English 209: Judaism, Islam, and History

Required Course Texts:

• Devil's Arithemetic. Jane Yolen. New York: penguin 1988
• All But My Life. Gerda Weissmann Klein. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995
• The Reader. Bernard Schlink. Vintage, 2008
• The Shawl: A story and a Novella. Cynthia Ozick. New YOrk: Knopf, 2008.

Assignments:

• Quizzes: 25%
• One paper: 30%
• Presentation, 20%
• Final Exam, 20%
• Writeups of three Literary Festival events (5%)

Presentation Rubric:

• See the form I use
• Your presentation, which should take no more than 15 minutes and no less than 10 (time it), should involve the class. It should be visually interesting, and it should be spoken, not read. You should include a list of discussion questions.
• You should email me a copy of your PowerPoint presentation, if you use one, or any other materials you use.
• I will frequently quiz you on presentations that occured in the previous class.

Class Policies and Assumptions

Attendance and Lateness

• Absences: You may miss three classes for any reason. These absences include excused or unexcused absences, family tragedies, medical emergencies, or other unforseeable circumstances. After the third absence, I will lower your grade a letter for each additional absence. After the sixth absence, you will fail the course.
  • 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.
• This policy is consistent with the university attendance policy.

Academic Integrity

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is the inaccurate or unacknowledged use of another's material. One plagiarized assignment will result in a 0 for the assignment; a second instance will result in failure of the course and may result in legal action.

• The university's policy can be found in the faculty handbook.
  The university procedure includes the following language:

  "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."

Electronic Devices in Class

Unless you have a documented disability which requires you to have a laptop in class, you may not use one during class time. Unfortunately, too many students have abused laptops in class for me to permit their use. The same is true for cell phones, ipods, gameboys, or any device that requires headphones. If you must keep your cell phone on, please turn off the ringer and put it away. First-time abuses of this policy will result in the student being warned. Subsequent abuses will result in an absence.

The policy above also covers text messaging. I consider text or instant messaging or any other activity that distracts your classmates and keeps you from learning to be unforgivable.

WCU Statement on Accommodations for students with disabilities:

Western Carolina University is committed to providing equal educational opportunities for students with documented disabilities. Students who require disability services or reasonable accommodations must identify themselves as having a disability and provide current diagnostic documentation to Disability Services. All information is confidential. Please contact Kimberly Marcus for more information. Phone: (828) 227-7234; E-mail:kmarcus@email.wcu.edu.