STUDENT SYLLABUS
Course Name/Section Number: American Literature I/English 2327.03
CRN: 20115, 20870
Instructor Name: Professor Tanya Baker
Division/Dept: Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences/English
Office Hours: MWF 9-10 am, M 5-6 pm, or by appointment
Office Number: L100C
Office Phone: 361-573-3291 x3367
Instructor Email: Tanya.Baker@victoriacollege.edu
Instructor Website: N/A
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Course Description (AMS)
A survey of American literature from the period of exploration and settlement through the Civil
War. Students will study works of prose, poetry, drama, and fiction in relation to their historical
and cultural contexts. Texts will be selected from among a diverse group of authors for what they
reflect and reveal about the evolving American experience and character.
Prerequisite(s) (AMS):
A grade of C or better in English 1301
Required Textbook(s), Supplies, and Materials:
Baym, Nina and Robert Levine, eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volumes A
& B. 8 ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012.
Paper or notebook for notetaking and in-class writing
Pens and pencils
Scantrons
Learning Outcomes (AMS): (*indicates Program Level Outcome)
1. *Demonstrate awareness of the scope and variety of works in the arts and humanities.
2. * Evaluate those works as expressions of individual and human values within an
historical and social context.
3. * Respond critically to works in the humanities.
4. Identify key ideas, representative authors and works, significant historical or cultural
events, and characteristic perspectives or attitudes expressed in the literature of different
periods or regions.
5. Analyze literary works as expressions of individual or communal values within the
social, political, cultural, or religious contexts of different literary periods.
6. Demonstrate knowledge of development of characteristic forms or styles of expression
during different historical periods in different regions.
Disclaimer: The instructor reserves the right to change this syllabus as deemed necessary and appropriate.
7. Articulate the aesthetic principle that guide the scope and variety of works in the arts &
humanities.
8. Write research-based critical papers about the assigned readings in clear and
grammatically correct prose, using various critical approaches to literature.
Core Course Objectives (AMS): ( * indicates Program Level Outcome)
*
Critical Thinking Skills: to include creative thinking, innovation, inquiry, and analysis,
evaluation and synthesis of information.
*
Communication Skills: to include effective written, oral, and visual communication.
*
Social Responsibility: to include intercultural competency, knowledge of civic
responsibility, and the ability to engage effectively in regional, national, and global
communities.
*
Personal Responsibility: to include the ability to connect choices, actions, and
consequences to ethical decision-making.
Assessments (AMS):
Final Exam.
IDEA objectives 1,7, & 8 marked as “E” for Essential
Course Requirements:
1. You must have all reading material read by the assigned date as listed on the syllabus
calendar. This will help you complete activities in and out of class for daily grades. As a
result, you will be expected to provide significant and relevant contributions to our class
discussions.
2. If you miss a lecture, it is your responsibility to get notes from a classmate. I do not post
lecture notes in Blackboard, as much of the content comes from your textbook or our
collective thinking and discussions.
3. Blackboard quizzes over most readings are due 5 minutes before each class period
begins. These will vary in length and may contain multiple choice or short answer
questions that will help you better understand the readings and the topics we will discuss
in class.
4. Quizzes and other daily work, once missed, cannot be made up. Missed assignments will
be recorded as a 0.
5. Exams are held in class. If you are absent on the date of an exam, prepare to make it up
after class ends on the date you return or else you will earn a 0. You will incur a 10 point
penalty for taking the exam late. Final exams cannot be made up.
6. Each student will be required to write two essays this semester. One essay will be from a
work chosen from Volume A, and the other essay will be from a work chosen from
Volume B. Each essay must have 750-1000 words, and each essay must use at least 3
scholarly sources to support the points made within. You cannot reuse an essay from a
previous semester or course for this class.
7. Late essays will be penalized 10 points/one letter grade per day that they are late. Late
Disclaimer: The instructor reserves the right to change this syllabus as deemed necessary and appropriate.
essays will not be accepted after five days past the due date and will be recorded as a
zero.
8. A plagiarized assignment, which includes but is not necessarily limited to buying an
essay off the internet, reusing a paper, and/or using the work of another person with or
without his/her consent will result in a failing grade without the possibility of a make-up
for that assignment. A second case of plagiarism will result in a failing grade for the
course.
9. Cellular phones (and other electronic devices) should be turned off and stored for the
duration of the class. Use class as an excuse to ignore the outside world!
Criteria for Grading:
Test 1
Test 2
Daily Work
Essay 1
Essay 2
Final Exam
15%
15%
15%
15%
15%
25%
This course covers three broad periods of American Literature: the Puritan Age/Colonialist; the
Revolutionary Period/Federalist; and the Romantic Age/Transcendentalist. Our course is
therefore divided into three units. Volume A of your textbook covers the Puritan Age and the
Revolutionary Age. Volume B covers the Romantic Age.
Attendance:
• Attendance will be taken each class period and may be taken at any point during class.
• To be counted as present, you must be in class when attendance is taken.
• Instructors will drop all students who do not attend prior to the Official Record Date
(ORD).
• Students may drop the course at any time before 65% of the course has been completed
for a grade of Q or W.
• Instructors may drop students from the course if absences exceed 20% of the scheduled
class meetings.
• Instructors will drop students from the course when absences exceed 40% of the
scheduled class meetings
o unless said excessive absences accrue after the 65% drop date or
o unless students are in good standing.
Disclaimer: The instructor reserves the right to change this syllabus as deemed necessary and appropriate.
The ORD for this class is Wednesday, February 3, 2016.
The last day to drop this course is Wednesday, April 6, 2016.
Tentative Class Calendar:
***Please note that this calendar is subject to change based on the flow of the course and our
discussions. Any changes will be announced in writing and during class.
Week
1
Date
M 1/18
W 1/20
M 1/25
2
W 1/27
M 2/1
3
W 2/3
M 2/8
4
W 2/10
M 2/15
5
W 2/17
In-Class Topics
No Class! MLK Holiday
First day of class!
Instructor and Course Introduction
Unit 1 Introduction
Read pp. 3-20 “The Marvels of Spain and
America”
Read pp. 21-25 – The Iroquois Creation
Story
Read John Smith pp. 81-92 “The General
History of Virginia, New England, and the
Summer Isles”
Read John Smith pp. 93-96 “A Description
of New England
Read William Bradford pp. 120-121 and
122-144, “Of Plymouth Plantation”
Read John Winthrop pp. 165-166 and 166177 “A Model of Christian Charity”
Read Anne Bradstreet pp. 207, 225 “The
Author to Her Book”, pp. 232-233 “Here
Follows Some Verses Upon the Burning of
Our House”, pp. 225-226 “Before the Birth
of One of Her Children
Read Cotton Mather pp. 327, 328-333 “The
Wonders of the Invisible World”
Read Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the
Hands of an Angry God” pp. 396-398, 430441
Major Deadlines
Test 1
Test 1
Bb quiz
Bb quiz
Bb quiz
Bb quiz
Bb quiz
Bb quiz
Bb quiz
Test 1 review posted
in Bb
Disclaimer: The instructor reserves the right to change this syllabus as deemed necessary and appropriate.
M 2/22
6
W 2/24
M 2/29
7
W 3/2
M 3/7
W 3/9
8
The Revolutionary Age Introduction - Read
pp. 365-378
Read Ben Franklin pp. 455-457, pp. 463-465
“The Speech of Miss Polly Baker”, pp. 471476 “Information to Those Who Would
Remove to America”
Read J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur pp.
604-605, 605-618 “Letters From an
American Farmer”
Read Thomas Paine pp. 639-640, “Common
Sense pp. 641-647
Read Thomas Jefferson pp. 659-661, 661667 “Declaration of Independence”
Read Olaudah Equiano pp. 687-688, 688-699
“The Interesting Narrative of the Life of
Olaudah Equiano…”
Paper 1 due in Blackboard
Copies of sources due in person
Bb quiz
Bb quiz
Bb quiz
Bb quiz
Paper 1 due
March 13 – March 18: Spring Break! College closed – no class.
M 3/21
9
W 3/23
M 3/28
10
W 3/30
M 4/4
11
W 4/6
M 4/11
12
W 4/13
Read Phillis Wheatley pp. 762-764, 772-773
“To His Excellency General Washington”,
764 “On Being Brought from Africa to
America”
Test 2
Introduction to the Romantic Age – begin
using Volume B for the rest of the semester
Read pp. 3-24
Read Washington Irving pp. 25-26, 29-41
“Rip Van Winkle”
Read Ralph Waldo Emerson pp. 211-214,
214-217 “Nature”, 269-272 “Self-Reliance”
Read Henry David Thoreau pp. 961-964,
965-979 “Resistance to Civil Government”
Read Nathaniel Hawthorne pp. 369-373,
387-395 “Young Goodman Brown”, 418-429
“The Birthmark”
Read Angelina Grimke pp. 798-801 “Appeal
to the Christian Women of the South”
Bb quiz
Test 2 review posted
in Bb
Test 2
Bb quiz
Bb quiz
Bb quiz
Bb quiz
Bb quiz
Disclaimer: The instructor reserves the right to change this syllabus as deemed necessary and appropriate.
M 4/18
13
W 4/20
M 4/25
14
W 4/27
M 5/2
15
W 5/4
16
Read Sojourner Truth pp. 801-802 “Speech
to the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron,
Ohio, 1851”
Read Fanny Fern pp. 905-906, 907-908
Bb quiz
“Aunt Hetty on Matrimony”, 914-915 “A
Law More Nice Than Just”
Read Herman Melville pp. 1424-1427, 1483- Bb quiz
1509 “Bartleby the Scrivener”
Lecture TBA
Paper 2 Due
Paper 2 due in Blackboard
Copies of sources due in person
Read Edgar Allan Poe pp. 629-632, 637-640 Bb quiz
“The Raven”, 654-667 “The Fall of the
House of Usher”
Read Emily Dickinson pp. 1659-1663, pg.
Bb quiz
1663 “112 [67]”, pg. 1669 “260 [288]”, pg.
1670 “269 [ 249]” and “279 [664]”, pg. 1672
“320 [258]”
Read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow pp. 596- Bb quiz
597, 598 “A Psalm of Life”, 606
Final Exam review
“Hawthorne”
posted in Bb
**Monday, May 9, 2016**
6:00 – 8:30 pm
FINAL EXAM – Final exams cannot be made up.
Disclaimer: The instructor reserves the right to change this syllabus as deemed necessary and appropriate.
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Student Handbook, Student Code of Conduct, Discipline Issues, Financial Aid Appeals
Student Services Building
361-582-2516
www.victoriacollege.edu/studentservices
Updated 7-07-2015
Additional information on Student Support Services can found in The Victoria College Student Handbook. A link to
the Handbook is in the Publications & Dates folder in the Pirate Portal. A hardcopy of The Handbook can be
obtained by contacting any Student Services office.
Disclaimer: The instructor reserves the right to change this syllabus as deemed necessary and appropriate.