Spring 2016
CRN(s)
Instructor: / Lloyd Savage / E-mail: /
Class Days: / M, T, W, R, F / Phone Number: / Use email
Office Location: / P 3
Class Location: / CHS / Office Hours: / M, T, R, F 8:30-9 by apt.
Course Description: / AML 2020 is a study of selected American writers and literary trends from mid-19th century to the present.
AML 2020 is a Gordon Rule writing course as defined by SBE Rule 6A-10.030.
Prerequisite: ENC 1102 with a grade of “C” or higher.
Course Materials: /
- Textbook: The Norton Introduction to Literature, 10th Edition, Booth and Mays (provided)
- Textbook: The Bedford Handbook, 8th Edition, Hacker and Sommers (provided)
- Choice of novel (200+ pages, selections are limited and must be approved)
- Bound notebook to be used for reading notes
- Online access, skill with Microsoft Word and Blackboard, loose-leaf paper, pens,
Student Learning Outcomes: / Upon successfully completing this course, students shall be able to:
A. Recognize by title and author quotations taken from selected American literary masterpieces from the end of the Civil War in 1865 to the present day.
B. Express knowledge of American literature through writing and analyze, evaluate, and critique various aspects of literary genres:
1. The Novel
2. The Short story
3. The Narrative
4. Lyric poetry
5. Formal and informal critical essay
C. Express a working knowledge of various literary technical devices:
1. Metaphor
2. Simile
3. Personification
4. Allusion
5. Symbolism
6. Poetical metrical systems
7. Rhyme Schemes
8. Structural devices found in the novel and short story
D. Explain the function of symbolism in the poetry of 20th century America.
E. Plan, organize, and produce research based written responses totaling at least 3000 words over the semester.
F. Analyze and synthesize information from multiple primary and secondary sources and cite those sources by using appropriate documentation style.
Assessment: / Critical analysis of text with researched secondary sources 30% (300 points) (Novel Essay)
Socratic Seminars (choose any 10) 30% (30 points each X 10 = 300 points)
Group Presentation 10% (100 points)
Mid-term Exam 10% (100 points)
Final Exam 10% (100 points)
Dialectical (Reading) Journals 10% (100 points)
No extra credit. No late work accepted.
Grading Scale: / 900—1,000 A
800—899 B
700—799 C
600—699 D
0—599 F
Make-Ups: / No make ups—submit work early or arrange to complete work ahead of due date.
Academic Integrity: / Students in this class must know, observe, and not compromise the principles of academic integrity. It is not permissible to cheat, to fabricate or falsify information, to submit the same academic work in more than one course without prior permission, to plagiarize, to receive unfair advantage, or to otherwise abuse accepted practices for handling and documenting information. The grade for this course includes the judgment that the student’s work is free from academic dishonesty of any type. Violations or infractions will be reported to the Vice President for Student Affairs and may lead to failure of the course and other sanctions imposed by the College.
Disability Services: / Students with disabilities who require a note taker or other accommodations should notify their instructor as soon as possible so those accommodations can be coordinated with the appropriate office. Students who would like to be a note taker should notify their instructor as well.
Attendance and Withdrawal: / A student may receive a warning to their SJRstate e-mail account when the equivalent of three 50-minute class periods have been missed and may be withdrawn from the course after the fourth 50-minute absence.
The last day to withdraw is 3/23/16. Withdrawals are done on-line at My SJRstate or through the Dual Enrollment Office (for Dual Enrollment students).
Drama
August Wilson “Piano Lesson”
Tennessee Williams “A Streetcar Named Desire”
Lorraine Hansberry “A Raisin in the Sun”
Arthur Miller “Death of a Salesman”
Poetry
Robert Frost “The Road Not Taken”
“Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening”
Langston Hughes “Harlem”
“The Negro Speaks of Rivers”
“I, Too”
Adrienne Rich “Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers”
“Diving into the Wreck”
Theodore Roethke “My Papa’s Waltz”
e. e. cummings “In Just”
*Edgar Allen Poe “The Raven”
Emily Dickinson “Because I could not stop for death”
“My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun—“
*Zora Neale Hurston “How It Feels To Be Colored Me”
Sylvia Plath “Daddy”
Phyllis Wheatley “On Being Brought From Africa to America”
*Maya Angelou “Africa”
Short Works
Kate Chopin “The Story of an Hour”
*William Faulkner “A Rose for Emily”
“Barn Burning”
*Flannery O’Connor “Good Country People”
“A Good Man is Hard to Find”
“Everything That Rises Must Converge”
*John Updike “A & P”
*Edgar Allen Poe “Cask of Amontillado”
*Nathaniel Hawthorne “The Birthmark”
*Stephen Crane “The Open Boat”
*Herman Melville “Bartleby the Scrivener”
*Louise Erdrich “Love Medicine”
Supplementary Suggestions (Novel Essay topics)
Ralph Ellison
Tom Wolfe
Toni Morrison
Kurt Vonnegut
Mark Twain
John Steinbeck
Ernest Hemingway
F. Scott Fitzgerald (off limits)
Assignments:Each of these assignments will have a scoring guide or rubric to help you in the preparation of the task. All work must be submitted in hard copy. Digital versions may be used to document completion by the due date.
Novel Essay:You will need to choose an approved novel by2/8. You will be reading this novel while you are doing other work noted on the calendar. In addition to reading and analyzing your novel, you will research the author’s life and research a critical theory of literature. (A second reading of the novel is recommended.) You will then write an essay that explains the novel according to your choice of criticism and author’s life. This is a major essay and work of research and must be properly formatted using MLA standards. It must also be no shorter than 10 pages (not including the Works Cited pages). Plagiarism on this essay will result in unsuccessfully passing this class.This is worth 300 points.
Socratic Seminars:These assignments are discussions run by the class. You are scored on the amount of quality comments that you make throughout the discussion. You may also be penalized for offensive or discourteous comments. Each seminar is worth a maximum of 30 points and you will be graded on the first 10 seminars you participate in (for a total of 300 points). You may opt out of a seminar but you may not opt out of two in a row. Any absence is an automatic opt out. It is possible to score a 0 if you are absent on a seminar day but opted out on the previous seminar. Seminars may be rescheduled if class is disrupted beyond the control of the instructor.
Group Presentation:You and your group will prepare and deliver a presentation on literary analysis. This is worth 100 points.
Mid-term Exam:This exam will have an assortment of quotes from the texts up to that point in the semester. You will be asked to identify the work and the author. This is worth 100 points.
Final Exam:This exam will have an assortment of quotes from all of the texts over the semester. You will be asked to identify the work and the author. This is worth 100 points.
Dialectical Journals (DJ):As you read the various texts, you will need to take notes on important details (particularly the details that indicate a critical interpretation or a characteristic of the genre). These notes should go into a single, bound notebook of reasonable size. You may not use any form of a digital device for this assignment. You may use your journal with exams and seminars. You will be graded on including notes from each text, the amount of quality notes for each text, and legibility. These will only be collected and graded once and are worth 100 points.
Brief Tentative CalendarWeek 1 (1/6—1/8) 3
Syllabus and content
Group Project assignment
Socratic Seminar rubric
Dialectical Journal rubric / Week 2 (1/11—1/15) 5
Read “A Raisin in the Sun” in class—add to DJ
End of Drop/Add / Week 3 (1/19—1/22) 4
“Death of a Salesman” due
SS #1
SS #2 / Week 4 (1/25—1/29) 5
Group Pres. due 1/25 (10%)
Literary Devices
Critical Novel Assignment
Week 5 (2/1—2/4) 4
Poetry of Hughes, Hurston
SS #3 / Week 6 (2/8—2/12) 5
Poetry of Wheatley, Angelou
SS #4 / Week 7 (2/17—2/19) 3
Poetry of Dickinson, Frost, cummings
SS #5 / Week 8 (2/22—2/26) 5
Poetry of Rich, Poe, Roethke, Plath
SS #6
Week 9 (2/29—3/4) 5
Midterm Exam 3/1 (10%)
Covering Weeks 1-8
“Bartleby the Scrivener”
SS #7 / Week 10 (3/7—3/11) 5
“A & P”
“Cask of Amontillado”
SS #8
SS #9 / Week 11 (3/14—3/17) 4
“Love Medicine”
SS #10
Spring Break 3/21—3/28
Withdrawal Deadline 3/23 / Week 12 (3/29—4/1) 4
“A Good Man is Hard to Find”
“Everything That Rises…”
SS #11
SS #12
Week 13 (4/4—4/8) 5
“Good Country People”
SS #13
Novel Essay due 4/8 (30%) / Week 14 (4/11—4/15) 5
“The Open Boat”
SS #14 / Week 15 (4/18—4/22) 5
“A Rose for Emily”
“Barn Burning”
SS #15
SS #16 / Week 16 (4/25—4/28) 4
“The Story of an Hour”
“The Birthmark”
SS #17
SS #18
Week 17 (5/2—5/6) 5
Final Exam 5/6 (10%)
Covering Weeks 1-17
Check AP Test Schedules / Week 18 (5/9—5/13) 5
DJs due 5/9 or before (10%)
Check AP Test Schedules
DJ = Dialectical Journal
SS = Socratic Seminar
Unless otherwise specified, have the selections read and notes in your DJ for the first day of the week indicated
Socratic Seminars will be performed mainly on Tuesdays and Thursdays (with some exceptions)
M, W, Fs may be used for lectures, readings, journals, or general office hours (with some exceptions)
Once a Socratic Seminar begins, you may not opt out and the grade will stand, only the first 10 SS grades will count
Exam Dates are firm—check your schedule