American Literature 1800-1915 (EL266) http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/ Dennis G. Jerz, Fall 2010, Seton Hill University en Copyright 2011 Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:23:50 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Blog Portfolio 2
As before, if you have kept up with your blogging, this assignment will be a relatively straightforward operation. If you have some catching up to do, here is your opportunity to do so.

My intention is that preparing your blog portfolio, revisiting past entries, filling in the gaps in your own written responses, and participating in follow-up conversations with your peers will be a useful review for your final.
]]> http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/12/blog_portfolio_2/ http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/12/blog_portfolio_2/ due_dates Wed, 08 Dec 2010 20:23:50 -0500 Final Exam http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/12/final_exam_1/ http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/12/final_exam_1/ due_dates Wed, 08 Dec 2010 18:00:00 -0500 Paper 2 Revision http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/12/paper_2_revision/ http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/12/paper_2_revision/ due_dates Mon, 06 Dec 2010 15:00:00 -0500 Paper 2: Draft http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/12/paper_2_draft/ http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/12/paper_2_draft/ due_dates Wed, 01 Dec 2010 22:05:00 -0500 Presentations and Exam Review Optional: Submit a 3x5 index card of notes. (I will hand it back to you along with the exam. No other notes are permitted for the exam.) http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/12/presentations_and_exam_review/ http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/12/presentations_and_exam_review/ class_topics Wed, 01 Dec 2010 22:00:00 -0500 Ex 6: Creative Critical Response
In the past, students have written their own fiction or poetry, that responds to the literary works we have studied. They have written and performed songs (in person and via YouTube).  For example, Katie Lantz wrote a song and posted it to YouTube, synthesizing and commenting on the whole semester.




I'm completely open to whatever you want to try.

Recently, two students performed interpretive dances, wordlessly acting out key scenes from literary works. Rather than simply summarizing, they performed the same scenes in different ways, highlighting the different emotional possibilities within the text.

A shy student brought in a yellow piece of poster board, stood behind it, and delivered a monologue in the persona of the wall from The Yellow Wallpaper.

Be ambitious. Be interesting. Be surprising. Be interactive.

Evaluation Criteria

  1. Length: Seven minutes. (I will cut you off at eight minutes. If you join with a classmate, you will share 15 minutes.)
  2. Goal Statement: One page, typed. What intellectual task are you trying to accomplish for your classmates, and how are your creative choices helping them to achieve that goal? (Hand it to me before you begin.)
  3. Ambition: where does your presentation show an element of calculated risk-taking?
  4. Interaction: how did you engage your peers, giving them the chance to participate in the experience?


]]> http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/12/ex_6/ http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/12/ex_6/ due_dates Wed, 01 Dec 2010 18:00:00 -0500 Thanskgiving Break http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/thanskgiving_break/ http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/thanskgiving_break/ news Wed, 24 Nov 2010 22:00:00 -0500 Podcast Reflection

Assignment: Listen to and blog about two podcasts -- the ones above and below your names. (Valerie and Alexi, please listen to each other's podcasts.)

You can create a single blog entry. Submit it by posting the URL in a comment from this page.
]]> http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/podcast_gallery/ http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/podcast_gallery/ due_dates Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:49:47 -0500 How To Read Literature… Envoi (pp. 278-81) http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/how_to_read_literature_8/ http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/how_to_read_literature_8/ readings Wed, 17 Nov 2010 22:45:00 -0500 Paper Workshop & Consultations http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/paper_workshop_consultations/ http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/paper_workshop_consultations/ class_topics Wed, 17 Nov 2010 22:00:00 -0500 Ex 5: Interpretive Podcast
Depending on your speaking rate, 3 minutes will be about 500 words, or about two double-spaced pages. That could mean a scene from a work of fiction, part of a longer poem, or several short poems.

Submit your file by e-mailing it to me. (I suggest that you practice sending me a file sooner, so that we can be sure I can open it.)

Audio recording

You may use any tool, including Evernote on your iPad, Garage Band on your Mac, or Sound Recorder on a Windows machine. (If you bring your own laptop to my office hour, I will do what I can to help you, but the IT department has a small podcasting studio, that you can reserve in order to record your podcast with the help of a CIT work-study student.)

General microphone tips:
  • The microphone in your iPad has been good enough for in-class activities, but I encourage you to use better equipment. (The SHU laptops have an excellent microphone, and I have a few I can loan you.)
  • Rather than shout into the microphone, get your mouth a few inches away from it and speak clearly but normally.
  • Avoid blowing into the microphone when you say words with "p" or "t," or you'll get a distracting popping sound. 

Audio quality:
  • Excellent: speaker's voice is clear; no dead space before or after the recording; no distracting background noises (papers shuffling, chairs squeaking) or static; volume levels are steady (and strong) throughout; no distortions or "popping" (which comes from blowing on the microphone when you say a word like "pop").
  • Acceptable: speaker's voice is audible; minimal dead spaces (no more than what anyone would tolerate in a conversation); any distortions, background noises or volume changes don't detract from the ability to hear the speaker
  • Weak: dead time (longer than we would ordinarily tolerate in a conversation); distracting background noises; voice is distorted (from speaking too loud, too close to the microphone) or too quiet (from speaking too far away from the microphone).
If you do choose to add any background sound or music -- and doing so is completely optional -- make sure that the speaker's voice is always dominant. (Strumming a guitar live can drown out your voice if you aren't careful... make sure the mic is close to your mouth, and far from your guitar.)
 
Reading from literary works

How can you use your voice to convey meaning? You can get louder or softer; you can speed up or slow down. If you listen closely, you can tell over the phone when someone is smiling, and if someone you're talking to suddenly stops talking, even a brief silence can be effective.


Literary argument

Apply what you learned from writing the 200-word paragraphs. Refer also to the "Academic Tone" handout, for tips on how to move from personal statements like "I like Hester better than Dimmesdale" to an analytical argument, such as "Hawthorne uses Dimmesdale's many weaknesses in order to highlight Hester's strengths. In fact, if Hawthorne had made Dimmesdale had been a stronger man, he would have not created the trials that made Hester such a believably strong character."

An interpretation offers an opinion, supported by evidence.

]]> http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/ex_5_interpretive_podcast/ http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/ex_5_interpretive_podcast/ due_dates Mon, 15 Nov 2010 22:05:00 -0500 Online pre-discussion
About 150 words, uploaded to Turnitin.com by 5pm.

Where do you see FACTS, OPINIONS, and JUDGMENTS in your academic source?

How does your author use sources? (How long are the quotes, to what extent do they summarize, what purpose do they serve?)]]> http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/online_pre-discussion_1/ http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/online_pre-discussion_1/ due_dates Mon, 15 Nov 2010 17:00:00 -0500 TBA (An argument that relies upon academic sources.) http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/tba_1/ http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/tba_1/ readings Mon, 15 Nov 2010 15:00:00 -0500 How To Read Literature… Chapters 22-24 http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/how_to_read_literature_7/ http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/how_to_read_literature_7/ readings Wed, 10 Nov 2010 23:30:00 -0500 Uncle Tom's Cabin
Please note: I am not assigning the novel. Instead, I am assigning a script of a theatrical adaptation. Reading a play script really requires you to play the role of the director and the actor. The playwright will sometimes throw in a stage direction such as "bitterly" to explain how the actor should deliver the line, but each speech is written to be spoken aloud, with the benefit of costumes, sound effects, and scenery.

Reading a Play Script

One entire act of this play is taken up with nothing but the following stage direction.
[The entire depth of stage, representing the Ohio River filled with Floating Ice. Set bank on right and in front. Eliza appears, with Harry, on a cake of ice, and floats slowly across to left. Haley, Loker, and Marks, on bank right, observing. Phineas on opposite shore.]
When you read that, you might think, "big deal."

Here's a brief bit of business from the script of Star Wars.

INTERIOR: DARTH VADER'S COCKPIT.

VADER: The Force is strong with this one!

EXTERIOR: SURFACE OF THE DEATH STAR.

Vader follows Luke's X-wing down the trench.

INTERIOR: LUKE'S X-WING -- COCKPIT.

Luke looks to the targeting device, then away as he hears
Ben's voice.

BEN'S VOICE: Luke, trust me.
A whole team of technical and creative people put a lot of effort into turning those few lines into an intense character-defining moment, in the middle of a heart-stopping action sequence.

Your job, as you read a play script, is to try to supply mental images of the scenery, costumes, facial expressions, tone of voice, and actions of the performers, turning a few lines of dialogue into a visual and kinetic experience.

If you've ever seen a live production of Peter Pan, even though you can see the wires, the sight of actors flying around on stage right in front of you is very powerful.  And even though you know the actors aren't really hurting each other, watching people punch each other and roll around on the floor, slamming into furniture or pulling hair is a very different experience from reading "A fight breaks out." 

Typically, audiences would applaud sudden scene changes, or stage effects such as snowstorms, gun battles, people jumping down great distances or climbing up great heights, pieces of scenery being raised or lowered dramatically, and so forth.

As you read, look for long stage directions, and really slow down and imagine how a live production would make that sequence emotionally interesting for the audience.


You can find the full text here:

Aiken's adaptation of Uncle Tom's Cabin (Full Text)   | Table of Contents


]]> http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/uncle_toms_cabin/ http://jerz.setonhill.edu/EL266/2010/11/uncle_toms_cabin/ readings Wed, 10 Nov 2010 22:30:00 -0500