ENGLISH 2342 COURSE SYLLABUS:  Spring 2006                                                                            MCSHERRY

Instructor:  Kimberly McSherry. Phones:  713-718-6671 or  713-718-6625 (voice mail).

CRN /Course Day/Time:   27877 TR 8:30-10am  AND 67940  MW  4:00-5:30pm, both in room 315 FAC.  Office/Hours:  Room 206FAC/  MW 2:30-4:00pm; TR 7-8:30am  (Others  may be arranged)

E-mail:  kimberly.mcsherry@hccs.edu.

(** All pages for reading assignments are from Charters' The Story & Its Writer , 6^th edition and include biographical information about each author.  Please be prepared for unannounced in-class reading response quizzes on any day.  This syllabus is subject to change as “life happens”. )

SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS: 

WEEK 1:  January 16-January 20 (MONDAY is MLK Holiday)

Mon/Tues:          No Monday class; Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday

                                Introduce course and course content          Complete Student Questionnaire

Distribute class policies/guidelines, syllabus, Glossary of Terms, R.R. Guidelines 

Diagnostic Essay

Wed/Thurs:        Discuss handouts from last Wednesday; Class discussion:  Why Tell Stories?

                                **Thursday Only: Video (Joseph Campbell and “The First Storytellers”)

WEEK 2:  January 23-January 27

Mon/Tues:          Reading due:  1719-1730  (“Storytelling Before…”); 1731-38 ("A Brief History...") and 1739-42 ("The Elements of Fiction")

Introduce Elements of Fiction & Genre

Wed/Thurs:        Reading due: 1780-89 ("Glossary of Terms" – discuss handout); and 1752-1779  ("Writing About Short Stories") with emphasis on explication (1757), analysis (1760), and comparison/contrast (1763)

Complete discussion begun last class session; Discuss  Guidelines for Major Assignments

WEEK 3:  January 30-February 3

Mon/Tues:          Focus on Plot:  Reread 1739-42 (Plot); 1780-89 (Glossary of Terms for plot per list provided);  Reading due:  172-179 (Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge"); 483-

490 (Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily");  1490-91 (Faulkner’s  Commentary) and 1384-1394 (Wharton’s “Roman Fever”); and 321 and 326-328 (Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”)

Reading Response Option #1  (Focus on PLOT) (See Reading Response Guidelines provided on separate page before writing this response)

Wed/Thurs:        Complete discussion of Plot and stories from last class.

WEEK 4:  February 6-February 10

Mon/Tues:          Focus on Character; Reread 1742-44 (Character); 1780-89 (Glossary of Terms for character per list provided); Reading due:   1186 –1193 (Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado”); 423-426 (Danticat’s “Night Women”);  288-297   (Chekhov's "The Darling"); 1642-47 (Tolstoy’s and Welty's analyses of  Chekhov's “The Darling"); and 54 and 64-67 (Anderson’s “Hands”).

Reading Response Option #2  (Focus on CHARACTER)

Wed/Thurs:        Research Paper Topic/Anthology due today for approval

Complete discussion of readings from last class

Discuss Research Paper; Read 1770-1779 (remainder of Appendix 4)

WEEK 5:  February 13-February 17 

Mon/Tues:          Focus on Style, Voice, Language, Tone and Mood; Reading due: 1748 (Style and Voice); 1780-89 (Glossary of Terms as per list provided); 108-13  (Bambara's "The Lesson"); 838-40  (Kincaid's "Girl"); 1518 –19 (Commentary); 1206-1209 (Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart"); 1708-1711 (Reynolds’s Commentary); and  20-29 (Allen's "The Kugelmass Episode")

Reading Response Option #3 (Focus on STYLE, VOICE, ETC.)

Wed/Thurs:        Complete discussion of readings from last class

WEEK 6:  February 20-February 24  (MONDAY is Presidents’ Day Holiday)

Mon/Tues:          No Monday class today – President’s Day Holiday

                                Tuesday Only:  Video

Wed/Thurs:        Focus on Setting and Point of View;  Reading due: 1744-1748 (Setting and Point of View); 1780-89 (Glossary of Terms per list provided); 199-209 (Boyle’s “Friendly Skies”); 901-906 (Le Guin's "The Ones...Omelas"); 1524 –25 (Commentary) 728-736 (Jewett's "The White Heron"); and 1171-1175 (Ozick’s “The Shawl”).

Reading Response Option #4 (Focus on SETTING/POINT OF VIEW)

WEEK 7:  February 27-March 3

Mon/Tues:          Focus on Symbolism and Allegory; Reading due: 1749 (Symbolism and Allegory); 1780-89 (Glossary of Terms per list provided); 932-942 (Mansfield’s “Bliss”); 575-588 (Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper"); 1493-99 (two commentaries on “The … Wallpaper”); and 54-63 (Anderson's “Death in the Woods”).

                                Reading Response Option #5 (Focus on SYMBOLISM/ALLEGORY)

Wed/Thurs:        Complete discussion of readings from Monday

WEEK 8:  March 6-March 10

Mon/Tues:          Focus on Theme; Reading due:  1749-51 (Theme); 1780-89 (Glossary of Terms per list provided);  38-45 (Allison’s “River of Names”); 753-760 (Johnson’s “Menagerie, a Child’s Fable”);  701-708 (Jackson's "The Lottery"); 1506-8 (Related Commentary by Jackson)

                                Reading Response Option #6  (Focus on THEME)

Wed/Thurs:        Complete discussion of readings from Monday

Have a Wonderful Spring Break March 11 - March 19, 2006

WEEK 9: March 20-March 24

Mon/Tues:          Major Grade #1:  Midterm Exam – In-class Analysis of the Elements of Fiction

**Please read the following stories carefully giving serious thought to the elements of fiction in each.  They will be the basis for the essay options on the Midterm Exam today.

Reading due:  68-71 (Atwood’s “Happy Endings”); 262-277 (Cather’s “Paul’s Case”); 874 and 889-900 (Lawrence’s “The Rocking -Horse Winner”); and 1268-1276 (Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums”) 

Wed/Thurs:        Discussion of stories assigned for Midterm Analysis done on Monday

WEEK 10:   March 27-March 31

Mon/Tues:          Reading due:  1116-1153  (All 3 of Flannery O'Connor's stories - "Everything That Rises...",  "Good Country People",  and "A Good Man Is Hard to Find"); 1671-1689 (Related Commentaries of O’Connor, Pritchett, Brinkmeyer, McFarland, Booth, and Fitzgerald)

                                Reading Response Option #7 (Focus on O'Connor's Themes/Recurring Elements)

Analysis of one author's work as a model for research paper

Wed/Thurs:        Complete discussion of O’Connor’s body of work begun Monday; Research Paper Q & A

Weeks 11-15 of Syllabus will be completed based on student choices for research paper topic.

**PLEASE NOTE:  (1) All selections from this point on are subject to appearing on the final exam for this course.  (2) Students should be prepared to share research findings with the class on the day their author’s work is assigned.  This oral presentation/teaching will be given an “Instructor’s Choice” Grade.  

3) Students may not write a response to their own research topic author’s work.

WEEK 11:  April 3-April 7 

Mon:                      Thematic Emphasis on Sex, Love, Marriage and Infidelity-Reading  due:  427-438 (Diaz’s “The Sun, The Moon, The Stars”); 229-30 and 252-261 (Carver’s “What We Talk About ….Love”); 1622-23 (Saltzman’s Commentary); 646-650 (Hemmingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants”); 1268-1276 (REREAD Steinbeck’s “The Chrysanthemums”)

                                Students to share research findings:  S. Diallo, C. Watkins, J. Trevino

Reading Response Option #8  (Based on thematic emphasis assigned for today, excluding “The Chrysanthemums”)

Wed:                      Complete discussion of stories & student presentations begun on Monday

WEEK12:  April 10-April 14  (FRIDAY is  Easter Holiday)

Mon:                      Emphasis on Fantasy & The Supernatural-Fairy Tale, Fable, Myth & Magical Realism

Reading  due:  221-228 (Carter’s “The Company of Wolves”); 569-574  (Garcia Marquez’s “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings”); 679-691 (Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle”); 1545-47 (Nachtigal’s “Peter Klaus the Goatherd”); 1287-91 (Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”); 701-708 (REREAD Jackson’s “The Lottery”)

Students to share research findings:  S. Nos, G. Silva, A. Grantham, J. Everett, L. Russell

Reading Response Option #9 (Based on selections and emphasis due today, excluding “The Lottery”)

Wed:                      Complete discussion of stories and student presentations from Monday’ readings

Week 13:  April 17-April 221

Mon:                      Emphasis on Hispanic and Asian American   (Minority Women’s  Experience)

Readings due:  329-31 and Supplemental Handout (Cisneros’s excerpt from The House on Mango Street” and “Woman Hollering Creek”); 1277-86  (Amy Tan’s “Two Kinds”), 1437-41 (Yamamoto’s “Wilshire Bus”)

                                Students to share research findings:  J. Martinez, N. Truong, D. Worsham

Wed:                      Emphasis on the African-American Experience of Women Writers

Reading due:  651 and 664-73 (Hurston’s “Sweat”); 1359-66 (Walker’s “Everyday Use”) Supplemental Handout (Toomer’s “Fern”); 108-113  (REREAD Bambara’s “The Lesson”).

                                Students to share research findings:  N. Jimison, Y. Johnson, L. Idlebird, L. Campbell

**All remaining Research Papers due today

**Reading Response Option #10 is the last option for the semester.  Your may write this response to either Monday’s readings OR Wednesday’s readings and it will be due on that day prior to discussion of those works.   It should be based on the experience of the minority group of women emphasized on that day.

WEEK 14:   April 24-April 28

Mon:                      Emphasis on the African –American Experience of Male Writers

Reading  due:  83-106 (Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues”); 1426-36 (Wright’s “The Man Who… a Man”);

                                 Students to share research findings:  L. Reed, B. Stephenson

Wed:                      Emphasis on The Classics (Male Writers)

Reading due:  504-520 (Fitzgerald’s “Babylon Revisited”); 700-718 (Henry James’s “The Real Thing”); 20-29 (REREAD Allen’s “The Kugelmas Episode”).

                                Students to share research findings:  J. Alban, , D. Fernandez, R. Logan,

WEEK 15:  May 1-May 5 (Last day of instruction  is May 5)             

Mon:                      Emphasis on The Classics (Male Writers), cont.

Reading Due:  1342-47 (Updike’s  “A & P); 796 and 803-837 (Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”); 1588-91 (Updike’s Commentary on Kafka)

Students to share research findings:  D. Rivai  and C. Carrick

Wed:                      Final exam

An in-class exam to take place similar to the Midterm Exam, with several short essay choices to which to respond.  Options will be based on readings from Week 11-Week 15.

WEEK 16:   May 8-May 12  (Final Exam Week)

According to the Spring 2006 HCCS Schedule of  Classes , your Final Exam session for this course is

For MW 4pm class:          Wednesday, May 10, at 4:00pm in this room. 

For TR 8:30 am class:       Thursday, May 11, at 8:00 in this room.

**Students who have maintained an “A” average throughout the semester are exempt from the final exam, and will receive an “A” for the course.  If you are eligible for this exemption, you will be notified prior to the final exam.

The Final Exam is worth 10% of your final average.