Post Secondary Teaching and Learning - PSTL

Description:  Literatures of the U.S.: Multicultural Perspectives. Students will be introduced to key concepts, terms, and techniques involved in literary study. We will read, discuss, and write about texts from the past two centuries to the present, and highlight the diversity of form, perspective, and style in U.S. literature. Our analysis will be informed by the understanding that writing rises out of specific social, historical, political, and literary contexts. We will address questions such as, which characters have political power and social standing, which don?t, and how does this make for compelling literature? How does our relationship to the land, whether it is the wilderness or the built environments of a city, shape our identities, and how is this revealed through landscape and word-choice in literary texts? The course emphasizes literary analysis and fosters student development of critical thinking and interpretation through close reading of texts, class discussion, and informal and formal writing assignments. Throughout the semester students will receive feedback on their writing and will have an opportunity to revise a formal paper. We will read short stories, a novel, and poems, as well as watch spoken word performances. This is an interactive course involving class discussions and written responses to texts and visual mediums.

Class Time: 20% Lecture, 15% Film/Video, 25% Discussion, 15% Small Group Activities, 15% Student Presentation, 5% Field Trips, 5% Guest Speakers.

Work Load: 15 pages reading per week, 25 pages writing per term, 1 exams, 3 papers, 1 presentations, 10 homework assignments, 5 quizzes.

Grade: 15% mid exam, 20% reports/papers, 10% quizzes, 10% written homework, 10% attendance, 15% reflection paper, 15% in-class presentation, 5% class participation.

Instructor:  Buturian,Linda J | Instructor Photo | Instructor Bio