Syllabus
Tina Modotti, "Julio Antonio Mella's Typewriter" (1928)
_____________________________________________________
General:
Class discussion and writing assignments will be in Spanish.
Reading assignments will be in Spanish with a few theoretical texts in
English. The films will be in Spanish with English subtitles.
All assignments written outside of class must be typed and double-spaced
in Times 12 font. Any work turned in outside of regular class time
should be left on my door at 869 Ballantine Hall. Prerequisites:
Spanish 310.
.
Required
Texts/Materials:
*You are required to bring the texts we
are discussing to class and have them on hand and ready to go.
1. Email Account and Web Access:
Both an email account and web access are required for this course.
You will be required to check email twice per week since you will receive
emails through our listserve clarifying homework or presentation information.
The course website will provide you with necessary links that will allow
you to complete your work (see #5).
2. Books (3):
Dorfman, Ariel. La muerte y la doncella. Seven Stories
Press.
Sábato, Ernesto. El túnel. Editorial
Cátedra.
Giannetti, Louis. Understanding Movies. Prentice
Hall.
3. Texts Available on Website:
Many of the course texts will be made available to you via this website.
Download, print and keep these texts with your course materials.
The website will include all the short stories, some technical discussions,
and all poetry. We will begin using the course website immediately,
so be sure to become acquainted with it and to download your first reading
for Wednesday, January 14, 2004. Please note that this is *not an
oncourse site, but one specifically designed for our class.
4. Films:
These films will be available for individual viewing in Media/Reserves
at the Main Library one week prior to class discussion. Be sure not
to wait until the last minute to view them, since others from our class
will also be using them. They are also available at local video rental
stores.
Gutiérrez Alea, Tomás. Fresa y Chocolate (“Strawberry and Chocolate” for rentals)5. Reading and Movie Guides: Course Website
Polanski, Roman. Death and the Maiden
Radford, Michael. Il Postino (“The Postman” for rentals)
For our assignments involving the web, you can locate the texts at this website. See navigator links at the bottom of each page in this site.
Course Evaluation:
15% Class Participation
10% Oral Presentation/s
45% Compositions (3)
5% Novel Guide
25% Final Paper
Class participation: This
may be the element most crucial to your interest and therefore, the class's
success. Engaged, intellectual participation in class discussion
is fundamental both to your understanding and that of your peers.
To this end, you should take notes and think critically about the texts
before coming to class. You will find that if you bring all of your
questions, opinions, and problems to the discussion, we all benefit from
them. You will generally be required to have carefully read and prepared
anywhere from approximately 10-30 pages per class discussion, depending
on the difficulty of the text. By the end of the term, you will be
expected to read from 15-50 pages per class discussion.
Attendance: The class
format is driven by class discussion, with very few lectures, therefore
regular class attendance is critical to your success. You may miss
2 classes during the course without penalty, after which, your final grade
will be directly affected for each subsequent absence. These “free”
absences also cover those days where you’re too sick to come to class,
but not enough to go the health center. Please remember that if you
must miss class, you are responsible for both the material covered that
day as well as the work for the following class. Be sure to record
the emails and phone numbers of two peers.
Oral Presentations: Each student will be required to give at least one 10-12 minute oral presentations in class depending on the final number of students in our class. This means that each presenter will be prepared with their own topic and reading of the text, and will then follow it up with 2-3 pertinent questions to pose to the class as a springboard for ensuing discussion. Those who are not presenting will be involved in the consideration of the text and should come to class with questions already formulated to pose to all of us as a group as well as to the discussion leader. See Website for guidelines on how to create a successful presentation.
Informes/Compositions:
At the end of three sections of the four basic genres, you will analyze
one or various works discussed in class or assigned specifically for the
paper (see course schedule for due dates). Your three (3) writing
assignments will range in length from approximately 2-3 pages. These
compositions are intended to be a place for you to reflect on our readings
and class discussions, push beyond what we have talked about in class,
and work through issues you find interesting in the visual and written
texts. It will allow you to pose relevant questions about the texts
we discuss, help you work through your readings in a more coherent way,
and provide a space for your readings to gel. Each paper requires
that you analyze, not summarize or describe the text. Since you will
use the same tools on all the compositions and in your Final Paper, in
a very real sense, the short writing assignments are building blocks.
During the term, check the course website for guidelines on each assignment.
You may also receive clarifications via email, depending on the needs of
our particular class. See Website for more information on how to
create a successful composition.
Question Guides: Depending on our needs as a group, there will be guides and questions available during the term for many of the texts we are reading/viewing. See the course Website for new guides as we progress. You will find them to be helpful in preparing your readings and your discussion interventions; they will give you a sense of how to look at the text, issues I want you to be thinking about, and topics to focus on for the midterm, short writing assignments, and final paper. As we go through the term, you should always consider these part of your homework assignment if they are available. If any are collected during the term, they will count towards class participation. I will announce in class when/if you will be turning in guides, but this will be a fairly regular homework assignment.
Novel Guide: The novel
is accompanied by a guide you can find on our Website and will be turned
in for a grade (see Course Evaluation). This guide will help you
move through the novel efficiently yet carefully, and will help you formulate
your reading for the final paper.
Final Paper: At the end of
the term, you will analyze the final text we read. The Final Paper
allows you to bring together all the skills you have learned throughout
the term. The requirements for the paper will be listed on the Website
as we get closer to the end of the term, but it will be 5-7 pages long.
The due date for the final paper is Monday, May 3, 2004 at 7pm as listed
in the Final Exam Schedule for Spring 2004.
Home | Syllabus | Course
Schedule
Texts | Guides
| Presentations | Informes