MISSOURI WESTERN STATE COLLEGE

School of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Journalism

Dr. Elizabeth Sawin      Fall  2003

 

ENGLISH 220: INTRODUCTION TO READING TEXTS

Theme: Nature and the Human Spirit

 

Professor:              Dr. Elizabeth Sawin              Office:    SSC 215

Phone:                    271-4272                 Office hrs: 1:00 – 2:00 MWF; 3:00 – 4:00 MW

Email:                      sawin@missouriwestern.edu

Section 01              10:00-10:50  MWF                SSC 210

Section 02              12:00-12:50 MWF SSC 210 

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES FOR 220 :

1.        Recognize the major characteristics of literary genres

2.        Discuss literature, orally and in writing, with assurance

3.        Appreciate literary works which are encountered

4.        Understand the different ways in which literary theme may be treated in literature

                                                                

The student is expected to:

1.        Read poetry, prose fiction, and drama

2.        Investigate various methods of approaching and understanding literature

3.        Write papers, including themes and essay examinations

4.        Read a variety of literary works in which a chosen theme is dominant

 

COURSE THEME: 
Is nature dead or divine? A living system or raw material? Necessary or healing? "Out" there or "in" here? Does nature have rights? Do we have sense? Have American attitudes toward nature changed in the stories we tell, the poems we write, and the movies we see? We will study the complex relationships between nature and the human spirit as we learn how to

 

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Alexie, Sherman. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. New York: Harper Perennial, 1994.

Anderson, Slovic & O’Grady. Eds. Literature and the Environment: A Reader on Nature and Culture.

New York: Longman, 1999.

Erdrich, Louise. Tracks.

Nims, John Frederick. Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry.

 

REQUIRED ASSIGNMENTS:

Paper on Poetry                                      75 points   (Western Wind)

Paper on Narrative                               100 points   (The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaver and/or Tracks)

Paper on Major Course Question      100 points   (Literature and the Environment)

Tests and quizzes                                                125 points

                                                                400 points

 

     A                           B                              C                              D

100-90%                  89-80%                    79-70%                    69-60%

N.B. I reserve the right to make changes in the nature of the work we if need be. 

The percentages for the final grade assignment will, however, stay the same.

 

COURSE THEMATIC QUESTIONS :

1.        What is wild and instinctual in our nature, and how do we respond to it? How does this response influence our relations with the outer world?

  1. How do we regard other creatures, and what do our encounters with them reveal about us?
  2. Under what circumstances are we justified in taking the life of another creature? How do we handle the necessity to kill in order to live?
  3. How does the experience of place affect our inner lives? How are we affected by natural versus artificial environments?
  4. What do we know about the place where we live, and what are our responsibilities—as individuals and communities—toward it?
  5. What impact do politics and the power of one group over another have on particular places and our experience of them?
  6. How do our individual decisions about how to earn and spend money affect our own well-being and that of the world?
  7. What does our use of the land say about who we are and what we value and believe?
  8. What are the prospects for the human enterprise given our current ways of thinking about the world?

 

ACADEMIC HONESTY:

You are expected to do your own reading and writing in this course.  Any student who submits someone else's work as his or her own will receive no credit (0 points) for that assignment.   A second infraction will earn an "F" in the course. Taking ideas from articles published on the web without citation or copying work from other students are NOT acceptable behaviors.

 

ATTENDANCE POLICY:

Films, in-class writings, student-led discussions and video showings can’t be “made-up.” Once these activities occur they are permanently lost to you. Likewise, your contributions are lost to us when you are not here.  THREE absences are average for a semester-long course that meets on MWF.

 

DISABLED STUDENT POLICY:

If you have a recognized disability that requires special consideration, please make an appointment to see me during the first week of classes so that we can discuss privately how I might help you succeed.

 

REQUIRED FORMATTING for out-of-class copy:     

Identify yourself in the upper, right-hand corner:

Name

English 220

Nature of the Assignment 

Date

Use regular white paper.                    

Leave one-inch margins on all sides.

Center the title.                                    

Number each page (bottom right)

Single-space within paragraphs.      

Double-space between paragraphs.

Use 12-point TIMES NEW ROMAN

 

ASSIGNMENT FOR SEPT. 3

 

Read through the chapter you have been assigned and find 2 or 3 literary selections that you find interesting and want the class to read. You will start off the discussion of these selections by reading your response and by asking us questions that you still have about them. On Wednesday September 3, you must turn in the titles of the selections you have made and the EXACT page numbers on which they appear in Literature and the Environment. You are helping me to construct the schedule of readings for this course. I thought that you might enjoy sharing in the decision-making process of what we actually do read.

 

FALL SEMESTER   2003

August 25             Introduction

27            Western Wind     3-14   Where Experience Starts

29            Western Wind   18-15   What’s It Like?          

Sept. 1 Holiday

3              ASSIGNMENT DUE. Individual Selections from Literature and the Environment. See BOX above..

5              Western Wind  26-43    What’s It Like?          

 

Sept. 8

10

12                                           

 

Sept. 15

17

19                                           

 

Sept. 22

24

26                                           

 

29

Oct. 1

3                                             

 

Oct. 6

8

10                                           

 

Oct. 13 Holiday

15

17                                           

 

Oct. 20

22 Mid Term Grades due

24                                           

 

Oct. 27

29

31 Last Day to withdraw from classes

 

Nov. 3

5

7                                             

 

Nov. 10

12

14                                           

 

Nov. 17

19

21                                           

 

Nov. 24

Thanksgiving Vacation November 26-30

 

Dec. 1

3

5                                             

 

 

Dec. 8 Last Day                    Final Exams Dec. 9-15