Just a taste of what kind of professor I am. Heeeeee.
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Syllabus
Honors Freshman English I
ENGL 1360
Class: 5:30-8:00pm F
Instructor: Brad Stanley
Dorm telephone: 813-4237
Dorm Hours: 7-11pm M-R
e-mail: bls3818@hal.lamar.edu
Required Books:
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner – Samuel Coleridge
Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson
The Watchmen – Alan Moore
“Goblin Market” – Christina Rossetti
A Prayer for Owen Meany – John Irving
Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle – Vladimir Nabokov
American Psycho – Bret Ellis
Required Books for Texas Tech Extended Studies Course:
Romeo and Juliet – William Shakespeare
The Miracle Worker – William Gibson
Objectives:
This class is designed to give you a more thorough understanding of contemporary American authors and themes. My intention is to explore the context of (mostly) 20th century literature — the works of literature that surround the period, framing and giving meaning to Realism and Perversity and particular texts and constructions. To paraphrase a line from Plato’s Phaedrus, we are asking where Realism and Perversity came from, and where it is going. Much of this class is going to be somewhat free-form. I have a general plan of topics to cover, but I also hope that the class discussions will lead us in certain directions that I would not have otherwise chosen. Hence, I welcome your interruptions. Frankly, all real knowledge is found in interruptions and silence anyway.
20th century literature is, I think you will find, an interesting period. In this period, writers and thinkers began to devaluate the idea of “Nature” and the powers of “Imagination” in writing. Perhaps you’ll find, as others have, that Realism/Perversity is the literary period that we have yet to escape from. Or maybe you’ll be all too happy to escape from it at the end of the year.... whatever the case, by the end of this you WILL have been exposed to several major and minor authors and texts that are the foundations of the ever-changing chimeras called Realism and Perversity. Hence, you may be able to speak and write about the period with more confidence, and you will be better able to face all those people who assault you on the streets and ask you to either recite a Christina Rossetti poem or hand over your money. I hate it when that happens.
Finally, as a plus, you will lose fat and increase your muscle tone at the same time!
Okay, maybe not that last part. However, the first seven readings are NOT required by Texas Tech, but by reading them (And through class discussion of some major literary themes and underpinnings found in them), you will better understand the last two trite texts, Romeo and Juliet and The Miracle Worker, and both of their symbols and undulating perspective on society. Also I enjoy the oppression of young minds with massive amounts of text and vocabulary-challenging literature.
Requirements:
40% 4 Response Papers
20% Midterm Exam
50% Final Paper
Although “Class Participation” is not listed among the requirements for receiving a grade in this class, rest assured that in an English class, those of you who do not participate consistently will receive a lower grade than those around you who do. I know some of you do not like to talk in class. I understand that position.. I, too, find human interaction awfully tiresome. But the one remarkable truth about talking in class is that it becomes easier the more you do it. By talking, you will gain a better ability to manipulate language and make other people think you have something important to say. And, (as if you didn’t know this already) the only reason you feel nervous about it is that both your current and future success in the community is based on nothing more than your ability to manipulate these empty signs given to you by a culture that grinds ever onward in an overpowering sea of empty self-forgetfulness.
Response Papers (10% each): Quad in the semester, you will turn in a 4-6 page (at least 4 full pages) response paper that analyzes one work from a single author. You will choose the subject, and I am looking for your thoughts and ideas, not my own. You must have at least one secondary sources for these papers. Response papers must be written using the MLA format, with the “Times New Roman” 12-point font size. Papers not fulfilling these requirements will be handed back, without my having read them, with a grade of “F.”
Midterm Exam (20%): This will be an exam consisting of a few essay questions. You will have a choice of which questions to answer, and this will be a take-home exam. Again, I expect them typed in “Times New Roman” 12-point font size—I can not read handwritten essays, as they strain my retinas.
Final Paper (50%): You may have noticed the total adds up to 90—no, wait…110% (Whew, forgot my calculator, sorry.). THIS IS YOUR CURVE. I suggest you optimize it. A minimum of 10 full pages long, the topic for this paper will be entirely at your discretion, but will be within the shadowy boundaries of Realism/Perversity. You will develop a reading of something using the exciting and momentous insights you will have gained over the semester (Ahem). You will use secondary literary criticism in this paper. You should have at least one long conversation with me about this during the semester. Can’t think of a topic? You will. The paper is due roughly two weeks before the semester’s end. This is done to make your semester end easily, and to allow you time to discuss with me the results of your work.
Policies and Strategies:
1. Come to class. Here’s how this policy works: You get two “free” absences. After three absences, your highest possible grade for the class becomes a “C.” After four absences, you fail the class (although I will still let you “drop” with a “Q” if you so desire). I do not want to hear extraordinary, sad-but-true stories about why you had to miss class. If you tell me one of those stories, about your dog, or your grandmother, or whatever, I will try not to yawn while refusing to excuse you (but I won’t try very hard). I couldn’t possibly care why you missed class. A good student only misses class due to emergencies, and emergencies are, by definition so rare that they aren’t going to happen more than twice a semester—something I’ve already accounted for here. So, don’t bother to tell me why you have to be absent; the only reason for you to talk to me about your absences is to find out what assignment you may have missed.
2. On a similar note, tardiness is unacceptable in my classroom. Tardiness interrupts class, and more importantly, it will really, REALLY, annoy me. Pah. A pox on you and your tardies. Even without all the arbitrary reductions I will apply to your class participation grade, your overall grade will suffer because of the valuable lecture material you will miss.
3. Late papers are accepted. However, your grade can be lowered as a result. If you contact me well ahead of time with an acceptable reason for a late paper, I may receive the paper, at my discretion, without lowering the grade. Do not count on my leniency here. I’m a teacher. It’s my job to be an irrational representative of the Law.
4. Academic Honesty is important in the learning environment. Any student caught plagiarizing will be given an “F” for the course. You are required, sometime within the first week of class, to learn what plagiarism is, and how to avoid it, by looking at the “plagiarism” material found on the “classes” section of my next handout. Ask me if you have any questions about that section. Let me repeat, you will be given an “F” for the class if you plagiarize. It won’t matter if you’re a hard working student, or that you really do want to learn about British Literature, or that your [insert relative/pet here] is sick.
5. Essays turned in for a grade for the course should be done on a computer. All essays must conform to the MLA standard, which we will discuss briefly in class. Papers not in the proper format will be given an “F.” Let me reiterate that. Papers not done in the MLA format will be given an “F.”
6. If you are President of the free world, your spouse is pregnant, or you are a medical doctor, you actually do have the need for a cell phone. Otherwise, I will consider your possession of a ringing one to be obviously disruptive, implicitly pretentious, and generally annoying. Cellphones, or any beepers you have, should be turned off while in the classroom. All students who beep, ring, chirp, or loudly vibrate should be prepared to face my considerable wrath, or at very least my derisive scorn. Besides, what if other students have a fit of class consciousness and decide to beat you to death with your own cellphone? I’d be sorely tempted not to stop them.
Final Notes
I seek to provide reasonable accommodations for all qualified individuals with disabilities. If you require special assistance to meet course requirements, please inform me of any special assistance required. I will be happy to make accommodations.
Perhaps you are thinking “But Brad, it doesn’t seem fair that our grades will be based on your subjective interpretations of our papers and classroom participation.” Ahem, yes, “fair,” heh heh. Be aware that in this class, as in every class, a professor’s policies are not fair so much as they are the very establishment of the “Fair” itself. My grading of you does not follow a law. It is that Law, a law sanctioned by Texas Tech University. My judgment of your participation, however, will be accurate to the extent that it is founded on the flimsy piece of paper given to me by Texas Tech, and my experience as a teacher.
Here is a suggestion for you: obsessively ‘save’ your documents and papers in multiple locations, i.e. both on the hard drive and on a disk. Otherwise you may one day find that your computer has crashed and your paper is lost. When you come to me, for sympathy and an extended due date, I will only give a cruel laugh and stare with a smug, unflattering sneer. Please don’t drive me to this. It diminishes us both.
If you are having difficulty with this class, or with anything else, don’t hesitate to contact me. You have my telephone and my e-mail address, please use them. E-mail is a good way to reach me because it’s sad, frankly, the number of times I check e-mail during any given day. Not only do I encourage communication with me, it is, in fact, your responsibility to discuss with me anything troublesome related to the class—if you must be absent, if you do not understand a paper grade, or if you have any other questions, you should contact me. By this paragraph, I am trying to stress the fact that talking to me with regularity can only be beneficial to your grade—conversations with me will help clarify for you what my expectations are. One last note, I have given you my Dorm telephone number, but trusting the Lamar University phone service with delivering your messages is like letting a crack addict deliver your social security check. Sometimes messages don’t show up for days; sometimes they don’t show up at all. Likely there’s some underpaid peon sitting in a dank administrational closet somewhere, laughing as he gleefully deletes your urgent message. If you combine that kind of dependability with the fact that I don’t always check my messages, it should be fairly clear to you that I’d prefer if you call only during my Dorm hours, or you contact me via e-mail, which is far more reliable.
This syllabus does not constitute a valid contract between you and the University. It is subject to revision and change upon my discretion.
Gender:
Points: 890
Reviews: 915