Mon - Fri. 8:30 – 9:20
Room:
AAA
109
Instructor: David
Owens
e-mail: owensenglish@gmail.com
Office: 101A
Office
Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 12:30 - 1:30
Homepage:
http://staff.wwcc.edu/david.owens/default.htm
ANGEL:
http://angel.waol.org/
ANGEL
Help: http://www.waol.org/general_info/help_desk.aspx
Required
Texts and Materials:
·
Barry, Lynda. One Hundred
Demons.
·
Hosler,
Jay. Clan Apis.
·
Moore, Alan. Watchmen.
·
Tan, Shaun. The Arrival.
Assignments:
Classroom Discussion 100 points
Interactive Reading Journal 300
points
Autobiographical Demon 30 points
Analysis of Graphic Short or
Excerpt 100 points
Group Comic Project 100
points
Quizzes (7) 70 points
__________________________________________________________
Total 700
points
Explanations:
·
Attendance and Participation:
Discussion and participation is essential for a literature class. It is your responsibility
to create and take advantage of this community of readers, thinkers and writers
by coming prepared every day to class having read and thought about the material we are discussing,
contributing to class discussion and being respectful, thoughtful and
responsive listeners. I expect that you will contribute something to class
discussion nearly every day. I may sometimes call on people randomly to
volunteer comments, but it will be your responsibility to make sure you are
contributing to our daily discussions, even if you are only asking questions.
Failure to participate can significantly lower your grade. You can earn up to four points per day for coming to class, asking
appropriate questions and contributing thoughtful responses (up to 115 points
for the quarter). You will lose two
points for each day you are absent.
·
Classroom Discussion: Discussions
will go smoothly if we tend to stick closely to the text. They are very rich
and complex all by themselves and don’t usually need much assistance from
outside sources or comparisons, so we will hopefully keep those tangents to a
minimum. I am also aware that talking in class comes more easily to some than
to others, so students who fail to earn points in the classroom can make them
up by writing more on the discussion boards. I will try to give weekly
participation grade updates on Angel so that we can both keep track of your
level of total participation.
This
might be a good point to mention something about the "graphic" nature
of the readings in a graphic novels course. If this is something that concerns
you, please read this brief
explanation/justification. If you have an extremely strong objection to
some of the material, then you can probably get by without reading certain
materials and just commenting more extensive on our other text. My grading of
you online journal is pretty flexible.
·
Online Reading Journal: You are expected to write
3 substantial paragraphs about our readings and discussions every week that we
hold class. I will evaluate your contribution at the end of each week and
assign you up to 30 points. Part of the purpose of this exercise is to make
sure you are keeping up with the reading, so you may not make up points for
previous weeks by writing on a previous week’s topics or earn more than 30
points per week by writing more paragraphs, though you may want to write 4
paragraphs in a week to make sure you have contributed enough to earn your full
30 points. If you are unable to contribute to the weekly on-line discussion for
whatever reason, you may submit your journal pages weekly to me on paper or
e-mail, but it will be much better to contribute to an online discussion.
o The best journals will:
§ Contain
at least 5 compound/complex sentences per paragraph
§ Reflect
an accurate reading of the text and make a specific reference to it
§ Be
thoughtful rather than casual, perfunctory, slap-dash or merely humorous
§ Be
clear, effectively worded, polite and academic
§ Attempt
to use literary
terms to ask questions or explain something about the text
If you fall behind on the
Discussion Board, I will allow you to write
·
Analysis of a Comic:
These will be brief oral presentations about a comic from one of the
anthologies I have placed on reserve in the library. You will limit your
presentation to a 3-4 minute report discussing such things as genre,
characters, plot, themes, symbolism, level of representation, panel
transitions, etc. The more terms and
concepts you can fit in the better. Your presentation should be accompanied
by a one page (can be double-sided) handout (or brief power-point presentation)
that records the essential information in your presentation and contains at
least one graphic element. Your analysis should also be posted on the forum for
discussion. After your presentation, we can allow up to three minutes for
questions.
·
Group Comic Project:
Near the end of the quarter, you will be putting everything you know about
graphic narrative into practice by creating one of your own. We will talk about
the size of groups we will be divided up into, but I am open to having the
whole class working on the same comic, which is what
happened last
year. My only requirement is that the whole group decides on plot, theme,
characters and style. I also want each student to contribute the same number of
pages. And I don't need to hear about a lack of artistic ability. Stick figure representation
has become a pretty legitimate style choice. This comic will be accompanied by
a written reflection on the process and your thoughts on what you thought the
group was trying to accomplish with the comic.
·
Reading Quizzes: We will have 7 online quizzes, worth 10 points
each, over the reading for the previous two weeks, often applying our literary
concepts to them. You will usually have two or three days to attempt a quiz up
to three times, and you will receive feedback after each attempt telling you
which questions you got right and wrong. It is to your advantage to attempt the
quiz early and use the forum to talk about questions that are stumping you.
Treat it as a learning tool and use the quizzes to help you look more deeply
into the text. Quizzes cannot be made up after they are given, so please
arrange your schedule so that you don't miss any.
·
Evaluation: Your final grade will be calculated as a straight
ratio of points earned to points possible and translated into a letter grade
based on a fairly generous scale. In order to calculate your letter grade at
any given point in the quarter (or on any particular assignment), simply divide
your current points by the points possible, multiply the result by 100 and
consult this chart.
·
Contacting the Instructor: The best way to contact me, at any time of day, is
to email me at owensenglish@gmail.com. I check this e-mail address
several times a day and, if I am in front of my computer, I am alerted when an
e-mail arrives. Therefore, responses to your e-mails can sometimes be
instantaneous. At any reasonable time of day, you can usually get a response
from me within two hours, if it is clear that a response is called for.
I usually check my campus e-mail a few times each week.
It is not the best way to contact me or submit late assignments.
During my office hours, I can be reached at 524 -
5153. At other times of day, you can leave a message at this number, but I
usually only remember to check my messages once a week, so it is ALWAYS
better to e-mail me a quick message at owensenglish@gmail.com
·
Disabilities Policy: If you have a disability and need
accommodations, please see the instructor after class or contact Claudia Angus,
Coordinator of Disability Support Services at 527-4262 or 527-4543.
Check out the tentative and extremely malleable Reading Schedule