MISSOURI WESTERN STATE COLLEGE

School of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Department of English, Foreign Languages, and Journalism

Dr. Elizabeth Sawin      Summer 2003

Second 4-week session:  June 24 – July 17

 

ENGLISH 210 16: APPROACHES TO LITERATURE

THEME: Nature and the Human Spirit

 

Time:                      10:30 – 1:20 M-TH                Place:   SSC 210 (first two weeks); JGM 106 (second two weeks)

Professor:              Dr. Elizabeth Sawin              Office:    SSC 215

Phone:                    271-4272                                Office hrs: Immediately after class

Email:                      sawin@missouriwestern.edu

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION: 
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.

 

COURSE OBJECTIVES FOR 210 :

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

 

REQUIRED TEXTS:

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

(New York: Longman, 1999).

A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold (New York: Ballantine, 1970).

 

REQUIRED ASSIGNMENTS:

Reading JOURNAL (Responses to literature read / questions posed)                                 100 points

Paper on poetry                                                                                                                                75 points

Paper in response to one of the major questions of the course                                              125 points

In-class writing, daily attendance quizzes and tests                                                                 100 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 do this summer if need be. 

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

 

COURSE 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?

TYLER IVES and JESSICA MILLER

  1. How do we regard other creatures, and what do our encounters with them reveal about us?

RAYE LYNN FAGER & NIKKI THUMAN

  1. 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?

CHRIS LIU & CHERMONA SMITH

  1. How does the experience of place affect our inner lives? How are we affected by natural versus artificial environments?

KATHLEEN RANDALL & KATE MEINHARDT

  1. What do we know about the place where we live, and what are our responsibilities—as individuals and communities—toward it?

AMY IVES & MICHELLE DAVIS

  1. What impact do politics and the power of one group over another have on particular places and our experience of them?

 

  1. How do our individual decisions about how to earn and spend money affect our own well-being and that of the world?

SHANON RILEY, TIM MACLEAN, & KIMBERLEY FRAGER

  1. What does our use of the land say about who we are and what we value and believe?

TRECHAY RELERAND & NICOLE BERRY

  1. What are the prospects for the human enterprise given our current ways of thinking about the world?

NICK RIPPEY & EMILY LIPIRA

 

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:

Since this section of English 210 will be conducted as a workshop (and not simply a lecture course), it is imperative that you attend every class.  Films, in-class writings, student-led discussions and a possible field trip 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.  ONE absence this summer is equivalent to one week (!) of classes during the regular term. TWO classes missed will drop your grade.  If you miss class 3 times (the equivalent of 9 regular MWF class sessions), I will recommend that you withdraw from the course.

 

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 210

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

 

SCHEDULE

 

First Week

June 24: Read A Sand County Almanac Part I:  “January to July” (3-54)

June 25: Read A Sand County Almanac  “July to December” (55-98) and

Part II The Quality of Landscape: “Wisconsin” (101-124).

June 26-29:  WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT.

Read through the chapter you have been assigned quickly 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 MONDAY June 30, 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 have already prepared questions on many of the selections, but since we do not have as much time this summer as we would in a regular semester, I thought that you might enjoy sharing the decision-making process of what we actually do read.

 

 

 

Second Week

 

THE HUMAN ANIMAL

 

June 30:  Our Animal Selves (Ch. 1) Selections to be announced on June 30

July 1:     Close Encounters (Ch. 2)

July 2:     Hunting and Fishing (Ch. 3)

 

INHABITING PLACE

July 3:     Imprint of the Land (Ch. 4)             PAPER on POETRY DUE.

 

 

 

Third Week

 

July 7:     Finish reading A Sand County Almanac for today. In-class essay.

July 8:     Visions of Home (Ch. 5)

 

                ECONOMY AND ECOLOGY

July 9:     Getting and Spending (Ch. 7)

July 10:   Land Use (Ch. 8)                                            SUBMIT READING LOG FOR COURSE CREDIT

 

 

 

Fourth Week

 

July 14: Peril and Response (Ch. 9)

July 15: Catch up session / WRITING WORKSHOP

 

July 16:                 ………………………………………PAPER on CHOSEN QUESTION DUE

(A comparative paper of more than one work)

                ROUND ROBIN READING and response to papers in class. A very important session.

 

July 17: FINAL (What Have You Learned? What are you taking with you from this course?)

                Review your reading log to prepare.

                I may also present you with a poem or short story that you will answer questions about.