American Literature

American Literature is a graduation-required literature and composition course, in which students challenge their understanding of what America is, who is Americans are, and how America has come to be.

Syllabus for Week 3, 9/9

Monday

Overview of the parallel lives assignment (see other blog posting for more detail).

Tuesday

Discussion on family trees, and who to include/exclude from your tree.
Working in class to sketch out your tree. HW: Tree due tomorrow.

Wednesday

Lecture on narrative structure and creating an implied thesis.
Brief discussion of the relative interview or brainstorm.
Writing of interview questons or begining to brainstorm. HW: Relative narrative due Thursday.

Thursday

Finishing lecture on narrative structure as counterpart to relative narrative.
In-class peer reading of relative stories (be certain to have 3 copies with you today, one for your notes, two for peers to read from and to provide notes).
HW: Working rough draft of your narrative due tomorrow.

Friday

As with yesterday, we will peer-review your narratives, as we did yesterday, but adding how the stories complement one another.
Write introductory preface; final draft of project due Monday.