Welcome to Humanities Literature seminar! I am excited to spend the semester with you discussing the literature I love. This semester, we will read works of Western literature that span some four thousand years (2000 BCE to 1600 CE). It is our challenge to read, analyze, discuss and share observations and ideas about these works to better understand the people who produced them and consequently to better understand ourselves and our own culture. Most of these works grapple with what I like to call The Big Questions – those ontological* questions that all human beings face, both at an individual and a cultural level. Here are some of the major themes we will be discussing this semester, both in literature and the other disciplines:
1. How should men ideally conduct themselves on this earth? How should women?
2. What is the nature of the divine, and what is the relationship between the divine and humankind?
3. What is the best way to order our society?
4. What is justice? How should it be exacted, or can it?
5. How do we access truth? Through reason? Through intuition? Is it even possible? Does truth with a capital ŇTÓ even exist? Is truth absolute or relative?
6. What is our relationship to the material world? Is the material world fundamentally good, evil, or neutral? Is it the ultimate reality? Is it the means to access a higher reality, or is it merely a distraction from an ultimate truth invisible to the senses?
7. What is the role of art/the artist? And what is art, anyway?
8. What is the relationship between humankind and the natural world? Is nature an enemy to be defeated? Is it one with the divine? Is it a source of poetic inspiration?
You will be assessed in a variety of ways: class
presentations; class participation (see below); tests; quizzes; essays; and
written assignments.
Seminar is our time to work through these texts together. While I usually give some framework for our discussion, the real work depends on you. If everyone reads and comes in with questions and comments, seminar may well be your favorite hour of the day, and tests and essays will be that much easier. If people donŐt do this, seminar may be awkward, boring, and fruitless, and you will have no one to blame but yourselves! To encourage you toward this end, I will count participation as 20% of your grade. This will be assessed in various ways:
á bringing the appropriate reading material to seminar;
á bringing questions, notes, and comments in writing to each seminar. These can take many forms, depending on what works for you: sticky notes flagging passages (please donŐt fold pages down – we need to use these texts for many years!), reading notes on paper, a list of questions, answers to study guides (avail. on line on the website), etc. We will be working on skills to help you do this.
á contributing comments and questions;
á being engaged (obviously, this includes not working on other assignments, napping, etc.)
á leading discussions when assigned;
á listening and responding respectfully and appropriately to your classmates;
á your self-assessment (every 4 weeks) – this will be 25% of your class participation grade.
You will have two grace days per quarter (no penalty for not
having notes and books).
I do not accept late homework. Late major assignments
(essays, etc.) are marked down 5% per day late, including each weekend day or
holiday. However, even if your work is very late, but adequate, I will pass you. It is always worth your while to turn your
assignments.
Absences should be promptly excused according to school policy.
Be responsible for making up work missed due to excused absences. You will have the number of days absent plus one within which to make up work assigned during those absences. Planned absences due to extracurricular activities do not excuse you from turning in assignments. A pattern of absences on due dates and test dates will be followed up by phone calls home.
Unless you were absent multiple days, you will generally be required to take make-up exams the day you return to school, on the scheduled make-up day (generally in Humanities Lab), or, under extreme circumstances, by appointment during lunch or after school. If you miss your appointment, you will fail the exam. Expect that the make-up exam will be different from the original (e.g. short answer rather than multiple choice, different essay question, etc.).
You will have an opportunity to revise certain assignments for resubmission for a better grade. In order to revise an essay, you must meet with me for a conference before or after school. If you miss your appointment, you will forfeit your chance to revise. Revisions are due within one week of our conference. Please do not waste my time by merely correcting spelling and mechanics and resubmitting your essay. Revisions should be substantive, or I reserve the right to hand them back ungraded.
You will engage in at least 2.5 hours of on-line activities
for this course.
Plagiarism is passing off someoneŐs elseŐs work as your own. If you use another source for quotations, use the proper punctuation and cite your source. If you discuss the ideas of another person, or use them in any of your own writing, again, cite your source. Plagiarized work receives no credit, and the plagiarizer will be subject to school rules. See ethics handout.
You will
receive a Humanities Literature grade that will be based entirely on your
performance in literature seminar. Aside from participation (worth 20%), I use
a point system, with the total number of points earned divided by points
possible equaling your grade. The grade scale I use is
|
100 – 93 A |
82 – 80 B- |
69 – 67 D+ |
|
92 – 90 A- |
79 – 77 C+ |
66 – 63 D |
|
89 – 87 B+ |
76 – 73 C |
62 – 60 D - |
|
86 – 83 B |
72 – 70 C- |
59 – 0 E |
Humanities Literature is an honors level class and does receive a third of a letter grade boost (+.33).
I am here to help you all succeed in this class. Please come see me if you are having any problems with your work, my interactions with you, or other matters related to this class. I am usually available 7th hour. Please make an appointment and have me write you a pass. Portable E and Portable D are my usual haunts. You may also email me at vail@aaps.k12.mi.us – I usually respond within 24 hours. If your matter is urgent, you may call me at home: 930-9595. I would prefer you call between 7:30 and 8:30 pm. Leave a message on the machine if no one answers. I will return your call as soon as I can.
* Of, relating to, or of the nature of ontology (the
science or study of being; that branch of metaphysics concerned with the
nature or essence of being or existence) (Oxford English Dictionary)