1/10/16
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FLAGGED GOALS." This section of E603 is devoted to literature aligned with four of the six ÒflagÓ experiences required in the new core curriculum: writing, global cultures, American cultural diversity, and ethics and leadership. TÕs Commission of 125, a group of business men and women and other citizens, who completed a two-year study of the University in 2004, recommended that these required flag subjects be required for all students. Throughout the first semester especially, we will focus on emotive ethics, especially compassion. Thus emotional literacy will also be one of our goals. Some of our other goals can be seen are at http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/603A13/goals.html. Our ultimate goal will be to Òwiden the circle of compassion,Ó as Einstein put it, to include other species as well as other races and genders. We will explore analogies between factory farming, slavery, and Nazi concentration camps made by various writers and philosophers that challenge us to become more mindful of ethical decisions we make daily about food, clothing, entertainment, etc. Global Cultures assignments will be primarily in the first semester, with most of the the Cultural Diversity assignments will be reserved for the second semester. "Writing" assignments are described below.
WORLD LITERATURE GOALS: Primary goal: to expand students' knowledge and understanding of the human condition and human cultures through the critical study of works of human imagination and thought. Related goals: [1] to help students critically analyze and interpret literary works and their impact on human life and society; [2] to help students articulate an informe response to those works that demonstrates an awareness and appreciation of their content, scope, and variety; [3] to help students describe the role of these works as expressions of individual or shared human values within an historical and social context.
This course may be used to fulfill the humanities component of the university core curriculum and addresses the following four core objectives established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board: [1]Critical Thinking Skills (creative thinking, innovation, inquiry and analysis, evaluation and synthesis of information); [2] Communication Skills (effective development, interpretation, and expression of ideas through written, oral, and visual communication; [3] Personal Responsibility (the ability to connect choices, actions, and consequences to ethical decision making; [4] Social Responsibility (intercultural competence, knowledge of civic responsibility, and the ability to engage in regional, national, and global communities.
Throughout the year, to prepare you for your college and later careers we will cultivate digital, information, and print literacy and practice college-level writing, speaking, listening, discussing, and analyzing ideas.
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Formal Writing.
Formal writing will be four essays relating world literature to your identity, your passion, your ethics, and your leadership vision. Each will be a minimum of four pages and be revised in response to peer critiques before the instructor's grading and critique. You cannot pass the course without satisfactory essays. For more information see the overview of readings below and descriptions of each project on the initial course page: www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/603B16/ Some of the projects will require discovery learning. For these assignments especially, students should be prepared to think for themselves. Discovery learning means that there will be fewer instructions about the content of projects than what students may be used to from other courses. This can be frustrating for some, especially those who want a detailed formula that will guarantee them a good grade. Instead, students will be encouraged to be creative and write about what is most important to them. However, all students will be expected to follow very detailed instructions about the form and format of the essay.
There will be also be a take-home final exam on the world literature assigned in the course designed to display the student's ability to critically analyze and interpret works of world literature and their impact on human life and society. The student must demonstrate content knowledge of three or more works of world literature, describing their roles as expressions of individual or shared human values within historical and social contexts. The student must also demonstrate awareness and appreciation of literary scope and variety, style and genre.
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Informal Writing.
Students can write informal blogs about the readings in preparation for class discussion. Blog instructions here.
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World Literature Final Exam
This assignment is designed to display your ability to critically analyze and interpret works of world literature* and their impact on human life and society. To that end you must [1] demonstrate content knowledge of three or more works of world literature assigned in the last two semesters; at least two must be from countries other than Britain or USA; [2] demonstrate awareness and appreciation of various styles and genres of world literature;[3] describe how various works of world literature express individual or shared human values within historical and social contexts. You can not pass the course without a passing grade on this final exam.
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Daily Quizzes.
Quizzes on the assigned readings for that day are worth up to twenty points. -10 if you get none right. -5 if you get one right. However, if you have a valid blog posted before the deadline you will only get -5 if you have none right.
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Class Discussion and Emotional Literacy
One way to practice the emotional literacy required for our approach to ethics is to briefly identify emotions felt in the previous week in a session known as "Best and Worst." You can earn points and prepare for these weekly sessions by doing a weekly blog in the "Best and Worst" discussion. One points for each feeling word used up to six points per week.
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Overview of Readings.
Leadership continued 1-19
We continue our study of leadership with discussion of Brown's Dare Greatly and related works
Ethics of Diet and Sustainability continued 1-21 to 1-28
We continue our discussion of sustainability and carnism ending with an example of the clash global cultures: the Indian Mutiny of 1857
The History of Compassion continued. 2-2 to 3-3
We continue our history in the second semester with Genesis and representations of compassion in three foundational texts of World Literature (the Jewish Bible, the Christian Bible, and the Quaran) and in the works of Virgil, Blake, Kipling, and Martel. Then we consider the opposite of compassion, sadism, as seen in Hogarth, Carroll, and campus research. Project three, "Only Connect," can be about your passion, your pets, or your proposed solutions to the ethical dilemmas we have faced so far. Fowler's We Are All Completely Besides Ourselves will help us make summarize the animal ethics issues and transition to the related topics of compassion for humans at the end of the semester.. Project four will be a leadership vision modeled on the Leadershape program of the Colleges of Business and Engineering.
4. Compassion and Multiculturalism in America. 3-8 to 5-5
For the topics of compassion and Cultural Diversity in America we will review our study of Native American cultureand elsewhere in the first. Readings on connections between speciesism and racism will prepare us for Morrison's The Bluest Eye. Finally, readings on connections between speciesism and gender discrimination will prepare us for Manoori's Afghan study of gender, I Am A Bacha Posh, and for Bechtel's Fun Home and Kingston's Woman Warrior.
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Required Texts
Required Texts For The Second Semester: [1] a new course anthology*; [2] Karen Fowler's We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves [Putnam: Marian Wood; 2013: 9780399162091 ; [3] Toni Morrison, Bluest Eye (Vintage International 9780307278449) ; [4] Allison Bechdel, Fun Home [Mariner 9780618871711 ]; [5] Maxine Hong Kingston, Woman Warrior [Vintage 9780679721888]; Ukima Manoori, I Am a Bacha Posh: My Life as a Woman Living as a Man in Afghanistan [Skyhorse Publishing: 9781629146812]
*FOR THE FIRST ASSIGNMENT, students will need the course anthology, which is a collection of xeroxed materials. It will be available from Jenn's, 2000 Guadalupe (basement of the Church of Scientology at 22nd and Guadalupe, 473-8669). It will cost about $75. JennÕs takes major credit cards, of course. (If you donÕt get there within the first few days you might want to call ahead to make sure they have a copy reserved for you.)
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Digital Literacy
Outside of class and office hours, students are required to use email to communicate with the instructor, rather than the Canvas "Communication" system, because email is an official means of communication at this university. Hence students must also maintain their best email address in the U.T. Direct system.Because the "Five Characteristics of a Successful Student at U.T." include "Good computer skills" as well as "Strong writing skills," essays and blogs will require digital literacy (multimedia) as well as print literacy. Students will also be expected to check the course Blogs and the Gradebook, especially the day before class. We will have an optional closed group in Facebook "to help students develop a small community within the larger whole" (CRUE).
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Grades.
About 50% of the final grade will be determined by multimedia web projects (250 points each), 25% by the final exam (125 points); at least 15% by informal writing such as blogs ( points); and at least 10% by class discussion, leadership, and attendance (125 points). To pass the course students must demonstrate college-level writing and complete all basic requirements of both projects and earn a score of at least 100 on each project. Grades for projects especially will be based in part on meeting the two expectations employers have of college graduates: time management, and the ability to read, analyze, and follow complex, detailed directions. 1100 points (out of 1,300 or more) are required for an A+ (unofficial grade); 1050 for an A; 1000 for an A-; 965 for a B+; 945 for a B; 900 for a B-; 865 for a C+; 845 for a C; 800 for a C-; 765 for a D+; 735 for a D; and 700 for a D-. At the end of the course, students will receive exactly the grade recorded in the online gradebook, even if it is one point short of the next higher grade.
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Class discussion rules: students who talk to others while the speaker is talking and/or encourage this rude behavior with a willing ear, will have fifteen points deducted from their class participation/attendance grade for each incident. Egregious behavior such as sleeping in class, reading materials other than ours, using your cell phone, iPod, or computer during class, acting out, disrupting class, etc. will be subject to a thirty-point penalty for each incident. Students who insult, threaten, or harass others will have fifty points deducted from their grade for each incident, and be referred to the Dean of Students. For policy on cell phones etc. in class see the Class Participation and Class Discussion document: http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/SL.html
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Daily class participation grades: You always get up to seven class participation points for (1) bringing the books assigned for that day; (2) recycled-paper printouts* of that day's section of the website schedule**; and (3) a recycled-paper printout* of your entry from your blog if you made one; and (4), on Tuesdays, a recycled-paper copy* of your grades from Canvas. In other words just for listening and following these instructions you can get 240 points, one-fourth of what you need for an A- in this course. (*>You need to print out your copy of the schedule the day before class so that it includes any late changes.)
You get two additional points for putting next to the total points on the copy of your grades an “=” sign and then the letter grade those points are worth according to the course description as in “= C-“ Then write at the top also the top three scores so far in the class according to the latest email. When you do this, you raise your points for Tuesdays to nine or more.
Speaking of printouts, the way to save the most paper and printer supplies is apparently to copy the relevant pages into Word, then 'select all" and decrease the size of the font and spacing, and then print, specifying black and white only. If possible, print on both sides of the page.
*Most important of all, use only recycled paper! No points will be awarded until you attach to your next printout the label from a five-hundred-sheet package of 100% recycled paper, such as Aspen100, available at Office Depot or Office Max for $10.49.
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Being on time: Students prepare for class discussion by being on time. There will be heavier penalties for being late than for being absent. Why? Basically, because being absent does not disrupt the class and coming in late does, especially if we are watching Earthlings, meditating, doing experiential learning or ......
There are in fact three important reasons for penalizing lateness in this way: [1] To prepare you for the real world. Employers will not tolerate this kind of behavior. [2] To be courteous and respectful of your colleagues, not interrupting the class to make your tardy entrance. [3] To avoid "enabling," to encourage repeat offenders to learn the lessons they need to learn.
The ultimate reasons are found in the essay by Dr. Carl Pickhardt on the website. The key sentences in that document for a teacher are: ÒMaintain adult demands and expect young people to meet them. Accept no excuses, make no exceptions, and attempt no rescues. Listen respectfully and empathetically and do not criticize the young person for not measuring up to what college expected. Encourage learning more responsibility from facing consequences of how one chose to act. And support the courage to keep growing forward in life.Ó
Hence, there will be no attendance or class participation credit for the first late appearance, -5 points for the second, double the penalty for the third, triple for the fourth, etc. If anyone chooses to open the door for someone who comes late for the third time or more, they will receive the same penalties as the one who arrives late: no attendance or class participation credit for the first disruption, -5 points for the second, -10 for the third, -20 for the fourth, etc.
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There will be a Course Specialist Consultant to help you with your writing assignments:| Jordan Smith | jordan_elizabeth55@yahoo.com
You may also consult with Maggie from last semester during her regular hours at the
University Writing Center | PCL 2.330 | 512-471-6222 | M-Th 10-8 | F 10-4 | Su 1-7
The University Writing Center (PCL 2.330) offers free, individualized help to any UT undergraduate with any writing project at any stage in the writing process. We do not proofread or edit, but aim to foster your skills and independence as a writer. Consultations run up to 45 minutes and are available by appointment or on a limited drop-in basis. For appointments, visit uwc.utexas.edu/appointments, call 512-471-6222, or stop by the UWC. Most UWC consultants work with any undergraduate who visits the center, but your Course Specialist Consultant (CSC) is specially dedicated to you and your classmates in this course. For the duration of the semester, you will have scheduling priority with your CSC for consultations about writing in this course. To schedule a consultation with your CSC, register for a UWC account at uwc.utexas.edu/appointments and then call the UWC (512-471-6222) with your CSC's name, or email your CSC directly. Please schedule consultations with your CSC only in regard to writing assignments for this course. Early in the semester, your CSC will tell you the weekly times they will be available for consultations in the UWC. (Note: your CSC will not hold open office hours, evaluate or grade your work, or provide substantive writing feedback via email.)
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About the Professor:
Jerome Bump has been awarded a number of research fellowships and the Jeanne Holloway Award for undergraduate teaching, the Chad Oliver award for Plan II teaching. He was an editor of Texas Studies in Language and Literature and has written Gerard Manley Hopkins and sixty articles and chapters.
A recent publication is ""Biophilia and Emotive Ethics: Derrida, Alice, and Animals ." Ethics and the Environment 19.2 (2014): 59-91. A recent conference paper is "The Ultimate Boundary: Food Animals?" The Human Animal Boundary Symposium, University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez, 11 April 2015.
His current project is Alice the Conqueror, about the representation of animals in the Alice books. For more information about him, his publications, his teaching philosophy, or his courses see http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/
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Privacy. (FERPA): students will be asked to give written permission to share certain documents with class members.
Honor Code. The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning, discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and respect toward peers and community. Our training in practical ethics will include evaluation of student behavior in the course, especially actions that hurt other students' educational opportunities, including interrupting class by coming late or not completing peer critiques.
Academic Integrity: Our training in practical ethics also means that any work, any paragraph, any sentence submitted by a student in this course for academic credit must be the student's own work, unless the source is explicitly acknowledged. Plagiarism will be punished severely (See "Paraphrasing vs. Plagiarism" in the course anthology). For additional information on academic Integrity, see http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/acadint.php
Disabilities: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact Services for Students with Disabilities at 471-6259 (voice) or 232-2937 (video phone) or http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd
Religious Holy Days: By UT Austin policy, you must notify the instructor of your pending absence at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, a work assignment, or a project in order to observe a religious holy day, you will be given an opportunity to complete the missed work within a reasonable time after the absence.
The following recommendations regarding emergency evacuation are from the Office of Campus Safety and Security, 512-471-5767, http://www.utexas.edu/safety/ :
- Occupants of buildings on The University of Texas at Austin campus are required to evacuate buildings when a fire alarm is activated. Alarm activation or announcement requires
exiting and assembling outside.- Familiarize yourself with all exit doors of each classroom and building you may occupy. Remember that the nearest exit door may not be the one you used when entering the building.
- Students requiring assistance in evacuation shall inform their instructor in writing during the first week of class.
- In the event of an evacuation, follow the instruction of faculty or class instructors.
- Do not re-enter a building unless given instructions by the following: Austin Fire Department, The University of Texas at Austin Police Department, or Fire Prevention Services office.
- Behavior Concerns Advice Line (BCAL): 512-232-5050- Link to information regarding emergency evacuation routes and emergency procedures can be found at: www.utexas.edu/emergency
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