Dr. Paul Morris,
Office: Grubbs Hall 441, 235-4717
Summer Session, 2003 GH 301
Office Hours: 11-12 MTWThF and by appointment

Text(s)
Responding to Literature, Judith A. Stanford (3rd edition)
Additional stories, poems, etc. to be supplied by the instructor

Purpose and Class Objectives
The central purpose of the General Literature course is to enhance student critical thinking skills through writing and analysis of various literary genres.  The class will read and discuss a variety of literary texts (both traditional and non-traditional) and then interpret them through their own experience.  The objectives of the class are threefold: to make the analysis of texts more accessible to students; to give them a basic understanding of how to read texts critically; and to use writing about literature to enhance student critical thinking skills.

Grading Percentages
 

Daily Quizzes	40%
Final Examination	30%
Attendance/Class Participation	10%
Reading Journal	20%

Daily Quizzes (40%)
Students are responsible for all of the assigned readings. There will be daily quizzes on the literature that you read for the class.  Most of the quizzes will be open book. Except for cases where students have verifiable excuses (see Attendance), there will be no quiz make-ups.

Final Examination (30%)
Your final examination will be given on the last day of class.  This test will be an essay type exam covering a short story, an essay, and a poem.  We will discuss the final exam in more detail during the last week of class.

Attendance (10%)
Since this class is dependent upon class and small group discussion, it is essential that you attend class every day. Attendance is worth 10% of your class grade. You start out with an A for attendance. One (1) unverified absence lowers your grade to a B; two (2) lowers it to a C, three (3) lowers it to a D; and four (4) lowers it to an F.  Students who accumulate five or more unverified absences will be dropped from class.  Only verifiable (documented) excuses, such as a doctor's letter, bail receipt, funeral program, court notification, or a school letter. Absences related to jobs, car breakdowns, etc. are not valid excuses for missing this class.

Reading Journal (20%)
You will be required to keep a reading journal  for the class. The journal will be on 8"x11" paper. Your entries can be typed (one typed page equals two handwritten pages) or handwritten.  You will receive a grade for your journal based on the number of full pages in it: 9-11 handwritten pages is a C; 12-14 pages is a B; 15 or more pages is an A. I will assign enough journal entries to fulfill the C requirements.  Other entries will be based on your own ideas about and reactions to the literature. We'll talk more about reading journals in class, but your text has some excellent guidelines for keeping a reading journal (see page 11).  Journals will be collected on the last day of class.

June 3 T
Discuss class objectives, rules, and grading criteria
Introductions
Homework: Read Ch. 1 (pp. 1-11) & "Graduation in Stamps" (pp. 332-342)

June 4 W
Quiz and discuss readings
Homework: Read Ch. 2 (pp. 13-39), "London" (pp. 207-208), "In the Orchard" (pp. 209-210), & "The Red Convertible" (pp. 167-174)

June 5 Th
Quiz and discuss readings
Homework: Read Ch. 2 (pp. 39-53), "Salvation" (pp. 329-330) and "Cathedral" (pp. 527-538)

June 6 F
Quiz and discuss readings
Homework: Read Ch. 3 (pp. 55-66), "When I was one-and-twenty" (pg. 199), "In the Counselor's Waiting Room" (pg. 203),  "Mid-Term Break" (pg. 209), & "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" (pp. 385-94)

June 9 M
Quiz and discuss readings
Homework: Read Ch. 3 (pp. 67-81), "My Papa's Waltz" (pg. 843), "Incident" (pg. 200), & "Learning to Speak Like an American Girl" (pp. 1007-1010).  Write at least two handwritten pages about your own journey from innocence to experience. Relate it to the literature you've read for this class.  Bring it to class with you on Tuesday.

June 10 T
Discuss readings
Small groups for your innocence to experience stories
Homework:  "Two Eagles" (handout),  "The Cask of Amontillado" (pp. 1102-1107), & "Death Be Not Proud" (pg. 1143)

June 11 W
Quiz and discuss readings
Homework: "A Clean Well-Lighted Place" (pp. 1108-1111)(pg. 1149), "Richard Cory" (pg. 1148), and "To an Athlete Dying Young" (pg. 1148)

June 12 Th
Quiz and discuss readings
Homework: Read "To Hell with Dying" (pp. 1130-1134), & "The Wrath-bearing Tree" (pp. 1136-1142), and "On the Fear of Dying" (pp. 1178- 1184)

June 13 F
Quiz and discuss readings
Homework: Read "A Rose for Emily" and "Commentary" (pp. 1120-1129)" and "Castoff Skin" (pg. 1144). Write about your own experience with death (two handwritten pages or one page typed).  How did your feelings and responses compare with those depicted in several of the works in this chapter on death?  Try to use at least three of the readings that we've covered.

June 16 M
Quiz & discuss readings
Small groups
Homework: Read "The Hug" (pp. 709-10), "The Willing Mistress" (pg. 708), "The Storm" (pp. 665-69), & "To His Coy Mistress" (pp. 706-707).  Write two journal pages in response to #1 under "Connections: Men and Women" on page 787.

June 17 T
Quiz & discuss readings
Homework: Read  "Lot's Wife" (pg. 712), "Professions for Women" (pp. 779-83), & "Being a Man" (pp. 784-86) & "To me he seems like a god" (pg. 716).  Consider the various ways these readings define the roles of men and women.  Choose two of them to compare/contrast in two journal pages.

June 18 W
Quiz & discuss readings
Homework: Read Oedipus Rex (pp. 421-444)

June 19 Th
Quiz and discuss reading
Homework: Finish Oedipus Rex (pp. 444-463) and write a two-page journal entry on one the questions under "Considerations" on page 463.

June 20 F
Quiz and discuss reading
Homework: Read "A Good Man Is Hard to Find" (pp. 354-366), "Hard Rock Returns to Prison . . ." (pp. 414-15), and "A Victorian Hangman Tells His Love" (pp. 408-09)

June 23 M
Quiz and discuss reading
Homework: Read "The Judge's Wife" (pp. 396-402), "The Execution Ground" (pg. 418), and  "Hope" (pp. 1068-69)

June 24 T
Quiz and discuss reading
Homework: Read "The Black Cat" (pp. 346-353), "Giving Up the Gun" (pg. 483-490), and (to be announced)

June 25 W
Quiz and discuss reading
Final exam stories, poems, & essays

June 26 Th
Questions about Final Exam

June 27 F
Last day of class
Final Examination
Journals due