course overview
Prerequisites:
English 210, 215, or permission of instructor
Senior standing or 24 credits of English classes.
The Departmental
Vision:
The course has three major thematic elements: (1) retrospection, (2)
introspection, and (3) prospection. You will (1) reflect comprehensively on the
coursework you’ve taken and written work you’ve produced; (2) meditate on
specific experiences that were foundational moments for you in the development
of ethics, discipline, excellence in your work, appreciation for the
complexities of the discipline, etc; and (3) apply your disciplinary training to
the task of analyzing culture outside the university and make specific plans for
the future beyond graduation.
Two primary kinds of traditional labor are expected: (1) assembling a
portfolio that
includes selected representative writing from the full undergraduate range of
courses and a reflective essay (2) completing an
independent project and developing a presentation. Secondary labors include brief writing assignments,
some based on course readings, in pursuit of course goals.
The Course This Semester:
We are charting a slightly different course
in 490 this fall: there will be heightened focus on discussion of the value of
an undergraduate education focused on literature/language/writing. I want
to pose five questions:
What do you know as a
result of being an English major?
How do people react when you tell them you’re majoring in
English? (“What are you going to do with that?”)
What don’t you know because you majored in English?
What kind of curriculum would you design to position you, an
English major, better?
What do your skills prepare you to do right now? What
learning are you prepared to take on that will address real-world concerns?
I think of this course in terms derived from a 2002 report, "Greater Expectations," from the Association of American Colleges & Universities. One section of this report summarizes the skills that employers expect from college graduates. Employers expect those they hire to be able to "perform consistently well, communicate effectively, think analytically, help solve problems, [and] work collegially in diverse teams." They also expect technological and information literacy. Your liberal education has given you a chance to develop these skills, and this course (in part) is intended to help you sharpen them. I would like you to think of the course as your first post-graduate job. Engage in it as if you were beginning to make your way in your career. Perform the work--all of it--as if your continuing livelihood depended on your doing well.
Particulars:
Texts: David Shields, Reality Hunger: A Manifesto ; an essay by Ralph Waldo Emerson (online)
Graded work:
◊ Prospectus for independent project; 10%
◊ Comprehensive portfolio, including reflective essay; 30%
◊ Short writing assignment ("How It Happened"); 10%
◊ The project and presentation; 40%
◊ Attendance/engagement; 10%. It will not go well for you if you miss more than two weekly classes.
What’s expected by way of a project?
You work independently, doing something important to you that your classes heretofore haven’t accommodated. It could spring from something you’ve worked on in another class but couldn’t do justice to. (BUT: It must be NEW work; it can’t be anything you’ve already been credited for, and creative writing emphasis majors must follow guidelines developed by the creative writing faculty.) An independent project could also help fill in gaps in your background--perhaps focusing on a text from a course you didn't take. It ought to stretch you somehow. It might try to make a bridge between academic life and the general life of the culture. It might connect some aspect of your educational experience with the future you envision for yourself. Here are examples from previous semesters.
What form must it take?
The ordinary mode of delivery is a paper about 20 pages in length. But I’m willing to entertain other forms of presentation (film, website, PowerPoint, opera, etc.) if the material seems to dictate an alternative mode of delivery. (I don’t “do” posters/collages.)
What’s a “prospectus”?
By about three weeks into the semester, you will have conferred with a faculty member willing to help you define a project that can be accomplished in a couple of months of dedicated work. Once you’ve agreed on the parameters, you devise a description that details the work to be done. (Here's the timetable for this process.) Pitch it to the whole class, not just to me--as if it were a project you hope to sell to your employers. Be willing to entertain suggestions. How long? –Perhaps 2-3 pages. Examples from previous semesters are linked to the main page of the class web site, and you will also find a "skeleton" for building your own prospectus.
What's expected in the presentation?
A 10-minute oral explanation, accompanied by appropriate graphics, of the project you've developed. The presentation will occur in some cases up to a month before your final paper is due, and so will necessarily not be the result of the full study. The presentation will offer a chance to receive feedback of two kinds: 1) about the project itself; 2) about your presentation style. #2 is as important as #1.
I understand “portfolio,” but what’s a “reflective essay”?
See #2 in the first paragraph under “Departmental Vision,” above. The essay will result from your selecting and contemplating writing you’ve done during your years as an undergraduate.
What should I do before the class meets?
You should go to two sites posted on the Links page of the class web site (short essays by William Chace and Mark Taylor), and you should send me as an e-mail attachment (jgw@uidaho.edu) a 500-word mini-essay titled "How It Happened That I Became An English Major In The First Decade Of The Twenty-First Century.” Somewhere within this mini-essay, comment reflectively on the issues raised by Chace and Taylor.