English 333| Mary Adams, Instructor

Final Exam

TR 9:30-10:45 Coulter 104

Contact Mary Adams: madams (at) wcu.edu

Contact John Temple, TA: jttemple (at) wcu.edu

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this class, students will have the following skills:

1. Critical Reading of Primary Texts
   Students will read critically a wide variety of works of Shakespeare, including plays and poems, and gain a new understanding of his language.
2. Critical Writing About Primary Texts
   Students analyze and interpret in writing those works of English literature using appropriate evidence, conventions, and language
3. Improved understanding of Shakespeare's age and the context of his work.
   Students will learn about the Shakespeare's audience and his influences. They will read the plays in the context of the political, cultural, scientific, and religious contexts in which they were written.
4. Rudimentary understanding of theoretical approaches to Shakespeare.
   Students will strive to understand formal, new historical, feminist, eco-critical, and textual scholarship as it perftains to Shakespeare's plays.
5. Oral Presentation and Critical Discussion
   discuss and present, in an informed manner, ideas about or relating Shakespeare and his age.
6. Some understanding of how to read Shakespeare aloud and perform in a scene, as demonstrated by one group scene performance
   

Policies

To help you get the most out of the course, I have instituted these policies:

• Web site: You are responsible for keeping up with the material on the web site. I do not use a printed syllabus, and I update the syllabus frequently, so always hit reload when you access it. I do not use WebCAT, WebCT, or Blackboard.
• Email: My email address is madams [at] wcu [dot] edu. I do not use WebCAT.
• Absences: You may miss three classes for any reason. These absences include excused or unexcused absences, family tragedies, medical emergencies, or other unforseeable circumstances. I do not need a note. After the third absence, I will lower your grade a letter for each additional absence. After the sixth absence, you will fail the course. I will give quizzes most days and will use those for attendance. I will take attendance on the days that I do not give quizzes. Make sure you let me know if you arrive after I have taken attendance.
  • The only exceptions to this policy: school activities, such as musical performances or athletics, if you have a note from the instructor, and absences because of storms or winter weather, if you live off campus and can demonstrate that you were unable to get here. Please budget carefully.
• Tardiness: Once I close the door, you are tardy. After three tardies, I will mark you down for one absence. If you arrive 15 or more minutes late, or leave early, I will mark you absent. Please arrange your schedule accordingly.
• Food and Drink in class. You may bring a beverage to class, but no food. You are responsible for cleaning up any mess caused by your beverage.
• Bring your Books! When class starts, the books should be on your desk, opened. After the first warning, if you are in class without your book, you will get 1/2 of an absence. Note: you will need several books by the second day of class.
• Cell phones, Laptops, and other Electronic Devices in class.
• Academic honesty: Turning in work not your own will result in failure for the paper without the opportunity to revise and may also result in failure for the course. I will also place a letter in your files and make a formal report to the Head of the English Department and the Dean of Student Affairs. Below is WCU's most recent academic honest policy:
  
  

  Western Carolina University, a community of scholarship, is also a community of honor. Faculty, staff, administrators, and students work together to achieve the highest standards of honesty and integrity. Academic dishonesty is a serious offense at WCU because it threatens the quality of scholarship and defrauds those who depend on knowledge and integrity. Academic dishonesty includes the following:

  1. Cheating. Using or attempting to use unauthorized materials, information, or study aids in any academic exercise.
  2. Fabrication. Falsification or invention of information or citation in an academic exercise.
  3. Plagiarism. Representing the words or ideas of someone else as one’s own in an academic exercise.
  4. Facilitation of Academic Dishonesty. Helping or attempting to help someone else to commit an act of academic dishonesty, such as allowing another to copy information during an examination or other academic exercise.

  The procedures for cases involving allegations of academic dishonesty are:
  1. Instructors have the right to determine the appropriate sanction or sanctions for academic dishonesty within their courses up to and including a final grade of “F” in the course. Within 5 calendar days of the event, the instructor will inform his or her department head in writing of the academic dishonesty charge and sanction.
  2. The department head will meet with the student to inform them orally and in writing of the charge and the sanction imposed by the instructor within 10 calendar days of written notice from the instructor. Prior to this meeting, the department head will contact the Office of Student Judicial Affairs to establish if the student has any record of a prior academic dishonesty offense. If there is a record of a prior academic dishonesty offense, the matter must be referred directly to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs. In instances where a program does not have a department head, the Dean or Associate Dean of the college will assume the duties of department head for cases of academic dishonesty.
  3. If the case is a first offense, the student can choose to accept the charge and sanction from the instructor by signing a Mutual Agreement with the department head or can choose to have a hearing with the Academic Integrity Board. Within 10 calendar days of the meeting with the student, the department head will 1) report the student’s choice of action in writing to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs, 2) file a copy of the Mutual Agreement (when applicable) with the Office of Judicial Affairs, and 3) inform the student of the sanction or sanctions to be imposed under the Mutual Agreement or inform the student of the procedure for requesting a hearing with the Academic Integrity Board if the Mutual Agreement is not accepted. Mutual Agreements are final agreements not subject to further review or appeal.
  4. In instances of second offenses, or when the student chooses a hearing, the Office of Student Judicial Affairs will meet with the student to provide an orientation to the hearing process and to schedule a date no less than 10 and no more than 15 calendar days from the meeting for the hearing. The student can waive minimum notice of a hearing; however, extensions are at the sole discretion of the Office of Student Judicial Affairs. Should the student choose not to attend the orientation meeting, a hearing date will be assigned to the student.
  5. The hearing procedures will follow the same format as stated in the Code of Student Conduct (Article V.A.5). The hearing body (Academic Integrity Board) will consist of 2 students from the Student Judicial Affairs Student Hearing Board and 3 faculty members. The faculty fellow for academic integrity will be one of the faculty members and will serve as the chair. The other two faculty members will be chosen by the Director of Student Judicial Affairs from a pool of eight faculty hearing officers. Each academic year, each college dean will appoint two faculty members from their college to comprise the pool of eight faculty hearing officers. When a student fails to attend the hearing for any reason, the hearing will be held in a student’s absence . The hearing body may impose any sanctions as outlined in Article V.B. in the Code of Student Conduct. Students given a sanction of probation for academic dishonesty will remain on probation at Western Carolina University until graduation.
  6. Following a decision from the Academic Integrity Board, the Office of Judicial Affairs will inform the student of the sanction or sanctions to be imposed upon the student and of the student’s right to file an appeal with the University Academic Problems Committee. The appeal is limited to those rules and procedures expressly mentioned in the Code of Student Conduct (Article V.D.2) and is limited to the existing record. If the student does not file an appeal with the University Academic Problems Committee within 5 calendar days, the sanction or sanctions from the Academic Integrity Board will be imposed. The decision of the Academic Problems Committee may be appealed to the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. Any decision of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs may be appealed to the Chancellor.
  7. Upon final resolution of a case involving suspension or expulsion, the Director of Student Judicial Affairs will inform the appropriate dean, department head, and the administrator in the One Stop Office who is responsible for University Withdrawals of the sanction.
  An Act of academic dishonesty, including a first offense, may place the student in jeopardy of suspension from the university. A repeated violation or more serious first offense may result in expulsion. Disciplinary records for any act of academic dishonesty are retained by the Department of Student Judicial Affairs for at least five years from the date of final adjudication. These records are available to prospective employers and other educational institutions in accordance with federal regulations.
  Note: Resolution of academic honesty complaints will be handled according to the provisions of the Academic Honesty Policy. Records of academic dishonesty cases are maintained in the Office of Student Judicial Affairs.
  For specific information on procedures for cases involving allegations of academic dishonesty, see relevant sections in the Student Handbook.

• Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:

  Western Carolina University is committed to providing equal educational opportunities for students with documented disabilities.  Students who require reasonable accommodations must identify themselves as having a disability and provide current diagnostic documentation to Disability Services.  All information is confidential.  Please contact Disability Services for more information at (828) 227-2716 or 144 Killian Annex.  You can also visit the office’s website:  http://www.wcu.edu/12789.asp.

Assignments:

• Participation. Your participaton is very important, and I grade you on the quality and frequency of your participation. Of course, it is also important that everyone gets to talk, so bear in mind that participation does not mean that you have to talk constantly or to overrule others. So your grade will also reflect your respectfulness to your classmates.
• Quizzes: I will give frequent unannounced quizzes at the beginning of class on the reading due for that day. These may be on the reading or the introductory material, or they may include lecture or discussion information from the previous class. Whenever possible, I will give you a guide to study from, but you should not rely on a guide being available. You may use your notes, but you may not refer to the textbook.
• Paper: Students will do one paper, 750-1000 words, during the semester. You should hand your papers in as Word attachments through the email. I will return them to the address you mailed them from.
• Imagery/ Word Choice Pattern sheets: For these exercises, I will ask you to go through an act or scene and look for patterns of imagery and vocabulary, which I will then ask you to analyze. I will ask you to do at least one of these for each play we study.
• Miscellaneous Writings: From time to time I will assign exercises or short writings, such as summaries, scene analysis, film comparisons, translations, and other exercises.
• Group scene performance: After we learn to read and speak Shakespeare's language, groups will get together and pick and scene to act. You can choose whether to act it to the globe, to the Queen or King at court, or to a contemporary audience (you have to specify the audience). It may involve some cast doubling.

Texts

• Flachmann, Michael. Shakespeare from Page to Stage. RENTAL--REQURIED.
• Purchase (all three are required):
  • McEvoy, Sean. Shakespeare: The Basics. 2nd Edition. Oxford: Routledge 2006.
  • Will Power: How to Act Shakespeare in 21 Days. Applause Books, 2006. $17.95.
• One three ring notebook with dividers--strongly recommended (for your notes).

Requirements:

Grades will be assessed as follows:

Assignment % of Grade

• Final exam 15%
• Quizzes 15% (If you miss a quiz, you cannot make it up. I will drop two of the lowest quiz grades).
• Presentation 10%
• Paper 15%
• Group Scene Performance 15% Towards the end of the semester (Scene assignment and how I will grade it)
• Imagery analyses and other short writings 20% (These may not be late)
• Participation 10%

TOTAL: 100%