course overview
Prerequisites:
English 210 or permission of instructor
Senior standing or 24 credits of English classes.
The Departmental
Vision:
The course is to have 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 or group 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:
Typically, we will divide the weekly meeting time into two segments.
Segment One: we’ll concentrate on prospection. In the early part of the semester,
we’ll spend this time discussing course readings, considering how the abilities
you’ve developed by taking English classes position you to understand,
contribute to, and succeed in the world outside the academy. You’ll hear from
people who’ve found ways to parlay their liberal-arts skills into various kinds
of life-work. We’ll also use this hour to focus on résumé-construction,
job-brainstorming, presentation skills, etc.
Segment Two: we’ll concentrate on tasks related to retro- and introspection. You
will share ideas about portfolios and define your
projects. You and/or your group will present a formal prospectus for the project. The
project will be developed in consultation with a faculty member
and will require the faculty’s member’s official approval (in the form of a
signature on the prospectus).
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: The New Yorker; Mark Edmundson, Why Read?; two essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson (online)
Graded work:
◊ Prospectus for independent project; 10%
◊ Comprehensive portfolio, including reflective essay; 25%
◊ Short assignments based on readings; 15%
◊ 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?
This semester, there will be two options for fulfilling this assignment.
1) You could choose to 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 two examples from a previous semester.
2) You could choose to work with 2-3 others on a project involving issues important to the profession of literary study/creativity or to the future of language/reading skills. For instance: one group might investigate how the UI library is approaching the issue of digitalization of books and--if not suggest a policy--at least make itself knowledgeable about the issues involved. Or a project could be literacy-focused, maybe within schools, maybe within the local adult population. A group might study the process of applying for a tenure-track position in an English department, using the job applications we've received this year as a database for investigating trends within the profession (providing it's legal for students to have access to hiring materials).
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, 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.
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.
Why are we reading The New Yorker? How will it be used in class?
It’s a venerable old magazine that has published some of the country’s best writers since its founding in 1925. A recent article in the UCLA campus newspaper called it “the preeminent source of information for liberal, educated, urban, upper and middle-class white America.” It also has great cartoons. I see it as a representation of a segment of our culture that you ought to be conversant with as you move out into the world. It will raise issues we all need to think about.
Will we discuss the whole magazine every week?
No. The general notion is that we’ll discuss whatever in each issue seems most pertinent from the point of view of our discipline. I will make some specific reading assignments.
What should I do before the class meets?
1) You should subscribe to The New Yorker by calling 1-800-825-2510. Request the student rate. If you don't wish to subscribe, you can access the magazine online through the library by going to http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/ and clicking on "Magazine and Journal Title List," but you will have a harder time scanning any particular issue and getting a feel for how the magazine is put together.
2) You should go to two sites posted on the Links page of the class web site (short essays by Rachel Donadio and Adam Gopnik), and you should send me as an e-mail attachment (jgw@uidaho.edu) a 300-word mini-essay titled "How It Happened That I Became An English Major In The Early Years Of The Twenty-First Century.” Somewhere within this mini-essay, comment reflectively on whether the issues Donadio raises have been evident to you in your studies and offer an opinion about the value of abridged literary works, based on Gopnik's overview.