Contact Information.

This course is posted on WebCT at Merced College. To reach this site go to: www.mccd.edu
then, “online classes,” at the very bottom of the page, then “Merced College Distance Education Site,” then “logon.” Your logon is the last six numbers of your datatel number. Your password is your last name followed by your first initial, without capitals or spaces, for example” kahlerts”.

This site is mirrored on the humanities page. Go to: www.mccd.edu, “Academics” at top of page, then “Humanities,” then Kahlert. then “On line 1B.”You can reach this site directly at
http://www.mccd.edu/humanities/English/Kahlert.htm. My college email is kahlert.s@mccd.edu.

Please use this email only if WebCT email is down. Leave phone messages sparingly and only in emergencies. I have limited memory on my phone.

Characteristics of a Successful On Line Student.

Wanted: Energetic, self-motivated and organized students willing to examine intellectually stimulating material and write copiously about it. Must have good time management skills. Must be inner-directed. Computer knowledge a necessity. Prefer people who love to read. Knowledge of MLA style a plus.

Sound like you? Good. Then you’re in the right place. If you don’t quite fit the profile, then you must be willing to work hard to move in this direction, or you will find it difficult to pass the class.

Text
Biddle, Arthur and Toby Fulwiler. Angles of Vision. New York: McGraw Hill 1992.

All reading assignments, both works of literature and textual commentary, are required. All papers, postings and examinations are required. Plagiarized papers will receive a grade of F and an academic dishonesty complaint will be filed against the student who plagiarized. A student who plagiarizes may receive an F for the entire class. While I will make every attempted to hold to the posted schedule, I may change it at any time in support of the class outcomes.

Class Postings and One Sentence Summaries.

Your class postings, responses to postings, and one sentence summaries are considered as “class attendance” and as such do not receive a grade. However, they will be noted as excellent, satisfactory, and unsatisfactory. If your postings fall into the unsatisfactory category, you will be asked to make them up, just as if you had made up a missed class activity. “Excellent” postings will count as extra credit for your final grade.

Student Learning Outcomes: Postings

An excellent posting will respond to the literary work/prompt with sensitivity, thoughtfulness, precision and depth. The student will direct the reader to important supporting passages in the text although it is not necessary to type out long quotations. Posting reaches or exceeds required length. You must write the required 12 postings.

An excellent response will directly address the first student’s posting. The responding student will clearly state his or her agreement and identify the points of disagreement. If there are points of agreement, develop the agreement. If there are points of disagreement, explain carefully and provide supporting evidence from the text.

Any flaming or bashing postings will receive a grade of unsatisfactory and the student will be required to rewrite the posting. Postings must be written in standard English without abbreviations. While they are not graded on grammar, a student writing a short, incoherent or unreadable posting will be asked to revise it. If postings continue to be short, incoherent or unreadable, the student will not receive credit for them and will not be able to pass the class.

A One Sentence Summary

who
does what
to whom or what
where
when
how (by means of)
why (because)

Student Learning Outcomes: One Sentence Summaries

The student covers all items listed.
The student writes an original, complete, grammatical single sentence.
The sentence is coherent (makes sense when read out loud).

Paper Values:

Descriptive Critical Essay 20%
Personal Essay 20%
Critical Essay on World War I Poets 30%
First Midterm Examination 5%
Second Midterm Examination 10%
Final Examination on Lysistrata 15%

Student Learning Outcomes for all papers and exams:

Academic Papers and Midterms

Paper is clearly organized around a thesis.
Thesis is precise.
Paper is coherent and cohesive.
Adherence to the conventions of the academic discourse community.
Use of literary terms is precise.
Thesis directly relates to the assignment.
Student uses appropriate evidence from the story, poem, film or play to support the thesis.
Secondary evidence is clearly identified and cited.
Absence of grammar errors.
Absence of plagiarism.
Required length.
MLA forms for parenthetical citations and works cited page.(Not required on exams.)

Personal Essay

Student has clearly read the chapter on the personal essay in Angles of Vision.
Student has chosen one of the strategies described therein.
Strategy is clear.
Focus is clear.
Language is precise.
Paper is coherent and cohesive.
Presence of identifiable personal voice.
Essay is developed to required length.
Absence of grammatical errors.
If outside sources are used, including interviews, they are clearly cited in MLA form and a works cited page is provided.

Required readings and viewings:

1. The Dead Poets Society (Film)
2. “This Be the Verse” Phillip Larkin “To His Coy Mistress” Andrew Marvell
3. “To Virgins to Make Much of Time” Robert Herrick
4. Angles of Vision “Prelude: Reading and Writing in College” 2-10
5. Angles of Vision: “Introduction to the Story of a Story” 21-56
6. “The Fall of the House of Usher”
7. “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”

8. Angles of Vision “Why Poetry Matters”
9. Fleur
10. Behind the Lines (Film)
11. Go to Http://info.ox.ac.uk/jtap/ Oxford University Website Virtual Seminars 1. Virtual Seminar Complete Tutorial 1: An Introduction to World War I Poetry. Read all poems by Owen and Sassoon in tutorial, paying special attention to “Disabled,” “Dulce et Decorum Est,” and “Strange Meeting.” Read “Munition Wages” in the Women’s Poetry section.

EBSCO Host
Note: You must have a library bar code to sign in to EBSCO Host on line. The URLs indicated below will take you to the EBSCO Host entry page where you will need to enter this information.

12. “WHR Rivers Portrait of a Great Physician”
Lancet, o7/19/97 Vol 350 Issue 9072, p205
Katherine G. Nickerson and Steven Shea
http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an+9707282001&db=f5h

13. “British Working Women in the First World War”
Susan Pyecroft
Historian Summer 1994 Volume 6 Issue 4 p669
http://search.epnet.com/direct.asp?an+9410110554&db=5h

14. Angles of Vision: “The Personal Essay” “Writing The Personal Essay”

15. “In Search of Our Mothers Gardens”
16. “Death of a Pig”
17. “A Windstorm in the Forest”
18. “Documented Undocumented”
19. “I Forgot the Words to the National Anthem”
20. “On Marriage and the Single Life”

21. Lysistrata (play in text and film)

Student Learning Outcomes: Reading
Students will read and comprehend all assigned literature.
Students will read and comprehend all assigned selections from Angles of Vision.
Students will view and comprehend all assigned films.

Comprehension will be assessed on quizzes and examinations.

Postings:
All postings must be made by Thursday of the week assigned.