
writhing in pain; help us to laywaste their humble homes
with a hurricane of re; help
us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows withunavailing grief; help us to
turn them out rooess with
their little children to wander unfriended the wastes of their desolated land in rags and
hunger and thirst…. We askit, in the spirit of love, of HimWho is the Source of Love….
Amen.”It was believed afterwardthat the man was a lunaticbecause there was no sensein what he said.
from “The War Prayer”
 
G-EN255 American Literature II 3
G
raDes
Final grades for those enrolled in G-EN255 will be calculatedas follows:40% Reading checks20% Informal writing20% Midterm take-home exam20% Final take-home examI award grades on the traditional scale: 91-100 = A; 81-90 = B;71-80 = C; 61-70 = D; and 60 or below = F.
l
anGuaGe
-i
ntensive
r
equireMents
In addition to the informal writing and speaking requirementsalready incorporated into the course, those students enrolled in theclass for LI credit must also complete a formal writing and speak-ing component. LI students will choose one author from coursereading schedule and research the work(s) assigned.
Formal writing 
. Students will locate, read, and write a 250-word
abstract of ve relevant articles or book chapters of at least 2,000
words. Two abstracts must be submitted and returned before youcomplete the other three abstracts. Guidelines and model abstracts
will be available soon on the course Web site. All ve abstracts
must be submitted one class day prior to your formal presentation.
 Presentation
. LI students will make a formal 10-minute pre-sentation as part of the class session scheduled for the author theyhave researched. Guidelines and a rubric used to evaluate the pre-sentations will be available soon on the course Web site.
Grades
. Grades for those enrolled in G-EN255L will be cal-culated as above; however, the total for the common coursework 
shall constitute 75 percent of the nal grade for LI students, with
the abstracts and the presentation accounting for 12.5 percent each.
D
isability
s
erviCe
If you have a disability that prevents you from fully expressingyour abilities, please contact me as soon as possible so we candiscuss necessary accommodations to ensure your full participationand facilitate your educational opportunity.
s
peCial
i
njunCtion
You are responsible for seeing that this syllabus does not interferewith your education. You can always do more work or differentwork (within reason) than the syllabus requires. Consult with me if you wish to explore the possibilities for better adapting this courseto your needs.
W. E. B. Du Bois
“Between me and the other world there is ever an un-
asked question: unasked
by some through feelings of delicacy; by others through
the difculty of rightly fram
-
ing it. All, nevertheless, utter 
round it. They approach mein a half hesitant sort of way,eye me curiously or compas-sionately, and then, instead
of saying directly, How does
it feel to be a problem? they
say, I know an excellent
colored man in my town; or,I fought at Mechanicsville;
or, Do not these Southernoutrages make your blood
boil? At these I smile, or aminterested, or reduce the boil-ing to a simmer, as the occa-
sion may require. To the realquestion, How does it feel
to be a problem? I answer seldom a word.”from
The Souls of Black Folk 
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...