American
Masterpieces 321 (3 credits) Grant
T. Smith, Ph. D.
Fall
Semester, 2005 MC
446
MWF
1:10 – 2 p.m. MRC 570 gtsmith@viterbo.edu
796-3485
Course Description: This course
is a survey of American “masterpieces” in Young Adult literature from the
mid-1800s to the present. The course is
organized according to themes often seen in literature for adolescents. The focus of the class will be on determining
(1) defining American literature, and (2) defining “masterpieces.” We shall apply those definitions through
close readings of the literature.
Required Texts: See course
syllabus. Required reading assignments
are in bold type. All texts are available in the campus
bookstore. You may also find most of the
books in neighborhood libraries.
Course Requirements:
·
Read all of the
assigned books and participate in class discussions
·
Attend class
(See grading policy)
·
Write weekly
responses to journal prompts. The journals
will be collected every few weeks.
·
Complete a class
project. (Optional: Present to the class your class project. Click here for individual project ideas.)
or
·
Participate in a
group project. (Optional: Present to the class your project.)
Core Abilities:
·
Thinking—Students
engage in the critical and creative thinking
·
Life
Values—Students respond to ethical issues
·
Communication—Students
communicate effectively orally and in writing
·
Aesthetic
Sensitivity—Students engage in artistic experiences and reflect critically upon
them
·
Cultural
Sensitivity—Students demonstrate a respect for the diversity of the human
experience
·
Community
Involvement—Students demonstrate responsible citizenship
Intended Learning Outcomes:
·
Thinking—The
students will engage in critical thinking whey they explicate or “close read”
literary texts; when they identify formal elements such as point of view,
literary language, symbolism, imagery; when they consider texts and authors in
relation to historical, cultural, ideological, and theoretical contexts; when
they compare what they are reading with what they have read previously; when
they relate what they are reading to the wider world and to universal issues of
human life. Click here
for the Viterbo Critical Thinking Home Page.
·
Communication—The students will articulate in class and in assigned writing
assignments their interpretations, insights, analyses, and evaluations of the
assigned literature. Click here
for the English Department’s Home Page on Writing a Critical Analysis of Literature .
Aesthetic—The students will articulate in class
and in assigned writing assignments their understanding of the elements of a
“masterpiece” of young adult literature.
The students will evaluate the lasting quality of literature from the
formal and contextual elements embedded in the literature.
·
Ethics—The students will articulate in class and in assigned
writing assignments their responses to the ethical questions and dilemmas posed
in the assigned reading. The students
will not plagiarize. Click here
for the
·
Cultural
Sensitivity—The students will read various texts by
diverse authors. The students will
articulate in class and in assigned writing assignments their understanding of
life values represented in different texts in relation to their own. Individual projects are designed to give the
students an opportunity to move outside of their own culture and to study and
interact with a new culture. Click here
for the university’s statement on sexual harassment.
Grading Policy
·
The students
will be graded on attendance and classroom participation (100 points).
Any student who has fewer than four unexcused absences will receive an A (95
points) for attendance and participation. Any student who has four to six
absences will be penalized one letter grade. Any student who accrues six
to eight absences will be penalized two letter grades. Any student who
accrues more than eight absences will be asked to withdraw from the
class. Click here
for the university definitions of an excused and unexcused absence.
·
Individual
project (200 points). Click here
for group project ideas and grading rubric.
·
The students will
complete a weekly journal (300 points).
Some of the journal entries will be short internet searches, some will
be reading response entries, some will be responses to book talks, and some
will be responses to literary criticisms. Click here for
a rubric for the critical analysis.
Week One: August 29:
Masterpiece? American? Young
Adult?
Introduction: What is young
adult literature? Click here
for "What is Young Adult Literature?"
Click here for
a list of "Lifetime developmental tasks that confront adolescents"
What
is a masterpiece
in young adult literature?
What
is American literature? Click here for
an outline
to “What makes our literature ‘American?’”
Click here for outline to "Cultural
Paradoxes"
Click
here
for the criteria for judging the Newbery Award winners. Click here
for the criteria for judging the Printz Award
winners. Click here
for the criteria for judging the Coretta Scott King
Award winners.
Week Two: September 7:
American Dream
Ragged
Dick by Horatio Alger
The
E-text of Ragged Dick can be found at
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/AlgRagg.html
Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little
Women by Cornelia
Meigs
Click
here
for discussion questions on Ragged Dick
Click here
for an excellent web site on Horatio Alger
Click here
for the Horatio Alger Society web page
Click here
for an excellent web site on Louisa May Alcott
Click here for
a Teacher's Resource Guide on Louisa May Alcott
Click here
for an essay on Marmee
Click here for
a description of the "Cult of True Womanhood"
Click
here for
overview of Women in the 19th Century
Journal Assignment: Click here for the Journal Assignment
due September 16.
September 8: Book
Talk on Godless and The Bronze Bow at
Weeks Three and Four: September 12, 19, Search for Identity
Huck
Finn by Samuel Clemens
What
does this American classic mean to us today, the fourth year of the 21st
century? What American issues are
raised in the book? How do gender and
race affect our reading of the Twain’s book?
Click
here for Notes
of why Huck Finn is a classic.
Criticisms on reserve in the library: "Mr. Eliot, Mr. Trilling, and Huckleberry
Finn" by Leo Marx; "Morality and Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn" by Julius Lester; “Come Back to the Raft Ag’n,
Huck Honey,” by Leslie Fiedler, and "Reading Gender in Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn" by Myra Jehlen.
Click
here for
“Censorship and The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain”
Click here
for a list of appropriate works for high school students about slavery.
Click here for a web
site from the National Endowment of the Humanities on Mark Twain
Click
here for an outline on "Realism in
American Literature"
“The Body” by Stephen King
Click
here for class
notes on "The Body"
Click
here for the official web site for Stephen King
Click
here to read King’s speech at the 2003 National Book
Awards
Click
here for a web site on current events in the 1960s
Journal Assignment: Read one of
the criticisms on reserve in the library on Huck Finn. Write a one-page summary of the major points
of the criticism. Due
September 23. Optional Journal Assignment: Read carefully the class notes on “The Body”
and King’s speech at the National Book Awards.
Write a two-page response to (1) “The Body” or (2) King’s address.
Week Five and Six: September 26, October 3, Family: Romance
versus Realism
Caddie
Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
Click
here for notes on the family. Click here for Madonna of the Prairie Click here for American Progress
Click
here for an overview of American
Romanticism
Click
here for the
Click
here for
a unit plan on Caddie Woodlawn
The
Canning Season by Polly
Horvath
Click
here for Horvath's Home Page
Click
here for discussion questions on The Canning Season
Click
here for
an outline on American realism
Click
here
for a timeline of literary movements in American Literature
Week Seven and Eight: October 10, 17, Race: How Much Do I Know
about Race?
Sounder by William H. Armstrong
Monster by Walter Dean Myers
Click here for an essay by Myers on Monster and reading
Click here
for a web site on Walter Dean Myers
Click here for
some discussion questions on Monster
Click here
for an essay by Chris Booker, "The State of Black Male America: 1998"
October 13: Group Book discussion of Tommysaurus Rex and xxxHOLiC Vol. 4 at Sparta Middle School Library,
7 p.m.
Journal Assignment: Choose one of the following
options: (1) Review the lesson plans on Sounder at http://www.webenglishteacher.com/armstrong.html
or at http://www.nashville.k12.tn.us/CyberGuides/sounder/teachertemplate.html. Write a one-page criticism of the strengths
of one of the lesson plans. (2) Write a one-page
response to one of the Monster discussion
questions. The journal entry is due
October 17. (3) Read the two books for
the Group Book and attend the book discussion at
Weeks Nine and
Ten: October 24, 31, Problem Novel—What
is Appropriate for an Adolescent?
Miracles
on Maple Hill by Virginia
Sorensen
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Click here for
Click here
for a lesson plan on Speak and discussion questions for Speak
Click
here for Sorensen’s
home page
Click
here for “Learning to Be
Little Women and Little Men” essay
Ida B by
Katherine Hannigan
Weeks Eleven and Twelve: November 7, 14, Religion—What Do I Believe?
The
Bronze Bow by
Elizabeth George Speare
Godless by Pete Hautman
Click
here for discussion questions on The Bronze Bow
Click
here for discussion questions on Godless
Telephone
interview with Pete Hautman
Journal Assignment: Choose one
of the discussion questions for The
Bronze Bow or Godless and write a
two-page response to the question.
Journal is due October 31.
November 3: Book Group
discussion, Hitler Youth and The Story of Mankind at Bangor Middle
School Library, 7 p.m.
November 17: Book Group
discussion Harlem Stomp at
Weeks Thirteen and Fourteen: November 21 Fantasy: What Do We Learn from Fantasy Fiction?
Thanksgiving break – November 23-25
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Feed
by M.T. Anderson
Click here for Feed discussion questions
Weeks Fifteen and Sixteen: Poetry:
The Phenomenon of the Verse Novel
Keesha’s
House by Helen
Frost
Read
Smith’s essay on the Verse Novel
Click
here for Jim Carlson’s final
exam questions
Week Seventeen: Final Exam:
Summarizing the Semester
True
Believer by
Virginia Euwer Wolff
Click
here
for discussion questions on True Believer
Click here for Final
Exam Questions:
Helpful Links:
·
Click here for
a link to Young Adult Library Association
·
Click here
for a link to the Newbery Award Home Page
·
Click here
for a link to the Coretta Scott King Award Home Page
·
Click herefor a link to the American Library Association Home Page
·
Click here
for the Young Adult Literature Home Page with many links
·
Click here
for the National Book Award Home Page
·
Click here for the Printz Award
·
Click here for the
official web site for the National Council of Teachers of English
·
Click here for the
English Teacher's Web Page
·
Click here
for the CCBC
·
Click here for
a list of the criticisms on reserve in the library.
·
Click here
for the university definition of plagiarism.
·
Click here
for the university definition of sexual
harassment.
·
If you are a
person with a disability and require any auxiliary aids, services or other accommodations
for this class, please see Wayne Wojciechowski in Murphy Center room 320
(796-3085) within ten days to discuss your accommodation needs. If there
other accommodations that need to be made for you to succeed in the class,
please indicate those needs to the instructor. Click here
for a link to the
