College English I 1
English 10001: College English I
Tentative Syllabus
This is a tentative overview of what we will be doing in class each day of the semester. Parenthetical references to Seeing & Writingare pages in the McQuade/McQuade text; parenthetical references to Decisionsare pages in the Rosen handbook. Read each day’s assignments carefully, do any assigned writing, and come to class prepared to discuss what you have read and written. Assume that each class might include a quiz, short writing exercise, or workshop based on student writing. Any changes from this syllabus will be announced in class. In the unlikely event of a class cancellation, we will proceed with the syllabus; complete both assignments before the next class, and we will try to catch up.
August
M 28Introduction to the course. In class, we will review the syllabus, course goals, and texts. We will complete previous knowledge surveys and review the introduction of Seeing & Writing (xxix-lvi).
W 30Observing the ordinary. Read “Active, Critical Habits of Mind” (Decisions 1-7) and these sections from Seeing & Writing (2-19):
introduction to Chapter 1
photographs by Wolfgang Tillmans
Charles Demuth’s painting, The Figure 5 in Gold
William Carlos Williams’ poem, “The Great Figure”
Larry Woiwode’s essay, “Ode to an Orange”
Sequoia Citrus Association advertisement, “Have One”
photograph by William Eggleston
To prepare for our class discussion, consider the questions that follow each piece. Write your observations and questions in the margins of your text.
September
F 1Observing the ordinary. Read “Reading to understand/Writing a summary” (Decisions 8-9)andthese sections from Seeing & Writing (20-37):
“Changing Gears” series of advertisements
Linda Magyar’s essay, “A Turn of the SKU”
Neil Winokur’s photographs, Homage to Outerbridge
Nicholson Baker’s novel chapters, “Shoelaces”
To prepare for our class discussion, consider the questions that follow each piece. As a quiz for this class, send an e-mail message to the instructor, telling about an ordinary object that you have explored on the Web; send this message before coming to class.
M 4No class—Labor Day. If you can, take a roll of pictures that give an interesting perspective on something you or others do on this holiday. Try looking at usual things from a different perspective; play with the camera. See if you can frame a picture that will give a clear sense of a place, its characteristics, even its contradictions. The pictures you take may be interesting to use in one or more essays for this course.
W 6Observing the ordinary. Read these sections of Seeing & Writing (36-50):
“Seeing,” an essay by Annie Dillard
Alfred Leslie’s Television Moon
Jeff Koons’ New Hoover Convertible
In preparing for class, write out your answer to one of the questions asked about the Dillard essay (Seeing & Writing 48). In class, we will practice outlining (Decisions 29-30) and free writing (Decisions 22).
F 8Observing the ordinary. Read the “Seeing Is Believing” section (51-65), which includes these texts:
photographs by Arthur L. Fry, David Scharf, and Harold Edgerton
K.C. Cole’s essay, “A Matter of Scale”
“Tears of Wine,” an essay by Felice Frankel and George M. Whitesides
Chuck Close’s painting, April
To prepare for our discussion, bring in a photograph (clipped from an electronic source and printed, with citation noted) that shows the ordinary in an unusual way. This might mean showing only part of something. A good source would be the Science Photos site, available at < or you might try some of the links posted on the website for the Seeing & Writing text, available at < The first essay will be assigned in class, and we will practice a little with brainstorming (Decisions 20-22) and mapping (Decisions 23).
M 11Coming to terms with place. Read “Reading to evaluate/Writing an evaluation” (Decisions 9-14) and these sections from Seeing & Writing (68-85):
introduction to Chapter 2
Edward Hopper’s painting, House by the Railroad
Edward Hirsch’s poem, “Edward Hopper and the House by the Railroad (1925)”
David Graham’s photograph, Matthew Demo, Eldridge, New York
Eudora Welty’s essay, “The Little Store,” and the photograph and commentary that follow it
We will discuss the readings as well as your progress on the first essay. Bring in a photograph of a place that has significant meaning to you.
W 13Coming to terms with place. Read “Writing a Thesis” (Decisions 24-28) and these sections of Seeing & Writing (86-99):
Albert Bierstadt’s painting, Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains
John Pfahl’s photograph, Rancho Seco Nuclear Plant
David Guterson’s essay, “No Place Like Home”
Joel Sternfeld’s Lake Oswego, Oregon
Camilo Jos Vergara’s photographs
Come to class with three good questions you might ask about your own neighborhood or town, based on the reading you did for today. When you look around your neighborhood or town, what do you wonder about? What do you suppose a visitor might notice or wonder about? If you could give a snapshot (visual or verbal) of a moment that would define that place, what would it be?
F 15Coming to terms with place. Read “Writing a Draft” (Decisions 30-32), “Developing the Paragraph and the Paper” (Decisions 42-52), and these texts in Seeing & Writing (100-35):
Scott Russell Sanders’ essay, “Homeplace”
photograph, Image of Homelessness, by Mark Peterson
Richard Ford’s essay, “I Must Be Going”
images from Richard Misrach’s Desert Cantos
AT&T advertisement
Chang-rae Lee’s essay, “Coming Home Again”
Carmen Lomas Garza’s painting, Tamalada
Lucille Clifton’s poem, “When I Go Home”
Erica Jong’s definition of “home”
Tina Barney’s photograph, Family in Kitchen
Before coming to class, consider the views of home suggested in these essays and images. How are they similar to or different from your own ideas about home?
M 18Writers’ workshop: evaluating first drafts. Read “Revising a Draft” (Decisions 32-38). Bring two clean copies of the draft of your first paper to class. We will look at a sample essay together and then work in pairs/groups to evaluate the ways your ideas are taking shape.
W 20Writers’ workshop: editing later drafts. Read “Writing and Revising Paragraphs of Introduction and Conclusion” (Decisions 54-58). Bring two clean copies of your revised essay to class. We will review some of the most basic sentence and punctuation errors (Decisions 199-208), then edit these drafts in pairs/groups.
F 22Essay #1 is due at the beginning of class. In class, we will look together at the introduction to Chapter 3 (Seeing & Writing 138-47), Frank Fournier’s photograph, Omayra Sanchez, and Isabel Allende’s essay, “Omayra Sanchez.”
M 25Capturing memorable moments. Read these sections of Seeing & Writing (148-65):
Judy Budnitz’ story, “Park Bench”
“Some Enchanted Evening” series of photographs
Dorothy Allison’s essay, “This Is Our World”
Nick Ut’s photograph, Children Fleeing a Napalm Strike, Vietnam, 1972
In addition to your careful reading of these texts, bring to class two photographs that capture memorable moments, one that is personal and one with more universal significance. These can be personal photographs or some you found in magazines or on the Internet. Are there photographs that define a certain part of your identity (ethnicity, age, geographical region, gender, race)?
W 27Capturing memorable moments. Read “Reading to synthesize/Writing a synthesis” (Decisions 14-16) and these sections of Seeing & Writing (166-80):
Andrew Savulich’s “spot news” photographs
Sports Illustrated photograph of Michael Jordan, The Man/The Shot
Don DeLillo’s essay, “Videotape”
still photographs from the videotape of the Rodney King beating
Lauren Greenfield’s photo, Ashleigh, 13, with Her Friend and Parents
Be sure to fill your margins with what you notice, what you interpret in your readings of these texts.
F 29Capturing memorable moments. Read “Quotation Marks” (Decisions 282-89) and these sections from Seeing & Writing (181-93):
Susan Sontag’s essay, “On Photography”
Ethan Canin’s short story, “Viewfinder”
Duane Hanson’s sculpture, Tourists
M. Scott Momaday’s essay, “The Photograph”
advertisement: “Keep the Story with a KODAK”
Catherine Wagner’s photograph, Monica and Jack P
Martin Parr’s photograph, Kalkan, Turkey
In class, we will practice synthesizing and using quotations.
October
M 2Figuring the body. Read these sections from Seeing & Writing (196-205):
introduction to Chapter 4
Mario Testina’s photographs, Doubles and Shalom and Linda
Phillip Lopate’s “Portrait of My Body”
John Coplans’ photograph, Portrait of My Back and Hands
In class, we will discuss the assigned reading as well as the topics and process for the second essay.
W 4Figuring the body. Read these sections from Seeing & Writing (206-25):
Kiki Smith’s sculpture, Kiki
Judith Ortiz Cofer’s essay, “The Story of My Body”
portfolio of photographs by Annie Leibovitz
Bruce Bower’s article, “Average Attractions”
Bring to class the photograph of a body that you will be analyzing for the second essay. Be prepared to discuss it with the members of your group in terms of the reading you have done about capturing moments and about figuring the body.
F 6Figuring the body. Read these sections from Seeing & Writing (226-43):
advertisements: “Building the Male Body”
photographs of Cindy Jackson
Marge Piercy’s poem, “Imaging”
collages by Barb Kruger and Christian Marclay
Susan Bordo’s essay, “Never Just Pictures”
The Body Shop’s “anti-model,” Ruby
In class, we will discuss these selections and your progress on the second essay. Bring a copy of your working thesis statement and your map/outline to class.
M 9Figuring the body. Read the “Fashioning an Identity” section of Seeing & Writing (245-55), which includes these selections:
Greg Gibson’s photographs of Bill Clinton
Natalie Kusz’ essay, “Ring Leader”
Lynn Johnson’s photograph, Nose Piercing
Yasumasa Morimura’s photograph, Transformers, Madonna and Michael Jackson
In class, we will discuss these selections and your organization of the second essay.
W 11Writers’ workshop: evaluating for logical development and convincing detail. Bring two clean copies of your best draft of the second essay to class. We will work in pairs/groups to evaluate the structure of your analysis and your use of persuasive detail.
F 13Essay #2 is due at the beginning of class. In class, we will discuss the introduction to Chapter 5, Robert Mapplethorpe’s self-portraits, Jamaica Kincaid’s story, “Girl,” and William H. Johnson’s painting, Li’l Sis.
M 16Engendering difference. Read these selections in Seeing & Writing (268-89), and write a summary on Angier’s article to be turned in as a quiz:
Mavis Hara’s story, “Carnival Queen”
Donna Ferrato’s photograph, Operation Desert Storm
Natalie Angier’s article, “Men, Women, Sex, and Darwin”
Robert Mankoff’s cartoon from The New Yorker
W 18Engendering difference. Read these selections in Seeing & Writing (290-312):
series of advertisements, “Women Join the Cause”
Rockport advertisement, “I’m Comfortable Being a Man”
Daphne Scholinski’s essay, “The Last Time I Wore a Dress”
Nancy Burson’s photographs, He/She Series
Daniel R. Harris’ essay, “Effeminacy”
Marilyn Manson’s album cover for Mechanical Animals
Be prepared, after these readings, to discuss the social constructions of masculinity and femininity, as well as the way visual images complicate or clarify these constructions.
F 20Engendering difference. Read the “Gender Training” section from Seeing & Writing (313-23), which includes these texts:
Linda Carter as Wonder Woman
Dana Lixenberg’s photograph, Practice Makes Perfect
Katha Pollitt’s essay, “Why Boys Don’t Play with Dolls”
Art Spiegelman’s cartoon, “Nature vs. Nurture”
Desmond Morris’ photograph from The Human Animal
Jenny Holzer’s photograph, Raise Boys and Girls the Same Way
We will discuss these texts in detail in class, along with strategies for revising essays.
M 23Constructing race. Read these sections from Chapter 6 of Seeing & Writing (326-37):
introduction to “Constructing Race”
Time magazine chart, “The New Face of America”
Charles Moore’s photograph, Jets of Water Blast Civil Rights Demonstrators, Birmingham, 1963
Rev. Jesse Jackson’s essay, “Jets of Water Blast Civil Rights Demonstrators, Birmingham, 1963”
We will discuss these readings and the third paper in class. Before coming to class, consider the ways that your own attitudes toward race (your own and others’) were shaped.
W 25Constructing race. Read these sections of Seeing & Writing (338-61):
Gish Jen’s story, “What Means Switch”
Portfolio by Tibor Kalman
Patricia J. Williams’ article, “Ethnic Hash”
Oliviero Toscani’s photograph, Tongues, for Benetton
In class, we will discuss these texts as well as your progress on the third paper. Be prepared to explain the subject of your essay in class.
F 27Constructing race. Because the instructor will be at a conference this day, meet in the computer lab to complete the Re: Searching the Web activities explained on page 376 of Seeing & Writing. A good starting place might be the resource links provided on the website for the Seeing & Writing text, available at < Read these sections of Seeing & Writing before coming to class:
Roberto Fernandez’ story, “Wrong Channel”
series of images, “Reel Native Americans”
Donnell Alexander’s essay, “Cool Like Me”
For a quiz grade, send an e-mail message to the instructor describes and evaluates the website you choose: what is it like? What is its apparent purpose? For whom is it written? How does it construct racial identity? How accessible is it for those of different races?
M 30Constructing race. Read these texts in Seeing & Writing (372-95):
Larry Fisher’s photograph, The Acquittal of O.J. Simpson
Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Defining White”
Bonnie Kae Grover’s essay, “Growing Up White in America?”
Consuelo Kanaga’s photograph, Hands
W.E.B. DuBois’ essay, “Double Consciousness”
George Catlin’s painting, Pigeon’s Egg Head
Guillermo Gmez-Pea’s photograph
James McBride’s essay, “What Color Is Jesus?”
Charlie Chan film poster
Bring a working thesis statement for the third essay to class. We will discuss these along with our connections among the assigned texts.
November
W 1Writers’ workshop. Bring two copies of your most recent draft of the third paper. We will have opportunities for peer editing, as well as a discussion of integrating quotations and using colons, dashes, and apostrophes.
F 3Writers’ workshop. The instructor will be at a conference, but staff from the Writing Center will lead a workshop on revising essays. Bring two copies of your almost-finished draft of the third paper to class.
M 6Paper #3 is due at the beginning of class. In class, we will begin our discussion of icons by looking together at the introduction to Chapter 7 of Seeing & Writing (398-405), including the Mercedes-Benz advertisement, What Makes a Symbol Endure?; the poem, “The Death of Marilyn Monroe,” by Sharon Olds; and Sam Shaw’s photograph, Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell in The Seven Year Itch, 1955.
W 8Reading icons. Read these selections from Seeing & Writing (406-21):
Russell Baker’s essay, “Icon Epidemic Rages”
portfolio of five works by Andy Warhol
Holly Brubach’s article, “Heroine Worship: The Age of the Female Icon”
photograph of Lizzy Gardiner
Paul Rand’s essay, “Logos, Flags, and Escutcheons”
Following the instructions and questions explained in the “Talking Pictures” section on page 421 of Seeing & Writing, watch a half hour of television, keeping track of the logos you see both in the program and in the advertisements. Choose one that you are prepared to discuss in class, asking yourself the questions in the text.
F 10Reading icons. Read these selections from Seeing & Writing (422-31):
Adbusters image and spoof article, “Branding”
images of Betty Crocker
Aaron Betsky’s essay, “An Emblem of Crisis Made the World See the Body Anew”
photographs of Madonna
logos from Indigestion, an interactive video performance by Diller + Scofidio
In class we will discuss these texts in detail, along with other icons. Brainstorm a list of people (besides Madonna) who might be considered cultural icons. Bring an issue of a popular magazine (any kind) to class, and we’ll play with writing our own “subvertisements” and creating icons of our own.
M 13Reading icons. Read these texts in “The Stars and Stripes” section of Seeing & Writing (437-49):
Justice William J. Brennan, Jr.’s “Majority Opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in Texas v. Johnson (1989)”
Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist’s “Dissenting Opinion in Texas v. Johnson (1989)”
Matt Groening’s cartoon, “Life in Hell”
Gordon Parks’ photograph, American Gothic
Jasper Johns’ painting, Three Flags
David Hammons’ painting, African-American Flag, 1990
Try developing your own flag for the United States, and bring a sketch or computer-generated image to class. Let the flag you develop convey in some way your opinion or perspective. We will discuss these in light of the images and opinions you read for today.
W 15Writing in the age of the image. Read these sections in Seeing & Writing (452-61):
introduction to Chapter 8
Barbara Kruger’s piece, “Untitled”
Robert Pinsky’s poem, “On Television”
frame from Matt Groening’s The Simpsons
In class we will discuss these texts and the fourth paper. Try to think of examples of television shows (besides The Simpsons ) that seem to criticize television. If you have clips on video, bring them to class.
F 17Writing in the age of the image. Read these selections in Seeing & Writing (462-75):
Todd Gitlin’s article, “The Liberal Arts in an Age of Info-Glut”
pages of Time magazine
Michael Rock’s article, “Since When Did USA Today Become the National Design Ideal?”
David Carson’s portfolio from Ray Gun
Be prepared to explain the subject and argument of your fourth essay in class.
M 20Writing in the age of the image. Read these sections of Seeing & Writing (476-97):
Steve Wolfe’s photograph, Untitled (Unread Books #1), 1990
Sven Birkerts’ article, “The Fate of the Book”
Frames from the pop-up video of Donna Summer’s “She Works Hard for the Money”
Steven Johnson’s essay, “Links”
Prepare a map/outline of your argument for the fourth essay, and bring this to class. List any questions you have at this point about how to proceed with this assignment.
W 22Writing in the age of the image. Read these texts in “The Ethics of Representation” section of Seeing & Writing (499-509):
Mitchell Stephens’ essay, “Expanding the Language of Photographs”
photograph, Cedar Bark Weaving by Kwakiutl Woman