The assignments for this class are low-stakes but plentiful so that you have a chance to practice writing regularly and get feedback on your work. All assignments build upon each other, so there is no “busy work”; you can use your blogs posts for the midterm or final, for example.
Participation 20%
Weekly Blog 25%
2 Short Essays 15% each, 30% total (3 pages, double-spaced)
Final Essay proposal 1%
Final essay 24% (5-6 pages, double-spaced)
Extra credit: “Discovery” blog on a selection from the Penguin Anthology up to 1%
DEADLINES:
3/31 Revisions of Essay #1 due, posted to blog.
4/14 Essay 2 due
4/28 Revisions of Essay 2 due & Final proposal due
5/9 Final essay due
Participation 20%:
This is your class, and your participation is vital to its success. You must attend all class meetings in order to receive full credit for participation Come to class prepared to discuss the text in depth; this means having read the entire text before class. I expect you to speak and listen.
- Your participation grade includes engaging in dialogue in class. This means speaking and listening actively, attentively, and respectfully. (If you have fear of speaking in public, this seminar is a good place to learn to address that fear. Please come see me early in the term to discuss strategies for dealing with this fear).
- Your participation grade includes a meeting with the professor.
Weekly Blog 25%
You will write (approx. 350-500 words) blog responses to the reading (any text and any idea/section from that text) and each provide a comment on a peer’s blog each week (due before the next week’s class meeting, so before Thursday). The goal of the blog posts is to extend the conversation and coverage of the course by allowing you to 1) express, share, and comment upon interests, questions, and concerns related to the readings and also to 2) enable the professor to address and incorporate these topics in that week’s meeting. It is also a place to draft ideas and text for use in your essays.
—Blog posts are due on Monday at 6pm weekly; late posts will not receive credit.
–You will be given an overall grade for blog posts, based on completion and content, not a grade for each post. Rubric for grading is available on our website and below.
Your Blog Grade is based on 2-parts: 1) a completion grade, and 2) a content grade
| The completion component of the blog grade requires you to have the following number of posts: | The content component of the blog grade is based on the following grading rubric |
| A= 11-13 posts B= 8-10 posts C= 6-7 posts D= 4-5 posts F= 3 or less | A= Post contains a focused thesis or question and close reading of a passage, B= Post contains a close reading of content but no focused question or thesisC= Post contains no analysis of text (no close reading), just summary and undirected ideasD=Post contains little substantive thinking as content |
2 Short Essays: 15% each (30%)-– You can revise each for a better grade. See the schedule for revisions deadline.
- Midterm close reading 15% : This short essay (approx. 1500 words= 3-4 pages) is an opportunity to focus on one aspect or passage from a single text from our syllabus, to provide an in-depth analysis and to practice close reading/ explication. This essay also intended as a scaffolding assignment, meaning it is there to support you in developing the thinking and writing skills to produce the final essay, to provide a benchmark for your writing (and grade). You can revise one of your blog posts or write new content that demonstrates your ability to 1) develop a thesis, and 2) use a text to support, through textual explication/analysis/close reading, your argument. The short essay is an exercise in diving into the formal operations of a text to see HOW it operates and develop an argument about WHY that matters. You will
1) select a single short text or passage of a text
2) pursue a focused argument about that passage: what you see in it and why that matters (WHAT, HOW, SO WHAT)
- Discovery 15%
- This short creative-analytical assignment prompt you to practice thesis and close reading by engaging in “discovery” beyond our syllabus. There are 2 parts to this assignment:
- 1) make or find a text not on our syllabus (film, meme, poem, etc.) or a work of scholarship (scholarly article, book, etc.) that supports and expands our classroom learning. Post this item (or a link to it) into your blog and describe the object.
- 2) explain how this discovery matters and extends our learning about literature and the environment in a short (2 page, single-spaced) essay with a thesis that focuses on 1 aspect of the object and articulates the importance of your discovery. Analyze and close read the object or scholarly text to explain its relevance and relation to the class.
**YOU CAN REVISE a discovery for a better grade. Revision is due before next discovery is due**
Final essay proposal–thesis statement and description of the project 1%
This assignment helps ensure that you are on the right track for your final essay and enables me to give you feedback that can assist in your development. We will learn about Thesis Statements (and you can work with me (by email and office hours) to develop your argument.
Final Essay (5-6 pages): 24%
You will write a final essay that explores a topic or text from the course through a thesis-based argument and explication (close reading). You can write a creative-critical essay that takes the form of a work of a webart, video, hypertext, etc., BUT, whatever format your essay takes, it MUST contain the following:
- a thesis statement
- close-reading explication of the text
-You can use your blogs to form the basis of your final essay, but the requirements listed above must be met.
Extra Credit: “Discovery” Blog: up to 1%
This blog assignment can be written at any point during the semester is intended to inspire you to read beyond the texts assigned in class. For this blog, you will select a reading in the Penguin Anthology that is not on our syllabus and write a blog post about why it is important to your understanding of literature and the environment, and/or to our focus on mermaids. Your post should contain a thesis and textual explication/close reading to receive credit.
**NOTE: All assignments are docked 1/3 of a grade for each day they are late (for example, an A becomes an A- if turned in one day late)**