After Essay 2: The Rest of the Semester

To continue with the theme of triage, we will only have one more course reading for the semester (see schedule).The remaining assignments, after Essay 2, are to complete a quiz (minimum 75% score for passing completion) on the course reading, and a final take home essay exam. The quiz will prepare you for the exam.

The Revised Final Grade Policy is now available in the updated course syllabus. This lists which assignments are required for a passing grade, should you choose the Pass/Fail grade.

Students who have uploaded Essay 1 to the Dropbox folder (link in post on Essay 1) will receive feedback and grades this week.

Essay 2 and Note on the Rest of the Semester

Dear Students, This semester is very unprecedented, and the traditional organizational structure by week/time does not seem appropriate. If you have not noticed, the last sentence was the beginning of an argument: It was my claim, and my topic sentence. You should then expect me to develop my argument with supporting evidence and reasoning. In other words, you may ask why the traditional organizational structure does not seem appropriate. Because many students lack the reliable WIFI and privacy to attend class online synchronously, we moved to an asynchronous structure, with new material and assignments rolling out each Thursday. Beginning with Spring Recess, however, less writing was submitted and fewer students were “showing up” with journals and poetry analyses, and I got, personally, really depressed. It is not fun trying to teach writing about literature online. Literature is something that we make sense of by doing two things: researching contexts, arguments, and theories that help us understand where the writing is coming from and the ideas that are at play in the writing, and talking about the details so that the fullness and richness and ambiguity of the work becomes apparent. I learned how to read and write about literature through relations of mentorship with expert readers, and I want to be able to provide that to you. But, I don’t know how to do it in this online structure, so really I just want to avoid this class altogether.

But, that’s not an option!

So, for the rest of the semester, we are going to do a little thing called

triage.

In triage, we take an impossibility–there is more to do than can be done with the available time and resources–and we cut into it and carve out the most important things that must and can be achieved. Overview What can and must be achieved are: Three Essays. Most of you have written Essay 1. Please see the earlier post for the link to submit that essay. I will post the links and guidelines for Essay 2 below. Later this week, I will post the links and guidelines for Essay 3. I will probably post supplemental material to help in the writing, but these essays will be the remaining coursework required for passing the class. Keep in mind that a form of questions you will need to answer will be included in the work for Essay 3. Here are things I expect in your essays as minimum requirements for passing-level essays: In each essay, you are required to establish an insightful perspective about your exhibit text, including
  • an effective thesis statement about the central, assigned text that includes effective use of one or two literary elements,
  • paragraphs that develop your thesis in a few supporting claims, each supported by evidence and reasoning,
  • evidence that you have read the central, assigned text,
  • researched context and arguments that inform your perspective (2-3 sources), cited in MLA format.
  • 600 word minimum,
  • Works Cited section listing at least two sources,
  • A title that reflects your argument and “hooks” your reader.
You will be given an opportunity to revise your essay once for a better grade. Assignments: Essay 2 (Due May 19): Read these before completing the writing assignment. Watch this before completing the assignment: Finding sources for a researched argument about literature. When you have completed the above reading and viewing, click here to get to the assignment for Essay 2.   The link to turn in Essay 2 is in the assignment prompt for the essay, above.

Week 7

Hi All!

Many of you are concerned about getting your essays in. I want to assure you that I know we are all doing our best to get through the semester, so I am extending the deadline to Wednesday, April 29th, by 11:59 pm.

I will be available during class time on Tuesdays to meet with you and answer questions.

I have created two videos with instructions on writing your Essay 1.

Week Five

Dear Students,

Below is the link to the tutorial for reading Humanimal. It should help you complete the Journal 4 and Poetry Analysis that were due Wednesday, April 1 (see Week Four). The new deadline is April 7th. This deadline is crucial for anyone looking for feedback in preparation for the essay. Essay 1 is due at the end of spring break, and it is a formal, full essay poetry analysis with research.

The video format turned out to be really unmanageable, so I created this tutorial to help you read Humanimal instead:

Literary Terms II: Reading Contemporary Poetry

Reading: 

Bhanu Kapil, Humanimal: “Humanimal 2”  (30-65) 

Sarah Dowling, “They Were Girls: Animality and Poetic Voice in Bhanu Kapil’s Humanimal

(p.736-743)

Homework Due:

Journal 4 link to prompt and link to Blackboard journals where you will submit the assignment.

Poetry analysis handout again. Choose a poem from Humanimal, or Blood Dazzler and perform an analysis using the poetry analysis handout. Your journal assignment is to produce notes for a possible essay. That is, complete the steps in the handout, and write in complete sentences, but you are not required to choose a thesis. Do complete the steps, including step 8, and list 2-3 possible thesis statements. Turn in your poetry analysis here. If you have struggled with this, do not worry. I will post more information on Week 5 and you can write your analysis after that.

Week Four

Reading: Bhanu Kapil, Humanimal: 

 Intro; Humanimal 1, “Humanimal 2” (items 9-29) Read to page 34. .

Journal 4 link to prompt and link to Blackboard journals where you will submit the assignment

Text on Orientalism from Buddhism in America 

Poetry analysis handout again. Choose a poem from Humanimal, or Blood Dazzler and perform an analysis using the poetry analysis handout. Your journal assignment is to produce notes for a possible essay. That is, complete the steps in the handout, and write in complete sentences, but you are not required to choose a thesis. Do complete the steps, including step 8, and list 2-3 possible thesis statements. Turn in your poetry analysis here. If you have struggled with this, do not worry. I will post more information on Week 5 and you can write your analysis after that.

Tutorial on Reading Contemporary Poetry (form assignment has been replaced by Journal)

UPDATE: I’m having technical difficulties uploading the videos for this presentation on reading contemporary poetry. See the presentation for Week Five.

Link for British imperialism in India timeline (refer to after watching part II of the presentation above)

Quick Update

I had put in the “About” page that I will be available on Tuesdays. This is not turning out to be feasible. I will post new material and grades on Thursdays and will continue to offer meetings on Fridays. I will respond to emails within 12 hours.

Week Three

Greetings!

As you can see, I am still uploading documents to this site, adding new information and functionality, but here it is: ta-da! Your online hub for our English 102 course in Writing About Literature.

Class will take place as asynchronously as possible. I have stated in the updated syllabus and on the About page that I will be available for text and/or video chats via Google Meet on Fridays from 11:45-1:45pm and on Tuesdays between 11:45-12:45. I will post the Meet address as an update to the current week’s (from Thursday to Thursday) post, i.e. here. Please message me to let me know to expect you.

Friday update: I usually have office time on Fridays 12:45-1:45, but this Friday is a little more hectic than usual. Email me if you need me and anticipate open office hours to resume on Tuesday, March 24, from 11:45-12:45.

Week Two

This week, our conversation was cut short by the sudden instructional recess and the move to distanced learning.

Poem and Narrative:

  • To a Young Ass, Its Mother Tethered Near It.
  • Alice Walker, “Am I Blue?”

Due to the interruption, we were not able to discuss the reading for Thursday. I have prioritized other reading for now, but we may return to the text on Coleridge next week.