English 2, Critical Thinking and Literature, Section 1795Spring 2007
Instructor: Karin B. Costello
Time and Place: 8-9:20 TuTh in LA 200
Office Hours: MTuWTh 7:30-8 a.m. in LA 200 (by appointment only)
MTu 11-12 in 309A Drescher (drop in)
Contact information: Phone (310) 434-4543; email
The Course: English 2 teaches you to analyze, understand, appreciate and write about literature in the short story, poetry, drama, and essay forms. It develops your critical thinking skills. It hopes to show meaningful connections between literature and both society and your individual life.
Required Text: Schilb and Clifford, Making Arguments about Literature: A Compact Guide and Anthology. Bedford/St, Martin’s, 2005. ISBN 0-312-43147-3
Class policies and advice:
Bring your book to class every day.
Take notes in class and while reading outside of class.
Ask questions. There are no stupid questions.
Participate in class discussion. Don’t worry about being ‘right’ or ‘wrong.’
Read the assigned material at least once before it is discussed in class.
Attend regularly and arrive on time. Multiple absences and tardies will lower your grade.
Late work is penalized. If you need an extension on a due date, see me before the work is due to request an extension.
Form study groups. Seek help from the Humanities Tutoring Center and me.
Abide by the SMC Academic Honesty Code. Plagiarism or cheating results in a failing grade in the class and a report to the campus disciplinarian.
Assignments, Due dates, Grades:
Discuss your ideas with me and with your classmates before you write. Write several drafts. Don’t procrastinate. I allow re-writes after a grade has been given ONLY occasionally, and then only if your original work shows evidence of your having made a serious effort to complete the assignment. WARNING: Work that shows little care in thought or presentation (grammar, spelling, etc.) will be returned without any grade, must be redone, and cannot earn higher than a “C” grade. I do not offer ‘extra credit.’
100 points Unscheduled in-class quizzes on assigned reading.
Thursday, March 1: 100 points In-class essay on short stories
Thursday, March 15: 200 points Paper on short stories
Thursday, March 29: 100 points In-class essay on poetry
Thursday, April 5: 100 points Paper on poetry
Thursday, April 26: 100 points In-class essay on drama
Thursday, May 24: 200 points Paper on drama
Date to be announced: 100 points Final examination on assigned Essays
A = 900-1,000 pts; B = 800-899 pts; C = 700-799 pts; D = 600-699 pts; F = 0-599 pts.
Weekly Schedule:
Week 1 February 13 Introduction to the class and to literary terminology.
Discuss Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour, “ (574) and Tillie Olsen’s“I Stand
Here Ironing” (232)
Week 2, February 20 Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” (247) and Edgar Allen Poe’s “The
Cask of Amontillado” (274)
Week 3, February 27 Andre Dubus’s “Killings” (290)
Thursday, March 1: In-class essay on short stories.
Week 4, March 6 Raymond Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About
Love” (560), Bharati Mukherjee’s “The Management of Grief” (618)
Week 5, March 13 Discuss paper topics.
Thursday, March 15: Paper on short stories is due.
Week 6, March 20 Discuss Poetry: “Reconciling with Fathers” (321-326)
Week 7, March 27 “Responding to Teachers” (327-334)
Thursday, March 29: in-class essay on poems.
Week 8, April 3 Discuss Frost’s “Mending Wall” (684), Heaney’s “Punishment,” (688),
Kumin’s “Woodchucks” (697), & Stafford’s “Traveling Through the Dark” (724)
Thursday, April 5: Paper on poems due.
Spring Break: April 9-13
Week 9, April 17 Discuss Sophocles’ Antigone (733)
Week 10, April 24 Antigone
Thursday, April 26: in-class essay on Antigone
Week 11, May 1 Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (771)
Week 12, May 8 Hamlet
Week 13, May 15 Hamlet
Week 14, May 22 Discuss papers on Hamlet
Thursday, May 24: paper on Hamlet due.
Week 15, May 29 Discuss bell hooks’ “Inspired Eccentricity” (880) and
N. Scott Momaday’s “The Way to Rainy Mountain” (899)
Week 16 Final Examination Period