Syllabus
E3H Kopriva
General
Strictly speaking, this is not a syllabus but a general outline of what we will be doing in this course. Class time will be divided among literature, Writing Workshop, and Reading Workshop. Each of you will be working on assignments in all three areas, and, although you obviously will be working on only one of them at a time, there might be many different assignments you are juggling. The one thing that is constant is this: there is always an English assignment, even if it is one that you have created yourself.
In general (although not always) the weeks will divide as follows: Monday will be Reading Workshop; Friday will be Writing Workshop; other days will be for work on literature.
What You Need
In addition to required texts, you need a Writing Journal and a Reading Journal. The Writing Journal is a permanently-bound journal for keeping scraps of your thoughts and pieces of writing; I will give you a handout describing it. The Reading Journal is a spiral bound notebook or loose leaf binder (which is probably easier) for writing responses to and dialogues about literature.
You also should have a pocket folder or (preferably) a loose leaf binder for use as a class notebook and as a working portfolio for Writing Workshop. (This can obviously be the same binder you are using for Reading Workshop.)
On days not assigned to workshops, we will discuss the literature, which includes Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Macbeth, and The Theban Play, as well as a short story book and a poem book, handouts, and several optional novels or plays which we may read, including (among other things) Turn of the Screw, The Collector, Othello, and a collection of Ibsen plays.
We will discuss issues and techniques in these books, and you will be writing several major analytical pieces during the year as well as some quicker "overnight" papers. (The latter papers may always be turned in one day late if they are typed and spellchecked.) Some assignments will ask for your responses to the reading, and will be written directly into your Reading Journals.
Each week, on a designated day, we will have Writing Workshop. This will focus on individual student writing, and each of you will be working on pieces you have created. You will be drafting or redrafting pieces either in class or in the computer lab, or perhaps you will be conferring with me or a classmate for feedback on a piece in progress. You will decide when the piece is finished, but you should pay attention to feedback from all sources if you decide to include a piece in your portfolio.
The goal of the Workshop is to improve your writing and to make you more responsible for that improvement. You will work on pieces that are not "assigned"; that is, you choose the topic and form of the piece, whether it might be a personal response, a poem, a story, an essay, or even an analytical paper. You determine whether and to what degree to proceed with revision, but you should not simply abandon everything after a single draft.
In general, your work will proceed as follows:
You will begin writing something, possibly brainstorming it in conversation or clustering, possibly beginning as a journal piece or some other less structured piece of writing. If you decide you like apiece, you should type it into a computer and begin the workshop process, which involves bringing it to classmates and to me for formal conferences in which we will discuss ideas you or we have for revision. The word "revision" means to re-see; it doesn't mean to fix an error or two or even to add a paragraph. Early revisions might involve completely starting over with a new format or point of view, just to see where the piece would go. Eventually, you will decide how you want the piece to look and what form it will take.
Conferences with me will most likely be held outside of class time. I am available at specifically designated times and places; check the sign-up sheet and make an appointment. All pieces that are taken to multiple drafts on computer must involve conferences with me, and the pieces which find their way into a portfolio must have undergone at least two conferences with me.
How to use e-mail for conferences
Each Monday, we will have Reading Workshop.
First of all, the single most important thing you need to do on Monday is to come to class prepared to read; that means be sure you have your reading material ready when you get here!
Each Monday will begin in a different way. Sometimes we will start with a mini-lesson, most of which will probably be of the "let's introduce a genre or author" variety. I have tons of authors (short story writers, poets, novelists, essayists, etc.) to whom I can introduce you; feel free to suggest others. Sometimes the class will begin with a book discussion led by a student in the class. Other times the workshop session might revolve around a project that someone is trying to do. In any event, you can expect that the "pre-reading" part of the workshop will occupy us for at least the first ten or fifteen minutes of the day.
I am trying to establish a class library. If you have books to donate, please bring them in. We will have a book sign-out procedure very soon, if I can think of a good one that will work. Anyone may borrow a book for as long as it takes to read it, but please bring it back and don't hold onto it if you are not reading it.
The single most important assessment tool I am going to have in these workshops will be your written responses to the literature you are reading. Kept in the notebook or binder I mentioned earlier, these reflections will constitute the bulk of your grade for this element of the course. Once each month, instead of reading during the workshop time, we will devote the day to informal discussions in small groups and writing dialogues and reflections. You are expected to reflect frequently on the books that you read, and your reflections may take the form of self-analysis, letters to friends, or creative expression of concepts from the book. The goal should be to have at least one reflection each week and a minimum of one interactive reflection per month.
In your letters to each other, talk about what you have read. Tell what you noticed. Tell what you thought and felt and why. Tell what you liked and disliked and why. Tell how you read and why. Tell what these books, stories, essays, poems said and didn't say to you. Ask questions, make predictions, seek help. And write back about your ideas, feelings, experiences, and questions. Do not simply repeat the plot. The intention of these dialogues is not to tell others about this cool book you are reading; it is to give yourself a chance to think about what you read and how you approach it.
Note: One of the reasons that a binder is preferable to a spiral notebook is the fact that, occasionally, you will be writing letters, and letters require responses. Giving someone a small piece of your Reading Journal is better than giving them the entire journal, especially if their answers cannot be finished before the end of the period.
You may write letters and respond to letters both during and outside of reading workshop, and on reading days as well as reflection days.
Procedures:
· Please date your letters in the upper right-hand corner.
· Please mention the title of the piece you are discussing, and underline it (if it is a novel or play) or place it in quotes (if it is a poem or story). Feel free to abridge a subsequent reference to a title; this isn't a completely formal procedure.
· Please be sure that every letter or other reflection you write makes use of quotations from a book. This is the only rule we will have, but it must be followed. Try to punctuate those references correctly. (Don't worry: this will be the subject of a mini-lesson).
Final Reflection
When you complete a book, be sure to take the time to write a final reflection on it in some form. I will provide you with a sample reflection from the past, but you should adapt both your structure and the effort you put in to accurately reflect the kind of book you have read. (A Dean Koontz book might not occasion as much thought as a Tolstoy novel, for example.) Label this entry "Final Reflection on ___" and make sure it is in the binder when I collect it.
These pages copyright Karen Kopriva 2002;
all rights are reserved