“If I read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry. These are the only ways I know it. Is there any other way?”

                                                -Emily Dickinson

            “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

                                                                                                -William Butler Yeats

English 1B

Advanced Reading and Composition: Poetry, Drama, Novel, Creative Non-fiction

Meeting Times:         #2217: Monday and Wednesday, 2:40-4:05

            Classroom:                 Cedar 10

Teacher:                     Jim Toner

Office:                         Cedar 7

Office Hours:             Monday and Wednesday, 11:15-12:45

                        Tuesday and Thursday, 2:30-3:30

Office Phone:             588-5226

E-mail:                        tonerj@yosemite.cc.ca.us

Course Web-Site:      gocolumbia.org/tonerj then click on the English 1B link.

Your two student contacts:  A.______________________________________

                                                B.______________________________________

Books:           

·        Poetry: A Pocket Anthology (4^th Edition), by R. S. Gwynn

·        Othello,by William Shakespeare (Cambridge University Press)

·        Serendib, by Jim Toner (Publisher: University of Georgia Press)

(Note: I donate to charity all profits that I earn from this book.)

·        The God of Small Things, by Arundhati Roy

And…

·         A blank cassette tape (used to record comments on your essays);

·         Money for two plays: We will go to at least one local play this semester, perhaps two, depending on what’s available and if it’s suitable to this class. Right now, Stage 3 Theater is devising its schedule for 2005, so we’ll have to see what they come up with. As for Sierra Rep Theater, they have two musicals lined up (Annie and Sweeney Todd), and we’ll have to decide if seeing one of them excites us. In any case, expect to spend $10-$12 for each of the two shows.

·        One foreign-language requirement: teeka-teeka      

Course Description: 

The emphasis in English 1B is to read the categories of literature—poetry, prose (fiction and non-fiction), and drama—and then to write analytical essays about them that are convincing, coherent, and grammatically correct. We also will write poetry, our own stories, and perhaps a little bit of a play.

Primary Objective:

I hope that by the end of the semester you will realize, at the level of your bones, that literature has a vital place in your lives. It has the capacity to enlarge your humanity and your compassion, to make you better people, to make you more alert, to make you more alive. Literature is not something for the educated elite, but it is for you, and it is all around you. It connects us with our ancestors, with all other humans, and with the mysteries and miracles within each of us. With this in mind, I’m serious when I say that my primary goal in this class is for you to read some carefully arranged words—just words, just ordinary words that you use every day—that have the power to knock you to your knees and to change your hearts forever.

Other Objectives:

·        To experience literature with your full body—your brain, your heart, your hips, your memory;

·        To learn the concepts and terms for the elements that comprise literature (examples: setting, irony, sonnet, iambic pentameter);

·        To understand that literature has the power to convey the full range of human experience;

·        To believe that you, too, belong on this dance floor of writing, so you’ll try your hand at writing some stories and poems;

·        To let a few choice poems settle more deeply into your bones by memorizing them;

·        To write some essays in which you analyze how a poem’s parts work together to create such a powerful experience;

·        To master the technical aspects of writing—margins, topic sentences, MLA format, commas—as well as the musical and spiritual parts of writing;

·        To drop your adult protections just long enough to draw with crayons, to act, to twirl, to dance, to sculpt (Picasso said, “It took me a long time to become young.”);

·        To know your classmates well.

Expectations:

·        That you will come to every class on time, with all assignments completed, with your belly full, with your eyes rested, and with an enthusiasm so extreme that you might burst and splatter in front of us all;

·        That you will leave outside the door all past miseries of English;

·        That you will be tolerant of this class’s diversity – its ages, its opinions, its appearances, its colors, its abilities, its backgrounds;

·        That you use the other 165 hours of the week to socialize with your buddies, and that the 3 hours within this room are reserved for English life;

·        That you contribute to making this classroom safe, creative, daring, and holy.

Grading:

Every assignment, test, and essay is given a point value according to its importance and difficulty: for example, 10 points for a bit of homework, 150 points for an essay. All totaled, there will be around 1500 points for the semester. These points are tabulated on a computerized grading program, which makes it easy for you to see your status throughout the semester.

Grading scale:  A+: 100-98       B+: 90-88     C+: 80-78        D+: 70-68        F: 60 and

                           A:     97-94      B:   87-84     C:   77-74        D:   67-64              below        

                           A-:    93-91      B-:  83-81    C-:  73-71        D-:  63-61                   

Extra credit:

 I seldom offer any because I feel the course work alone is enough. But if you are highly motivated, and if your grade is borderline, propose some extra work and I’ll probably agree to it.

Late work:

I have a heart, and I know that unexpected things happen. Under those rare

circumstances, please come see me so we can work something out. Otherwise, I have to hold you to deadlines, especially when it comes to the due date for essays.

Plagiarism:

Please don’t do it. I have the bizarre skill of being able to sniff out work that is

not yours, so you’ll probably get caught. But much worse is that you break a vow of trust between you and me, and that’s what crushes me. You need to know that the college penalty for plagiarism is immediate expulsion from class with an “F” grade. So don’t do it, okay.

Misssed Classes:

            It is never a good idea to miss a class. If you do, my assumption is that you will call another student or check out the website to find out what we did, what you missed, and what is due the next class. When you return, please don’t come up to me and say, “What did I miss last time?” My assumption is that, when you return, you will be all caught up and ready to go.

            If you miss three consecutive classes and don’t notify me, I’ll presume that you’ve dropped the class.

A Final Word on Grades:

Not everything can be reduced to a point evaluation. This is English, and English

is a subject of spirit and abstraction. This also is education, and education is full of enthusiasm and exploration and kindness—all non-pointable entities. So there is room amid all of this point madness for me to evaluate you in many other ways. For example, I place a high value on politeness and respect; a high value on being here on time; a high value on your own private journey; a high value on your attempting to do what doesn’t come naturally or easily. None of these values and behaviors are given points, but they do influence my decision of what to give you for your semester grade.

A final note: I hate grades. For the most part I think of them as an obstacle to your

education because they draw excess attention to themselves. My preference would be to do away with them entirely, but I work in a system that demands them. So I give them out like a good soldier, and I try very hard to give them out fairly.

Assignments:

I try to follow the college recommendation of giving 6-8 hours of homework per week for this class. You can expect some weeks to be lighter, other weeks (especially around essay time) to be heavier.

I can’t tell you right now what the assignments will be. Every class is different, and every day offers new inspiration to me. It’s important for me as a teacher to remain open to that throughout the course of a semester. True, there are some assignments set in stone, like writing 4 essays ranging from 3-6 pages each, but I really think it’s best right now to be vague. My advice is to just relax and have faith in yourself and in me.

Think of it this way: This class is like hiking up a magnificent trail in Yosemite, one that is full of such fantastic discoveries along the way that you’ll hardly be aware of the effort required of you. Follow me, only because I know from past experience that trudging up the trail is better than hanging out in the parking lot. I won’t carry you, and I won’t even carry your lunch, but I’ll guide you as much as you need. It’ll take movement and perseverance on your part, but the view from the top (and the pleasures along the way) will be all worth it.

Writing:.Based on past classes, this is what you might expect to write:

a.       Two explication essays on poems. The first will focus on words, the second will focus on words and music.

b.      An essay that analyzes some aspect of Othello.

c.       Some type of essay that analyzes Serendib.

d.      Your own original poetry, short story, memoir, and perhaps drama.

e.       An essay for the final exam that asks you to find some connection that binds all of the things we’ve read this semester.

f.        Possible: A paper on a writer with whom you’ve fallen in love.

Note: All English 1B courses in California require the students to write 8000 words. No, I won’t count your words, but this should give you some idea of how much you’ll be writing. Rather than gasp at this amount, I encourage you to see this as a fabulous opportunity to improve your writing with a teacher who knows nothing about carburetors or train whistles or gigabytes—but does know a few things about writing. Remember: teeka-teeka.

Memorizing:

            There is a special power and insight that comes from memorizing lines of poetry. We will do some of that this semester. In the past, students have come to my office and recited their poems (I am nice; I will help you.) And in the past, I have either assigned the poems or left it up to the students to choose their own. Either way, I’ll set a schedule for you that will help you avoid procrastination.

Your Turn:

            For the first five minutes of each class, a student will share a favorite poem or song or passage from a book. Tell us about it and tell us about you.

Make movies: I just finished teaching a class in which we made some movies. They were a lot of fun and worthwhile things to do, and I’d like this class to make some, too. Right now I’m thinking of two movies: one is on a poem and the other is a scene from Othello or Serendib.

Literary Terms:

            The poetry book I’m using this year is new—so new that I haven’t even received my copy and you people are arriving at my doorstep in ten days. I chose it for its range of poems, for the reputation of its editor, for its price (it’s half what other anthologies cost), and for its explanation of terms. Since it is new to me, I’m hoping that it will touch upon all of the terms which I think you need to know. Here they are:

Literary Terms