<p> ENGL 2131H: Honors American Literature I Course Syllabus Georgia Perimeter College, Alpharetta</p><p>Instructor: Rob Jenkins Office hours: MW 6:45 – 7:00 e-mail: [email protected] MW 11:15 – 1:15 Office: TBA TR 11:15 – 1:45</p><p>Course Description: Students consider the literature of what came to be the United States from pre-colonial times through the mid-nineteenth century.</p><p>Texts: Baym, Nina, et al. The Norton Anthology of American Literature (8th Edition), vols. A and B.</p><p>Course Overview: In ENGL 2131: American Literature I, we will read and discuss works of literary value produced in what is now known as the United States, from pre-colonial times through the Civil War (or just after). You can expect to do a fair amount of reading—about 30-50 pages a week, on average—and have regular quizzes over your reading. The course is divided into three roughly equal units: Pre-colonial and colonial writers, minor 19th century writers, and major 19th century writers. In addition to the daily quizzes, you will have an exam over each unit, plus a comprehensive final exam essay. Toward the end of the term, you will also write a 500-700 word documented essay on one of the authors we’ve studied. </p><p>Disclaimer: While discussing the literary works that we will be reading this semester, we will no doubt talk about a number of potentially controversial topics, including (but not limited to) race, gender, sexuality, religion, and politics. On rare occasions, I may state my personal opinion on one of those topics or on a related topic; when I do so, I will always attempt to label it as such. Most often, though, I will decline to offer a personal opinion, choosing instead to examine the ideas of the writers we’re studying and other relevant literary and historical figures and perhaps compare what they have said to modern-day perceptions and attitudes. In neither case am I attempting to “indoctrinate” you into any particular point of view, persuade you to adopt any specific position, or “challenge” your personal beliefs. Rather, my purpose is to encourage you to consider, objectively, the viewpoints reflected in these literary works as you examine your own views, assumptions, and preconceptions in an attempt to formulate an informed, thoughtful, and defensible position. This is known as “critical thinking.” </p><p>In addition, although it is never my intention to offend anyone, I find that occasionally students do become offended during our discussions, as some of these topics tend to be rather emotionally charged. Please understand that being offended by someone else’s words, ideas, or opinions is an emotional response, not a rational one. My hope is that, together, we can all remain as objective as possible and keep our discussions on a relatively high intellectual plane. ENGL 2131 Syllabus 2</p><p>Course Policies (Departmental and College-Wide):</p><p>PROVISION FOR LATE WORK AND MAKE-UP EXAMS: Work is expected to be submitted on time. Each instructor will provide students with a policy regarding late work. When absolutely necessary, arrangements for late work and make-up exams should be made on an individual basis with the instructor.</p><p>WRITING LAB: Instructional Support Services provides academic help for day and evening students and serves as a convenient means of getting additional writing instruction. Instructors may assign lab work for those students who need or desire extra help.</p><p>AID FOR THE DISABLED: If you are a student who is disabled as defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act and require assistance or support services, please seek assistance through the Center of Disabilities Services. A CDS counselor will coordinate those services.</p><p>CHEATING/ PLAGIARISM POLICY: Cheating includes any attempt to defraud, deceive, or mislead a professor in arriving at an honest grade assessment. Plagiarism is a form of cheating that occurs when students present as their own the ideas, language, or work of others. Giving unauthorized help to other students also constitutes cheating. </p><p>Unless specifically authorized by the professor, the following are examples of cheating or plagiarism, although this list is certainly not exhaustive: 1. Cheating on a test or quiz includes  Looking at or copying from other students’ work.  Allowing other students to look at or copy your work.  Exchanging information with other students.  Speaking or whispering (students may speak to professors at any time).  Opening a textbook or notebook.  Looking at notes. 2. Cheating on writing assignments, homework or other out-of-class assignments includes  Copying work or answers from other students.  Copying ideas or text from printed sources and from computer or other electronic sources without proper documentation.  Having someone else do the assignments.  Allowing other students to “borrow” work and present it as their own. 3. Cheating on late work or tests includes  Providing false information or documents in order to be allowed to make up a missed test, quiz, or homework. When source materials are used in the writing of papers, students must document the use of these sources by following the documentation style stipulated by their professor. Students who require clarification of any of the above concepts must consult with their professor.</p><p>Cheating of any kind may result in penalties ranging from a grade of F or 0 on the assignment to a course grade of F. Professors also may refer cases to the College Court for assignment of additional penalties that may include suspension or expulsion from Georgia Perimeter College. Such cases may be brought before the College Court regardless of whether or not the accused ENGL 2131 Syllabus 3 admits guilt when initially charged. </p><p>The accused should know that, at the sentencing phase, the Court may consider any previous record of cheating in determining the severity of the penalty. The Georgia Perimeter College Student Handbook section on “Academic Dishonesty” outlines the steps of due process in such cases.</p><p>EQUAL OPPORTUNITY POLICY: No person shall, on the grounds of race, color, sex, religion, creed, national origin, age or disability, be excluded from employment or participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity conducted by Georgia Perimeter College.</p><p>AFFIRMATIVE ACTION POLICY: Georgia Perimeter College adheres to affirmative action policies designed to promote diversity and equal opportunity for all faculty and students.</p><p>PERFORMANCE ALERT FOR STUDENT SUCCESS (PASS): Academic success is a top priority at GPC. Activities have been designed to alert both instructor and student in a timely manner if sufficient progress on certain core concepts is not being made. A performance alert for student success (PASS) will be sent to academically struggling students throughout the semester to inform students of their status in the course and to provide additional resources for assistance. The notification enables students to address any academic weakness that could affect their successful completion of the course. If a student receives a PASS, the student should meet with the instructor to discuss their performance in the course and to design an improvement plan. PASS messages will be sent via email and by SMS text messaging.</p><p>TOBACCO AND SMOKE-FREE CAMPUS POLICY: Effective October 1, 2014, Georgia Perimeter prohibits the use of tobacco products on any property owned, leased, or controlled by GPC. All faculty, staff, students, visitors, vendors, contractors, and all others are prohibited from using any tobacco products while on GPC property. “Tobacco Products” is defined as cigarettes, pipes, cigars, all forms of smokeless tobacco, clove cigarettes and other smoking devices that use tobacco such as hookahs or simulate the use of tobacco such as electronic cigarettes. Violations of the smoking policy will be handled under the GPC Student Code of Conduct.</p><p>Course Policies (Instructor’s):</p><p>ATTENDANCE: I will not withdraw you from the course for any reason, nor will I fail you solely because of absences. If you wish to withdraw from the course, you must officially withdraw yourself by submitting the appropriate documents to the Office of Enrollment and Registration Services. </p><p>However, you are responsible for all reading assignments and all material covered in class, whether you are present or not. Please do not contact me regarding material you may have missed due to absence.</p><p>DAILY READING ASSIGNMENTS: The reading list for the semester is posted at the end of this syllabus, and the daily schedule will correspond more or less (but perhaps not exactly) to the calendar below. We may well get behind in our readings. I may even have to move a test back a day or two—but I promise not to move one up. Also, I reserve the right to skip over some assigned readings if we are pressed for time—but I will not add any. I will let you know at the ENGL 2131 Syllabus 4 end of each class meeting exactly what I expect to cover in the following class meeting.</p><p>MAKE-UP EXAMS and QUIZZES: I give make-up exams only in unusual circumstances, such as when a student has been sick or otherwise unable to attend due to no fault of his or her own. I may ask you to document your reason for missing the exam. You must schedule the make-up exam with me personally, at my convenience. The make-up exam will be different from the exam given in class and may well be more difficult.</p><p>You MAY NOT make up a daily quiz grade. However, there are enough of them that missing one or two shouldn’t hurt you.</p><p>RETURN OF TESTS: I will do my best to return tests and other graded assignments within one week.</p><p>GRADES: Your final grade will be based on your three unit exams, the final exam essay, and the writing project, all of which count equally. Your daily quiz grades will count for extra credit and will be added into the final total before I average. (There may also be other opportunities for extra credit, but I can’t promise that at this point.) ENGL 2131 Syllabus 5</p><p>WEEKLY CALENDAR:</p><p>Week 1 “ The Liberal Arts ARE Workforce Development” August 18 – 21 “ I’m Not Paying for Your Opinion” “The Iroquois Creation Story, ”“The Winnebago Trickster Cycle,” Christopher Columbus Week 2 William Bradford, John Winthrop, Ann Bradstreet, Edward Taylor August 25 - 28 PASS assessment Week 3 LABOR DAY (Sept. 1) September 1 - 4 Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin Week 4 Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Olaudah Equiano, Philip Freneau, September 8 - 11 Phyllis Wheatley Week 5 UNIT TEST I September 15 - 18 Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper Week 6 William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Henry David September 22 - 25 Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson Week 7 Emerson, Harriet Beecher Stowe September 29 – October 2 Week 8 FACULTY DEVELOPMENT DAY: NO CLASSES (Oct. 7) October 6 - 9 Frederick Douglass, Nathaniel Hawthorne Week 9 UNIT TEST II October 13 - 16 Edgar Allen Poe Week 10 Edgar Allen Poe October 20 - 23 Walt Whitman Week 11 Walt Whitman October 27 - 30 Week 12 Walt Whitman November 3 - 6 Week 13 Herman Melville November 10 - 13 Week 14 Emily Dickinson November 17 - 20 Week 15 Emily Dickinson November 24 - 27 Thanksgiving Holidays (Nov. 26 - 27) Week 16 Unit Test III December 1- 2 Documented essay due Last Day of Class: Dec. 2 Week 17 Final exam schedule December 3 - 9 ENGL 2131 Syllabus 6</p><p>READING LIST ENGL 2131 Rob Jenkins, instructor</p><p>Pre-colonial and colonial writers Native American “The Iroquois Creation Story,” 21 “The Winnebago Trickster Cycle,” 105 Christopher Columbus, “Letter to Luis de Santangel,” 35 William Bradford, “The Remainder of Anno 1620,” 138 John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity,” 166 Anne Bradstreet “Contemplations,” 215 “The Author to Her Book,” 225 “Before the Birth of One of Children,” 225 “To My Dear and Loving Husband,” 226 “In Memory of Elizabeth Bradstreet,” 230 “In Memory of Anne Bradstreet,” 230 “For Deliverance from a Fever,” 231 “Here Follow Some Verses,” 232 Edward Taylor “Upon Wedlock and Death of Children,” 303 “Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold,” 304 Jonathan Edwards “A Divine and Supernatural Light,” 416 “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” 430 Benjamin Franklin, from “The Autobiography,” pp. 531-42 Thomas Paine, “Common Sense,” 641 Thomas Jefferson “The Declaration of Independence,” 661 “Query XVII: Religion,” 673 Olaudah Equiano, from “The Interesting Narrative,” 687 Philip Freneau “The Indian Burying Ground,” 758 “On the Religion of Nature,” 762 Phyllis Wheatley, “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” 764</p><p>Minor 19 th Century Writers Washington Irving “Rip Van Winkle,” 29 “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” 41 James Fenimore Cooper, “The Slaughter of the Pigeons,” 72 William Cullen Bryant “Thanatopsis,” 123 “To a Waterfowl,” 125 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “A Psalm of Life,” 598 Henry David Thoreau, “Resistance to Civil Government,” 964 Ralph Waldo Emerson “Nature,” 214 ENGL 2131 Syllabus 7 “The American Scholar,” 243 “Self-Reliance,” 269 “The Poet,” 295 “Experience,” 310 Harriet Beecher Stowe From Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Chapter VII, “The Mother’s Struggle,” 818 Frederick Douglass From The Narrative, Chpts. IV – IX, 1191 Nathaniel Hawthorne “Young Goodman Brown,” 386</p><p>Major 19 th Century Writers Edgar Allan Poe “Sonnet—To Science,” 663 “The Philosophy of Composition,” 719 “The Raven,” 637 “Annabel Lee,” 643 “The Fall of the House of Usher,” 654 “The Purloined Letter,” 701 Walt Whitman “Preface to Leaves of Grass,” 1314 “Song of Myself,” 1330 “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” 1383 “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking,” 1387 “A Sight in Camp,” 1398 “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” 1402 Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener,” 1483 Emily Dickenson #49, 1663 #185, 1666 #249, 1670 #280, 1673 #448, 1681 #449, 1681 #501, 1678 #712, 1683 #986, 1694 #1545, 1697 #1732, 1700 Letter to T. W. Higginson, “Say If My Verse Is Alive,” 1703 ENGL 2131 Syllabus 8</p>