English 545: Literature for Adolescents

Tues. & Thurs., 11:05 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.

Eisenhower 021

 

Professor Philip Nel.

Office Phone: 532-2165.   Office: 208 Denison Hall.

Office Hours: Tues., 2:00-4:00 p.m. & by appointment.

Virtual Office Hours: philnel@ksu.edu.

Website: www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/.

 

Syllabus last updated on Wednesday, August 16, 2006.

Required Texts:

• Laurie Halse Anderson, Speak.
• Lynda Barry, One Hundred Demons.
• Francesca Lia Block, Weetzie Bat.
• Francesca Lia Block, Baby Be-Bop.
• Sandra Cisneros, The House on Mango Street.
• Robert Cormier, The Chocolate War.
• Christopher Paul Curtis, Bud, Not Buddy.
• Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust.
• Robert Lipsyte, One Fat Summer.
• Walter Dean Myers, Monster.
• Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass.
• Tomás Rivera, …y no se lo tragó la tierra / …And the Earth Did Not Devour Him.
• J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye.
• Art Spiegelman, Maus I: My Father Bleeds History.
• Art Spiegelman, Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began.
• Virginia Euwer Wolff, True Believer.
• Class Pack for English 545 (available in EH 11).

 

Objectives:

        This class is designed to introduce you to a range of literature for adolescents (also known as young adult literature), and to develop your critical skills in reading literary and cultural works. We will study works that feature adolescent characters, depict experiences familiar to adolescents, and are taught to or read by adolescents. We will approach these works from a variety of critical perspectives (including formalist, psychoanalytic, queer theory, feminist, Marxist, historical, postcolonial, ecological) -- perspectives that many high schools want their teachers to know. In summary, this course will be about different kinds of literature read by young adults, approaches to thinking about this literature, and adolescence's relationship to power. As such, the course will be useful both to future teachers and to students fulfilling the General Education requirement.

        In this class, education will not be a passive experience: I expect discussion, debate, and exchanges of ideas. This requires that you not only be present but that you be an active presence.

 

Requirements: Paper | Quizzes | Class Participation and Attendance | Computing | Assignments

 

        Paper:

        The paper must: be typed (preferably word-processed) and double-spaced; include a title, your name, and the date; and have numbered pages that are stapled or paper-clipped together. Late papers will be penalized one grade (e.g., B+ to C+) for each day late.

        Sources: Use the MLA method for documenting sources. Don't plagiarize. When you turn in a paper, you pledge that you have faithfully abided by the guidelines for documenting sources -- most grammar handbooks provide guidelines for documentation. Always remember: you must cite the sources of any ideas that are not your own. If you quote, paraphrase, or use another's ideas, you must give credit to the person whose ideas you are using. If you have any questions, please ask. If you plagiarize, you will automatically fail this course. For more information on Kansas State University's Honor System, please visit <www.ksu.edu/honor>.

 

        Quizzes:

        Approximately 12 times during the semester, there'll be a quiz. Sometimes the quiz will be announced, and sometimes it won't. But it will always address the reading for that day. Because everyone can have a bad day, I'll drop the lowest quiz grade.

 

        Class Participation and Attendance:

        Read everything, and come to class prepared to talk about what you have read. On the first day of class discussion for each assignment, you must have finished the reading and be ready to discuss it. By "the reading," I mean all of the text assigned for that day. This class will be based on discussion, so class participation is expected, and will count for 20% of your final grade. Discussion will take place both in class, and out of it, via the Electronic Bulletin Board (explained below). I reserve the right to assign homework or in-class writing projects that are not listed on the syllabus.

        Class attendance is required. Since the class meets twice a week, you are granted two absences, but more than two will lower your final grade by one grade increment for each absence (e.g., B+ would become B). I appreciate your offering explanations for absences; however, the only way to excuse an absence is to provide me with an official letter from the dean. You cannot earn credit for work missed in class. If you miss class, it is your responsibility to discover what went on that day. "I didn't know because I wasn't in class" is never an acceptable excuse.

 

        Computing -- the Internet, the Electronic Bulletin Board, and Email:

        The Internet: For your reference, a hyperlinked version of this syllabus is on-line. Go to <www.ksu.edu/english/nelp/> and click on "Courses." I have linked authors' names to relevant webpages, listed web and library resources, and provided a link to the paper assignment.

        Electronic Bulletin Board: Post comments to the bulletin board once a week. An average posting should run about one or two paragraphs in length. In other words, your postings do not need to be long, but they must be substantive -- long enough to convey clearly the problem you are taking up and your point of view, connecting your comment to others' comments, as appropriate. I will monitor these discussions and assess a grade (at the end of the semester) based on the thoughtfulness of your comments, their ability to foster discussion among your classmates, and their responsiveness to both our readings and to your classmates' comments in class and on the bulletin board. You may respond to an existing thread of the conversation or initiate another; weekly postings will count towards your class participation grade. I may participate in these conversations, but I see the bulletin board primarily as a way for you to raise issues we haven't addressed -- or addressed fully or to your satisfaction -- during our regular class meetings. Though extra postings to the bulletin board will not automatically replace participation in our class discussions, regular contributions above and beyond your weekly posting can certainly improve your class participation grade.

        How to use the bulletin board:

1. First, click on this sentence. If you receive a message like "Authorization Failed. Retry?" then click on "Retry."
2. A window will pop up, asking for your username. Type engl545. (Be sure to use all lower-case letters.) Next, type in the password that I gave you in class.
3. To see all the messages posted to date starting with the newest ones first, click on "Preferences" and set the options to "12 months" and "Mixed Threaded, Reversed." Click on the "View Messages Index" button. You should be able to see all the messages posted to the threaded bulletin board. (If a grey box pops up with the title "Security Information," just click "OK.")
4. To post, choose to reply to a message or to post a new message. You will have to enter your name, your email address, and the subject of the message. You can preview your message before sending it; then, click "Post Message."

 

        Email: My email address is philnel@ksu.edu. Please use the subject line. Due to the increased volume of spam, messages without clear subject lines will be deleted unread. If you need help establishing an email account and learning to use email, please visit the Office of Telecommunications at 109 East Stadium or <www.telecom.ksu.edu/> to find out what you have to do. Although I do not require you to use email, I encourage you to use email as a way of touching base with me. You can write me with questions, send a thesis statement or outline for an essay, make an appointment to meet me in person, or do anything else that could be handled with a quick exchange of messages. I tend to check email several times a day, but please keep in mind that I am not on-line at all times. You can access email at the various computer labs around campus: 21 Nichols Hall, 22-25 Seaton Hall, 1-1A Dickens Hall, and 325 Justin Hall and in some residence halls (visit <http://rescomp.ksu.edu/info.htm> and scroll down to "Computing Labs" for more details about resident hall labs).