ENGLISH 12: Cultural Studies
2013-14
MR. DILLING
My Philosophy:
To Love, To Laugh, To Learn, To Leave it Better than When I Came and To Suck
the Marrow from Life! I ask that you come open minded, willing to share, willing to
dare, and be willing to take an adventure.
Course Description:
Cultural studies is an innovative interdisciplinary field of research and teaching that
investigates the ways in which “culture” creates and transforms individual experiences,
everyday life, social relations and power. Research and teaching in the field explores the
relations between culture understood as human expressive and symbolic activities, and
cultures understood as distinctive ways of life. Combining the strengths of the social
sciences and the humanities, cultural studies draws on methods and theories from literary
studies, sociology, communications studies, history, cultural anthropology, and
economics. By working across the boundaries among these fields, Cultural Studies
addresses new questions and problems of our world. Rather than seeking answers that
will hold for all time, cultural studies develops flexible tools that adapt to this rapidly
changing world.
Cultural life is not only concerned with symbolic communication, it is also the domain in
which we set collective tasks for ourselves and begin to grapple with them as changing
communities. Cultural studies is devoted to understanding the processes through which
societies and the diverse groups within them come to terms with history, community life,
and the challenges of the future. –UNC School of Interdisciplinary Study
Writing Assignments:
Instead of focusing on one scholarly area, Cultural Studies branches out into many
disciplines. The field may be informed by the ideology of literary criticism, film theory,
history, or other scholarly ways of operating. As a result, papers written for a Cultural
Studies class depend upon the conventions of the respective discipline of interest. Over
the year we will look at the art of rhetoric and model what has worked for other writers in
our own writing.
To begin the year we will concentrate our time on the college essay and application
process to give you a head start on the college application process.
JOURNALING: we will be writing in some format every day. To aid in this process you
will need to purchase a spiral Writer’s Notebook to record your thoughts. I expect that
you have your journal with you every day.
Reading Assignments:
50 Essays: A Portable Anthology is the best-selling reader in the country. Its carefully
chosen selections include enough classic essays and enough high-interest and highquality contemporary readings to keep things lively and relevant for your world today.
The editorial apparatus is more extensive than in competing anthologies, but still is
flexible and unobtrusive enough to support a variety of approaches to learn and
understand composition. In its third edition, 50 Essays continues to offer essays on the
critical thinking and academic writing skills of today's composition courses.
Weekly essays, memoirs, film, and media articles will supplement our core readings from
50 Essays.
Late Work:
I believe high school is the beginning of the real world. Here you have true due dates and
true consequences. These characteristics mirror or parallel the economic society you are
currently partaking in and willingly engage in daily. So the connection? Late work in the
business world leads to demise. To prepare you for life beyond 12th grade and high school
I WILL NOT ACCEPT LATE WORK for credit.
Home Work:
I do not believe in busy work. What I do believe in is being prepared for class each day
physically, emotionally, and mentally. In order to do this you must work efficiently
during class time and come prepared with readings/writings completed before class
begins. In terms of turning in work it is your job to get it into the in-box and to collect
work from the out-box. Because this is a learning environment I do allow re-submissions
on class work and papers. If you would like to take advantage of this we have one week
to resubmit the work with the changes and the original back into me where you can earn
half of the difference between the two grades.
PARTICIPATION: I simply expect you to contribute to the class. Those who come
prepared and are willing to share will ultimately get more out of this class. When we have
discussions, fishbowls, or socratics I will score the prep work as participation.
SOCRATIC SEMINARS: this is your chance to shine and show me how smart you
really are. These conversations are student driven and can take two days to complete. We
will start with a general topic and have several other minor topics relating to the main
idea. These seminars require a journal entry or entries, note taking during the seminar,
and observations of your peers. Basically, these are major components of your grade and
you need to be here for these days!
Course Grading:
In accordance with school policy I will use the 11-point grading scale. Grades are earned
and not given, therefore, your grade is yours to keep and earn. All assignments are
equally weighted and worth 100 points. What you need to pay attention to here is that in
order to pass this class with an A you cannot have a missing assignment. And in order to
pass at all you can have no more than 2 missing assignments. All assignments need to be
turned in, even if they are late and receive no credit. Everything we do in here builds
upon previous lessons, so work needs to be completed. In terms of rounding, don’t ask
and don’t grovel because I don’t round. Plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in
an F on the first offense and a failing grade in the class on the second offense, as well as
disciplinary action in accordance with school policies and procedures.
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
F
94.0-100, no missing assignments
90.0-93.9, no missing
87.0-89.9, no missing
84.0-86.9, no missing
80.0-83.9, no missing
77.0-79.9, one missing assignment
74.0-76.9, one missing
70.0-73.9, one missing
67.0-69.9, two missing assignments
60.0-66.9, two missing
0.0-59.9, or three + missing assignments
Attendance:
You have the same number of days you were gone to get work in and tests/quizzes
must be rescheduled within 24 hours once you are back and initiated by you. Failure
to do so will result in a 0 percent on that assignment. I expect you to be on time every
day and I will strictly abide by the school policies for absences and tardies.
Embracing Dignity:
This class is a community of learners and thinkers. Within this community we have
individuals with varying thoughts and opinions. There is absolutely no place in this room
for offensive, derogatory, or abuse language or gestures towards any one person or group.
Those who choose to violate their own dignity by lessoning the value of another human
will meet with me to determine the appropriate disciplinary action. Second offenders will
be removed from my class and will lose out on an awesome opportunity.
“I Care Policy”:
Many students are apprehensive about approaching teachers. I am only a teacher by trade.
I am human by nature. This means I really do care about what you are doing and how you
are doing. If at any time you feel overwhelmed, or simply need to talk, I have an open
door policy. Please see me before, during, after school or by appointment to simply share
any concerns. Your success and growth as an individual is my fundamental goal followed
closely by your academic achievement.
Words of Wisdom
“Mind what you have learned. Save you it can.”