ENGL2390 Syllabus Sp15 Deb Moore

Syllabus SP15

Introduction to Drama ENGL2390

Instructor: Deb Moore CRN 28172: 12-12:50 MWF Irby 313

Email: CRN 28173: 2-2:50 MWF Irby 303Office Hours: MWF 9-10, 11-12, and 1-2

(other times by arrangement)

Office Location: Irby 428

Text & phone: 501-291-0433 (After 7 am but before 9 pm; please ID yourself).

About this Syllabus: The first and most important thing you should do as a student in this class is to make yourself familiar with this document. The course syllabus (for this course and for all the other courses you take) contains everything you need to know to be successful in class:

It details what you will be learning and when it will be covered.

It makes clear what is expected of you as a student.

It allows you to know what to expect of your instructor.

It outlines the organization of the course and when assignments are due.

It explains how grading will be accomplished.

It states the attendance requirements.

Course Focus: In this class, we will read, watch, discuss, and write about plays in a way that considers their formal elements (plot, characterization, setting, dialogue, music, movement) as well as its contexts and value (social, historical, aesthetic). We will build our base of knowledge collectively, through discussion, in both large and small groups.

Because our discussion will sometimes address complex and potentiallysensitive subjects that may be personal to some of us, it’s important to come to the conversation with an open mind, a willingness to listen and consider alternative points of view, and respect for one another, the playwrights, and the people represented in the plays.

Class meetings will consist of brief lecture, full-class and small-group discussion, and various other activities(student presentations, in-class writings, slide shows, video and audio recordings).

Catalog Entry:Satisfies the humanities requirement in the general education program. Students will learn to read plays carefully and analytically and be encouraged to see the ways drama both reflects and enhances our understanding of life. Lecture, discussion, writing. Prerequisite: None. Fall, spring.”

Text and Resources:By the beginning of week two, please have:

The Compact Bedford Introduction to Drama, 7th ed., by Lee A. Jacobus (2013). ISBN 9781457606335.

Access to a computer and printer.

An Engrade Account: (you will be given access credentials during the first week of class).

General Requirements:You are responsible for the material covered in the assigned readings on the day the reading is due. If you expect to miss class for university-sponsored events (choir, band, orchestra, debate, sports), please speak with me about it at the beginning of the semester. In addition, I ask that you:

Be sure I receive written official notification from your coach, director, or sponsor;

Submit an email reminder to me immediately before each absence;

Turn in assignments that come due during your absence on or before the due date, rather than after;

Check with another student to see what you’ve missed;

Be mindful of how important it is to be in class when you aren’t traveling.

Students will receive a paper copy of the syllabus and the course outline, but all other handouts will be posted online. The syllabus and course outline may change. The version appearing online supersedes all others.

Coursework:consists of daily work as assigned, one critical review, one presentation, two tests, and a final exam.

Daily Work (combined) 25%

Critical Review 15%

Presentation: 15%

Test One 15%

Test Two 15%

Final Exam15%

One Writing Center tutoring session is required for the Critical Review and Presentation assignments. You may use your tutoring session at any point during the drafting and revising process (brainstorming, revision, or editing) and as many times as you wish. There are a limited number of appointment slots, though, so please plan ahead and make your appointments early.To make an appointment, submit a paper for online tutoring, or to find out about drop-in hours, visit The Academic Success Center is also available to help you with all aspects of college work:

DAILY WORK: may be hand-written and may or may not be graded.Combined, daily work is worth 25% of the total grade.

Reader Responses: For each reading assignment, please write a one-page response to the text to be used in class discussion. Focus on the thoughts and questions you had when reading and that you would like to touch on in conversation with your peers. These may be hand-written, and won’t be accepted for grading unless you are also present for that day’s discussion. Late submissions are not accepted. Reader Responses may not be substituted for missed quizzes. Ten 100-point responses.

Quizzes:Expect quizzes on this material. Quizzes are administered at the beginning of class and cannot be made up if you are tardy or absent.

In-Class or Exploratory Writing: Freewriting in response to a prompt about the reading assignment. Freewriting cannot be made up if you are tardy or absent.

FORMAL WRITING:Critical Reviews, Class Presentations, and other major assignments are considered formal writing tasks and are to be typed in MLA format. Submit these assignments on their due date via the Turn In function of Engrade.

Critical Review:Attend a live theatre performance of John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt at the Bridges/Larson Theatre in the Snow Fine Arts Center on either February 12, 13, 19, or 20 at 7:30 pm or on February 14 @ 2:00 pm. Write a critical review of the production and turn it in (along with a ticket stub or selfie that proves your attendance at the play) by 8am on Monday, Mar 2.This 100-point assignment is worth 15% of the total grade.

Presentations: Research, write, and present to the class information concerning a specific entry from the timeline pages of your text, with the express purpose of placing the play in context and contributing to our understanding of the work. Students sign up for presentation slots during the first full week of class. To receive credit for your presentation, email a copy, along with an annotated bibliography to your instructor by 11:59 pm presentation day. Students who miss their own presentation may be given an alternate assignment, at the instructor’s discretion. This 100-point assignment is worth 15% of the total grade.

Exams: There will be a two tests and a final exam. Each is worth 15% of the total grade.

OTHER CONCERNS:Class discussion is an important part of this course. Please read and be prepared to discuss the material on the day that it is due. Bring the text of that day’s reading with you to each class. Students who come to class without the materials necessary to be a contributing member of the classroom community may be counted as absent.

Processing and paraphrasing information is essential to learning. Recent studies have shown that taking notes by way of a laptop results in shallower processing and decreased ability to answer conceptional questions. Therefore, I ask that you please take notes in longhand for this class.

It is generally accepted that students will need at least 2 hours of coursepreparation outside of class for every credit hour taken. For a three-hour course such as this one, you should plan to spend a minimum of six additional hours each week outside of class reading, thinking, and writing.

Assessment Methods:Grading standards will be included with individual assignment instructions.Papers that are plagiarized will earn a failing grade.

Grading:

90-100=A
80-89=B
70-79=C
60-69=D
59 and below=F

There are no extra credit opportunities. Grades are posted on (and calculated by) Engrade so you may know your grade at any time. You must meet with me in person to discuss a grade—to do so, wait 48 hours after the grade has been posted, but before 14 days have passed. I will not discuss grades via email.

Attendance: Punctual class attendance is mandatory. In addition to contributing to your understanding, in-class discussion, quizzes, and other in-class activities constitute a portion of your grade and cannot be made up if missed. In the event of unavoidable absence, please check with another class member to find out what you missed before returning to class.

There is no distinction between “excused and “unexcused” absences. Students who miss more than two weeks' worth of classes—i.e., six class meetings in a MWF course—and/or miss a week's worth of classes consecutively without contacting the instructor may be dropped for non-attendance and assigned a WF, WP, or W grade as appropriate.Any combination of three late arrivals or early departures will count as one absence.

I call roll every day. If you arrive to class late, I may have already counted you as absent. You should get with me after class is over to make sure that you get credit for having been in class. The roll book is the official record of attendance.

EASTER EGG:Write down a question about this syllabus and bring it with you to the second class meetingand you will earn 100 daily workpoints. (Not valid after the second class meeting.)

Late Work:Assignments are due at the beginning of class. Late assignments receive a whole letter grade reduction per calendar day and are accepted only with my prior approval. Be aware that I sometimes also request that a late essay be accompanied by a 500-word explanation, which will be graded for grammar and punctuation.

Class Etiquette:Please make an attempt to be completely present by setting your cell phone to silent or vibrate and putting it away. I respectfully ask that you not engage in text messaging during class time. Students who are unable to accommodate this simple request will be asked to leave and will be marked as absent.

Please do not sleep in class.

Students who exhibit disruptive behavior—that is, any behavior that interferes with my ability to conduct the class and foster student learning, or who exhibit behavior so outrageous as to severely impede the conduct of the class—may be dropped. Students dropped for disruptive behavior will be assigned a WF grade.

UCA Policies:Please take the time to familiarize yourself with all the academic policies in the Student Handbook.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY STATEMENT: The University of Central Arkansas affirms its commitment to academic integrity and expects all members of the university community to accept shared responsibility for maintaining academic integrity. Students in this course are subject to the provisions of the university's Academic Integrity Policy, approved by the Board of Trustees as Board Policy No. 709 on February 10, 2010, and published in the Student Handbook. Penalties for academic misconduct in this course may include a failing grade on an assignment, a failing grade in the course, or any other course-related sanction the instructor determines to be appropriate. Continued enrollment in this course affirms a student's acceptance of this university policy.

In this class, any student who turns in an assignment that includes a passage that has been either written for him or her by someone else for pay or as a favor or passages copied from a print or electronic source written by another author (even if some of the words have been changed), will immediately be dropped from the course and will receive a WF grade.

Any student who turns in a paper that has borrowed from other sources and fails to give complete and unambiguous credit to every source (e.g. quotation marks, in-text citations, or missing or incomplete bibliography), will receive a grade of 0 (zero) on that paper.

We will be discussing plagiarism in class to be sure you understand what it is and how to avoid it.

DISABILITY POLICY: The University of Central Arkansas adheres to the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. If you need an accommodation under this act due to a disability, contact the UCA Office of Disability Services at 450-3613.

EMERGENCY PROCEDURES: An Emergency Procedures Summary (EPS) for the building in which this class is held will be discussed during the first week of this course. EPS documents for most buildings on campus are availableat Every student should be familiar with emergency procedures for any campus building in which he or she spends time for classes or other purposes.

EVALUATIONS: Student evaluations of a course and its professor are a crucial element in helping faculty achieve excellence in the classroom and the institution in demonstrating that students are gaining knowledge. Students may evaluate courses they are taking starting on the Monday of the twelfth week of instruction through the end of finals week by logging in to myUCA and clicking on the Evals button on the top right.

HARASSMENT POLICY:Harassment by any faculty member, staff member, or student is a violation of both law and University policy and will not be tolerated. Please read the appropriate pages of your Student Handbook for the policies, definition, and procedures concerning harassment. If you have questions or concerns, please contact me or the chair of the department. Individuals who believe they have been subjected to harassment should report the incident promptly to their academic dean or to a departmental chair or directly to the university’s Affirmative Action officer, legal counsel or assistant vice president for human resources.

Title IX Disclosure: If a student discloses an act of sexual harassment, discrimination, assault, or other sexual misconduct to a faculty member (as it relates to “student-on-student” or “employee-on-student”), the faculty member cannot maintain complete confidentiality and is required to report the act and may be required to reveal the names of the parties involved. Any allegations made by a student may or may not trigger an investigation. Each situation differs and the obligation to conduct an investigation will depend on those specific set of circumstances. The determination to conduct an investigation will be made by the Title IX Coordinator. For further information, please visit: *Disclosure of sexual misconduct by a third party who is not a student and/or employee is also required if the misconduct occurs when the third party is a participant in a university-sponsored program, event, or activity.

SPECIAL PROBLEMS:If, during any point of the semester, you find that personal problems are keeping you from completing your course work, you may find it beneficial to visit the counseling center. All students are entitled to free, confidential, professional counseling. Please contact the University Counseling Center at 450-3138. They are located in the Student Health Center, suite 327.

Course Outline

Date / Day / Discussion / What’s Due (at the beginning of class)
Jan 9 / Friday / Class Overview/Introduction to the Course
Jan 12 / Monday / The Syllabus /
  • Read the syllabus.

Jan 14 / Wednesday / Writing Expectations for This Class /
  • Read about formatting your writing for this class:
Format
  • Read about how to build an Annotated Bibliography:

  • Read Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts”:

Jan 16 / Friday / Deadline to sign up for presentation subjects/dates
Jan 19 / Monday / MLK DAY—No Class
Jan 21 / Wednesday / Thinking about Drama /
  • Read Chapter 1.

Jan 23 / Friday /
  • Read “Writing a Review, p. 1080-1083
  • Read examples of Theatre Reviews:

Jan 26 / Monday / Doubt, film. 105 minutes /
  • Read: John Patrick Shanley, Doubt: A Parable p. 1017

Jan 28 / Wednesday
Jan 30 / Friday
Feb 2 / Monday / Greek Drama /
  • Read Text, pp. 30-39

Feb 4 / Wednesday /
  • Sophocles, Oedipus Rex (p. 41-66)
  • Commentaries, pp. 67-79

Feb 6 / Friday /
  • Watch Sir Tyrone Guthrie’s 1957 film:

Feb 9 / Monday / Roman Drama /
  • Read pp. 104-121

Feb 11 / Wednesday / Medieval Drama
Portland Community College, Performance, 2012:
/
  • Read pp. 122-132
  • Anonymous, Everyman (p.133-145)

Feb 13 / Friday
Feb 16 / Monday / Renaissance Drama /
  • Read pp. 146-158
  • Watch Calderon’s Life is a Dream:

Feb 18 / Wednesday / Michael Almereyda’s 2000 film adaptation, Hamlet
(112 minutes) /
  • Shakespeare, Hamlet, Prince of Denmark pp. 159-217
  • Commentaries, pp. 218-230

Feb 20 / Friday
Feb 23 / Monday
Feb 25 / Wednesday / Test One / Test One
Feb 27 / Friday / Late-Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Drama /
  • Read pp. 300-311

Mar 2 / Monday / Critical Review of Doubt due at 8am.
  • Read Moliere, Tartuffe, pp. 317-341
  • Commentaries, pp. 341-342
  • Watch Moliere’s Tartuffe:

Mar 4 / Wednesday / Nineteenth-Century Drama through the Turn of the Twentieth Century
BBC Version with Juliet Stevenson: /
  • Read p. 361-374
  • Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House, p. 375-408
  • Commentaries, pp. 409-413

Mar 6 / Friday
Mar 9 / Monday /
  • Anton Chekhov, The Cherry Orchard, pp. 465-489
  • Commentaries, p. 490-493
  • Watch:

Mar 11 / Wednesday / The Importance of Being Earnest, film, 2002
(94 minutes) /
  • Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, pp. 434-461
  • Commentary, pp. 462-4664

Mar 13 / Friday
Mar 16 / Monday / Drama in the Early and Mid-Twentieth Century /
  • Read pp. 494-510
  • Susan Glaspell, Trifles, pp. 511-513
  • Commentary pp. 520-521

Mar 18 / Wednesday / Trifles performance: /
  • Luigi Pirandello, Six Characters in Search of an Author, p. 522-548
  • Watch BBC Performance:

Mar 20 / Friday / Video Review:

Meryl Streep and the theater of war: /
  • Bertolt Brecht, Mother Courage and her Children p. 576
  • Commentaries p. 612 and 616

Mar 23 / Monday / Spring Break / Spring Break
Mar 25 / Wednesday / Spring Break / Spring Break
Mar 27 / Friday / Spring Break / Spring Break
Mar 30 / Monday / Test Two / Test Two
April 1 / Wednesday /
  • Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof p. 620
  • Commentaries pp. 661 and 663
  • Watch 1984 film:

April 3 / Friday / Contemporary Drama /
  • Read 812-833
  • Athod Fugard, Master Harold and the Boys p. 865
  • Commentary p. 887
  • Watch 1985 adaptation:

April 6 / Monday / Angels in America film /
  • Tony Kusner, Angels in America: Millenium Approaches p. 926
  • Commentary p. 961

April 8 / Wednesday
April 10 / Friday
April 13 / Monday
April 15 / Wednesday
April 17 / Friday
April 20 / Monday
April 22 / Wednesday
April 24 / Friday / Reading Day / No Class
April 29 / Wednesday / Final Exam for 28172 / 11am to 1pm
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May 1 / Friday / Final Exam for 28173 / 10am to 12pm
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This syllabus subject to change.