ENGL 389.001, MWF 10:00-10:50 a.m.                                                                       John D. Kalb

ENGL 389.002, MWF 11:00-11:50 a.m.                           Office: 350 Holloway Hall, 410-543-6049

CH 111                                                                   Hours: MW 1:00-2:50, TR 1:00-3:15 & by appt.

Fall 2005                                                                                               email: jdkalb@salisbury.edu

 

Topics in Native American Literature: Native Autobiography & Non-Fiction

 

Texts:  Ella Deloria (Yankton Sioux), Speaking of Indians

             N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa), The Way to Rainy Mountain

             Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki), Bowman’s Store

             Mary Crow Dog (Lakota) with Richard Erdoes, Lakota Woman

             Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo), Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit  

             Linda Hogan (Chickasaw), Dwellings: A Spiritual History of the Living World

             Jim Northrup (Anishinaabe), The Rez Road Follies

             one additional text from a list to be distributed to you soon

            

Course Objectives:  The objectives of the course include:

1) to acquaint students with the autobiographical and non-fiction writings of some Native American writers and activists;

2) to help students understand some of the historical, sociological, and philosophical background of the issues of these texts;

3) to foster discussion and active intellectual engagement with the issues of growing up “Indian” and maintaining one’s “Indianness” in 20th century America;

4) to introduce students to the fundamental differences between Native peoples worldview and the common “American” one (especially with regard to relationship with family, community, the natural and spiritual world, ceremony and story);

5) to foster interest in additional works by Native writers.

 

Course Requirements:  You will need to read all assignments before coming to class and come to class prepared to discuss them. You must bring the text(s) we are reading and discussing to class. Course grades will be based on the following required aspects of the course: class preparation & participation, 15 reading quizzes, two 3-4 page essays, one 5-7 page essay, and a 5-7 minute presentation.  Please note: Failure to complete any of the course requirements may mean failing the course. None of these requirements is optional.

 

Grading:         Class Preparation/Participation                                  100 total points possible

                        15 Quizzes @ 10 points possible each                     150 total points possible

                        Two 3-4 page essays @ 150 points possible each   300 total points possible

                        5-7 page essay                                                           200 total points possible

                        Presentation                                                                100 total points possible

                                                                                                           

765-850 = A, 680-764 points = B, 595-679 points = C; 510-594 points = D

 

Class Preparation/Participation:  The best ways to illustrate that you are an active, engaged, and interested student are reading all assignments before coming to class and contributing regularly to class discussions.

 

Quizzes:  You can expect a brief quiz on any day for which there is a reading assignment. There will be quizzes on 15 of those dates. Quizzes will consist of questions which should be easily answerable by anyone who has read the assignment carefully. If you wish to take a quiz, you must arrive on time. There will be no make-up quizzes. If you do not attend class on the day of a quiz or arrive too late to take a quiz, you forfeit those 10 possible points.

 

 

 

Essays: The first 3-4 page essay, due on Friday, September 23, will describe and analyze an aspect or issue in one (or both) of the first works–Speaking of Indians and/or The Way to Rainy Mountain.  The second 3-4 page essay, due on Wednesday, October 19, will describe and analyze an aspect or issue in one (or both) of the next two texts–Bowman’s Store and/or Lakota Woman. The final 5-7 page essay, due on Friday, December 2, will analytically compare an aspect or two common to the additional text you read and one of the required texts of the class. During the final days of the semester, students will make a 5-7 minute presentation about the additional text and the resulting essay. I will provide more details in separate handouts for each essay assignment.

       All of the essays you submit must be typed, double-spaced, with inch margins on all sides, and stapled (once) in the upper left hand corner. (PLEASE: No folders, paper clips, ripped and folded corners, or other "fancy" methods of binding.) These papers should be as error free as possible. Please carefully proofread your papers before you turn them in. I prefer that you correct the typos in pen or pencil yourself rather than leave that task to me.

       All papers are to be turned in on the day indicated on the calendar which follows. Late papers will be graded 10 points lower for each day they are late. Failure to turn in a paper means failing the course.       

       The numerous writing activities--both informal and formal--indicate that the instructor is a firm supporter of writing as a means of learning and of SU's Writing Across the Curriculum policy.

       Special Note: All students taking this course to fulfill their English/Secondary Education [or TESOL] requirement must begin a technology portfolio and must include at least one paper/project from this course in the portfolio.

 

Plagiarism: The English Department takes plagiarism, the unacknowledged use of other people's ideas, very seriously indeed. As outlined in the Student Handbook under the "Policy on Student Academic Integrity," plagiarism may receive such penalties as failure on a paper or failure in the course. The English Department recognizes that plagiarism is a very serious offense and professors make their decisions regarding sanctions accordingly. Each of the following constitutes plagiarism:

1. Turning in as your own work a paper or part of a paper that anyone other than you wrote. This would include but is not limited to work taken from another student, from a published author, or from an Internet contributor.

2. Turning in a paper that includes unquoted and / or undocumented passages someone else wrote.

3. Including in a paper someone else's original ideas, opinions or research results without attribution.

4. Paraphrasing without attribution.

       5. Turning in the same paper for credit in more than one class.

A few changes in wording do not make a passage your property. As a precaution, if you are in doubt, cite the source. Moreover, if you have gone to the trouble to investigate secondary sources, you should give yourself credit for having done so by citing those sources in your essay and by providing a list of Works Cited or Works Consulted at the conclusion of the essay. In any case, failure to provide proper attribution could result in a severe penalty and is never worth the risk.

       In addition to the submission of actual printed essays for grading, students in this course will also be required to submit their formal essays electronically to www.turnitin.com.

 

 

Attendance:  I expect to be here every day and hope you will do the same. Your success in the course will be contingent upon your preparation for and participation in class sessions. You may miss three classes (for whatever reason) without direct penalty. Each day you miss beyond those three “freebies” will reduce your overall points as follows: : -25 points for the third day, - 50 for the fourth, -75 for the fifth, and so on. (That’s not minus 75 points for missing those three extra days; that’s minus 150 points. So if you have a schedule conflict with this course, you should select a course that better fits your schedule.)  Remember that YOU are responsible for meeting deadlines and making up any missed work.

       I will, of course, also expect you to arrive promptly for class and stay for the duration of each session.  Schedule your other activities around this course, not vice versa.  In addition, students who come to class ill-prepared (i.e., without the novel we’re discussing, having not read the assignment) may be asked to leave the classroom and invited to return another day on which they are better prepared.  Please turn your cell phones and pagers OFF before entering the classroom.

 

Office Hours:  MW 1:00-2:50, TR 1:00-3:15.  These times are set aside for you; don't hesitate to take full advantage of my availability at that time.  Please feel free to speak with me about any concerns or interests during those hours or, if those times are inconvenient, by appointment. 

Assignment Calendar

 

Aug.      29       Introduction to course

             31       Introduction ctd.

Sept.      2       Deloria, Speaking of Indians (Introduction and Part I; through page 23)

 

               5       Labor Day – No Class

               7       Speaking of Indians (Part II; through page 74)

               9       Speaking of Indians (Part III; through page 135)

 

             12       Speaking of Indians (to end)

             14       Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain (Preface, Prologue, Introduction

                        & “The Setting Out”; through page 41)

             16       The Way to Rainy Mountain (“The Going On”; through page 63)

 

             19       The Way to Rainy Mountain (to end)

             21       Last Stand at Little Big Horn (video)

             23       Last Stand at Little Big Horn (video)

                        Paper #1 Due

 

             26       Bruchac, Bowman’s Store (Foreward and chapters 1-4; through page 44)

             28       Bowman’s Store (through chapter 12; through page 114)

             30       Bowman’s Store (through chapter 20; through page 173)

 

Oct.        3       Bowman’s Store (through chapter 28; through page 237)

               5       Bowman’s Store (to end)

               7       Crow Dog, Lakota Woman (through chapter 4; through page 54)

 

             10       Lakota Woman (through chapter 8; through page 127)

             12       Lakota Woman (through chapter 13; through page 198)

             14       Lakota Woman (to end)

 

             17       Incident at Oglala (video)

             19       Incident at Oglala (video)

                        Paper #2 Due

             21       Silko, Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit (Introduction through page 47)

 

             24       Yellow Woman (through page 91)

             26       Yellow Woman (through page 123)

             28       Yellow Woman (through page 165)

 

             31       Yellow Woman (to end)

Nov.        2       Surviving Columbus (video)

               4       Surviving Columbus (video)

 

               7       Hogan, Dwellings (Preface through page 46)

               9       Dwellings (through page 98)

             10       Dwellings (through page124)

 

             14       Dwellings (to end)

                        In the Light of Reverence (video)

             16       In the Light of Reverence (video)

             18       Northrup, The Rez Road Follies (through page 97)

 

             21       Rez Road Follies (through page 155)

             23       Thanksgiving Break – No Class

             25       Thanksgiving Break – No Class

 

             28       Rez Road Follies (through page 207)

             30       Rez Road Follies (to end)

Dec.       2       Paper #3 Due

                        Presentations

 

               5       Presentations

               7       Presentations

               9       Presentations

 

Final Exam period (Although we won’t have a final exam, we will meet for remaining presentations during this time):

                        ENGL 389.001, Friday, December 16, 8:00 -10:30 a.m.

                        ENGL 389.002, Monday, December 12, 10:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m.

 

This schedule of assignments is, of course, subject to change.