First Day

Welcome to your English 2132H course! I hope this semester will be both fun and challenging for you! Your professor's name is Dr. Matthew Horton (that's me!), but you can call him Dr. H. I have high hopes that this semester will help you improve your skills as a college-level reader and writer.

Click on these icons and see what you can do! This course is about reading great literature, sure, but it is also about using technology to help you discover new possibilities. So some of your assignments will be PAPERLESS! This might be a little scary for some of you, but I assure you, the skills you'll learn will be just as important as effective reading and writing!



Also, go ahead and look through some of the most important resources on this course website:

Read the syllabus
Check the agenda
Using Google Drive

Additional resources are available by clicking the tabs across the top and various links in the right-hand margin. As much as you can, familiarize yourself with this course website. My contact info is in the right-hand margin at well, towards the top. Also, see the Facebook link? Visit our course page and "like" it!

Syllabus

Your Goals for this Course

• Learn methods for measuring the value of the American novel, especially in the 20th century. Learn about the intersection between appreciation, evaluation, and enjoyment.
• Explore how characters and situations in literature help us answer important questions:
  
  • How do we define human excellence?
  • In what ways do the standards of excellence shift and change?
  • What sorts of conflict between values give rise to ethical crisis?
• For each work of literature we study, ask the following questions:
  
  • What sorts of choices do characters or narrators make?
  • What sorts of values do characters or narrators defend?
  • What motivates them to make those choices or hold those beliefs?
  • Where does their confidence come from?
• Ask questions about how literature explores conflict and crisis.
• Perceive how ethical complexity makes literature compelling and memorable.
• Explore how ethical themes in literature can help us know our own ethics.
• Look beyond the simple moral message that literature appears to teach--morals are not ethics, though ethical thinking helps us fashion morals.
• Contemplate the meaning of the following concept: responsible reading.
• Demonstrate the skills above in short writing assignments.
• Learn to use various literary terms to discuss the assigned works.
• Take reading notes to records the details of your experience reading.

Calendar

Reading Notes for assigned readings are due at the beginning of class on their deadline days. Please do your quote responses in your Google Drive. Click on each agenda item to read details about the assignment, and please be aware that printing this calendar will hide the details for each item.

Readings

Required Readings

Almost all of the readings this semester will come from our purchased books. Check the calendar for page numbers and to know when we are reading each work. Additional reading assignments will be provided as needed. All reading assignments will be the basis for reading notes, quote responses, and engaging class discussions.

Featured authors:

• Kate Chopin (1850-1904)
• F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)
• Willa Cather (1873-1947)
• Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964)
• Cormac McCarthy (1933- )
• Tim O'Brien (1946- )

Assignments

• Discussions
• Reading Notes
• Quote Responses
• Reading Portfolio

Using Google Drive

Your quote responses this semester will be done on Google Drive. This online document creation and storage tool allows you to compose without any word processing software on your computer. The sharing feature allows you to collaborate with me and your classmates as you write your assignments. You can also comment and make suggestions on assignments shared with you.

In order for this tool to work for us, we will all have to cooperate, learn some new skills, and follow some rules. It might be a steep learning curve for some of you, but I think you'll be pleased with the results!

First, you'll need a Google account. If you have a Gmail account, then you already have a Google account, so all you need to do to get started is to sign in to Google Drive! If you don't have a Google account, the easiest way to start one is to sign up for Gmail! This link will allow you to designate a username for a Gmail account--I recommend using something like "LastName.FirstName" for your username.

Once you have your Google account, let me know the Gmail address you'll be using and sign in to Google Drive so that you can configure some things. If you need any help along the way, just let me know. We'll go over some of this in class also:

1. Edit your Google profile and make sure your display name is "LastName FirstName"
2. Create a folder called "Lastname.Firstname.2132H.Assignments.F13"
3. Share the folder with me and grant me "edit" privileges (I'll give you my sharing address during class)
4. Create a document in that folder called "Lastname.Firstname.My.Expectations.F13"
5. Share this document with everyone else in the class and grant them "comment" privileges (I'll provide everyone's sharing addresses once I have them all)
6. Now open this document and write a 300-word response about your expectations for this course this semester. What are you most looking forward to? What are you most afraid of?

As for the quote responses, I will explain in class how to do them, but the basic idea will be to create documents in your assignments folder and name them appropriately (LastName.FirstName.QR1.F13).