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Instructor: Jacinta Yanders

(Dr. J or Dr. Yanders or
Professor Yanders)

Pronouns: She/Her (what’s

this about?)

Email: yandersj@cod.edu

Office: BIC 2444E

COD Covid Policies:

Per college guidelines, masks are required in all campus spaces and should cover both the
nose and mouth. Students attending in-person classes are required to submit proof of Covid
vaccination OR get tested on campus weekly. Students who do neither will not be permitted
to attend in-person classes. If you need to inquire about a medical accommodation, please
contact the Center for Access and Accommodations. Please do not come to class if you are
ill. If you believe you have Covid or have been exposed to Covid, please get tested. If you
test positive, be sure to report your results to the college here.

English 1161: Multicultural Literature, “American Dreams”

January 24th-February 4th

• Online coursework as mandated by the college

Remainder of Semester ***

• Tuesdays and Thursdays in BIC 1H04 from 12:30-1:45pm
***Subject to change per college mandate as needed

Course Description:

Focuses on literary texts reflecting the experiences of marginalized communities in the U.S.
Students explore literary works from diverse historical, cultural, and literary contexts for their
artistic complexity, unique formal elements, depth, and nuance. Students develop the
important skills of critical thinking and effective communication, and they build cultural
awareness and capacity for ethical and socially responsible reasoning. Through close reading,
students practice literary analysis and argumentation. Students examine multicultural
literature with reference to how publication and reception influence literary works at the time
of publication and beyond. Students explore how individual works of multicultural literature
can reflect, but also challenge, cultural, social, and literary norms.
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Welcome to English 1161! If you’ve taken a literature class in the U.S., you've likely been
assigned The Great Gatsby or Pride and Prejudice or Beowulf or any number of
Shakespearean works. Are these books enjoyable? Opinions vary. Whether we like them or
not though, these works are part of the literary canon. They’re on the short list of books often
held up as the most important by scholarly and critical communities. Canons are exclusionary
by design, and the literary canon in particular has typically excluded works by women writers,
queer writers, and writers of color.
 
There’s always been resistance to such exclusion, and classes like this one that foreground
narratives created by and centering people of color are one component of that resistance.
One class cannot, by itself, resolve the significant disparities that exist within the canon. But
we can collectively grapple with these issues and consider what it means when important
narratives are neglected, derided, and/or further marginalized.  Stories tell us something
about the societies in which they were produced, and this semester, we'll explore what a
collection of multicultural texts can tell us about America and the dreams that lie within.

— Dr. J

Course Objectives

• Examine multicultural literary works that are diverse in terms of genre, culture, time
period, place and conditions of publication, and/or authorship
• Practice close reading in order to formulate interpretations of multicultural
literature that are grounded in evidence from primary texts
• Apply terminology and practices associated with literary analysis
• Interpret multicultural literature in relation to social, cultural, and historical contexts
• Communicate how the material conditions of publication, reception, and
dissemination affect multicultural literary works
• Examine how multicultural literary works reflect and challenge the literary
conventions within which they are produced
• Analyze multicultural literary works for artistic complexity, depth, and nuance

Accessibility:

We all have different learning needs, which I’ve tried to account for in designing this
class. We’ll utilize various modalities, such as audio, video, and text. If there's some
way in which your access and ability in this course could additionally be supported,
please let me know. To receive accommodations from COD’s Center for Access
and Accommodations, email them at access@cod.edu or complete the online form at
cod.edu/access. If you’re already registered with the Center for Access and
Accommodations, don’t forget to email me your Letter of Accommodation.
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Required Materials

• We will read four books in this class in the following order (all should be available at
the COD bookstore):
• The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
• The Leavers by Lisa Ko
• Citizen Illegal by José Olivarez
• Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
• You should have a dedicated notebook (or notebook section) for this class.
• Blackboard (bb.cod.edu) is the central hub for this class. Course materials and
assignment boxes live there. Make sure you regularly log in.

Basic Needs

It's hard to focus on school work when your basic needs (such as food and housing)
aren’t being met. I do not expect you to leave your humanity at the door for the sake
of this class. I do expect you to prioritize your physical and mental well-being
(relatedly, I never need you to provide me with medical notes or obituaries or
anything else along those lines). I do ask that if you find yourself not doing well, you
consider communicating that. I don’t need any specific details, but I might be able to
provide useful resources and support. Note: COD does require me (as well as the
rest of your profs) to report disclosures of sexual violence to our Title IX office. While I
absolutely do want to provide support in such instances, I also know that a student
may not wish to trigger an automatic report for various reasons, and I believe it's
important for you all to have that information before making the decision to disclose.
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Assessment

What should grades reflect? Should they reflect a student’s behavior and/or compliance?
Should they indicate how a student grew in a class or what they knew before the class
began? Should they be grounded in equity? Is it ethical to engage in traditional grading
mechanisms when a good deal of research letter grades hinder learning? What should we do
with the knowledge that grades can be demotivating and anxiety-inducing? Is there any real
need for grades in a learning-focused space?
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Assessment in this Class

My classes use an approach known as ungrading. As such, I’m not interested in ranking you
against one another or elevating the final product above the labor and learning it takes to
get to that final product. Rather that simply fulfilling a rubric of what you think I want to see, I
want you to be actively applying and engaging with what you’re learning. Those applications
might sometimes include missteps, but that’s ok! That’s how we learn! I also want you to tap
into your creativity and consider taking some risks with your work.

Assignments in the gradebook will be assigned 2 points. Submissions that have met
assignment expectations and are considered complete will get 2 points. Submissions that
need to be revised will get 1 point. Submissions that haven’t been submitted will be left
blank. The college does require me to enter a letter grade at the end of the semester. Unlike
other point-based systems, points in this class do not reflect some percentage to be
calculated at the end. Instead, I will review the submissions holistically to see if assignments
were completed (or revised if necessary). Additionally, I will factor in your in-class work as well
as your responses to self-assessments that you will complete throughout the semester. In this
way, the determination of your final grade is a collaborative effort between you and me.

It may sound completely ridiculous given how the education system is set up contemporarily,
but I don’t want you working for a grade. We’re not looking for paint-by-numbers work here.
Make the things you create for this class interesting. Make them matter to you.
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We Got This

I suspect this approach is new to many of you, and I know it might feel weird at times.
However, we can always chat to discuss your progress in the course material.

My advice?

Do the work with a consistent desire to demonstrate what you’ve learned. Ask for help if/
when you need it, and don’t forget to use any resources provided. Trust yourself, and trust
me. Do these things, and I have little doubt that you’ll leave this class with the grade you
desire.
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Ok, but what kind(s) of work will we do?

You’ll read a lot, think a lot, and create a lot.

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Communication

My email address is on the first page of this syllabus. You can also use the
email function in Blackboard. Check your COD email regularly (trust me). I
tend to respond to emails pretty quickly, but if you don't hear back, give me at
least 24 hours before trying again. Our class has a Discord server, which we’ll
talk more about during the first week of class. This provides another means of
contact and sharing info.
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Timeliness

In the interest of guidance and structure, assignments come with due dates,

and you should aim to meet those due dates. The later an assignment is
submitted, the less likely it is to receive feedback. That being said, I believe
assessment should reflect the work itself rather than the time/date it was
submitted. In the “real world” that we often hear about, it’s not uncommon to
receive extensions in various workplaces. While there are spaces where there
might not be any wiggle room, this class is not one of them. As such, there are
no late penalties in this class. If you find yourself in a situation where you’re
really far behind, let’s chat and come up with a plan so that you can catch up.
P.S. Putting everything off until the end of the semester is a trap that
rarely works in a student’s favor. 0/10, do not recommend.
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Office Hours

Tues/Thurs/Fri: 2-4pm; Wed: 9-11:30am

Student Hours are a good opportunity to ask questions, get to know each
other, learn about resources, discuss future plans, etc. Come on by! P.S. While
we’re online, I’m available for virtual meetings. Just let me know if/when you
want to meet.
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Class Community:

Sometimes we’ll engage with materials that may challenge your current views and/or be
contrary to your experiences. Approach the work of this class with respect and generosity.
Doing so enables our class to be the learning space it needs to be. Listen. Try not to jump
to conclusions. Ask clarifying questions. Make sure you understand what's actually being
said before you formulate a response. We don't have to agree about everything, but we do
need to be able to listen to one another. 

I strive to give a heads up when content we're engaging with includes topics that can be
traumatic, such as sexual violence, child abuse, and suicide. If there's a type of content
beyond the more commonly known that you'd like a heads up on, let me know. In my classes,
we do not make space for racism, ableism, transphobia, sexism, xenophobia, etc. We’ll work
together to ensure our class is one in which care and respect are at the forefront. How we
address one another is one component of this. For example, referring to me as Dr. Yanders or
Dr. J or Professor Yanders (👍 ) rather than Ms. Yanders or Mrs. Yanders (🙅 ) is a matter of
care and respect as is me using the name you tell me you wish to use. I expect you to refer
to one another by the correct names, with the correct pronunciations, and with the
correct pronouns.

Last, but certainly not least, the devil does not need an advocate.

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Engagement

The work of this class is designed to demonstrate your understanding and to foster
community. To make this happen, we all have to regularly engage with each other and the
material. There will be ample opportunities to actively engage with the material, and I
encourage you to make good use of those opportunities. That’s why we’re here 😁
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Linguistic Diversity

There’s no such thing as “correct” or “proper” English. As the Conference on

College Composition and Communication said in 1972, "The claim that any one dialect is
unacceptable amounts to an attempt of one social group to exert its dominance over
another…A nation proud of its diverse heritage and its cultural and racial variety will preserve
its heritage of dialects.” In this class, I welcome the deliberate usage of language variation.
You don't need to give up your identity, your voice, or your persona to be in this class. We all
have something to bring to the class. Like all of you, I'm teeming with life experiences,
values, and beliefs. This means you should not expect me to be neutral or objective, just like
I don't expect you to be neutral or objective. I do, however, expect you to support what you
say with details and explantation. And I challenge you to always strive to make your writing
interesting and alive. You have stories in you that only you can tell. So tell them.
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Course Overview

Week 1 Getting Started

Week 2 What Makes America?
Week 3 The Marrow Thieves
Week 4 The Marrow Thieves
Week 5 The Marrow Thieves
Week 6 The Leavers
Week 7 The Leavers
Week 8 The Leavers
Week 9 Citizen Illegal
Week 10 Spring Break - No Class
Week 11 Citizen Illegal
Week 12 Citizen
Week 13 Citizen
Week 14 Citizen
Week 15 What Makes America?
Week 16 Conferences