Kathleen Washburn
Fall 2007
Office: Humanities A97
T/Th 1:00 – 2:50 p.m.
Math/Science 6201
E-mail: kgwash@ucla.edu
Office Hours: Tuesday, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
(& by appointment)
Website: http://ecampusce.humnet.ucla.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES:
In English 4WS, we will explore various strategies for analyzing literature and practice these critical skills through written responses, discussion, group work, and formal essays. This writing-intensive course focuses on constructing effective arguments for various purposes and audiences. We will address conventions for writing about literature (especially explication) and also refine key writing skills such as crafting an engaging and effective thesis, selecting and integrating textual evidence, revising for clarity and precision, and editing carefully.
This section of English 4W is designated as a service learning course, which requires each student to complete 20 verified hours of service with a designated partner organization in the broader Los Angeles community. We will investigate the relationship between literature and service in class discussion and writing assignments; we also will turn to a range of literary texts to address how writing functions in creating, representing, and circulating ideas of character and community. In what ways do literary texts function as social texts—and to what ends? What role does writing play in imagining models of culture, self-making, and social justice? How does literature address the relationship between aesthetics and ethics, theory and practice, local and global communities—or even the usefulness such categories? We will analyze literary strategies of aesthetic engagement, sentimental attachment, and ethical relation in various contexts. In doing so, we will also examine the role (or roles) of writing (including your own academic training) in debates about global citizens and global markets.
MATERIALS:
Rebecca Harding Davis, Life in the Iron Mills
N. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain
*Course reader (available at Course Reader Material, 1137 Westwood Blvd.)
EVALUATION:
Response papers (3) :
Essay #1:
Essay #2:
20%
20%
20%
2 pages (each)
3-5 pages
4-5 pages
Group presentation:
Final project :
Participation:
5%
25%
10%
4-5 pages
[service, web postings, group work, peer review,
and active participation in class discussion]
** NOTE: 20 verified hours of service are required to pass this course! **
The readings and writing assignments for our course will address models of service and community.
Each student must write three (3) brief response papers, which are designed to practice literary analysis and draw connections between the texts for our class and your service experiences. Writing

requirements also include two essays, plus one final written project. The first essay (literary analysis) calls for a focused and well-organized argument in support of a clear thesis, along with careful explanation of textual evidence. The second essay involves assessing your service in relation to the course readings, an assignment that is linked to the group presentation. For the group presentation, students will evaluate their service experiences and the model (or models) of service at work in their partner organization. For the final project, students can choose to write an essay of literary analysis on a single text or a creative project with an accompanying introduction.
In addition to regular service and graded writing projects, each student is expected to come to class fully prepared, participate actively in class discussion, complete all reading assignments and discussion board postings on time, and contribute substantively to group activities. For peer review, please take the time to serve as an engaged reader, offering clear and thoughtful feedback on other students’ writing.
MORE ON SERVICE LEARNING:
What is service learning?
Service learning connects academic curricula with active participation in service activities that meet specific community needs. English 4WS is the service learning option for this standard writing-intensive course, which means that service is integrated into the course materials (not just “added on” as another requirement). For our course in critical reading and writing, this form of engaged scholarship means applying the models of community and service from literature to your partner organization as well as drawing on your service experiences to contextualize and analyze various literary texts.
Service learning can take many forms. For this course, we will work with the following partner organizations in the broader LA community:
 Proyecto de Jornaleros / IDEPSCA (Instituto de Educación Popular del Sur de
California): Teach English as a Second Language (ESL) and provide additional program support for day laborers at the downtown community job center.
 American Indian Recruitment (AIR) / Southern California Indian Center & Torres
Martinez Tribal TANF (downtown & Gardena): Provide tutoring and mentoring services to
Native American students from elementary school through high school.
 826LA (www.826la.org): Help students age 6 to 18 improve their writing skills (drop-in tutoring in Venice) and help teachers inspire their students to write (field trips around LA).
 TreePeople. Plant trees and provide tree care at various locations throughout Los Angeles
(mostly weekends); some program support (weekdays) at Coldwater Canyon Park.
Service learning courses are part of the undergraduate program linked to the Chancellor’s “UCLA in
LA” initiative. The UCLA Center for Community Learning (CCL) will serve as a key resource for our class. For more information on additional opportunities for community-based learning at UCLA
(including internships for course credit), see the CCL website (http://www.college.ucla.edu/up/ccl/) . In addition to earning credit toward the general education writing requirement, please note that English
4WS also serves as course credit toward the minor in civic engagement.
What is Required of You?
In addition to the reading and writing components of the course, English 4WS requires a minimum of 20 hours of service at one of our designated partner organizations, beginning in Week 2 and concluding in
Week 9. By the end of the first week of class (October 9), you must select a community partner, sign a

service learning contract, and set up your schedule for the entire quarter. Please note that this agreement calls for 2 ½ - 3 hours of service each week (not squeezing in the required hours in large blocks of time at the end of the quarter). Maintaining a consistent service schedule allows you to get to know the partner organization and target community over time—and allows us to address the connections between service experiences and the course materials throughout the quarter.
You will be representing UCLA with our community partners, so be sure to maintain high standards of professionalism, including punctuality, courtesy, and respect for everyone on site. If you have any unexpected scheduling conflicts, please notify your partner organization as soon as possible and plan how to make up the time. We will regularly take up questions and issues related to your service during class, but if you have any problems or serious concerns about a situation on site, contact your site supervisor (or me) immediately.
ADDITIONAL POLICIES:
Attendance: For English 4WS to be interesting, challenging, and useful, students must attend regularly and participate actively. Students who miss class will NOT have the opportunity to make up quizzes or in-class work, but will be responsible for any assignments for the following class.
Deadlines: Please note that I will be happy to accept drafts and outlines as e-mail attachments, but we will utilize TurnItIn.com for final essays (via MyUCLA). Any work submitted after the deadline will be penalized 1/3 of a letter grade, plus an additional 1/3 of a letter grade for each subsequent day late.
If you are faced with an emergency or have legitimate reasons for being unable to complete written work on time, please contact me as soon as possible.
Conferences: I encourage everyone to schedule individual conferences with me throughout the quarter. These brief, informal conferences give us the opportunity to discuss your writing skills, explore possible paper topics, and address any other questions you might have regarding the course. Feel free to stop by during my regular office hours—or contact me via e-mail—with any questions or concerns.
Please note, too, that additional office hours are available by appointment.
Participation: The seminar format of English 4WS depends upon a challenging atmosphere of intellectual inquiry. Each student is expected to complete required readings and assignments on time and to participate actively in class discussions and group work. In keeping with academic conventions, each student is expected to share ideas with others, examine their own assumptions and claims as well as those of peers, and treat everyone in the classroom with respect at all times.
Academic integrity: Students are expected to generate their own work for each assignment. Any and all forms of plagiarism, or incorporating another person’s words or ideas into your own work without proper attribution, are unacceptable. We will address writing techniques for generating, developing, and revising your ideas for a strong literary argument and will also review how to cite source materials to avoid unintentional plagiarism, but please feel free to ask me if you have any questions. In keeping with university policy, any form of academic dishonesty, such as taking credit for another writer’s work or assisting another student in plagiarism, will be reported to the Dean of Students.
Writing assistance: Feel free to see me about any questions about writing skills and expectations. UCLA also offers a number of valuable resources for writing assistance and student support. College Tutorial and ESL Tutoring Labs, located in 228 Covel Commons (310-206-1491), offer drop-in sessions as well as standing weekly appointments for one-on-one help with your writing. For students in Academic
Advancement Programs, the AAP center in 1209 Campbell (310-825-1481) offers tutor support for writing.

Th 9/27
T 10/2
Th 10/4
T 10/9
Th 10/11
F 10/12
T 10/16
Th 10/18
M 10/22
T 10/23
COURSE SCHEDULE
READINGS
Introduction to the course & service learning partners
WEEK ONE: Global Citizens & Literary Markets
* Ishmael Beah, from A Long Way Gone
Meghan Daum, “Attack of the Killer Memoir”
(http://www.meghandaum.com/latimes_column/2007/040207
_attack_killer_memoirs.htm)
Tom Junod, “Angelina Jolie Dies for Our Sins”
(http://www.esquire.com/women/women-we-love/Jolie0707)
Ron Rosenbaum, “The Worst Celebrity Profile Ever
Written?” (http://www.slate.com/id/2168707/)
Film: Lost Boys of Sudan (Dir. Meghan Mylan & J. Shenk)
ASSIGNMENTS
Discussion board post #1
Contact service learning site & schedule site visits
WEEK TWO: Charity Begins at Home?
* Frederick Douglass, from Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself
* Henry David Thoreau, “Where I Lived & What I Lived
For” (from Walden )
No class
Response paper #1
Discussion board post #2
WEEK THREE: (Social) Realism & Its Discontents
Rebecca Harding Davis, Life in the Iron Mills
* Tillie Olsen, “I Stand Here Ironing”
WEEK FOUR: I Get You: Sympathy at Work
Response paper #2
Discussion board post #3
* Harriet Beecher Stowe, “The Mother’s Struggle”
(from Uncle Tom’s Cabin )
* Ishmael Reed, “Flight to Canada”
* Zitkala- a, “The Soft-Hearted Sioux”

Th 10/25
F 10/26
T 10/30
Th 11/1
T 11/6
Th 11/8
T 11/13
Th 11/15
T 11/20
Th 11/22
T 11/27
Th 12/29
Writing workshop—meet in Powell computer lab
WEEK FIVE: Subject to Interpretation
* Sherman Alexie, “Introduction to Native American
Literature”
* Billy Collins, “Introduction to Poetry”
* W. Wordsworth, “The World Is Too Much with Us”
* Emily Dickinson, poem #1129 & #435
N. Scott Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain
WEEK SIX: Core Curriculum (or, How Does It
Feel To Be a Problem?)
* Richard Rodgriguez, “Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual
Childhood”
* Zitkala- a, “The School Days of an Indian Girl”
* L. Erdrich, “Indian Boarding School: The Runaways”
Film: Rabbit-Proof Fence (Dir. Phillip Noyce)
WEEK SEVEN: Relatively Speaking
* William Shakespeare, Sonnet 130
* Harryette Mullen, “Dim Lady”
* Sherman Alexie, “South by Southwest”
Writing workshop—meet in Powell computer lab
WEEK EIGHT: Service, Inc.
Group presentations
Thanksgiving holiday—no class
WEEK NINE: Where You Live/What You Live For
* Anna Deavere Smith, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992
Twilight , cont.
WEEK TEN: Writing Community
Essay #1 due
Response paper #3
Essay #2 due

T 12/4
Th 12/6
* Grace Paley, “A Conversation with My Father”
-- Meet in Powell computer lab --
Service reports & wrap-up
Th 12/13
* Materials in the course reader
Discussion board post #4
Final project due