Complete and annotate the reading assignments for the day they are listed on the syllabus. Bring an annotated copy of the assigned reading to class each day.
PART ONE: THINKING LIKE AN ENGLISH MAJOR
Week 1: Why English?
Monday, August 25: Class Introductions, Syllabus Discussion, and course tech overview (WordPress and Canvas workshop); introductory discussion: What does it mean to be an English major?
Wednesday, August 27: Nealon and Giroux (TTT), “Why Theory?” and “Author/ity” pp. 1-21
Friday, August 29: TTT, “Reading,” pp. 21-34
Week 2: TTT
Monday, September 1: Labor Day, NO CLASS
Wednesday, September 3: TTT, “Subjectivity,” pp. 35-50
Friday, September 5: Lab: Professional Web Presence (in Hyde 120)
Week 3: TTT
Monday, September 8: TTT, “Ideology,” pp. 93-105
Wednesday, September 10: TTT, “Posts,” pp. 139-164
Friday, September 12: No class, no lab. Catch up on reading and/or posts. Be sure to pick up your copy of Romeo and Juliet and start reading for next week.
PART TWO: READING LIKE AN ENGLISH MAJOR
Week 4: Reading Text / Applying Theory
Monday, September 15: Romeo and Juliet, act 1 [CN for play: domestic violence, homophobia and homophobic violence, misogyny, suicide]; Introduction to the First Project, our Critical Essay.
Wednesday, September 17: Romeo and Juliet, act 2 ; read Bridget Bartlett’s (they/them) “A Marvelous Proper Man”: Shakespearean Ableism, Modern Transphobia, and Pronouns. (you’ll likely need a free Medium account);
Sep 17, 7:00-9:00 PM, Lamson Study Valley: HCC Back-to-School Bash [Optional]
Friday, September 19: Romeo and Juliet, act 3
Bonus reading: Kemp (they/them) and McNabb’s (she/her) Disability and Shakespeare: A Guide for Practitioners and Scholars.
Week 5: Reading People
Monday, September 22: Romeo and Juliet, act 4
Also read: Debapriya Sarkar’s Ecocriticism and the Geographies of Race and Lowell Duckert’s Speaking as the North.
Wednesday, September 24: Romeo and Juliet, act 5; Read Valerie Traub’s Teaching Reproductive Justice in the Premodern Classroom and Sarah B. Rude’s Historical Fantasy, Modern Horror: Traumatic Childbirth in The House of the Dragon and Bridgerton
Friday, September 26: No in-person class! Online activity on Close Reading.
Week 6: Distant Reading
Monday, September 29: Watch Baz Luhrman’s Romeo + Juliet (1996) (watch during class); TTT, “Differences,” pp. 171-205
Wednesday, October 1: Finish watching Luhrman.
Friday, October 3: Discuss Baz Luhrman’s Romeo + Juliet (1996); TTT, “Nature,” pp. 207-228
Week 7: Distant Reading
Monday, October 6: Finish discussing Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet; introduce ‘First Project: The Traditional Essay.’
Wednesday, October 8: Kathryn Schulz, “What is Distant Reading?” in The New York Times; Joshua Rothman, “An Attempt to Discover the Laws of Literature,” in The New Yorker; Jennifer Schluesser, “Reading by the Numbers: When Big Data Meets Literature” in The New York Times.
[You can create a free NYtimes account and get access via Lamson: details here.]
Friday, October 10: LAB: Being an Excellent Advisee (Memorial 103)
PART THREE: WRITING LIKE AN ENGLISH MAJOR
Week 8
Monday, October 13: Class with Prof. Kristin Stelmok! (details TBD)
Wednesday, October 15: Class with Prof. Elliott Gruner! (details TBD)
Friday, October 17: No Lab, No Class!
Week 9
Monday, October 20: LIBRARY RESEARCH DAY: Class with Prof. Alyssa White! (details TBD)
Wednesday, October 22: Class with Prof. Rebecca Grant! (details TBD)
Friday, October 24: LAB: Internships (Part 1)
Week 10: Revising
Monday, October 27: Catch-up day; revising the schedule.
Wednesday, October 29: WRITING WORKSHOP #1; Bring 4 printed copies of your revised draft to class and post one to today’s Canvas Discussion
Friday, October 31: Lab: Micro-Drama Projects kickoff (Memorial 103)
Week 11: Refining
Monday, November 3: WRITING WORKSHOP #2; Bring 4 printed copies of your revised draft to class and post one to today’s Canvas Discussion
Wednesday, November 5: (Memorial 103) choose your teammates and begin brainstorming tell Nic and Scott what the general theme/plot of your film is and who will be doing what
Friday, November 7: (Memorial 103) Project pitches
Final Draft of Critical Essay (the First Project!) due by Thursday, Nov 9, 2:00 PM.
Week 12: Career Exploration
Monday, November 10: WRITING WORKSHOP #3; Bring 4 printed copies of your revised draft to class and post one to today’s Canvas Discussion
First Projects (the Traditional Essay) due to Canvas and WordPress by the end of the day on Monday, November 10 (11:59 PM).
Wednesday, November 12: (Memorial 103) Scripts due at end of class.
Friday, November 14: (Memorial 103) Lab: Intro to shooting/editing video
Week 13: Career Exploration (cont.)
Monday, November 17: TBD
Wednesday, November 19: Teams working on production
Friday, November 21: (Memorial 103) Joint lab meeting unrelated to this project
Week 14: Career Exploration (cont.)
Monday, November 24: (Memorial 103) Film Screenings and Presentations
Second Projects due to Canvas by the end of the day on Tuesday, November 25 (11:59 PM).
Wednesday, November 26: No class!
Friday, November 28: No class!
Week 15: What does it mean to be an English major?
Monday, December 1: No In-Person class. See Details on Canvas.
Wednesday, December 3: No In-Person class. See Details on Canvas.
Friday, December 5: No In-Person class. See Details on Canvas.
Finals, Week 16
Our final class period will online, asynchronous. No In-Person class. See Details on Canvas.
We’ll be sharing our favorite projects from the semester and reflecting on the arc of the course. Individual reflections will be posted to WordPress, and I’ll ask you to talk through your Reflection during the Final Exam meeting. This is our final class conversation reflecting on the semester. (Treat each of the options below as Reflections posts; you may complete up to all three of these Reflections posts this week if you so choose. If you’d prefer not to talk during our Final Exam meeting, you can prepare an audio or video recording beforehand and put it in your post (60-90 seconds), or contact me for other presentation options.)
Before class, select one to three of the below. Your post(s) should include either 150-200 words of text or 1-2 minutes of audio, and should link back to the project being discussed or the PSU Habits of Mind page.
#1: Present via a new Weekly Post (can involve audio) your favorite project from the semester that you completed.
#2: Present via a new Weekly Post (can involve audio) your fav project someone ELSE completed this semester
#3: In a new weekly Post, Reflect on the PSU Habit of Mind “Integrated Perspective” and what you’ve learned on that front this semester: what have you learned from class readings, discussions, and assignments about “ the recognition that individual beliefs, ideas, and values are influenced by personal experience as well as multiple contextual factors—cultural, historical political, etc.”?
During our Final Exam period, we’ll go around and bring up one of each person’s post(s) in turn. You can choose to either talk through your post live or to play your prerecorded video.
All finalized posts and projects have a deadline of the end of the day on Thursday, December 11 (11:59 PM).
Sprockets and Springes 