Instructor’s Handbook (Part One)

• Introductory Letter

Dear Instructors,

In this handbook, you will find revised materials for the Approaches to Literature course at Husson University. While it is expected that faculty members will adhere to the fundamentals of the curriculum, it is, of course, up to you to adjust the materials in this handbook to meet your needs.

Essentially, all faculty members should meet the same outcomes and assign the same basic essays. However, you should feel free to adjust the scaffolding assignments leading to the major essays, and also to create classroom activities that suit your teaching style.

Should you have any questions or concerns about the course, please do not hesitate to contact Asst. Professor Adam Crowley at crowleya@husson.edu.

Thank you for all that you do and will do. We are looking forward to a great year at Husson University!

• Eh 200 Curriculum Overview

General Comments:

This is a course about writing.

Eh 200 students continue to develop the writing skills they refined in EH 123 and 124. The course leads participants to reflect on how their expectations of the workforce may or may not be validated by their anticipated career paths.

To this end, we interrogate works of twentieth- and twenty-first- century American literature for the purpose of evaluating the interplay between social standing, professionalism, and citizenship.

The overarching goal of the course is to have students improve as critical writers, thinkers, and presenters as they engage the workplace realities of the so-called “real world.”

Our common text is The Haves and Have-Nots, edited by Barbara Solomon. Instructors may choose selections from this text as they please. Instructors may also select one short to medium- length novel with a well-established and readily accessible critical tradition. The recommended text for 2011-12 is Stephen King’s Carrie.

This class is concerned with the importance of close readings – once a text has been introduced to a class, you need to be working with it for a substantial period and returning to it as new concepts are explored by the class. If you have not delivered close reading instruction in the past, please let me know. I may be able to help.

The curriculum includes metacognitive journaling and a substantial speech component.

There are three major units: The World of Play, The World of Work, and Literary Analysis. All three units are based on the notion that argumentation can only occur in the context of clear and specific definitions. Key definitions are located at the end of this document. You do not need to settle on them, but you do need to settle on definitions for which the class will be accountable.

Also note, there is a substantial website dedicated to this course: eh200.wordpress.com. It is available for your use. Among other things, it contains optional minute-by-minute class plans that follow the syllabus from previous semesters, and dozens of hours of video instruction. Please let me know if you would like a tutorial on how to use it.

• Eh 200’s Three Units:

Unit One: The World of Play

This unit revolves around “argumentative” précis. These documents require students to articulate meaningful commentaries on specific rhetorical practices found in stories, particularly practices that pertain to character development in the many contexts of “play.”

Unit Two: The World of Work

This unit culminates in a guided argument grounded in close readings of two stories. Students apply course concepts to select scenes for the purpose of articulating substantive differences and commonalties between texts.

Unit Three: Literary Analysis

This unit culminates in a 7-8 page research essay and an associated 10-minute presentation.  Grounded in fundamental course concepts, this effort represents the climax of the EH Gen Ed. sequence as well as the conclusion of formal education in English for many of our students!

• Eh 200 Outcomes

Students who complete Eh 200 with a grade of C or higher should be able to do the following:

Rhetorical Knowledge

·         Use narrative rhetoric* to express their social and professional aspirations, and also as a means for describing the social and professional aspirations of current co-workers and employers. Narrative rhetoric refers to all the major class concepts discussed in this course. These terms are detailed at the end of this document.

Critical Thinking, Reading, and Writing

·         Identify and analyze the concept of professionalism as it is associated with themes of work and play in twentieth- and twenty-first century American literature. They should be able to evaluate these themes against their current expectations of the modern workforce.

·         Demonstrate the capacity to make firm correlations between social issues as they are addressed in relevant literature and contemporary cultural concerns that bear on the student’s anticipated program of study

Processes

·         Demonstrate familiarity with the writing process: the student can create, develop, and complete a mid-length research document with minimal external assistance, including peer review, and achieve a grade of C or higher.

·         Construct a formal oral presentation appropriate for an entry-level professional position.

Conventions

• Engage, synthesize, and integrate disparate sources into their own writing and oral presentations in such a way that…

1. Distinguishes the writer’s voice from that of his/her sources

2. Anticipates the needs of an audience in relation to source material

3. Follows the current MLA guidelines.

• Prepare final revisions of their essays in a way that demonstrates an advanced command of Standard American English.

The Importance of Literature at Husson University:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHzyClhD7bs

 

 

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