News
Hey, everyone. Welcome to the course. From now on, I'll be putting announcements on this page having to do with course requirements, changes in these web pages, and other matters. I recommend looking here every time you visit the course website--at least once a week.
4/25/00
Hey folks, a very rough version of the final paper or project assignment sheet is now up on the web site. I'll be adding to it in the coming days, in part by discussing what projects people are working on, so be sure to stop by my office or drop me a line to discuss what you are planning to focus on (and so I can give you feedback on your ideas).
4/11/00
Please note that the due date for the second critical response essay has been moved to April 17, which, coincidentally, is the day before the deadline for submitting inter-library loan requests at Reed Library, and two days before the two presentations we'll be having. This week, I'm having extra office hours--all day Tuesday (9-noon, 1-4:15) and almost all day Thursday (10-noon, 1-5). If you want to run any ideas or questions by me, feel free to stop by my office (Fenton 240, for those who have never been). Oh, and I've updated the assignment sheet for CRE #2 to include more options!
3/13/00
As we discussed in class today, we will begin our last session before spring break (yeah!) at 4 pm on Wednesday in King Concert Hall. We will hear Dr. John Stinson of the English department discuss how he reads and teaches works by writers whose political and other views he sometimes finds repugnant, and then meet back in Fenton Hall around 5 pm for a discussion of how the issues Dr. Stinson discussed relate to the course thus far as a whole and to the readings for that day in particular.
2/29/00
Hey all, I've updated the list of related readings on the main course page; I've also added a new group project/presentation page that gives a list of suggested topics for you to consider.
2/23/00
Please note the addition of Beverly on Bacon's Rebellion to the readings for next Monday--wait, please note that Beverly's is one of the two accounts of Bacon's Rebellion already listed in the syllabus--my mistake! Sorry for the mistaken announcement in class today!
2/22/00
Hey all, I've updated the links page to include more Early American history, literature, and culture sites. Should be much more useful now! I've also revised the assignment sheet for the critical response essay. I'll bring a print-out of it (actually, a condensed version) to class tomorrow.
2/17/00
Due to the power outage, I will accept late discussion questions on the readings for this week. Please note that I've revised the critical response essay assignment sheet--the options are still sketchy, but they may spark ideas of your own.
2/14/00
Please note that the due date for the critical response essay has been changed to February 28th--a Monday rather than a Friday. Please see the assignment sheet for suggested topics and other important information.
I'm changing my office hours this week On Tuesday, I will be in the office from 1-4 pm. On Thursday, I will be in from 10 am - noon and 1 - 2 pm.
2/7/00
I've made one small change in the schedule of assignments. I've moved the excerpt from Montaigne's "Of Coaches" (ELA 96) from the 3/8 to the 2/16 session. Please adjust your copy of the syllabus accordingly. Thanks.
Also, I'm holding extra office hours T 1-4 in case you want to stop by then.
2/2/00
As you know, there are major server problems, and messages sent to the listserv are not being distributed with alacrity, to say the least. The best I can say right now is to have patience--your messages will be distributed or you will receive an error message (eventually). These server problems do crop up at times, and I do not penalize people for late submissions when the problem is clearly with the server, as it is in this case. If your discussion questions have not appeared within several hours of your sending them, or if you received an error message, feel free to send a copy of your questions and/or the error message directly to me (at simon@fredonia.edu)--NOT to the listserv. Basically, the cause of the problem as I understand it now is that the system is being flooded with email messages, and when that happens listserv messages have a lower priority than personal messages. To resend your message to the listserv is to make the traffic jam worse, so don't do it! In general, when there are server problems, check out this page--when I can't communicate with you over email, I'll put announcements up here. Often, when email is down, internet access still works. It's a funny thing, technology....
If problems like this persist, I will strongly consider making discussion questions be something you bring turn in the day of class. This will take away the collective aspect of the questions (you all being aware of the things everyone else is interested in), as well as the temporal aspect (you all having time to focus on one or two questions that interest you the most, and to think about them before coming to class, not to mention me having them to help me plan an agenda for discussion), but if the technology proves unreliable, we'll have to go lo-tech! Why don't we see what sticking with the listserv for next week's discussion questions is like. The best advice I can give is read ahead--take advantage of the time between tonight and Sunday afternoon to come up with questions as you're reading next week's jeremiad's--and send your questions in as early as possible, so that even if the server is slow by a few hours, your questions will still be distributed in time for people to read them on Sunday night/Monday morning or Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. OK?
1/31/00
I've had the chance to read and consider your early responses to the syllabus from our first week of class meetings. Within an interested, positive set of responses, I saw some potentially legitimate concerns about the reading load (particularly when the time devoted to reading and thinking about the discussion questions before our two weekly class meetings is taken into account), about required assignments (mostly unease or confusion about discussion questions, but also a few on the group project/presentation), and about the technological infrastructure of the course.
As for reading load, you're going to have to let me know as the semester goes on. The next two weeks are a comparatively light reading load, although, as you saw from today's class, the possibilities for discussion seem almost infinite (given how few questions we actually got to discuss!). So if you're finding the load difficult these two weeks, you're going to have to come by my office hours or schedule a meeting or drop me an e-mail for advice on what to do. I'll consider lightening the load for some of the heavier weeks if necessary. Keep me informed.
As for discussion questions, please check out the link I put in on the main page to my EN 209 discussion question advice page, and watch this page for a report on what you workshopped in class today. Following your advice, I've already changed the requirements for the timing of your discussion questions on the main page--they now can be turned in either late afternoon/early evening Sunday or no later than 6 pm Tuesday, so long as they are aimed at influencing the shape of our discussions for the Monday and Wednesday classes, respectively.
I'll discuss the group project with you a little later in the semester--one suggestion was to give people the option to write another short paper or participate in the group project, and I'm open to considering that.
As for the danger that technology will drive the class rather than acting as a useful learning/research tool, this is a real concern, and again I'll be relying on you all to let me know when the former rather than the latter is happening. The most I can say now is keep an open mind.
Finally, every link on the main page should now be active. Feel free to explore the site and suggest what can be added to it to make it more useful to you. See you Wednesday.
1/27/00
Please take the time to tell me about yourself by copying what follows into an email and sending it to me at your earliest convenience. Thanks.
Questionnaire
Name:
Hometown:
Major:
Phone #:
Other English classes you've taken since high school:
Other classes you're taking this semester:
Other activities (e.g., work, sports) you'll be doing regularly this semester:
Tell me something about yourself you think I should be aware of or know about.
Finally, ask me a question.