The following sample syllabus has been marked to show features that offer a sort of "safety net" for students.  The markings are a yellow background field, like this. 

Prerequisites for this course: To enter this course you must have earned a passing grade in English 111, College Composition I. If you were recommended for English 108, Critical Reading and Study Skills, based on your reading placement test or your exit from ENG 04, you may take English 108 during the same term as you are taking English 112. NOTE: If you were required to take ENG 04, Reading Improvement, you must pass that course before attempting this ENG 112 course because of the amount and sophistication of reading required. (These prerequisites are based on students’ performance from several past semesters.)

1. INSTRUCTOR:

TELEPHONE: 371-3205 = office (& 24-hour voice mail)

OFFICE: Bldg. B, office # 353

HOURS: MW 4:30 - 5:50

EMAIL: ehibbison@jsr.cc.va.us

FAX: 371-3588

WEBPAGE: http://staff.jsr.cc.va.us/ehibbison/

STUDY BUDDY & TEL. #

STUDY BUDDY & TEL. #

TEXTBOOK:

Beaty, Jerome, and J. Paul Hunter. The Norton Introduction to Literature. Shorter 7th ed. New York: Norton, 1998. [ about $50 new]

LEARNING ACTIVITIES: The learning in this course occurs as you read, write, discuss, and think about the works in the text. Worksheets for group or whole-class discussion, as well as at least one audiotape and videotape will be used in class. Plan to work in groups and to do some writing during each class; this classwork, of course, depends on your reading assigned works thoughtfully before class. Extra-credit work includes reactions to various kinds of writing, World Wide Web modules and discussion groups.

 

Preview: One of the major lessons that will train you to read poetry involves William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116. Here’s a preview of that lesson--

Since Fall, 1997, I’ve been teaching a World Wide Web version of ENG 112 that includes several modules on individual works, plus "forums," online discussion groups of particular readings in the course. These materials, including detailed lessons on Sonnet 116, "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner," and the story, "Hills Like White Elephants," are available at-- http://vccslitonline.cc.va.us

4. LEARNING RESOURCES:

Other Media: We will listen to at least one song as we look at the sheet music or lyrics, just to see the craftsmanship that goes into such writing (and, by extension, into writing poetry).

Print Besides the Text: There will be background and instructions handed out for nearly :every class. We'll also "chart" some figurative language just to make sure we understand what's stated and what's implied in a poetic image or a song lyric. We may actually do a workshop on the structure of at least one poem, just to appreciate its composition.

The Text: The combined English departments of the college selected Beaty and Hunter’s text to replace a more traditional text because it includes more modern works, works from around the world; studies of older, modern, and contemporary writers; varied perspectives on how to read literature, including some critical essays; biographies of authors, and sample student essays on some works.

 

5. EVALUATION:

Quizzes: Quizzes will be worth up to 10 points each or 20 for "super-quizzes."

Essays: Plan to write a few quizzes and to write and revise two essays (besides the midterm and final essays) as we study works related to the themes for this course (see section 8, the course calendar). The best of these essays will make comparisons across works in each paragraph, quote relevant phrases from the works, and provide ample details and reasonable judgments about the qualities of each work and its illustration of a theme. Each of these essays will be worth up to 100 points; each may be revised once for a higher grade, if necessary--if I can work out the timing with you.

Final Exam: During our midterm and final class meetings, each student should make a presentation of up to 10 minutes to explain the literary merits and structure of 1 contemporary work of the student's choosing. Your midterm essay and your last essay for the semester should be an essay about the work you choose for presentation in its literary or dramatic contexts; each of these essays must be handed in on the day you make your presentation. The work you explain will be one of these:

During the semester, presentations by the teacher will serve as samples, and group discussions will prepare you for the analysis required by your essays and this final presentation.

FF See separate handout: "Midterm and Final Exam Ideas."

Grades

For a course grade of W, you must fill out a withdrawal from course form at any division office or Admissions and Records. With your telephoned permission, I may fill out this form for you before the deadline, if you are unable to get to campus yourself.

6. MIDTERM ASSESSMENT: The anonymous grade reports posted during the course will constitute your midterm assessment. If I see trouble before that, I will try to contact you. If you see trouble, try to contact me so we can work on a solution that will help you pass the course.

7. ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS: Most students don't miss any classes in a course like English 112. For those who need to worry about attendance, here's my policy: If you miss two classes during the five-week term, contact me to convince me you’re still motivated.

(Warning: Nearly all make-up work turned in during the last two weeks of the course is inferior.)

Most people who pass this course do all of the assigned reading and all of the assigned writing on time. Advanced students do additional reading and spend up to 10+ hours drafting and revising to maximize each essay's quality (by using substantial support and a versatile style).

1st essay: Due Turned in 1st grade Revision grade

2nd essay: Due Turned in 1st grade Revision grade

Midterm Presentation: Components Rehearsal time ____ Grade

Final Presentation: Components Rehearsal time Grade

Average # of Hours per Week Spent on Course Final Course Grade

Extra-Credit\Substitute Assignments

	Click on a title not assigned for this term. Read the poem, jot down your first impressions of its meaning and its artistry. Click on any associated materials and explain ways they helped you understand the poem further and/or tell ways they led you to confusion. Write a page on what you learn and what in the materials you agree with and disagree with.
	Click on one of the several headings about Frost; summarize what you find out, and state ways the information helped you understand Frost's work or ways that the information echoed or contradicted what you learned in class.

	On your first visit only, you're supposed to give your impressions about one poem as a sort of pay for using the site. After answering those questions, you can come back to the site for the next step, which can count as extra credit.
	Return to the site and scroll down to the bottom of the opening page to the "Hypermedia" option. Click icons to get background on the poet, on analogous poets, or on World War I, and list up to 5 ideas that you learn, 5 impressions from this reading (and photos), or make up to 5 statements about the reading.

3. Does the Edward Thomas poem seem sad or depressed?

Contrast the women's poems with Rosenberg's or the "Trench Poetry" of the male poets: Select one or two poems by women vs. 1 or 2 by men to focus your contrast and give specifics for your impressions.

For the play A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, compare the Random House study guide for the play with the Norton LITWEB study guide. Suggest why one would be better for me to require for this course than the other, if I assign the play to be read and viewed.

	The Random House study guide is at— http://www.randomhouse.com/acmart/raisintg.html
	The Norton study guide is at your textbook’s companion website on the alphabetical "literary workshop" list under the playwright’s name.

Evaluating Sample or Current Essay Drafts: After you've tried this assignment regarding

the first essay, you might continue beyond the required 3 comments. What makes writing

for a couse like this one good writing?

 

Contributing to a Website on a Specific Literary Work or Movie: The websites in the

Literature Online site that serve as study guides usually contain the pieces listed below.

At the usual per-printed-page point rate, you might easily substitute for an essay by

completing such a study guide on line.

	critiques, explanations, study questions for a work: Most sites on the Web tend to be collections of favorite poems without much reflection, so plan to include your own essays; but you should see if you can turn up literary criticism by teachers or students. Yahoo's selected hits or HotBot's boolean search options may help.
	photos to illuminate a poem, along with some explanation: For instance, to illustrate the setting of Matthew Arnold's "Dover Beach," a photo of the Dover beach or cliffs or even Dover Castle might accompany some scene setting. (Find a photo using your favorite search engine or just by clicking on the "Search" icon in your web browser.) Since it's only 22 miles from Dover, England, to Calais, France, it's possible to see the French lights on the horizon, if the sea is calm and atmospherics are right. For sonnet 116, I also tried to use poems to translate or illuminate metaphors or individual words in the text.
	Advanced: I haven't yet asked a question and offered hot-linked answer choices so that when users click on an answer they are sent to further considerations (to rethink a short-sighted answer or for a right answer some praise and a more advanced consideration). If the Litonline team gets more funding, I hope we can all build in many such questions; there are only a few at the moment, e.g. in the drama introduction.
	Suggest writing topics and perhaps projects that might involve more than one student, especially from more than one campus. Our current modules often end with writing assignments--and the site for The Glass Menagerie steps students through developing four possible essays about that play. Usually, the writing suggestions are on a separate page. If possible, link to the work itself online (use your favorite search engine to find it).

9. Course Objectives: To finish this course successfully, you must show through your work that you have learned ways to respond to the writing of others, that you can interpret and evaluate literature, that you cite specific examples from a text to support your view of it, that you see relationships within and between literary works, and that your response to literature (and film) is not just emotional but also analytical. Your reports, quizzes, essays, and final presentation will document your meeting these objectives; all of the course work--reading, discussion, video viewing, group discussion, and writing--involve training to meet these objectives.

Self-Quiz (FYI: Not to be handed in)

Using this syllabus and the accompanying worksheets, your textbook, your classmates, and your teacher, you should be able to piece together answers to the following questions. (Use the back of this page or of the previous page if you need more space for answers.) Some of your answers will be subjective, but that's ok because you have to set your own goals and design your own time schedule for getting the most education you can out of this course. Effort, concentration, and careful pacing are required; beyond those, relax and enjoy the ride.

1. What do I have to do to get an A in this course?

2. Why do I have to attend every class?

3. When should I start preparing my essays, Oedipus the King passage analysis, multimedia poetry lessons in the campus LRC, and final exam presentation?

4. If all of the course work is not evenly distributed, when are the uneven, dense times?

5. How do I make up quizzes, essays, or the final presentation if I miss one?

6. How can I do well in this course even if I haven't read much literature before and had a course like this one?

7. What's the last day to withdraw? Why might I want to? What if I don't? How do I?

8. What does "read/study" mean in the assignment calendar?

9. How much does each of these affect my course grade?

essays     quizzes     watching videotapes     online lessons

reading     class participation     final presentation

10. What do I do if I just can't figure out what to write for an assignment?

11. other:

ENG 112: A Name

Student Information

Soc. Sec. No. Tele.#

1. Mailing Address:

2. High School Name & Graduation Year:

3. Course(s) This Term: Course Teacher Difficulty (1=Easy, 5=Hard)

 

 

 

4. Favorite Book and why?:

5. Magazines, Newspapers You Read Regularly:

6. Favorite Movie and why?

7. TV Programs, Channels You Watch Regularly:

8. Curriculum: 9. Transfer College:

10.Career plans & why?:

11. Total Credits This Term: 12. Weekly Work Hours:

13. Do you work past 10:00 p.m.? 14. Is the work tiring?

15. Anticipated English 112 Grade: A q B q C q

16. Explain

(1) why you believe you will (or will not) do well in this course based on prior experience or interest in writing or high school courses that included literature or film

 

(2) Note what you will need to do to achieve the grade you want for this course, as far as you can tell at the moment.

17. Rate your prior experience: No Experience Beginner Intermediate

reading fiction q q q

reading poetry q q q

reading or attending plays q q q

listening to lyrics of music q q q

going to movies q q q

analyzing & writing about literature q q q

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

College Composition II:

Composition and an Introduction to Plays, Short Stories, & Poems

 

Prof. Eric P. Hibbison

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contents

Syllabus Section Page

0. Prerequisites 1

1. Instructor contact information 1

2. Textbook 1

3. Learning Activities 1

Preview 2

4. Learning Resources 2-3

Televised Literature 3

5. Evaluation 3-4

Grades 4

6. Midterm Assessment 4

7. Attendance Requirements 5

Late Work 5

8. Calendar of Reading and Writing Assignments 6-13

Extra-Credit/Substitute Assignments 14-17

9. Course Objectives 18

10. Course Outline 19

¯ Self-Quiz 20

¯ "Successful JSRCC Students" 21-22

¯ "Essay Evaluation Form" 23-24

¯ "Learning in English 112" 25-26

¯ Highlights: "ENG 112 Important Information" 27-28

 

Cover Design: The party guy with the scythe is "Father Time," who ushers out the old year on New Year’s Eve. You’ll see him in the multimedia lesson on Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 116," one definition of love. The roses (red signifies passion, traditionally) will turn up in the song lyrics we consider near the middle of the course and in the "Gothic" short story, "A Rose for Emily." (What--or who--is that rose, anyway? The story never says.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Handouts will include these:

Other Handouts

"Background for ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’"

"Background for ‘The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner’"

"Sonnet 116"

"Scansion ‘Rules’ and Sonnet 116"

"Explanation: Rhyme Scheme" (Sonnet 116)

Scansion of Sonnet 130

"Charting Figures of Speech" (in "The Rose")

"The Rose" (sheet music)

 

1999-2008+ by the Virginia Community College System. Prepared for the VCCS by Professor Eric Hibbison, 1998-2001 MRCTE Chair and Chief Chair of RCTE from  2000-2005. Permission is granted to use this content for professional development or other educational, nonprofit purposes.  Animations used on this site are either part of the Front Page theme or from a royalty free collection called "Web Clip Empire 250,000" ©1997, 1998 by Xoom, Inc., and its Licensors.  

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